Author Topic: Suggestion Box for Future Book Discussions ~ (Read 283531 times)

JoanP · « **Reply #440 on:** March 08, 2011, 08:18:36 AM »

Nominations for June/July Discussion:

(Note that book titles are linked to reviews)

Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Kristin Lavransdatter Vol I - Bridal Wreath by Sigrid Undset

Contact: JoanP

JoanP · « **Reply #441 on:** March 08, 2011, 08:21:44 AM »

Babi - yes, if you click on the Second and FINAL vote, you get to choose three titles - for three upcoming discussions.

Hmm...no VOTE next week though. This is it - FINAL VOTE - Choose top three favs...

between today, March 8 and Sunday, March 13

Babi · « **Reply #442 on:** March 08, 2011, 08:51:57 AM »

I'll look again. Actually, I think only one of my original choices is on
the second vote. A couple I've read and really enjoyed, but don't
feel like reading again. I'll be interested to see what comes up on top.

ALF43 · « **Reply #443 on:** March 08, 2011, 09:40:48 AM »

The link above, to vote, will not open. It says that Firefox does not recognize it. Is anyone else having a problem with the link or is it my*(&%$#*^%$#@ COMPUTER?

JoanP · « **Reply #444 on:** March 08, 2011, 10:12:21 AM »

Babi, I hope the confusion has cleared up before we advertise this last survey is opened. If you have any more comments or questions, please post here.

Andy, that's serious. Let me take the question to a higher power - and will get back to you as soon as I hear anything. Don't see how it could be your *(&%$#*^%$#@ computer!

JoanR · « **Reply #445 on:** March 08, 2011, 10:38:52 AM »

Won't open for me either! Guess we'll just read them all in alphabetical order!

Gumtree · « **Reply #446 on:** March 08, 2011, 10:47:29 AM »

Didn't open for me either.

A couple of mine made the cut but I was really hoping for Lavransdatter to get across the line. It's been sitting on my coffee table for a couple of months waiting expectantly for me to open it and begin reading - now it just looks at me reproachfully.

Gumtree · « **Reply #447 on:** March 08, 2011, 10:50:33 AM »

I just tried again - and it worked - no problems

marcie · « **Reply #448 on:** March 08, 2011, 10:50:55 AM »

There was a problem with the url in the heading on this page. It should now work.

LOL, Gumtree. I also have the Lavransdatter book which I have not yet read. I'm not going to check to see if it will stare back!!

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #449 on:** March 08, 2011, 10:58:13 AM »

Oh shoot - I voted for three since I understood the post to say what we did was messed up that I took for saying the computer god in the sky made a hash out of what we did and we had to do it all over again - should I have only voted for one book?

marcie · « **Reply #450 on:** March 08, 2011, 11:23:09 AM »

Barbara, you are correct. The vote is for THREE favorites. The top selection will be discussed next. We'll use the runner ups in future votes or may discuss them after the first pick.

JoanP · « **Reply #451 on:** March 08, 2011, 11:27:53 AM »

Golly -

THe link in the header should open now...there was a glitch in the url - Marcie fixed it.

Barbara, you did right - you voted for three, just right. If you click the link again, and can't get in this time, it means your vote was recorded when you voted.

I'd love to do Kristan too! Let's be sure to include those that did not make it this time in the next vote.

Marcie, I see your posts now - thanks so much.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #452 on:** March 08, 2011, 12:50:14 PM »

Whew -

JudeS · « **Reply #453 on:** March 08, 2011, 01:40:44 PM »

I have Kingsolver's Lacuna staring at me. We all have guilt complexes. There's only so much one can read. Also the mood has to be right, and the light and the ...Well you all know the same excuses as I do.

JoanP · « **Reply #454 on:** March 08, 2011, 01:42:40 PM »

Well, Lacuna is still in the running, Judy. Cast your vote!

PatH · « **Reply #455 on:** March 08, 2011, 05:25:11 PM »

I was hoping for Lavransdatter too. I read it , but a long time ago, and would like to try the new translation.

ALF43 · « **Reply #456 on:** March 09, 2011, 10:28:29 AM »

I'm like Babi. I have read three of them and enjoyed each one, but I don't want to beat a dead horse. I seldom read a book twice (unless I've agreed to lead or do-lead a discussion.)

kidsal · « **Reply #457 on:** March 09, 2011, 11:48:44 AM »

I am not able to get into the site to vote. Takes me to the survey website.

JoanP · « **Reply #458 on:** March 09, 2011, 12:51:30 PM »

oooh, Kidsal, I'm sorry. That usually happens after you've been in once. If you email me your three choices, I'll add them to the count that way. Again, so sorry that happened to a nice person like you.

Andy, have you considered other choices than the three you've already read?

JudeS · « **Reply #459 on:** March 09, 2011, 11:32:02 PM »

I've voted. I will participate in any of the discussions except if Barbara Pym's novel wins. She is not my cup of tea.
Major Pettigrew is a delightful and touching story and of course Cutting for Stone is a real winner. The others look interesting. However still hoping for Lacuna.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #460 on:** March 10, 2011, 02:41:57 AM »

I notice amazon has the 4 set video for Lavransdatter at would you believe $129 - has anyone seen any of this set.

kidsal · « **Reply #461 on:** March 10, 2011, 04:22:30 AM »

No problem -- will be satisfied with what is chosen.

JoanP · « **Reply #462 on:** March 11, 2011, 11:24:55 AM »

Two more days to vote. Just checked...the first and second choices are clear, but the race for third may be too close to call. We can go with two for the Spring discussions if need be. Have you voted yet?

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #463 on:** March 15, 2011, 11:50:15 AM »

What are the final three then?

And I'm also not sure which section of the poll I voted in.

JoanP · « **Reply #464 on:** March 15, 2011, 12:42:40 PM »

Hi there, Tome. We'll announce the "winners" in the midmonth newsletter, the BookBytes, this evening. But since you asked and since I just looked at it, I'll tell you the results now -

#1 Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (Helen Simonson) - 70% of the votes cast (We'll do this in April)

"Major Pettigrew's Last Stand is a wry and witty love story set in a little English village where small town prejudices, and race and religious intolerances are alive and well. With gentle insight, the author captures the thrill of falling in love after 60 and the disruption romance can introduce into a well-settled life."

#2 Clara and Mr. Tiffany (Susan Vreeland) - 58% of the vote - (May)

" For a century, everyone assumed that the iconic Tiffany lamps were conceived and designed by that American master of stained glass, Louis Comfort Tiffany. Not so! It was a woman! Vreeland captures Gilded Age New York and its atmosphere--robber barons, sweatshops, colorful characters, ateliers from Clara Tiffany's voluminous letters discovered by the author.

#3. The Novel Bookstore (Laurence Cossé) - 41% of the vote
"Translated from the French by Alison Anderson, who also translated Elegance of the Hedgehog. The plot concerns a bookshop in Paris which sells only ‘good’ books. Two avid readers, who are both disillusioned with the publishing industry and bookshops ask eight mostly under-appreciated writers to form a secret committee with each member submitting a list of the best 600 books they’ve ever read. The plot follows what happens to the new shop and its owners."

Since less than half of the voters expressed interest in The Novel Bookstore, we're thinking of having another vote some time in May to see if there is more interest at that time or if our readers are more interested in other titles at that time.

Thanks to all those who participated. Watch for the pre-discussion of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand...coming soon!

salan · « **Reply #465 on:** March 19, 2011, 09:12:10 AM »

JoanP, count me in for Major Pettigrew. I have the library copy and am reading it now. I hope to be able to re-check in when our discussion starts; but am making notes in case I can't.
Sally

JoanP · « **Reply #466 on:** March 19, 2011, 09:47:43 AM »

Super - a very nice group is gathering already...why don't you stop in the discussion and let others know you hope to join in...

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #467 on:** March 19, 2011, 02:23:01 PM »

Sally terrrriffffic - this will be grand - I am excited in anticipation of the chit chat about this story - and yes, Joan I will get my motivational hat on

marjifay · « **Reply #468 on:** April 12, 2011, 05:04:27 PM »

Where/when do we get to nominate for future readings (for those to be read after May, 2011)?

Marj

JoanP · « **Reply #469 on:** April 12, 2011, 05:22:39 PM »

you read my mind, Marjifay - I was just thinking that we have nothing lined up for June. Nominate here, and I'll fix the header with the new nominations, okay?

JoanR · « **Reply #470 on:** April 12, 2011, 07:34:12 PM »

Do we have to re-nominate "La Lacuna" or does it continue from before? There was a lot of interest in it, I think.

JoanP · « **Reply #471 on:** April 12, 2011, 08:40:18 PM »

JoanR, let's renominate to be sure the same people who were interested in a title before are still interested. I'll put La Lacuna up on the list as soon as I get my act together. June is coming!

marjifay · « **Reply #472 on:** April 13, 2011, 09:22:48 AM »

I'd like to nominate FREEDOM by Jonathan Franzen.

I'm reading it now. This is the first book I've read by Franzen, and it has really grabbed my attention.

Marj

marjifay · « **Reply #473 on:** April 13, 2011, 06:15:54 PM »

Review from Amazon, Inc. for FREEDOM by Jonathan Franzen:

Amazon Best of the Month, August 2010: "Jonathan Franzen seems less concerned with creating merely likeable characters than ones who are fully alive, in all their self-justifying complexity. Freedom is his fourth novel, and, yes, his first in nine years since The Corrections. Happy to say, it's very much a match for that great book, a wrenching, funny, and forgiving portrait of a Midwestern family (from St. Paul this time). Patty and Walter Berglund find each other early: a pretty jock, focused on the court and a little lost off it, and a stolid budding lawyer, besotted with her and almost burdened by his integrity. They make a family and a life together, and, over time, slowly lose track of each other. Franzen pits his excavation of the cracks in the nuclear family's facade against a backdrop of all-American faults and fissures, but where the book stands apart is that, no longer content merely to record the breakdown, Franzen tries to account for his often stridently unlikable characters and find where they went wrong, arriving at--incredibly--genuine hope."

JoanP · « **Reply #474 on:** April 13, 2011, 09:45:34 PM »

Thanks, Marjifay - for the recommendation AND for the review. I've heard mixed reviews of the book and will be interested to hear what you think as you get into it. Again, thank you!

Babi · « **Reply #475 on:** April 14, 2011, 08:57:05 AM »

Hmm.., I can't really see myself spending much time reading about "stridently unlikeable
characters". It would be such a strain.

I'm going to read some more by Ivan Doig, though. I enjoyed 'Rascal Fair' so much. I do
recommend him.

JoanP · « **Reply #476 on:** April 14, 2011, 09:30:34 AM »

Good morning, Babi. I'd like to hear more from Marjifay on Freedom's characters. Would you like to nominate Rascal Fair for discussion, Babi - or another of Ivan Doig's? I've never read anything by this author.

This is the fun part of the process, isn't it? We begin with a clean slate of wonderful possibilities. Is there still interest in Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter?

Babi · « **Reply #477 on:** April 14, 2011, 09:41:21 AM »

I'm considering nominating one of Doig's other books, JOANP, so I can read a new one rather than re-reading one I've recently finished. I am so impressed with Doig's writing that
I'm confident I'll enjoy his other books as well.

Gumtree · « **Reply #478 on:** April 14, 2011, 12:36:29 PM »

Quote

Is there still interest in Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter?

Yes indeed! Oddly enough I began to read it just this week. Have only managed the first few chapters so far - it captured me from the very start.
I would be very happy if it were to be nominated.

JoanP · « **Reply #479 on:** April 14, 2011, 05:07:35 PM »

I thought there might be interest in Kristin, Gum. It's up there - we'll vote in the beginning of May. This might be the time!

OK, Babi - we'll consider an Ivan Doig book - you'll need to nominate a title and tell us a bit about it. I've never read anything of his...

News:

Author Topic: Suggestion Box for Future Book Discussions ~ (Read 283531 times)