Literary Open Nominations • December 2012

[sun surfer]

Help us select what the MR Literary Club will read for December 2012!

The nominations will run for up to three days until December 4 or until five works have made the list.

Final voting in a new poll will begin by December 4, where the month's selection will be decided.


The category for this month is:

Open


In order for a work to be included in the poll it needs four nominations - the original nomination plus three supporting.

Each participant has four nominations to use. You can nominate a new work for consideration or you can support (second, third or fourth) a work that has already been nominated by another person.

To nominate a work just post a message with your nomination. If you are the first to nominate a work, it's always nice to provide an abstract to the work so others may consider their level of interest.


What is literature for the purposes of this club? A superior work of lasting merit that enriches the mind. Often it is important, challenging, critically acclaimed. It may be from ancient times to today; it may be from anywhere in the world; it may be obscure or famous, short or long; it may be a story, a novel, a play, a poem, an essay or another written form. If you are unsure if a work would be considered literature, just ask!


The floor is now open!

*

Nominations through post 21:


Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami - Fully nominated

Spoiler:

In favour - Hamlet53, issybird, paola, HomeInMyShoes


The novel that raised Haruki Murakami to literary superstardom ranges across the seasons, but the heart of its meaning is found in winter. When 30-something Toru Watanabe hears a fragment of the titular Beatles track after a long airplane flight, his memories are returned to his days as a young student and his love affair with the beautiful but damaged Naoko. from UK Guardian.

Kindle edition at Amazon

Nook edition at Barnes & Noble

EPUB at Sony Reader Store

Ebook at Kobo

Kindle or EPUB at Free Library of Philadelphia

The Silent Steppe by Mukhamet Shayakhmetov - Fully nominated

Spoiler:

In favour - sun surfer, paola, issybird, Hamlet53


The Silent Steppe is an enthralling story of a family living through one of the most traumatic periods of Soviet history, as seen through the eyes of a young boy growing up in a family of Kazakh nomads. It encompasses the horrors of political persecution and famine in the 1930s, and culminates in the author's first hand account of the Battle of Stalingrad and his long trek home through freezing winter conditions after being wounded and discharged from the Red Army.

(from here)

Available as pbook here

In the US, libraries that borrow from WorldCat shouldn't have a problem obtaining a copy.

The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz -Fully nominated

Spoiler:

In favour - HomeInMyShoes, Synamon, Hamlet53, voodoo_pepperweb


The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks - Fully nominated

Spoiler:

In favour - caleb72, sun surfer, drofgnal, voodoo_pepperweb


When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. Written with stunning emotional intelligence and introducing "an inspiring heroine" (The Wall Street Journal), Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal into a spellbinding and unforgettable read.


Amazon (US)
Amazon (UK)
B&N (US)
Kobo

Found also in many e-libraries through overdrive and is fulfilled in epub and even in Kindle format (for applicable regions/libraries). Even Australia hasn't missed out.

The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos - 3

Spoiler:

In favour - issybird, paola, Hamlet53


The first book of his U.S.A. trilogy


From Wikipedia:

The trilogy employs an experimental technique, incorporating four narrative modes: fictional narratives telling the life stories of twelve characters; collages of newspaper clippings and song lyrics labeled "Newsreel"; individually labeled short biographies of public figures of the time such as Woodrow Wilson and Henry Ford and fragments of autobiographical stream of consciousness writing labeled "Camera Eye". The trilogy covers the historical development of American society during the first three decades of the twentieth century.

In 1998, the Modern Library ranked U.S.A. Trilogy 23rd on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.


Norman Mailer on 42nd Parallel: "The single greatest novel any of us have written, yes, in this country in the last one hundred years."


Apparently not available in e-book, but it's widely available in libraries and cheap editions.

Talismano by Abdelwahab Meddeb - 2

Spoiler:

In favour - sun surfer, caleb72


From Amazon:

A lush journey into a Tunisia of memory and imagination.

Talismano is a novelistic exploration of writing seen as a hallucinatory journey through half-remembered, half-imagined cities—in particular, the city of Tunis, both as it is now, and as it once was. Walking and writing, journey and journal, mirror one another to produce a calligraphic, magical work: a palimpsest of various languages and cultures, highlighting Abdelwahab Meddeb’s beguiling mastery of both the Western and Islamic traditions. Meddeb’s journey is first and foremost a sensual one, almost decadent, where the narrator luxuriates in the Tunis of his memories and intercuts these impressions with recollections of other cities at other times, reviving the mythical figures of Arab-Islamic legend that have faded from memory in a rapidly westernizing North Africa. A fever dream situated on the knife-edge between competing cultures, Talismano is a testament to the power of language to evoke, and subdue, experience.

Editorial Reviews

“Meddeb promises nothing short of an orgy. First, an orgy of the senses: at the outset of the novel, a city, Tunis, deploys its smells and shadows, like the fulfillment of an erotic desire. But also an orgy of sense, of meaning: reviving heresy and heathens, the novel culminates in the sacrificial slaughter of a bull. Talismano lays out an enigmatic mosaic . . . It took a foreigner, someone who is not what he seems, to unleash the French language and send it whirling.” (Gérard Dupuy - Libération )

“Talismano has that rare quality, one found among others in Antonin Artaud’s Héliogabale, in Céline’s Journey to the End of the Night, or in Burroughs’s The Wild Boys, that is, a darkness both lively and aggressive.” (Malek Alloula )


Available:

E-Book Amazon UK

E-book Amazon US

Also available everywhere as a p-book.

History: A Novel by Elsa Morante - 2

Spoiler:

In favour - paola, issybird


Elsa Morante


Here is the blurb (which gives something away of the plot, be warned):

HISTORY was written nearly 3 decades after Morante spent a year hiding from the Germans in remote farming villages in the mountains south of Rome. There she witnessed the full impact of the war and first formed the ambition to write an account of what history does when it reaches the realm of ordinary people struggling for life and bread. The central character in this powerful and unforgiving novel is Ida Mancuso, a schoolteacher whose husband has died and whose feckless teenage son treats the war as his playground. A German soldier on his way to North Africa rapes her and leaves her pregnant with a boy whose survival becomes Ida's passion, and her source of joy and meaning amid universal catastrophe.


Looks like pbook only

The Loser by Thomas Bernhard - 3

Spoiler:

In favour - HomeInMyShoes, sun surfer, caleb72


The Loser

I will start the nominations off with Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

The novel that raised Haruki Murakami to literary superstardom ranges across the seasons, but the heart of its meaning is found in winter. When 30-something Toru Watanabe hears a fragment of the titular Beatles track after a long airplane flight, his memories are returned to his days as a young student and his love affair with the beautiful but damaged Naoko. from UK Guardian.

Kindle edition at Amazon


Nook edition at Barnes & Noble


EPUB at Sony Reader Store


Ebook at Kobo


Kindle or EPUB at Free Library of Philadelphia

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

I will start the nominations off with Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

And here I hoped you'd nominate Quo Vadis.

I'll second Norwegian Wood while I cogitate.

[issybird]

I'm going to nominate The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos, the first book of his U.S.A. trilogy.

From Wikipedia:

The trilogy employs an experimental technique, incorporating four narrative modes: fictional narratives telling the life stories of twelve characters; collages of newspaper clippings and song lyrics labeled "Newsreel"; individually labeled short biographies of public figures of the time such as Woodrow Wilson and Henry Ford and fragments of autobiographical stream of consciousness writing labeled "Camera Eye". The trilogy covers the historical development of American society during the first three decades of the twentieth century.

In 1998, the Modern Library ranked U.S.A. Trilogy 23rd on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

Norman Mailer on 42nd Parallel: "The single greatest novel any of us have written, yes, in this country in the last one hundred years."

I was positive that this was available in ebook and even that I owned it. Oops. Not that I can find. But it's widely available in libraries and cheap editions.

[sun surfer]

I'm going to nominate The Silent Steppe by Mukhamet Shayakhmetov. It was a victim of circumstance last month and I'd still like to read it.

Spoiler:

The Silent Steppe is an enthralling story of a family living through one of the most traumatic periods of Soviet history, as seen through the eyes of a young boy growing up in a family of Kazakh nomads. It encompasses the horrors of political persecution and famine in the 1930s, and culminates in the author's first hand account of the Battle of Stalingrad and his long trek home through freezing winter conditions after being wounded and discharged from the Red Army.

(from here)

Available as pbook here

In the US, libraries that borrow from WorldCat shouldn't have a problem obtaining a copy.

I'm also going to nominate one more book and use my other two for supporting, but I'm having a hard time deciding between three books for my second nomination...

[paola]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

I will start the nominations off with Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

Thirding that - and joining in for more ruminations :-)

EDIT: guys you are fast - so I'll second The Silent Steppe and The 42nd Parallel. Will think hard about my last nomination

[issybird]

I got a copy of Silent Steppe after the discussion, so a third from me.

[sun surfer]

My second nomination will be Talismano by Abdelwahab Meddeb.

Spoiler:

From Amazon:

A lush journey into a Tunisia of memory and imagination.

Talismano is a novelistic exploration of writing seen as a hallucinatory journey through half-remembered, half-imagined cities—in particular, the city of Tunis, both as it is now, and as it once was. Walking and writing, journey and journal, mirror one another to produce a calligraphic, magical work: a palimpsest of various languages and cultures, highlighting Abdelwahab Meddeb’s beguiling mastery of both the Western and Islamic traditions. Meddeb’s journey is first and foremost a sensual one, almost decadent, where the narrator luxuriates in the Tunis of his memories and intercuts these impressions with recollections of other cities at other times, reviving the mythical figures of Arab-Islamic legend that have faded from memory in a rapidly westernizing North Africa. A fever dream situated on the knife-edge between competing cultures, Talismano is a testament to the power of language to evoke, and subdue, experience.

Editorial Reviews

“Meddeb promises nothing short of an orgy. First, an orgy of the senses: at the outset of the novel, a city, Tunis, deploys its smells and shadows, like the fulfillment of an erotic desire. But also an orgy of sense, of meaning: reviving heresy and heathens, the novel culminates in the sacrificial slaughter of a bull. Talismano lays out an enigmatic mosaic . . . It took a foreigner, someone who is not what he seems, to unleash the French language and send it whirling.” (Gérard Dupuy - Libération )

“Talismano has that rare quality, one found among others in Antonin Artaud’s Héliogabale, in Céline’s Journey to the End of the Night, or in Burroughs’s The Wild Boys, that is, a darkness both lively and aggressive.” (Malek Alloula )


Available:

E-Book Amazon UK

E-book Amazon US

Also available everywhere as a p-book.

ETA - Also, I love both of the noms by Hamlet53 and issybird, but I'm going to hold off for a bit from using all four of my noms right away.

[paola]

sorry sunsurfer, but for my final nomination I have to come closer to home, and propose History: a novel, by Elsa Morante. Shamefully, I have not read it (I am going to get this right in December), here is the blurb (which gives something away of the plot, be warned)

Spoiler:

HISTORY was written nearly 3 decades after Morante spent a year hiding from the Germans in remote farming villages in the mountains south of Rome. There she witnessed the full impact of the war and first formed the ambition to write an account of what history does when it reaches the realm of ordinary people struggling for life and bread. The central character in this powerful and unforgiving novel is Ida Mancuso, a schoolteacher whose husband has died and whose feckless teenage son treats the war as his playground. A German soldier on his way to North Africa rapes her and leaves her pregnant with a boy whose survival becomes Ida's passion, and her source of joy and meaning amid universal catastrophe.

Looks like pbook only, but as so far it is pbook galore, I thought I'd give it a try ;-)

[HomeInMyShoes]

I probably won't get around to this selection until January, but it's one of my favourite categories.

I'll fourth Norwegian Wood.

Not that they will make it, but I'm going to throw out a couple of nominations because others might be interested.

Nominating: The Loser by Thomas Bernhard
Nominating: The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

[Synamon]

Ohhhh, I just bought this, second The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

[caleb72]

If if pleases, I would like to nominate Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.

Spoiler:

When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. Written with stunning emotional intelligence and introducing "an inspiring heroine" (The Wall Street Journal), Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal into a spellbinding and unforgettable read.

Amazon (US)
Amazon (UK)
B&N (US)
Kobo

Found also in many e-libraries through overdrive and is fulfilled in epub and even in Kindle format (for applicable regions/libraries). Even Australia hasn't missed out.

So availability shouldn't be too much of an issue.

This is the book I would have nominated if Australia had won the regional vote in November. I've wanted to read this book for a while and it would be lovely to discuss it with you all.

We certainly are getting a number of great books proposed in short order. I will use the second of my nominations to put The Silent Steppe in to the fully nominated column. I will also third The 42nd Parallel. I well hold back my final nomination to have it available as things progress further.

Originally Posted by caleb72

If if pleases, I would like to nominate Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.

Spoiler:

When an infected bolt of cloth carries plague from London to an isolated village, a housemaid named Anna Frith emerges as an unlikely heroine and healer. Through Anna's eyes we follow the story of the fateful year of 1666, as she and her fellow villagers confront the spread of disease and superstition. As death reaches into every household and villagers turn from prayers to murderous witch-hunting, Anna must find the strength to confront the disintegration of her community and the lure of illicit love. As she struggles to survive and grow, a year of catastrophe becomes instead annus mirabilis, a "year of wonders."

Inspired by the true story of Eyam, a village in the rugged hill country of England, Year of Wonders is a richly detailed evocation of a singular moment in history. Written with stunning emotional intelligence and introducing "an inspiring heroine" (The Wall Street Journal), Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal into a spellbinding and unforgettable read.

Amazon (US)
Amazon (UK)
B&N (US)
Kobo

Found also in many e-libraries through overdrive and is fulfilled in epub and even in Kindle format (for applicable regions/libraries). Even Australia hasn't missed out.

So availability shouldn't be too much of an issue.

This is the book I would have nominated if Australia had won the regional vote in November. I've wanted to read this book for a while and it would be lovely to discuss it with you all.

I had never heard anything about Year of Wonders, but the name Geraldine Brooks rang a bell. Checking I discovered that I had read Caleb's Crossing because it was the choice of a book club at my local library. Caleb, have you read this? What did you think of it? It occurs to me that you perhaps have read this and liked it so much that you picked Caleb as a screen name?

[sun surfer]

I'll second The Loser and I'll second Year of Wonders, and that's the last of my noms.

This is a really great selection so far this month all around and it makes it really difficult to decide which ones to support. The U.S.A. trilogy has been on my longer TBR list and I'd love to read it too.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

I had never heard anything about Year of Wonders, but the name Geraldine Brooks rang a bell. Checking I discovered that I had read Caleb's Crossing because it was the choice of a book club at my local library. Caleb, have you read this? What did you think of it? It occurs to me that you perhaps have read this and liked it so much that you picked Caleb as a screen name?

No - my screen name comes from a character in a movie - and because I love the name. I think I've had this as a nom de plume for some 15 years now.

I haven't read Caleb's Crossing - but I have purchased it along with Year of Wonders and People of the Book. This nomination is me saying, "Time to get busy!"

Go on - third the nomination. You know you want to.