2006 Author Poll

[Scheherazade]

Please vote for the authors whose works you would like to read in 2006.

At the end of the poll, the 12 authors with the most votes will be included in our Book Club reading list in 2006.

You can vote for more than one author!

This poll will close on November 30th.





Angela Carter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Carter)

Charles Dickens (http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/)*

Charlotte Bronte (http://www.online-literature.com/brontec/)*

Choderlos de Laclos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choderlos_de_Laclos)

Ernest Hemingway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway)

Fyodor Dostoevsky (http://www.online-literature.com/dostoevsky/)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garcia_Marquez)

George Eliot (http://www.online-literature.com/george_eliot/)*

Gregory Maguire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Maguire)

Henryk Sienkiewicz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_Sienkiewicz)

H.G. Wells (http://www.online-literature.com/wellshg/)*

Ian McEwan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_McEwan)

Jeanette Winterson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanette_Winterson)

James Joyce (http://www.online-literature.com/james_joyce/)*

John Gardner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gardner)

L.M.Montgomery (http://www.online-literature.com/lucy_montgomery/)*

Laurie Halse Anderson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Halse_Anderson)

Leo Tolstoy (http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/)*

Lois Lowry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_Lowry)

Terry Pratchett (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett)

Sir Walter Scott (http://www.online-literature.com/walter_scott/)*

Willa Cather (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willa_Cather)

William Faulkner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Faulkner)



* = Available on the Forum.



Book Club Procedures (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?p=57103#post57103)

[Nightshade]

hello more votes for Montgomry and maguire please and terry pratchett
!!!!!!!!!!

[samercury]

Lois Lowry and Terry Pratchett are my top 2 candidates- I like L.M. Montgomery too but I read most of her books already :D

[Nightshade]

sooo?? reread them!!!

:D

[Jay]

And it's gonna be an entertaining one.

[papayahed]

Come on people Vote for Ernest!!!!!

[Jay]

Dostoesky... if I could get the person who nominated him in my hands... start diggin' yer grave :D

[papayahed]

Dostoesky... if I could get the person who nominated him in my hands... start diggin' yer grave :D

Can I help?

[Psycheinaboat]

hello more votes for Montgomry and maguire please and terry pratchett
!!!!!!!!!!

Night, have you read Maguire's new book Son of a Witch? If so, was it any good?

I hope he returns to the vocabulary and writing style of his first one, Wicked, with this one. I like the other ones, but they seemed "dumbed down."

[Jay]

Can I help?
Please, be my guest :D

[Kaltrina]

Dostoesky... if I could get the person who nominated him in my hands... start diggin' yer grave :D

well Jay I think I can help. :blush: that would be me! but you don't want to kill me... :angel: look how sweet and innocent I am... :)

[Jay]

Says you! :p

[byucougs]

Come on people Vote for Ernest!!!!!
Hemingway is so over-rated. His characters are so devoid of emotion or feeling.

[Turmise]

wat are you'll doing

[Psycheinaboat]

Hemingway is so over-rated. His characters are so devoid of emotion or feeling.


I can see how you would think that, but I would challenge you to go back and re-read some of Hemingway's stuff. Keep in mind that the emotion is not always as effident in what the characters are said to be saying or thinking, but in what motivates them.

[Kaltrina]

Says you! :p

well don't you think the same? :D *flutters eyelashes*

[Nightshade]

Scher Ive been thinking why choose only the 12 top that way in decmber we wont have a choice choose the top *umm how many down is Montgomry...* 14! yes pick the top 14 that way we have 2 extra that may never get read but at least we wont be sure what we will read at the end of the year.....
I love suprises dont you??

[Scheherazade]

Scher Ive been thinking why choose only the 12 top that way in decmber we wont have a choice choose the top *umm how many down is Montgomry...* 14! yes pick the top 14 that way we have 2 extra that may never get read but at least we wont be sure what we will read at the end of the year.....
I love suprises dont you??In 2006, we will not be voting for the authors again. The top 12 authors will each have a month designated and we will only vote on their 10 most popular works to read which book to read during that month.

In case of a tie among the authors, we will go for the more prolific ones.

[Jay]

Prolific, eh? *refrains from making silly comments other than that* ;)

[Scheherazade]

*directs Jay in the right direction (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4224&page=1&pp=15)*



:p

[Jay]

*being a good girl* (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showpost.php?p=118665&postcount=102) ;)

[Stanislaw]

we need more sienkewicz

he's pretty cool! :nod:

[LightShade]

Hello, everybody. I am new to the Book Club but would like to be part of it and participate in the discussions. :)

My choices in this 2006 poll are:
Terry Pratchett - my absolute favourite and a great writer
James Joyce would be a delight to read again
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Gregory Maguire
Lois Lowry
(these three authors I haven't read yet (not even "Quo Vadis", shame to me for that :p ) but I read reviews on their main works and I think they would be very good to read).

As for the other "classical" writers (I haven't read the others), I didn't love or hate them in particular so I chose to cast no vote.

Actually, there was one I didn't like :D I read two books by G.G.Marquez and didn't like them at all. They just failed to stand out to me as great and I had the slightest feeling of overratedness. I'm not criticizing style, but ideas. However, I see many people have voted for him. Does that make me... sort of a snob? :confused:

[pcockey]

Actually, there was one I didn't like :D I read two books by G.G.Marquez and didn't like them at all. They just failed to stand out to me as great and I had the slightest feeling of overratedness. I'm not criticizing style, but ideas. However, I see many people have voted for him. Does that make me... sort of a snob? :confused:

Nahh. If you don't like it, you don't like it :D

Hooray for Joyce in the lead!

[Psycheinaboat]

Lightshade, which two did you read by Marquez. I am planning on beginning my exploration of his work soon (as soon as I am finished with what I am reading now).

I planned on starting with Love in the Time of Cholera and then moving on to Memories of My Melancholy Whores.

[Stanislaw]

Welcome;

And a good choice ye made with Sienkewicz :nod:


Hello, everybody. I am new to the Book Club but would like to be part of it and participate in the discussions. :)

My choices in this 2006 poll are:
Terry Pratchett - my absolute favourite and a great writer
James Joyce would be a delight to read again
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Gregory Maguire
Lois Lowry
(these three authors I haven't read yet (not even "Quo Vadis", shame to me for that :p ) but I read reviews on their main works and I think they would be very good to read).

As for the other "classical" writers (I haven't read the others), I didn't love or hate them in particular so I chose to cast no vote.

Actually, there was one I didn't like :D I read two books by G.G.Marquez and didn't like them at all. They just failed to stand out to me as great and I had the slightest feeling of overratedness. I'm not criticizing style, but ideas. However, I see many people have voted for him. Does that make me... sort of a snob? :confused:

[rachel]

now now puppy dog Jay, you know you are just cranky FROM LACK OF SLEEP. And if Kaltrina would not have voted for him I would have. He is one of the three I want to read along with Dickens and Lowry. I know some might groan and say Dickens but I have been looking hard about me at the issues of the day and it seems to me that in many ways over the last twenty years or so certain things have regressed in the western society and the topics Dickens wrote about so passionately are back.And the same with religious or lack of them ideas so I voted for fyodor. And because Sweden and Belgium : have decided to legalize euthanasia, and Sweden has already killed four children I beg of you, vote for Lois Lowry and at least take a look at the topic. It is an awesome book, perhaps not literary in some ways but it does make you think, think hard.Thank you for letting us vote for more than one book Scher. I really appreciate that. :wave:

[Taliesin]

Here are the top twelve of the Book Club race:

In the lead is James Joyce, with seventeen votes. He has been quite a lead figure, but has he still strength enough left to keep his position till the finish? He has a small gap behing him - noone has sixteen votes yet, so he can be vary and see if anyone starts catching up with him. But will this be enough? Can he keep the first place?

Sharing the second and third place, side by side, are Dickens and Dostojevsky, two Ds with fifteen votes both. Can either (or even both of them) beat Joyce? Sure, he has got a good lead, but these men have had longer time to rest than Joyce. There is yet still time, anything can happen and the tension rises.

Behind those two, stepping on their heels are - oh my God, it is hard to believe - three writers - not one, not two, but three writers. They surely have a close struggle there with fourteen votes. Marquez, Faulkner (modern day writers are still strong) and, ladies and gentlemen, can you believe it - our first woman. Let us all congratulate her for being the most powerful representative of her sex.
Will she be able to beat the men in the first-place race? The women are mysterious people - perhaps she can - she wouldn't be the first to take a surprise victory. This is an age of equality between sexes, after all.

The struggle behind that human mess is not so strugglous - but it is tense still - two people with thirteen votes - Eliot and Pratchett, his beard forward, going side by side, trying to go past each other - will they succeed?
Pratchett has made a sprint lately - probably his beard helps him to deal with the air drag and provides warmth, but will it help him defeat Eliot? Maybe he can even go past Bronte, Faulkner and Marquez. Even defefating Dickens or Dostoyevsky is still possible - after all, though corpses have been very agile here, living people are fast too. Maybe he can even, we repeat, maybe - even pass Joyce. We know that it sounds utopic, that it is unrealistic - but, as we have said before, there can be a surprise victory - and nothing is sure until the finish of the race - and there is plenty of time to that date.

There is a small gap behind Pterry and Eliot, but it is followed by another big group - Wells, Scott and Tolstoi, with all having eleven votes. Will science fiction, a title or Russian spirit help to cross that gap? It is good to go in teams, but will someone break forward and start his spurt? Will they? The tension is very high.

And, the last of the top twelve is beloved Hemingway. Or is he so beloved at all- he seems to be quite in the back with only ten votes. But, many wish luck for him - including us and even one of the organizers - yes, we did a small interview with the notorious Scher and she revealed that if Hemingway stays in top twelve, she will start with him in January.
But will he be able to stay there? He is, after all, the last one to have the point place.
There is a great chance that those on his heels - like Montgomery will sprint and pass him - for the next chance is yet over a year ahead - will Hemingway be able to stay in the top twelve? Drinking doesn't make one a very strong competant, but Hemingway seems to have a lot of willpower to stay in - will he?

All the possibilities are still in the air.

Keep in touch for further news in the Book Club Struggle, Taliesin Book Club Commentaries stops here.

Taliesin Book Club Commentaries was brought to you by Literature Forums.

[Pensive]

Wow, James Joyce is on the top. I have not heard of him. *sighs*

[rachel]

Lois Lowry, Lois Lowry. When my daughter told me her favorite book of all was the Giver I stopped and stared at her. I am serious. Here was a child who in the whole of her life considered reading one chapter a year of any book cruel and unusual punishment. She kept urging me to read it and I kept putting it off because I did not know the author. Then one day I grudginly gave in and from the first line I was swept away and an anxious wreck as I read each word. I am not here to say she is a writer like Tolstoy or Tolkien, certainly not like the great Fyoder D. But Dickens wasn't that perfect a writer in certain ways, yet he was a great writer. So is she.I am quite confident that once you read this book it will haunt your thoughts and decisions in life forever.
When I finished the book I could barely face anyone for a couple of days.I just had to be by myself and think. Think hard.

Dear Pensive,
I hope with all my heart that little bird finally comes to a place of rest, food and peace. Her little wings must be breaking by now and I feel exhausted just looking at her exerting all her energy poor thing. go birdy go.

[Nightshade]

eliot is a girl!!
:D

[LightShade]

Lightshade, which two did you read by Marquez.
I read "The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Eréndira and her Heartless Grandmother" (in a volume that also contained several other short stories mainly centered around the idea of the evil sea and its terrible effect of people. The title story (of Erendira) was interesting up to a point but then got tiresome and boring; I find it's too stretched and... I don't know how to put this... maybe too poetic and vulgar at the same time? like a sort of fairytale for perverts :D (just my little opinion). A sick story anyway.
Also, "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" - my opinion: easy story, pervert ideas again :D nothing new, philosohpically and stylistically speaking. I was bored once again. Besides, I think I have a certain dislike for excessively weak characters. :p

I also heard opinions of people who have read "The Autumn of the Patriarch". They seemed to follow the same lines as my above-stated opinions.

Somebody who has read other G.G. Marquez book, please tell me: are all of them centered around sick ideas? are all of them gloomy, are all characters doomed?

I am however planning to read "One Hundred Years of Solitude" since that's the book who won him the Nobel prize and I'm curious to find out what's so special about it.

ps - pcockey, thank you :)

pps - hello, Nightshade :D

[Nightshade]

Hey :wave: Lightshade we are actually reading a G.G Marquez book this month "Love in time..." maybe you can join in?? :D

YAY Pratchett *waves a flag*
( the smilie supply line is down :bawling: )

PS Tal why do you call him Pterry??
:confused:

[LightShade]

Hey, Nightshade :)

I've seen the November Book Club "assignment". I think I could manage to find the book and borrow it, but I don't really feel like reading another Marquez, thank you :D

Pterry is what his fans call Terry Pratchett. Starting from Pyramids, where everybody's name began with "Pt". And, as his last name begins with P and his first with a T.... I guess that was the idea.

[Nightshade]

ahh well you learn somthing every day :D :nod:

[Monica]

I'd like to read everyone except for Sienkiewicz :sick: Can I give him minus one point? We were tortured by him at school, I tell you :lol: (although I recommend Quo Vadis)

[Scheherazade]

It is interesting that the usual authors are leading the poll. Are we not willing to try new authors out of our usual reading habits? Like...

Willa Cather

and

Faulkner

and

Ian McEwan

and

Hemingway

and

Angela Carter

and

Winterson



_________________

[LightShade]

Faulkner seems to be doing fine with 16 votes. That would make him 3rd or 4th?

[Stanislaw]

...Sienkewicz!

His stuff is pretty cool!

[LightShade]

And can be found on gutenberg :D which is pretty cool, considering that none of the public libraries around my neighbourhood are open either before or after I go to work... by some sadistic arrangement, they are open only while I am at work. And none of them is conveniently close to my office. I suspect some cosmic conspiracy against my literary education :p

[Jay]

It is interesting that the usual authors are leading the poll. Are we not willing to try new authors out of our usual reading habits? Like...

Willa Cather

and

Faulkner

and

Ian McEwan

and

Hemingway

and

Angela Carter

and

Winterson


Hey, Winterson got mentioned :D ... though... well, still better to have been mentioned than not at all ;) (thanks :))
Though I agree... reading the classics all 2006 is soooo gonna get... boring and dull.

[Stanislaw]

Hey, Winterson got mentioned :D ... though... well, still better to have been mentioned than not at all ;) (thanks :))
Though I agree... reading the classics all 2006 is soooo gonna get... boring and dull.

classics, smashics... lol, I have to/ had to read alot of this stuff in school for lit classes. :sick:

I think we need some fresh air, maybe vonnegut :D

[subterranean]

Who nominate Tolstoy anwayz? http://www.websmileys.com/sm/evil/105.gif

[Kiwi Shelf]

I understand the need for classics, but some modern authors would be nice... Like Maguire and McEwan...

[papayahed]

This is shaping up to be a longer year.

[NNoah3]

Well, I think that is time for me to name my favorites, before the poll close.

[Nightshade]

somehow I get this distinct feeling I will be skipping alot of months next year

[emily655321]

Yeah, I'm a giant Fyodor fan, but I really want to read Carter and Pratchett. Hang in there Pratchett!

I don't think I like this way of doing things.

[Kiwi Shelf]

Everyone is talking about this Prachett person, never read them before. So, win or lose, someone has to tell me a book to read because now I am curious.

Come on people, please vote for Maguire or McEwan... at this rate I will either have all ready read the books or will have to buy a whole bunch of new ones.

[LightShade]

Kiwi Shelf, just search on Amazon and pick one of the Discworld books. Not the first or the second, though, I have the strong belief they're not as great as the subsequent ones.

I do hope Pratchett will be one of the authors to read next year. Otherwise, I fear I may get too bored with all these classics :D

[Jekaterina]

Dostoesky... if I could get the person who nominated him in my hands... start diggin' yer grave :D

Mean!
Dostoevsky is one of the greatest authors of all time!

[samercury]

Anybody up for L.M. Montgommery or Lois Lowry?......

[starrwriter]

Dostoevsky... if I could get the person who nominated him in my hands... start diggin' yer grave.
What's wrong with Dostoevksy? He offered penetrating psychological insights into the dark side of life. His books may be filled with borderline insanity, epileptics and freakish characters, but that's what Tsarist Russia was like.

[Kiwi Shelf]

It saddens me that most authors winning are DEAD!
How about more living, not overdone, living authors....

[starrwriter]

It saddens me that most authors winning are DEAD!
How about more living, not overdone, living authors....
Death and the passage of time separate the chaff from the wheat among writers. Only the good ones are remembered and read a century later.

America hasn't produced a great novelist in at least 50 years. Today's best-selling authors are all second rate.

[Scheherazade]

I wonder if in 50 years' time, people will think that today's authors were great and that the authors of their times are all second rate.

[starrwriter]

I wonder if in 50 years' time, people will think that today's authors were great and that the authors of their times are all second rate.
Only if pigs learn how to fly.

[Scheherazade]

What do you mean??? Pigs in the US don't fly already??? (http://wilkes-fs1.wilkes.edu/~terzaghi/BIO-226/images/pig-fly.gif) :confused:

[Kiwi Shelf]

Death and the passage of time separate the chaff from the wheat among writers. Only the good ones are remembered and read a century later.

America hasn't produced a great novelist in at least 50 years. Today's best-selling authors are all second rate.

I know what you are saying, to a degree.... Just don't think a year of classics, is, well boring and overdone? I mean, all people care about are the classics, and I know why and everything. I just like to read authors that... are... well... living and not overdone. lol I guess I thought book clubs were supposed to be about new experiences... There isn't an author winning that I haven't heard of, if not read... Am I making sense?

[starrwriter]

What do you mean??? Pigs in the US don't fly already??? (http://wilkes-fs1.wilkes.edu/~terzaghi/BIO-226/images/pig-fly.gif)
Very funny, Scher. Now how about your photo?

PLEASE

[Phaedra]

Well, I'm a newbie here, and very happy to have voted on my favorites. I voted for Tolstoy, Winterson and... well, Dostoyevsky. I hope I don't incur Jay's and Papayahed's vengeful desires... ;)

I really do love 'Notes from the underground', among others.

[starrwriter]

I really do love 'Notes from the underground' ...
I do, too. It's the most fascinating book by a Russian author I ever read. Modern intellect as a paralyzing disease! D. H. Lawrence had the same idea, but he offered a cure: the healing power of sexual love.

[Taliesin]

Death and the passage of time separate the chaff from the wheat among writers. Only the good ones are remembered and read a century later.


What/who do you think makes the difference between the wheat and the chaff? Time? Well, when all the people of earth would suddenly die, then we sincerely doubt that Time in it's great power would separate wheat from chaff.
It is the readers that separate the wheat from chaff not some abstract force - so it is up to all of us to decide whether a book is good or not, not just throw it away and name it bad because the author hasn't jumped under a bus yet.

For example, we consider Pratchett, Pelevin and Eco good writers, despite the fact that they are still alive.

[starrwriter]

It is the readers that separate the wheat from chaff ...
Not always. Some writers who are considered great today were barely read during their lifetime. The average reader doesn't know what is great writing until he is told by critics, teachers, historians, etc.

[papayahed]

Well, I'm a newbie here, and very happy to have voted on my favorites. I voted for Tolstoy, Winterson and... well, Dostoyevsky. I hope I don't incur Jay's and Papayahed's vengeful desires... ;)



Well, it looks like Jay and I will have to take on a lot voters.....You're new so we can probably save you til the end.... :nod: :lol:

[Phaedra]

Thanks, Papayahed. I really appreciate it. :cool:

Yeah, it seems that we'll be reading Dostoyevsky at some point next year. Yay!

(Ooops...)

[Phaedra]

Modern intellect as a paralyzing disease! D. H. Lawrence had the same idea, but he offered a cure: the healing power of sexual love.

And who's to say it doesn't work? ;) My paralysis, however, seems to be in its terminal stage, I believe. Not that I suffer from too much intellect...

I was carelessly browsing some books when I found 'Notes'. It grabbed my attention with the opening lines:

"I am a sick man... I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man. I belive my liver is diseased. However, I know nothing at all about my disease, and do not know for certain what ails me. I don't consult a doctor for it, and never have, though I have a respect for medicine and doctors. Besides, I am extremely superstitious, sufficiently so to respect medicine, anyway (I am well-educated enough not to be superstitious, but I am superstitious). No, I refuse to consult a doctor from spite."

I was hooked. :cool:

[Taliesin]

Not always. Some writers who are considered great today were barely read during their lifetime. The average reader doesn't know what is great writing until he is told by critics, teachers, historians, etc.

We agree on that point that there have been such writers, but, nevertheless, those teachers, critics and historians are humans too, not some omnipresent force like Time (we have proof and that is that Scheherazade is a teacher - and a certain person too - or at least, when she is Time, she's in a very good disguise) Why cannot we be the critics and teachers? Why can't we use our own heads for deciding what is good and what is not?

[Phaedra]

Why cannot we be the critics and teachers? Why can't we use our own heads for deciding what is good and what is not?

I used to ask that a lot myself. But now, I kind of made peace with the idea that although we live in a post-modern society (what is it, by the way? some say that it's too recent for a definition; others say it's ended already. That's a little too post modern, even for me), when it comes to crowds (masses) 'formadores de opinião' (don't know the right term in English) will always be needed. I believe that's because cultural elements are treated like market assets, and people have to have the economy going. :brickwall

[starrwriter]

Why can't we use our own heads for deciding what is good and what is not?
There is personal taste in reading and then there is great literature. The two are not always the same. It depends on the intelligence and sophistication level of the reader.

[Nightshade]

There is personal taste in reading and then there is great literature. The two are not always the same. It depends on the intelligence and sophistication level of the reader.
But who decides whats great literature? People with certificates to say there opinions better than anyone elses? :brow:
Ithink there is the catagory Literture worthy of being studied and then there is everything else and none are less or more great than the rest its just some are better suited for being puffed up.

[starrwriter]

But who decides whats great literature? People with certificates to say there opinions better than anyone elses?
Yes. Those certificates and degrees represent a great deal of experience in reading fiction, analyzing it and judging what is great and what is not. The average reader doesn't have a clue.

[Nightshade]

Do you really belive that, or is that sarcasm ( sorry am hopless at these things)?
Because if you mean it it woulkd mean no one can write great literature who hasnt a degree.

[starrwriter]

Do you really believe that, or is that sarcasm ( sorry am hopless at these things)? Because if you mean it, it would mean no one can write great literature who hasnt a degree.
I didn't say that. I can think of some great writers who never got a degree. But they were intelligent and discriminating readers who taught themselves the essentials of great literature.

I'm not arguing against reading certain books for fun. I enjoy Raymond Chandler novels, but I don't try to convince myself they are great literature. They are entertaining and there's nothing wrong with that as long as you don't confuse entertainment with serious writing.

British author Graham Greene divided his novels into two categories: literature and entertainments. He was wise enough to know the difference.

[Nightshade]

ah right I see ok I understand that "worthy books" and fun books
but both are literature just not the same type
:D

[Jay]

Well, I'm a newbie here, and very happy to have voted on my favorites. I voted for Tolstoy, Winterson and... well, Dostoyevsky. I hope I don't incur Jay's and Papayahed's vengeful desires... ;)

I really do love 'Notes from the underground', among others.
Voting Winterson saved your bum this time ;)... for a few months until it's time to read him :D
Welcome :wave:

[starrwriter]

ah right I see ok I understand that "worthy books" and fun books but both are literature just not the same type.
Literature: creative writing of recognized artistic value.
Entertainment: a diversion that holds the attention, an amusement.

Literature is art. Entertainment isn't.

[Scheherazade]

But is Literature entertainment?

[Jay]

And if it is, is it not literature?

[starrwriter]

But is Literature entertainment?
Is a Picasso painting "entertainment"?

I think literature is more than simple entertainment. It's food for the intellect. It's wit instead of slapstick humor. It's philosophical and psychological drama rather than melodrama. It's insightful and revealing of human nature. In other words, it's art (as I said.)

[emily655321]

Is a Picasso painting "entertainment"?
Umm ... if I say "yes," will I get a whoopin'?

Shakespeare is damn funny, I don't care what anyone says. And—Lord, I'm a geek, aren't I?—I have laughed out loud more than once while reading Dostoevsky. I wouldn't read "literature" if it didn't entertain me. Granted, each time you crack a book you're taking a gamble, but I've hit pay dirt on more "literature" than I have on so-called "entertainment." It takes a truckload of creative talent to write an intelligent comedy—I would argue more than it takes to write some dry, intellectualized drama. Starr, perhaps you're reading the wrong "literature," because your idea of being well-read seems more like masochism. Maybe I'm just easily amused, or maybe I'm not taking "the classics" as seriously as pretentious literati dictate I should, but with your point of view, I'm surprised you ever read at all!

[Phaedra]

Voting Winterson saved your bum this time ;)... for a few months until it's time to read him :D
Welcome :wave:

Thanks for the welcome, Jay! :) And if it helps, it will serve me right when I have to read any of Joyce's books. Dostoyevsky will be a breeze compared to him (*fingers crossed* not Ulysses, not Ulysses...). Nice to see George Eliot in the top 10.

[baddad]

Hemingway is so over-rated. His characters are so devoid of emotion or feeling.


....OH...MY.....GOSH........The Hem-man rules!!!! ......and so I voted for him........as well as a russian writer I shall not name for I fear a wicked backlash from unnamed sources..........

[Scheherazade]

The Hem-man rules!!!! So, 'Hem-man' makes me think of an old man with a hunched back, whose glasses clinging to the tip of his nose as he toils away till the early hours of the morning, trying to finish the sewing the hems of the evening gowns of the rich but spoilt ladies.

Going twice...

[Nightshade]

Is it only the top 12 we are choosing or the top 14 scher???
sotha we still hjave a choice next decmber?

:D
*mutters with fingers crossed say14 say 14 say 14* :D

[Nightshade]

in order of votes most to least the top 12:

1. Fyodor Dostoevsky 30 votes ( how!!)
2. Charles Dickens* 24 votes (humph!)
3. James Joyce* 24 votes ( who?! :confused: )
4. William Faulkner 24 votes ( cant say I can think who this is wait are we talking Birdsong here?)
5. Leo Tolstoy 23 votes (:eek2: )
6. Charlotte Bronte* 21 votes ( as long as its not jane Eyre *shudder* :sick: )
7. Gabriel Garcia Marquez 20 votes ( yoour kidding me right?! )
8. H.G. Wells 20 votes ( I guess I can live with this too)
9. Ernest Hemingway 19 votes ( did want to try somthing by him anyway)
10. George Eliot* 18 votes ( I guess it cant hurt *that much*)
11. Terry Pratchett 17 votes (yay! :banana: )
12. Sir Walter Scott 15 votes ( well I did enjoy ivanhoe)

[Kiwi Shelf]

Pretty much all classics o_o
That's saddening, I will find reading old English and old texts once a month for twelve months rather dull, so yeah, I may join in from time to time... I just can't see all that old stuff being that much fun, not to mention most of that stuff is super overdone, so even if you have never read them before, who doesn't know what most of their books are..

William Faulkner is the gentleman that wrote "The Sound and The Fury," "Light in August", and many other good ones that it is too early in the morning to remember. "Birdsong" is by Sebastian Faulks. It is in my to read pile...

I guess my annoyance is that most of the authors that won, I don't have many books by, so this doesn't help me lower my reading pile at all... sort of defeats my goal for the New Year. Have to see what books are chosen, I may join in sometimes. I just... I am an English major afterall, that list makes me feel like this is for school o_o

[Jay]

Oh my, now this is going to be an interesting year! not!

[Jay]

....OH...MY.....GOSH........The Hem-man rules!!!! ......and so I voted for him........as well as a russian writer I shall not name for I fear a wicked backlash from unnamed sources..........
You too, Brutus? :smash:
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a157/jayellen/smileys/tomato.gif

[Shea]

Pretty much all classics o_o
That's saddening, I will find reading old English and old texts once a month for twelve months rather dull, so yeah, I may join in from time to time... I just can't see all that old stuff being that much fun, not to mention most of that stuff is super overdone, so even if you have never read them before, who doesn't know what most of their books are..

I've found that the best way to understand and enjoy an older work is to understand the history around it, otherwise you're sort of displaced so of course your not going to find much interest. Even a short article will do, like something from Wikipedia or Sparknotes. Once I started doing that, I've found greater enjoyment from reading the "old stuff" than from anything else.

And actually, if you want to get technical a lot of it's Early Modern English. Beowulf is Old English (check my sig and imagine other little symbols that I couldn't figure out how to put in there and so had to replace them with modern spellings). Chaucer is Middle English. If I remember correctly Shakespeare actually starts off the Early Modern period and it goes to about the late 1800's.

[Shea]

I don't know why that posted twice...

[Kiwi Shelf]

Yeah, I wasn't being technical, I just mean overdone... Anyways, we shall see, I may join in. Depends on the book choices, but I usually read enough classics in university that the last thing I want to do is read them for fun most of the time. That's not to say I won't, though, so we shall see. :)

[Scheherazade]

The final stand:

1.Fyodor Dostoevsky 30

2.Charles Dickens* 26

3.James Joyce* 24

4.William Faulkner 24

5.Leo Tolstoy* 23

6.Charlotte Bronte* 22

7.H.G. Wells* 21

8.Gabriel Garcia Marquez 20

9.Ernest Hemingway 19

10.George Eliot* 18

11.Terry Pratchett 18

12.Sir Walter Scott* 15

L.M.Montgomery* 11

Angela Carter 10

Gregory Maguire 10

Willa Cather 10

Lois Lowry 9

Choderlos de Laclos 7

Ian McEwan 7

Jeanette Winterson 7

Henryk Sienkiewicz 6

John Gardner 2

Laurie Halse Anderson 2


The top 12 authors will be read during 2006.