Emergency Post
Okay - so my bookclub has its monthly meeting this evening at 7 pm EST. It's my turn to bring three selections to the table. We will vote for these selections and the majority winner will be our next read.
I'm usually fanatical about choosing these titles. It requires a lot of thought. However, I've dropped the ball and I haven't done a lick of research.
What should I bring? Three titles. I'm thinking a "classic", as we haven't read too many of those. I'm not married to this idea, so other suggestions would be great! Please help! These ladies are relatively liberal and open to all kinds of genres.
Now, I know I should bate you with something fun and prize worthy. I'm at a loss.
How about this...whoever responds with a title that gets chosen will receive a Valentine's Day card from me. A true homemade in the postal service mail valentine - Sealed with a Kiss! (lame,but I'm desperate here...don't hold it against me.)
Okay - remember...the meeting is at 7 pm EST. All submissions should be in by 6:30 EST.
Go Team Bookish!
posted by Bookish Wendy at 2/08/2005
7 Comments:
I know I've mentioned this one before, but I can't help it. It's amazing. It's not a classic but only because it's so new. If I Told You Once by Judy Budnitz. She has a new book just released today called Nice Big American Baby (short stories).
Classics? I love Crime and Punishment, but that's kind of heavy duty.
So Long, See You Tomorrow is a masterpiece of gigantuan proportions, even though its only about 140 pages. Written by William Maxwell, a master if there every was one (he was Fiction Editor at the New Yorker for 40 years - during its peak, to be sure), you can't go wrong with this tale of love and betrayal.
Brick Lane by Monica Ali was a great book group read and a very interesting book. Ambitious to be sure - lots to talk about.
Libra by Don Delillo is an awesome ride - it's about the Kennedy Assasination. Even though you know the ending, man, you can't put it down.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - beats the pants off of Wurthering Heights if you ask me. And if everyone's read it already, then Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. A pre-quel to Jane Eyre, if you will.
I'll be back with more if I come up with anything good.
Cara
www.januaryone.com
PS - You can always suggest The Curious Mind of the Dog in the Night-Time if you feel like reading only one book this month! Or Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norell - it looks like that one will win for March. ;-)
I agree with the Thomas Hardy suggestion. For more modern: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Chabon), Independence Day (Ford).
I’m going to throw in “Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole. It is one of my personal favorites. It’s not an old-timey classic, but it did win a Pulitzer Prize. It’s hilarious and puts across such amazing, although often uncomfortable, atmosphere. You really can feel this book. And the story of its publication is really interesting as well. (The author committed suicide in 1969 and his mother finally got it published in 1987, with thanks to Walker Percy). Every time I read it, I like it even more.
Exciting!
Sometimes a book of short stories is a nice alternative to Ye Olde Novel for the book group. How about this one:
"Drown" by Junot Diaz.
They are all "of a piece" as some people might say, about the experiences of Dominican immigrants in New York City. Very very good.
I can't wait until this guy writes another book already!!
Whatever you choose, have fun at the bk groop
:) Heidi
The best book (it's actually the beginning of a series) I have read recently was _The_Eyre_Affair_ by Jasper Fforde. This is especially fun for anyone who has read the classics as there are all kinds of blatant and hidden literary references. Definitely not going to become a classic, but very fun.
(And possible to read while knitting!)
Laura A.
I'll put in a recommendation for Anthony Trollope's Barchester Towers. Set in Victorian England, the story revolves around the endless victorian fascination with upperclas young men and women trying to find mates, but it also has side interests of religious controversy, and political and social power struggles. It is also very funny throughout. It has one of the best endings of any of the contemporaneous novels, as all of the characters and all of the intertwining subplots come together at a party in a manor house. Trollope is good with strong, independent female characters, at least in terms of Victorian England. It might be a nice Spring read!
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