Literary Bookworm_Girl Vote • October 2017

[sun surfer]

Help us select what the MR Literary Club will read in October 2017!

The options this month are courtesy of our rotating nominator, Bookworm_Girl.


Voting will run for four days. The vote will close exactly four days from this ; even if the final tally doesn't occur immediately after voting closes, no votes made after that time will count.

Votes will be made by post. Each person has SEVEN votes to use.

You may give each nominee one or two (or no) votes. You may vote all at once in one or vote in separate at different times, so long as you have more votes remaining to cast. You may use any number of your possible votes up to the maximum. Any extraneous votes per person (past their maximum or more than two for one nominee) won't count. Votes cannot be changed once they are cast.

The rotating nominator may not vote. Once voting is complete, the count will be tallied and a winner declared. In the event of a tie, there will be a one-day run-off vote, also in this thread. If the run-off also ends in a tie, then the tie will be resolved by the nominator.

We hope that you will read the selection with the club and join in the discussion.


*

Initial voting is closed. Run-off voting is closed. Final results-

• Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
  Post / Goodreads / 259 Pages / Votes- 4 / Run-off- 1
  
  
• The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
  Post / Goodreads / 386 Pages / Votes- 3
  
  
• Arthur & George by Julian Barnes
  Post / Goodreads / 445 Pages / Votes- 4 / Run-off- 1
  
  
• The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
  Post / Goodreads / 374 Pages / Votes- 0
  
  
• The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain
  Post / Goodreads / 241 Pages / Votes- 0
  
  
• The Gathering by Anne Enright
  Post / Goodreads / 261 Pages / Votes- 4 / Run-off- 2
  
  
• Transatlantic by Colum McCann
  Post / Goodreads / 304 Pages / Votes- 2
  
  
• Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
  Post / Goodreads / 344 Pages / Votes- 3

[bfisher]

A great list. To simplify my choice, I'm voting for those items that are on my TBR.

Two votes for Days Without End

Two votes for Arthur & George

Two votes for Transatlantic

[fantasyfan]

I'll begin with 2 votes for Golden Hill by Francis Spufford

[sun surfer]

Bookworm_Girl, you've certainly made the choice hard! I've almost voted twice now and each time had to stop to reconsider because I'd be leaving out something else I want to vote for. Most of these have something of particular interest to me in one way or another. I may need to read a few opening pages before deciding.

[fantasyfan]

My next two votes go to Arthur & George.

[sun surfer]

I read through all the previews and honestly all eight sound good to me! A note for anyone reading previews through the Goodreads links- the preview for Arthur & George is, incorrectly, a play adaptation, which confused me at first because I was flabbergasted that this would be a 400-page play! However, going to Amazon one can find the correct preview.

Here are my mercurial votes of the moment-

2 to The Gathering
1 to Days Without End
1 to The Snow Child
1 to Golden Hill

[fantasyfan]

Two votes for The Gathering.

[sun surfer]

A little less than a day left for voting. My final votes-

1 to Days Without End
1 to The Snow Child

[fantasyfan]

My last vote goes to The Snow Child.

[sun surfer]

Initial voting is complete and we have our first tie in over a year! It is a three-way tie between:

-Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
-Arthur & George by Julian Barnes
-The Gathering by Anne Enright


We will have a one-day run-off and voting is now open.

Voting will close exactly ONE DAY from this post.

Each person has TWO votes to use.

Please refer to the first post for all other information.

[sun surfer]

I give

1 to Days Without End
1 to The Gathering

I think my preference currently would be Days Without End very slightly over The Gathering, and those only slightly over Arthur & George, but all three sound promising so I'm looking forward to whichever wins.

[fantasyfan]

1 vote for Arthur & George
1vote for The Gathering

[sun surfer]

Voting is closed and the winner is The Gathering!

I really enjoyed the first few pages of it that I read as the preview. I'll have the discussion thread in a little while.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Thanks for voting, everyone! I can't believe there was a 3-way tie! I'm looking forward to reading the selection.

By the way, Arthur & George was made into a television drama on ITV (aired on PBS in the US and available on Amazon Prime). It's got great actors in it. I'm definitely planning to watch it.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I also wanted to add (since her book didn't get any votes) that I recommend Rose Tremain. Her works have won many famous literary prizes over her career. I really enjoyed The Road Home which won the 2008 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. She is the only author on the list that I've read before.