Reading 1001 discussion

It's that time. I will be posting books from authors Bratigan to Carroll. Voting is open from the 15th through the 23. Winners announced on the 24th. Please review the list of authors and the books that are eligible in this post. Comment, give your opinions, and most important, don't forget to vote. Everyone gets one free vote but if you want more opportunity you can use participation points. You will be using your 2023 points for voting. I hope to get those updated after I am done here. I will also be removing your 2022 posts so if you want them. You'll have to look elsewhere or copy and keep them.

HOW TO VOTE:
1. Make your choice or choices from the list that is posted here.
2. You get one free vote and if you have participation points you can have up to 5 votes. You can use them all on one choice or you can make 5 choices.
3. Send a Personal Message to either me or the shelf personality for Reading 1001
4. If you only comment here on your choice it won't get counted so don't forget to send that message.
5. In order to receive messages you must be a friend or in your profile, click that you will receive mail from everyone.

Books Excluded.
Testament of Youth, > 600 pages
Shirley > 600
Camilla, Cecilia
Them, 2021 botm and black water 2021 botm
Blonde >1000
The Children's Book 2021 Q read>600


Richard Brautigan - US author
1. In Watermelon Sugar 144 pgs, 1968
2. Willard and His Bowling Trophies, 167 pgs 1975

Bertolt Brecht - Germany
3. Threepenny Novel, 396 pages, 1934

André Breton - France
4. Nadja 160 pgs, 1928
5. Arcanum 17: With Apertures, 1945, 184 pages

André Brink - South Africa
6. A Dry White Season, 1979, 316 pgs, 2019 botm

Hermann Broch - Austria
7. The Death of Virgil - 1945, 493 pages
8. The Guiltless - 1950, 292 pages

Anne Brontë - British
9. Agnes Grey, 226 pgs
10. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, 576 pages

Charlotte Brontë, British
11. Villette, 1853, 573 pgs
12. Jane Eyre, 1847, 532 pages

Emily Brontë, British
13. Wuthering Heights, 1947, 532 pgs

John Buchan, Scotland
14. The Thirty-Nine Steps, 2015, 100 pgs, botm 2015

Mikhail Bulgakov - Russian
15. The Master and Margarita - 1967 372 pgs, 2013 botm

John Bunyan - England
16. The Pilgrim's Progress, 1684, 324 pgs

Anthony Burgess - England
17. A Clockwork Orange, 240 pages, 2011 botm
18. Inside Mr. Enderby, 207 pages

Fanny (Frances) Burney - England
19. Evelina - 1778, 455 pages

William S. Burroughs US
20. Naked Lunch 289 pgs
21. Queer Burroughs 160 pages
22. The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead, 193 pages
23. Junky 208 pages

Samuel Butler - England
24. The Way of All Flesh 1903, 315
25. Erewhon; or, Over the Range 1872, 272 pages

Dino Buzzati - Italy
26. The Tartar Steppe - 1940, 198 pgs

A.S. Byatt, UK
27. Possession, 555 pgs
28. The Virgin in the Garden

James M. Cain, US
29. The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1934, 116 pages

Erskine Caldwell, US
30. A House in the Uplands, 1946, 198 pgs

Italo Calvino, Cuba
31. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler 260 pgs, 1979, 2017 botm
32. The Castle of Crossed Destinies, 1973, 144 pgs
33, Invisible Cities, 195 pg, botm 2015
34. Our Ancestors, 3 novellas, 393 pgs
35. The Path to the Nest of Spiders, 172 pgs


Albert Camus, Algeria
36. The Rebel, 320 pgs
37. The Plague, 308 pgs, 2011 botm
38. The Stranger, 123 pgs

Elias Canetti, Bulgaria
39. Auto de fe, botm 2019

Karel Čapek, Czech Republic
40. War with the Newts, 241 pgs

Truman Capote, US
41. In Cold Blood, 343 pgs,
42. Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories, 2011 botm

Peter Carey Australia
43. Oscar and Lucinda
44. Jack Maggs, 2017 botm

Joyce Carol Oates, US
45. Marya, 320 pages

Alejo Carpentier, Switzerland
46. The Lost Steps, 296 pgs,
47. The Kingdom of This World, 186 pgs

Lewis Carroll, England
48. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 2015 botm
49. Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There

Those are the choices for March. What would you like to read?

I have read 26 of these so far and Through the Looking-Glass is not one of them!?! Its day will come, but I have a few on my TBR shelves:

- Threepenny Novel (Brecht)
- The Death of Virgil (Broch)
- Agnes Grey (A. Bronte)
- Villette (C. Bronte)
- Queer (Burroughs)
- The Virgin in the Garden (Byatt)
- The Castle of Crossed Destinies (Calvino)

Surely, I should get one of these as a BOTM! For the record, Villette has been on my shelf for more than 10 years; it was also the BOTM when I joined this group on Shelfari (~2011).

@Kristel: you have labelled Italo Calvino twice. The second one should be Albert Camus.

I have read 23, not counting the exclusions and I have none of the others in my shelves - my TBR list is dwindling!

I have read 19 of these. From this month’s whole list I would like to read The Lost Steps. However, from Patrick’s list I have only read one of them: The Virgin in the Garden. I would be open to any of the others, even Villette

I have a solid 4 to pick from lol they are:

-Threepenny novel
-Death of Virgil
-Our Ancestors
-House in the Uplands

I see the first 2 are on Patrick's list as well, and not the one Gail read, so I might go with 1 of those 2?

Yes, could go with either of those but would lean toward Death of Virgil

Happy to read the Threepenny Novel, Death of Virgil, or Villette. Other than that some Calvino would be great, especially The Castle of Crossed Destinies or Invisible Cities.

I'v read 28 of these. And at the moment not leaning any specific direction. I might have to just see how voting and the randomizer go for March.

On Patricks list
Threepenny Novel (Brecht)
- The Death of Virgil (Broch)
- Queer (Burroughs)
- The Virgin in the Garden (Byatt)
- The Castle of Crossed Destinies (Calvino)

On Amanda's list
-Threepenny novel
-Death of Virgil
-Our Ancestors
-House in the Uplands

My own TBR include
Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Williard and his Bowling Trophies

Fixed Camus, thanks for the catch, Patrick

Leaning towards threepenny novel, myself. Looks good!

I could go for either The Threepenny Novel or The Death of Virgil. My county library has both, although The Death of Virgil has to be ordered from the library's remote storage facility of unpopular books that they don't want to keep on site but can't quite bring themselves to discard. I like requesting books from storage because who knows, maybe that one request will mean they keep the book for another few years :)

On my actual shelf I have Invisible Cities and War with the Newts. Both of those sound intriguing.

I have read 12 of these and nothing is really pulling me this time.

Righto, I rarely do this, but I will disclose that I have voted for Brecht's Threepenny Novel for the following reasons:

- Objectively, while this novel and Broch's Death of Virgil have anti-Nazi overtones, the latter is a much more difficult read than Brecht's, due to its use of stream of consciousness, its modernist construction and the (apparently) strong intertextuality with Virgil's works. Probably a good idea to keep it for later, until one's acquainted with at least the Georgics and the Aeneid.
- Subjectively, I can read this one in French. And, while I'm experiencing some heavy going with Clarissa and Parade's End, I feel I need something a bit lighter to counter-balance.

I wasn't sure which one I wanted to go with, so thanks. I guess I can thank you for settling that, Patrick. I'll toss my votes in for threepenny novel too.

My vote for March is Villette.

Invisible Cities would be my top pick.
I've read 20 of these, more than my usual.
The Thirtynine Steps, ThreePenny novel or Villette would also be fine; of those, I slightly favor Villette, though it's fairly long. Thirtynine Steps is a short novella and unlike the other two, a "core" 1001 book, as is Invisible Cities.

Winner of popular vote: Threepenny Novel
Randomizer chose: Arcanum 17: With Apertures

What will you be reading in March?

It may be tricky to find Arcanum 17 but I will be reading both if I can find them.

I probably won’t be reading Arcanum 17. I will need to buy The Threepenny Novel as I don’t have that one.

Nice! Will be reading Threepenny novel. Have already read Arcanum 17 but I will say I really enjoyed it.

Amanda wrote: "Nice! Will be reading Threepenny novel. Have already read Arcanum 17 but I will say I really enjoyed it."

Would you be able to post some discussion questions for Arcanum 17.

Yep, can do. You can put me down to host Arcanum 17.

I was able to track down both books which was a bit tricky. Arcanum seem short, but very dense and difficult to get through. I'll probably decide once I page through it. I do plan to read three penny novel for sure.

They are both on Open Library - yeh!

I'll definitely read the Threepenny Novel. Not sure about the other one.

Having voted for it, I will read the Threepenny Novel, whose translated title in French is strangely enough the Fourpenny Novel (I don't know why). I have read Arcanum 17 ages ago and won't read it again. I do recall there is a strong Quebec connection to it as I believe that Breton wrote it while he was visiting the Gaspé Peninsula.

Wikipedia claims that four pennies is the idiomatically equivalent expression in French, but I have to admit I didn't know Threepenny was an idiom prior to Brecht's opera.

Leni wrote: "Wikipedia claims that four pennies is the idiomatically equivalent expression in French, but I have to admit I didn't know Threepenny was an idiom prior to Brecht's opera."

We had a threepenny coin in old money in the UK (before 1971) - it was pronounced "thruppenny" and called "a thruppenny bit" or "thruppence" (threepence). It was a funny little coin with 12 sides.

In the 1930s it would have bought you a pint of milk (about half a litre). So worth something, but not a lot.

I can get The Threepenny Novel from the library. I found a cheap copy of Arcane 17 in French on eBay, and as it's a short one I hope I can manage that. If the language proves too complex, I will switch to the Open Library.

Leni wrote: "Wikipedia claims that four pennies is the idiomatically equivalent expression in French, but I have to admit I didn't know Threepenny was an idiom prior to Brecht's opera."

It wouldn't really be like the French to put a 33% VAT on translating an expression, would it? :=))

I'm up for ThreePenny Novel. I will have to go to the University library for it, the county only has the shorter "Threepenny Opera", translation of Drei Groschenoper. I see that a dvd of the 1931 (pioneer early sound) film of 3 Penney Opera, restored by Criterion, is also available.
I'll pass on Arcanum 17, although the university also has that one, as I think I've read enough really weird books for a while with Atrocity Exhibition, Knot of Vipers and The Blind Owl.

I borrowed a copy of Threepenny novel from the university library yesterday and I found out that it was first published in the United States with the title "A Penny for the Poor", which they also have a 1938 copy of, by publisher Hillman-Curl, translated by Desmond Vesey, whose translation was also used under the Threepenny Novel title.

George P. wrote: "I borrowed a copy of Threepenny novel from the university library yesterday and I found out that it was first published in the United States with the title "A Penny for the Poor", which they also h..."

George, thank you for the information.