Reading 1001 discussion

Voting for our July BOTM will go through 5/23 with announcement of winners announced on the 24. Our authors for July are Vesaas through Edmund White. Everyone gets a free vote but you can use participation points up to 5 total votes including your freebie. Please feel free to try and persuade people to vote on books you really want to read. Send a PM to the shelf personality or to me.

Tarjei Vesaas Norway, 1897- 1970
1. The Birds, 1957, 234 pages

Simon Vestdijk Netherlands, 1898 - 1971
2. The Garden Where the Brass Band Played, 1950, 312 pages.

Boris Vian, France, 1920 - 1959
3. Froth on the Daydream 1867, 226 pages

Gore Vidal New York, US, 1925 - 2012
4. Myra Breckinridge, 1968, 264 pages.

Enrique Vila-Matas, Spain, March 31, 1948
5. Bartleby & Co., 2000, 178 pages

Xosé Neira Vilas, Spain, 1928 - 2015
6. Memoirs of a Peasant Boy, 1961, 111 pages.

Elio Vittorini, Italy, 1908 - 1966
7. Conversations in Sicily, 1937, 202 pages

Jorge Volpi, Mexico, 1968
8. In Search of Klingsor, 1999, 416 pages

Voltaire, France, 1694 - 1778
9. Candide, 1759, 129 pages.

Joseph von Eichendorff, Germany, 1788 - 1857
10. Life of a Good-for-nothing, 1826, 109 pages

Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen 1622 - 1676, Germany
11. The Adventurous Simplicissimus, 1669, 398 pages.

Heinrich von Kleist Germany, 1777 - 1811
12. Michael Kohlhaas, 1810, 133 pages.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Indiana, US, 1922 - 2007
Slaughterhouse 5, omitted, BOTM in 2018.
13. Cat's Cradle 1963, 306 pages.
14. God Bless You, Mr Rosewater, 1965, 167 pages
15. Breakfast of Champions, 1973, 303 pages

Alice Walker, Georgia, US, 1944
16. The Color Purple, 1982, 304 pages
17. The Temple of My Familiar, 1989, 416 pages
18. Possessing the Secret of Joy, 1992, 288 pages

Infinite Jest, omitted 1100 pages, previous Qrt read

Lew Wallace, Indiana, US, 1827 - 1905, Ben Hur, omitted >600 pages.

Horace Walpole, England, UK, 1717 - 1797
19. The Castle of Otranto, 1765, 125 pages

Martin Walser Germany, 1927, age 93.
Halftime, not available in English

Alan Warner, Scotland 1964
20. Morvern Callar, 1995, 242 pages.

Marina Warner, London, UK, 1946
21. Indigo, 1992, 384 pages

Herbjørg Wassmo, Norway, 1942
22. The House with the Blind Glass Windows, 1981, 227 pages

Keith Waterhouse. West Yorkshire, England, UK, 1929 - 2009
23. Billy Liar, 1959, 187 pages.

Sarah Waters Wales, UK, 1966
Omitted Tipping the Velvet, BOTM 2018
24. Fingersmith, 2002, 592 pages

Winifred Watson Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, 1906 - 2002
25. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, 1938, 234 pages

Evelyn Waugh Somerset, England, UK, 1903 - 1966
26. Decline and Fall, 1928, 300 pages
27. Vile Bodies, 1930, 322 pages
28. A Handful of Dust, 1934, 308 pages
29. Brideshead Revisited, 1945, 351 pages

Charles Webb, California, US, 1939
30. The Graduate, 1963, 272 pages.

Heruy Wolde Selassie Ethiopia, 1878 - 1938
31. The New World, 1924, 80 pages.

H.G. Wells Kent, England, 1866 - 1946
32. The Time Machine 1895, 118 pgs
33. The Island of Dr. Moreau, 1896, 153 pages
34. The Invisible Man, 1897, 192 pages
35. The War of the Worlds, 1898, 192 pages
36. Tono-Bungay, 1909, 404 pages

Irvine Welsh Scotland, 1958 -
37. Trainspotting, 1993, 430 pages

Eudora Welty Mississippi, US, 1909 - 2001
38. The Optimist's Daughter, 1972, 180 pages

Nathanael West, New York City, US, 1903 - 1940
39. Miss Lonelyhearts, 1933, 80 pages

Rebecca West England, 1892 - 1983
40. The Return of the Soldier, 1918, 112 pages
41. Harriet Hume 1929, 288 pages
42. The Thinking Reed 1936, 431 pages
43. The Birds Fall Down, 1966, 448 pages

Edith Wharton NY, US, 1862 - 1937
44. The House of Mirth, 1905, 351 pages
45. Ethan Frome 1911, 99 pages
46. Bunner Sisters, 1916, 136 pages
47. Summer, 1917, 127 pages
48. The Age of Innocence 1920, 293 pages
49. The Glimpses of the Moon, 1922, 272 pages

Edmund White Ohio, US, 1940
50. A Boy's Own Story, 1982, 218 pages
51. The Beautiful Room Is Empty, 1988, 240 pages

That's our list, how many have you read? Which ones would you really like to read?

I have read 21 of these (22, if you include Infinite Jest by Wallace), and there are 4 more that are sitting on my TBR shelf, including 3 from the same author (have a guess which one!). My vote(s) will quite likely end up with this author...

I would love to read more Alice Walker.

I've read 44 of these, plus all those previously read and omitted. This is what is left:

A Handful of Dust
The Thinking Reed
Birds Fall Down
Simplicissimus
Fingersmith
Froth on the Daydream

**I would love either Handful of Dust or Fingersmith, but I would be thrilled with any of these.**

The New World needs to be taken out since it isn't in English.

I've read 25 of them plus the ones that are omitted and Infinite Jest.

I would love to read Rebecca West of Waugh

I'm in a similar boat as Diane, and I've read 43 of these ones. So, much sparser options compared to last vote.

But looking at Diane's list and seeing Kristel wants to read West or Waugh, I'd be down to vote for any of these:


-The Thinking Reed (archive.org and scribd)
-The Birds Fall down (ditto for both)
-A Handful of Dust (Archive, and audible)

I have only read 16, plus those omitted. I'm going to vote for Rebecca West's Return of the Soldier because I own it.

Pip wrote: "I have only read 16, plus those omitted. I'm going to vote for Rebecca West's Return of the Soldier because I own it."

It's an excellent book.

I have read 5 of these plus Infinite Jest. So, as usual I would be open to almost anything by Walker, West and/or Waugh.

I am open to all of the Rebecca West books, but especially Return of the Soldier and Harriet Hume. I would be okay with Birds Fall Down too.
I am open to Hand full of Dust
I am also open to Indigo by Warner

whelp, since it's available on audio and overlaps with what several people want, I'll probably vote for Hand full of Dust.

I'll vote for Handful of Dust

Books excluded from the Randomiser:

Candide
Slaughterhouse Five

I loved Rebecca West's book The Birds Fall Down. I would be up to reading any of the remaining 3.

1 vote for Cat's Cradle.

Wow, I've read twenty of these, more than my usual number, partly due to being a fan of Vonnegut and Wells.
Wassmo's House with the Blind Glass Windows would be my first choice but no one else has supported it yet and time is getting short.

I like Froth on the Daydream, and Diane would like to read it but later said she would vote for Handful of Dust- I like that one also, and Walker's Temple of My Familiar (I've read the other two Walkers). At this stage I believe I will put a couple points each on Handful of Dust and one of the others I mentioned.

George P. wrote: "Wow, I've read twenty of these, more than my usual number, partly due to being a fan of Vonnegut and Wells.
Wassmo's House with the Blind Glass Windows would be my first choice but no one else has..."
I read this one (Blind Glass Window) previously. It is good. Hard to read though.

Last day to vote and really, any book could win. We have almost no votes this month.

Hello, everyone. Votes are in, we had a few at the end.

The winner this month is A Handful of Dust but it was a close run with The Return of the Soldier, but the good news is the randomizer also wanted it.

Winner of popular vote is A Handful of Dust
Winner of the Randomizer: The Return of the Soldier

These were the votes this time
Handfull of Dust ///// / ///// //
Froth on the Daydream /
Bartleby & Co /
Summer /
Return of the Soldier ///// ///
House with the Blind Glass Windows /

The TBR will be announced tomorrow.

I have not read either book so I hope I can read both.

I just was able to buy A Handful of Dust for $1.39 Cdn on Amazon.ca. That's right in my price range!

As I said above, The Return of the Soldier is excellent (5* kind of excellent IMO). It seems the randomizer picked an appropriate companion to Waugh's novel.

Well that worked out fortuitously lol. I just bought the audio for Handful of dust (yay!). I've already Read Return of the Soldier, but I thought it was great and may jump into the discussion.

I have read both previously, so I will focus on whatever gets picked from the TBR and the randomized reads. And perhaps a few of the short Wharton ones that I wished were picked :)

Unless anybody wants to join in a Buddy Read for any of the following 4 books: Edith Wharton (The House of Mirth, Summer, Bunner Sisters), Alan Warner (Morvern Callar)?

I would be open to a buddy read of Summer and/or The Bunner Sisters if you decide to go that way Patrick.

I recently read Summer do could participate in a discussion.

Let's do Summer as a Buddy Read then, it will be quite topical for you in the Northern Hemisphere anyway (it will the dead of winter here). And it's a relatively short book, I'll aim to read it in the first week of July, then post questions/comments around that time.

Great. I schedule my reading appropriately. Thank you

I didn't get a better deal than Valerie, but bought a copy with both Waugh's Handful of Dust and The Decline and Fall for a little over $4 (incl shipping). eBay. Hopefully it's not super-yellowed. I'll plan on also reading The Decline and Fall in the near-ish future.