Literary The MobileRead Literary Book Club July 2011 Vote

[sun surfer]

Help us choose the July 2011 selection to read for the MobileRead Literary Book Club! The poll will be open for three days.

We will start the discussion thread for the selected work on July 17th and a thread for August's nominations will be created five days later on July 22nd. I will start the threads, but the discussion thread may have a "discussion leader" if one volunteers. Everyone can post whatever thoughts they wish on the month's selection, but the discussion leader's goal will be to continue the dialogue in a thought-provoking direction with discussion questions and the like.

In the event of a tie, there will be a one-day run-off poll. In the event that the run-off poll also ends in a tie, the tie will be resolved in favour of the selection that received all five of its initial nominations first.


Select from the following works:

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Spoiler:

Bleak House is a satirical look at the Byzantine legal system in London as it consumes the minds and talents of the greedy and nearly destroys the lives of innocents--a contemporary tale indeed. Dickens's tale takes us from the foggy dank streets of London and the maze of the Inns of Court to the peaceful countryside of England.

Often considered Charles Dickens’s masterpiece, Bleak House blends together several literary genres—detective fiction, romance, melodrama, and satire—to create an unforgettable portrait of the decay and corruption at the heart of English law and society in the Victorian era.

The Tale Of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

Spoiler:

In the early eleventh century Murasaki Shikibu, a lady in the Heian court of Japan, wrote what many consider to be the world’s first novel, more than three centuries before Chaucer. The Heian era (794—1185) is recognized as one of the very greatest periods in Japanese literature, and The Tale of Genji is not only the unquestioned prose masterpiece of that period but also the most lively and absorbing account we have of the intricate, exquisite, highly ordered court culture that made such a masterpiece possible.

Genji, the hero of the Tale, is the son of the emperor and his favourite concubine, Kiritsubo. A Korean sage predicts a brilliant future for Genji but his mother suffers the jealousy of rivals at court, becomes ill and dies. The distraught emperor becomes obsessed with the tragic story of Yang Kwei-fei, but eventually finds another concubine, Fujitsubo, who reminds him of his former love.

Since Genji lacks backing at court, the emperor makes him a commoner, assigning him membership of the non-royal Genji clan. The eldest son of the emperor and Lady Kokiden is made crown prince.

Genji becomes an uncommonly handsome and gifted young man, admired by all but feared by Lady Kokiden and her family. The first part of the Tale follows his amorous exploits with a variety of ladies in and around Heian-kyo, his friendship with To no Chujo and arranged marriage to To no Chujo's sister Aoi, the birth of his son and his budding relationship with the young Murasaki.

The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote Of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes

Spoiler:

Widely regarded as the world's first modern novel, and one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain.

Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading romances of chivalry that he determines to become a knight errant and pursue bold adventures, accompanied by his squire, the cunning Sancho Panza. As they roam the world together, the aging Quixote's fancy leads them wildly astray. At the same time the relationship between the two men grows in fascinating subtlety.

"The highest creation of genius has been achieved by Shakespeare and Cervantes, almost alone." - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"A more profound and powerful work than this is not to be met with...The final and greatest utterance of the human mind." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

Spoiler:

Winner of the 1993 Booker Prize

In the moments of upheaval that surround the stroke of midnight on August 14--15, 1947, the day India proclaimed its independence from Great Britain, 1,001 children are born--each of whom is gifted with supernatural powers. Midnight’s Children focuses on the fates of two of them--the illegitimate son of a poor Hindu woman and the male heir of a wealthy Muslim family--who become inextricably linked when a midwife switches the boys at birth. An allegory of modern India, Midnight’s Children is a family saga set against the volatile events of the thirty years following the country’s independence--the partitioning of India and Pakistan, the rule of Indira Gandhi, the onset of violence and war, and the imposition of martial law. It is a magical and haunting tale, of fragmentation and of the struggle for identity and belonging that links personal life with national history.

“Extraordinary . . . one of the most important [novels] to come out of the English-speaking world in this generation.” –The New York Review of Books

“Burgeons with life, with exuberance and fantasy . . . Rushdie is a writer of courage, impressive strength, and sheer stylistic brilliance.” –The Washington Post Book World

Paradise Lost by John Milton

Spoiler:

Often considered the greatest epic in any modern language, Paradise Lost tells the story of the revolt of Satan, his banishment from Heaven, and the ensuing fall of Man with his expulsion from Eden. It is a tale of immense drama and excitement, of innocence pitted against corruption, of rebellion and treachery, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny.The struggle ranges across heaven, hell, and earth, as Satan and his band of rebel angels conspire against God. At the center of the conflict are Adam and Eve, motivated by all too human temptations, but whose ultimate downfall is unyielding love.Written in blank verse of unsurpassed majesty, Paradise Lost is the work of a mastermind involved in a profound search for truth.

[astrangerhere]

Ideally, as a student of Japanese literature, I'd have voted Tale of Genji. But as I've been working through my two-volume set of Genji for most of the year, I could not, in good conscience vote for it to be read in one month.

Great choices this month though!

[taosaur]

Guess which got my vote (see avatar) I could stand to read any of the above, though I'm not the speediest reader and don't know if I'd finish them in the 2-3 weeks allotted. I can't say I'd get too fired up about Bleak House :/

I have to go with the book I nominated, The Tale Of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, even though I know it may be difficult for many to achieve the ~70 page per day average to complete by the start of the discussion.

There was really a great selection this month, including a few that just did not make it into the top five. Bleak House is actually one of the two (Oliver Twist being the other) books by Dickens that I have never read. I will say that I am not cheering for Don Quixote. That is no reflection on the book, it is just bad timing for me personally. I reread that a few years ago. So I am not too keen on reading it again so soon, yet it was long enough ago that I would not want to try and just wing it for the discussion.

[paola]

pity the Magic Mountain did not make, I must have read it 30 years ago, will have to be my beach-bumming read, then!
I voted for Don Qixote, which I am ashamed to say I've never read, so would be nice to have the inducement.
Not too excited by Bleak House, which I haven't read either, but I am not too fond of Dickens. But at least I'll plug this hole, too, as it looks like it's running ahead fast!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by paola

pity the Magic Mountain did not make, I must have read it 30 years ago, will have to be my beach-bumming read, then!
I voted for Don Qixote, which I am ashamed to say I've never read, so would be nice to have the inducement.
Not too excited by Bleak House, which I haven't read either, but I am not too fond of Dickens. But at least I'll plug this hole, too, as it looks like it's running ahead fast!

See you on the beach, Magic Mountain in hand, Paola!

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...4&postcount=80

Pssst, I don't like Dickens much, either.

[beppe]

I do hope for Paradise Lost to win. I studied something about it in high school. I read a bit about it in different occasions. I would like to study it now, getting a general idea of the main themes, so to start with one of them, and through it to learn about some of Milton's poetic. obviously with guidance of some the many essays that I can find around. The other books that have been nominated do not have really any interest for me. In Paradise lost, on the contrary I see that some of the themes are actual and close to my interest. The fact is that even to day Milton is studied and discussed, creatively. There is a quarterly journal on Milton, that maybe my uni is subscribing. That would be a great help. But there is a lot on the net. Milton is considered a giant, of the calibre of Dante and Shakespeare. this would be a great occasion to know it better, especially with the help of the members for which English is the first language.

I will vote at the last possible moment, as by voting I lose the possibility of seeing who is voting what.

[fantasyfan]

Of course I voted for Paradise Lost which was one of my nominations. I doubt that it will win but if anyone wants a good start on this magnificent and splendid epic to help in private reading I would recommend A Preface To Paradise Lost by C.S.Lewis first published 1942 and frequently thereafter. It's available in Oxford Paperbacks. A good annotated edition of the poem is John Milton: Paradise Lost edited by Alastair Fowler and published by Longman {pb} 1971. Fowler gives very extensive notes on the poem to the point of creating a Variorum edition.

There are plenty of eBook versions {free and paid} available too. I keep a collected edition on my Kindle. Perhaps Milton isn't to everyone's taste, but I find his work has an almost supernatural beauty and tremendous psychological drama.

I hope you will all forgive me if I give just a sample of his writing. Here's the famous lament of the blind Samson from Milton's tragedy Samson Agonistes It's worth remembering that Milton himself was blind.

O loss of sight, of thee I most complain!
Blind among enemies! O worse than chains,
Dungeon, or beggary, or decrepit age!
Light, the prime work of God, to me is extinct, 70
And all her various objects of delight
Annulled, which might in part my grief have eased.
Inferior to the vilest now become
Of man or worm, the vilest here excel me:
They creep, yet see; I, dark in light, exposed 75
To daily fraud, contempt, abuse and wrong,
Within doors, or without, still as a fool,
In power of others, never in my own—
Scarce half I seem to live, dead more than half.
O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon, 80
Irrecoverábly dark, total eclipse
Without all hope of day!

[paola]

Originally Posted by issybird

See you on the beach, Magic Mountain in hand, Paola!

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...4&postcount=80

Originally Posted by issybird

Pssst, I don't like Dickens much, either.

maybe Paradise Lost has a chance... @fantasyfan, thanks for the references!

[taosaur]

Dang, I should have held off. Based on the current standings, I want to rescind my vote for Cervantes and give it to Milton

[issybird]

Gooooo, Paradise Lost!

[Ea]

Voted for Paradise Lost. Not sure if I'll manage it if it wins, but I'd like to make an acquaintance with it.

Originally Posted by paola

...
Not too excited by Bleak House, which I haven't read either, but I am not too fond of Dickens.

Me neither. I'd rather give one of the other ones a fight than try Dickens (again)

[beppe]

I do not trust Dickens enough to enjoy anything he wrote. I read the tale of two cities. It started so well, misterious, compact, emotional. Then nothing, disaster after disaster till the grotesque propaganda like finale. Never again, I leave it to my British friends.

[toomanybooks]

I would be happy to read Bleak House or Paradise Lost. I voted for Bleak House simply because I hadn't read it yet and I read PL last year.

[JSWolf]

I voted Bleak House in hopes it helps defeat Paradise Lost. We do have an illustrated edition of Bleak House on MR I'll be giving a go to if it wins.