Christmas 2007 Reading Poll

Christmas only a few weeks away, it is time for us to nominate this year's holiday reading.

* * * This year's theme : Families * * *

Please nominate the books you would like to read

(one nomination per member, please)

by November 26th.


Note: Only the first 10 books will be included in the poll.

Some information on the nominated books:

Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence

The Human Comedy by Saroyan

Holiday on Ice by David Sedaris

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

A Painted House by Grisham

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

The Fortunate Pilgrim by Mario Puzzo

* * * This poll will be closed on December 10th. * * *

Book Club Procedures

Does the book have to deal with the christmas saeson? I am not sure as this is the first holiday season that I have been with Lit. Net.

Jeff

Till this year, we used to pick books dealing with Christmas but since it is becoming harder to find a book on Christmas every year, this year we will choose a book which deals with the theme of 'family' (Christmas is a family time, after all :D).

I have an inkling that this book was just done recently and if so I apologize and feel free to strike it, but I nominate:

Sons and Lovers - D.H Lawrence.


Incidentally, my exams finish early this term and I will finally have time for some reading that is not dictated by a syllabus....so I'm excited!

Nice to see you posting again, CD! :)

Lawrence's Women in Love was one of our books recently but not Sons and Lovers so we will include your nomination to our list.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Charles Darnay

I have an inkling that this book was just done recently and if so I apologize and feel free to strike it, but I nominate:

Sons and Lovers - D.H Lawrence.


Incidentally, my exams finish early this term and I will finally have time for some reading that is not dictated by a syllabus....so I'm excited!

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Hi Charles D, and Scher, we did just (last month) discuss the book in depth and the thread is still open and active, sporadically. It, however, was not an 'official'- 'book of the month' read, so I suppose you could still nominate it for such. :)

Just to let you know that there is a thread and a lot of good postings in there, with tons of information.

Can I nominate "The Human Comedy" - it is very much about a family and the 'ties that bind'. I think it is by Salinger, isn't it? I loved that book!

Janine,

I am not sure The Human Comedy is by Salinger. Is it the one by Saroyan you are refering to?

I was going to nominate The Godfather but it seems too long for a holiday read so how about Holiday on Ice by David Sedaris, it sort of is about families? if not then Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by papayahed

I was going to nominate The Godfather but it seems too long for a holiday read so how about Holiday on Ice by David Sedaris, it sort of is about families? if not then Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim?

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The Godfather was my idea also:idea: After all it is about Family in several different forms.

So I nominate "The Godfather," by Mario Puzo.

Jeff

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

Janine,

I am not sure The Human Comedy is by Salinger. Is it the one by Saroyan you are refering to?

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Thanks, Scheherazade, Yes, that is correct - sorry about the mixup of name. It is by William Saroyan, I believe.

My nomination would be:

John Grisham's: A Painted House

Tells the story of several families.

Poppy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Poppy

My nomination would be:

John Grisham's: A Painted House

Tells the story of several families.

Poppy

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Poppy, I have this book and have been wanting to read it; I picked it up free from my library. I also found (same place) a free copy of "Skipping Christmas" by Grisham - I got a real kick out of that book; light, delightful reading and very 'heartfelt'. Two non-suspense, non-courtroom dramas by Mr. G; a bit of a departure for him. It's a good little Christmas story. The movie is ok that was based on the book, but the book is a sweet little amusing story, much better than the film.

My nomination is The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. It won the National Book Award in 2001. It's the story of a family trying to get together for one last Christmas.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Janine

Poppy, I have this book and have been wanting to read it; I picked it up free from my library. I also found (same place) a free copy of "Skipping Christmas" by Grisham - I got a real kick out of that book; light, delightful reading and very 'heartfelt'. Two non-suspense, non-courtroom dramas by Mr. G; a bit of a departure for him. It's a good little Christmas story. The movie is ok that was based on the book, but the book is a sweet little amusing story, much better than the film.

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Janine I would agree that Skipping Christmas would be another choice. I certainly did like it. And like you I found the read much better than the film. Maybe we could just nominate them together as one since both are light reads. ;)

Have you read "The Christmas Mystery" by Jostein Gaarder? It has a family element but is primarily about Christmas. It's written in the style of an advent calendar so there's a chapter for each day on the run up to Christmas. It's a great read (I read it every year!).

Wow, this is proving to be popular!

Nominations so far:

1. Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence.

2. The Human Comedy by Saroyan

3. Holiday on Ice by David Sedaris

4. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

5. A Painted House by Grisham

6. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheFifthElement

Have you read "The Christmas Mystery" by Jostein Gaarder? It has a family element but is primarily about Christmas. It's written in the style of an advent calendar so there's a chapter for each day on the run up to Christmas. It's a great read (I read it every year!).

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Hello, Fifth! Have you read the book? Does it deal with families as a main theme?

I would like to nominate Behind the Scenes at the Museumby Kate Atkinson:

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/4...enesdj4.th.png

Hmm, there is a family element to the book, in that the advent calendar belongs to a small boy and they read the stories together as a family, but I'm not sure I'd say it was a main theme, more of a side theme really. Primarily it is about the story of Christmas.

Nominations so far:

1. Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence.

2. The Human Comedy by Saroyan

3. Holiday on Ice by David Sedaris

4. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

5. A Painted House by Grisham

6. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

7. The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

8. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

Last 5 days!

Even though I've already read this, I'll nominate Fathers and Sons (or Fathers and Children) by Ivan Turgenev.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dori

Even though I've already read this, I'll nominate Fathers and Sons (or Fathers and Children) by Ivan Turgenev.

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A very good novel. Dori, I don't think I've ever had the chance to welcome you to lit net. Welcome. I see you're well adapted to the forums and apparently enjoy this place. I found you're introduction and was surprised to see you're a guy and love hockey. You know we're out numbered here. You lit net name struck me as feminine and hockey players don't have a reputation for liking literature. ;) Unfortuantely I don't have time right now to participate in the Christmas read. I must finish Don Quixote and then on to The Aeneid.

Fathers and Sons is a great book. I loved it and other stories, short novels by Ivan Turgenev are very good, as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Virgil

A very good novel. Dori, I don't think I've ever had the chance to welcome you to lit net. Welcome. I see you're well adapted to the forums and apparently enjoy this place. I found you're introduction and was surprised to see you're a guy and love hockey. You know we're out numbered here. You lit net name struck me as feminine and hockey players don't have a reputation for liking literature. ;) Unfortuantely I don't have time right now to participate in the Christmas read. I must finish Don Quixote and then on to The Aeneid.

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I'm almost sure you welcomed me in the Don Quixote Reading Group thread. Thanks for the welcome anyway :) .

Concerning my username, think Dori the dwarf (that is, a masculine figure---even female dwarves are rather masculine), not Dori the fish (spelled Doris, if I remember correctly). I hope that clears things up a little :) .

100 Years of Solitude and The Brothers Karamazov

Etienne, are you nominating a book? First of all, there can only be one nomination per member and secondly, only the first ten nominations will be selected for choosing.

(I would prefer if you stuck with The Brothers Karamazov as your nomination. :) )

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dori

I'm almost sure you welcomed me in the Don Quixote Reading Group thread. Thanks for the welcome anyway :) .

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Oh yes, now I remember. Thanks.

Quote:

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Concerning my username, think Dori the dwarf (that is, a masculine figure---even female dwarves are rather masculine), not Dori the fish (spelled Doris, if I remember correctly). I hope that clears things up a little :) .

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OK, that helps. ;)

Noooooo! I'm too late. I was going to nominate Absalom, Absalom!


I'm interested in Sons and Lovers and The Brothers Karamazov, so it's not a total lost.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NickAdams

Noooooo! I'm too late. I was going to nominate Absalom, Absalom!


I'm interested in Sons and Lovers and The Brothers Karamazov, so it's not a total lost.

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Hi Nick, How are you too late? I didn't know the nomination period was over yet.
We just discussed "Sons and Lovers". so you might want to check out that thread. after you read the book, if you did not already; in the case of it not being chosen in this thread. I highly recommend it to you. Great read!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NickAdams

Noooooo! I'm too late. I was going to nominate Absalom, Absalom!


I'm interested in Sons and Lovers and The Brothers Karamazov, so it's not a total lost.

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Actually, according to Book Club Procedures, Etienne's nominations are to be disregarded, thus leaving one final place for another nomination. And The Brothers Karamazov hasn't been nominated (technically speaking) yet.

Quote:

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Nomination Limit:
*Every member can nominate only one book to give everyone an equal chance.
*The nominations from those who make multiple nominations will be disregarded.
*Those who wish to cancel or change their nominations can do so during the nomination period.
*Only members with 50+ posts can nominate books.

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Dori, in this case then who will nominate The Brother Karamazov? We all nominated one already. Can Etienne come back and nominate this one book? I am a bit confused here. I never nominated before this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Janine

Dori, in this case then who will nominate The Brother Karamazov? We all nominated one already. Can Etienne come back and nominate this one book? I am a bit confused here. I never nominated before this.

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Etienne can nominate again , just has to make sure that the post contains only one book.

Jeff

Oh, my! This is getting exciting! :D

Nominations so far:

1. Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence.

2. The Human Comedy by Saroyan

3. Holiday on Ice by David Sedaris

4. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

5. A Painted House by Grisham

6. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

7. The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

8. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

9. Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev.

Last nomination is up for grabs, folks!

Etienne> one nomination per member, please!

Also, since The Brother Karamazov was one of our BC readings last year, it cannot be nominated again this year.

I would nominate The Fortunate Pilgrim by Mario Puzzo, it is the story of a family of early Italian Immigrants in America.

We have our 10 nominations:

1. Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence.

2. The Human Comedy by Saroyan

3. Holiday on Ice by David Sedaris

4. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

5. A Painted House by Grisham

6. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

7. The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

8. Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

9. Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev.

10. The Fortunate Pilgrim by Mario Puzzo

Thank you, everyone! :)

The voting will start later today!

Great - the list is complete. Can't wait to vote! Thanks, S

Some information on the nominated books:

Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence

The Human Comedy by Saroyan

Holiday on Ice by David Sedaris

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

A Painted House by Grisham

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

The Fortunate Pilgrim by Mario Puzzo

* * * This poll will be closed on December 10th. * * *

About Behind the Scenes at the Museum:

Quote:

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The narrator's insistent voice and breezy delivery animates this enchanting first novel by a British writer who won one of the 1993 Ian St. James Awards for short stories. Ruby Lennox is a quirky, complex character who relates the events of her life and those of her dysfunctional family with equal parts humor, fervor and candor-starting with her moment of conception in York, England, in 1959: "I exist!" Ruby then describes the family she is to join. Her parents own a pet shop; her mother, Bunty, bitterly rues having married her philandering husband, George, and daydreams about what her life might have been. Ruby has two older sisters, willful Gillian and melancholy Patricia. Through its ambitious structure, the novel also charts five generations and more than a century of Ruby's family history, as reported in "footnotes" that follow relevant chapters. (For example, a passage about a pink glass button reveals the story of its original owner, Ruby's great-grandmother Alice, who will abandon her young family and run off with a French magician.) Ruby's richly imagined account includes both the details of daily life and the several tragic events that punctuate the family's mundane existence. Though the "footnote" entries are not quite as gripping as those rendered in Ruby's richly vernacular, energetic recitation, Atkinson's ebullient narrative style captures the troubled Lennox family with wit and poignant accuracy.

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http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Scenes-...6121755&sr=1-1

hmmmmm,,, which should I vote for...

Another tie...

Read The Godfather three times in various languages (not to mention the fact that I watched the movie 10+ times) and Fathers and Sons attracts me as much as a week old ham sandwich made with mouldy bread and mayo past its BBD.

Please, please, please, let us try something new and different this time!

I mind a moldy ham sandwich once in a while, but I really don't want to read the Godfather.

Now I'm late.:bawling:

The Human Comedy it is!