Reading with Style discussion

In honor of the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals 11th win in '11, choose one of the following:

A) - Read the 1st book by an author who has published at least 11 books:
Stories For Ninon by Émile Zola
B) - Read the 1st book in a series by an author who has published at least 11 books. The series does not need to be 11 books long:
Lourdes by Émile Zola (Three Cities Trilogy)
C) - Read the 11th book published by an author:
His Excellency by Émile Zola
D) - Read the 11th book in a series:
The Ladies' Paradise by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart series, ordered by publish date)
OR The Belly of Paris by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart series, Zola's recommended reading order)
E) - Read a book set in St. Louis, MO. The author does NOT need to have published 11 books:
Tell No Lies by Julie Compton

"Book" includes any published work where the author is listed first on the cover or title page. A book could be a collection of poetry, a collection of short stories, a novel, novella(s), or a play. It does not include books for which the author in question was the editor or contributed an introduction/afterword, or anthologies in which the author's work is included.

For the sake of consistency, the primary resource we will use for a listing of an author's works is Fantastic Fiction. If you use another source to determine book order (ie wiki for Zola's recommended book order), please provide the link.

I find Fantastic Fiction the best place to see authors books in their published order.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

So if an author's first published book is the start of a series, but there are only 8 in the series so far, that's ok, right?

I was wondering about the 11 books requirement. Am I correct that whatever author we choose must have 11 published books? Also, on the fantastic fiction site(which is great for this- thanks Elizabeth!), do we just go by novels or figure out the 11th by copyright date if the author has other books like nonfiction or story collections?

Paula wrote: "So if an author's first published book is the start of a series, but there are only 8 in the series so far, that's ok, right?"

If they have published at least three non-series books as well (so that they have written at least 11 books), yes that would work.

Karen GHHS wrote: "I was wondering about the 11 books requirement. Am I correct that whatever author we choose must have 11 published books? Also, on the fantastic fiction site(which is great for this- thanks Elizabe..."

The 11th book published, including non-fiction, short stories, etc.

I'm sorry... I'll still a little confused. I'd like to choose an author's 1st book, but he hasn't published 11 books. Would this book work for this task?

If we choose a book set in St. Louis, does the author still need to have published 11 books?

And another question: I'm thinking of using Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. But according to Fantastic Fiction, he seems to have published some poetry before publishing this one (i.e., his first novel). Can I use the first novel or does it have to be the first collection of poems?

Or, more generally, do "collections" count as books (e.g., where the author has contributed a story or essay to a collection)? Or only books entirely by the author?

Amy W wrote: "I'm sorry... I'll still a little confused. I'd like to choose an author's 1st book, but he hasn't published 11 books. Would this book work for this task?"

No, if you are using the 1st/11th book option, the author must have published at least 11 books.

OK, apparently this task needs serious re-wording or restructuring. I'll consult with the other moderators and we'll try to find a way to present this more clearly.

I suggest:

Choose an author who has published at least 11 books. You then read:

The author's first book
or
The author's 11th book
or
The 1st book in a series written by the author
or
The 11th book in a series by the author

OR read a book set primarily in St. Louis, MO.

Will that work?

In honor of the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals 11th win in '11, choose one of the following:

A) - Read the 1st book by an author who has published at least 11 books:
Stories For Ninon by Émile Zola
B) - Read the 1st book in a series by an author who has published at least 11 books. The series does not need to be 11 books long:
Lourdes by Émile Zola (Three Cities Trilogy)
C) - Read the 11th book published by an author:
His Excellency by Émile Zola
D) - Read the 11th book in a series:
The Ladies' Paradise by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart series, ordered by publish date)
OR The Belly of Paris by Émile Zola (Rougon-Macquart series, Zola's recommended reading order)
E) - Read a book set in St. Louis, MO. The author does NOT need to have published 11 books:
Tell No Lies by Julie Compton

"Book" includes any published work where the author is listed first on the cover or title page. A book could be a collection of poetry, a collection of short stories, a novel, novella(s), or a play. It does not include books for which the author in question was the editor or contributed an introduction/afterword, or anthologies in which the author's work is included.

For the sake of consistency, the primary resource we will use for a listing of an author's works is Fantastic Fiction. If you use another source to determine book order (ie wiki for Zola's recommended book order), please provide the link.

Joanna wrote: "If we choose a book set in St. Louis, does the author still need to have published 11 books?"

Nope.

Joanna wrote: "And another question: I'm thinking of using Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis. But according to Fantastic Fiction, he seems to have published some poetry before publishing this one (i.e., his first novel). Can I use the first novel or does it have to be the first collection of poems?"

Bright November is Kingsley Amis' first book (option A). However, Lucky Jim is the first book in his Jim Dixon series and qualifies for option B.

Joanna wrote: "More generally, do "collections" count as books (e.g., where the author has contributed a story or essay to a collection)? Or only books entirely by the author? ..."

Anthologies/collections with multiple authors do not count. Books that are co-authored, with the author in question listed first on the cover page, do count.

Liz M wrote: "In honor of the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals 11th win in '11, choose one of the following:

A) - Read the 1st book by an author who has published at least 11 books:
[book:Stories For Ninon|..."

Excellent- very clear and easy to follow. I absolutely love the task, Kate! I'm going to read T. C. Boyle's first and also, choose books with combo points like John Irving's first for my personality traits selection! Thanks!

Karen GHHS wrote: "Excellent- very clear and easy to follow...."

Phew!

Thanks for the clarifications -- this makes it much more clear. I really like this task and have identified a couple of possibilities already.

Can I get an opinion on using Ender's Game for this task? A few sites list this as the start of an 11+ book series, but fantasticfiction.com splits that out into two series, but related ones. Thanks!

Paula wrote: "Can I get an opinion on using Ender's Game for this task? A few sites list this as the start of an 11+ book series, but fantastic fiction.com splits that out into two series, but rela..."

According to option B: the first book in a series (regardless of length), by an author who has published more than 11 works will qualify for this task. Ender's Game looks good!

Sweet! Thank you!

Hi, I'm reading The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend and it is her first novel, she has however written two plays before (according to wikipedia)... does it count as her first work then?
thanks, Phoebe

EDIT: ok, the intro-entry solved my problem...fantasticfiction dates her plays later than the book...however, the publication date of the "Diary..."-book is clearly wrong there, since the Diary was not 1985 but 1983. It had to be before the "Growing Pains..."
I would count it as her first then... :)

Does anyone have a little time to help me with Margaret atwood's work for this task? Her first book is an unavailable chapbook from what I can tell. Double Persephone. I can get the next two (not quite 100 pages for Circle Game & Animals in That Country) so could I combine those two as her first book? Also, could you figure out her 11th book? I come up with 3 possibilities counting or not counting that first chapbook & I want to see what others think is the actual 11th book! Thanks!

I would think it would be the 11th published book by publication date.

From the Margaret Atwood website: http://www.margaretatwood.ca/books_by...

Discounting Persephone, which is listed as a pamphlet, and omitting the small press editions (because I think they are fairly old and unavailable, and just because) I can construct the following:

1964 The Circle Game Poetry
1969 The Animals in That country Poetry
1969 The Edible Woman Novel
1970 The Journals of Susanna Moodie Poetry
1970 Procedures for Underground Poetry
1972 Survival: A Thematic Guide Non-Fiction
1972 Surfacing Novel
1973 Power Politics Poetry
1975 You Are Happy Poetry
1976 Lady Oracle Novel
1976 Selected Poems; Poetry
1976 Selected Poems, 1965-1975 Poetry

So the selected poetry 1976 doesn't have to be counted?
Also, were you able to tell for sure that Dancing Girls(see link below- can't edit right on my iPad) the story collection from 1977, was published after Days of the Rebels?

Thanks for the help!

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "From the Margaret Atwood website: http://www.margaretatwood.ca/books_by...

Discounting Persephone, which is listed as a pamphlet, I can construct the following:

1964 The Circle Game Poetry
196..."

Dancing Girls

Oh, I'm so sorry, Karen. I thought I was being so careful!

Yes. In fact there are two collections of poetry published in 1976, you may choose either of them.

Selected Poems; Oxford, 1976; Simon & Schuster, 1978.

Selected Poems, 1965-1975; Houghton Mifflin, Oxford, 1976.

Thanks, I know! I had so many different answers depending on that chapbook which I was counting at first. Then I decided to try to read her first book and found out about the chapbook, so I started again. Then I wasn't sure about the selected poetry - aggh - it was driving me batty! For awhile I thought Lady Oracle was the 11th book and I'm reading that already for CiV and, needless to say, I didn't want to open that can of worms again and move it. Now, I'll just have to see if I have time for them!

CiV has definitely been a can of worms!

Sorry about the error. Looking at that list of publications was so interesting, so thanks for asking the question!

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "CiV has definitely been a can of worms!

Sorry about the error. Looking at that list of publications was so interesting, so thanks for asking the question!"

A lovable can of worms, though;) and I've really enjoyed looking at the lists of favorite authors for '11 '11, too- thanks for the help & glad you enjoyed it!

Note to Liz: I've edited the list I posted in Msg 26 to clarify for you the research to give Karen her Atwood's Selected Poems.

How many books make a series?

I'm wondering if I can get comb points for 10.9 for Blackout? Connie Willis has definitely written more than 11 books. Goodreads is listing Blackout as All Clear #1 and Fantastic Fiction lists it as in the Oxford Time Travel series (with a #1, but with 3 publications that pre-date it).

Now, as a Willis fan, I can say that this is set in the same universe and even has the some recurring characters from the earlier works though its not a continuation of the same story. I haven't finished it , my understanding is Blackout and All Clear are basically one giant book sliced in half. As far as I know there is no planned third book.

So, depending on interpretation Blackout could be either in the middle of a series, the first in a series of 2, or just a book with a sequel?

Leigh wrote: "How many books make a series?

I'm wondering if I can get comb points for 10.9 for Blackout? Connie Willis has definitely written more than 11 books. Goodreads is listing Blacko..."

It is listed in two places as being the first book in a series,by an author who has more than 11 published works, my gut instinct is to say this qualifies. The moderators may feel otherwise, but it is called the first book so it appears to me it should qualify.

Leigh wrote: "How many books make a series?

I'm wondering if I can get comb points for 10.9 for Blackout? Connie Willis has definitely written more than 11 books. Goodreads is listing Blacko..."

The problem with this book, and we've thought about it hard, is that it isn't really a series. Instead it's a 2-part book, Blackout being part one.

The first half of her newest novel, Blackout, was published in February 2010 with the second half, All Clear, was published in October, 2010.

That is the word from Connie Willis' website. Unfortunately, as such, we won't be able to allow it as the first in a series.

O.k. Thanks for having a look at it! :)

I am currently reading Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas de Quincey for another task and I was wondering if I could claim combo points for 10.9 for it.

From everything I am reading about Thomas de Quincey, his first published works was this memoir in the London Magazine. It was then re published as a book later that year. Prior to the memoir he was working on translations for other people and as an editor. I can not find any mention of previous publications.

From everything I am seeing, he published more than 11 items through out his life.

Thanks for your help!

Arow wrote: "I am currently reading Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas de Quincey for another task and I was wondering if I could claim combo points for 10.9 for it.
..."

Apparently he wrote many articles for publication prior to Opium Eater, but no books. Yes, you may claim it for this task.

Perfect; thank you very much for the confirmation. I appreciate the quick turn around :-)