MobileRead September 2015 Book Club Vote

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Nyra

I've cast votes for Candide and Can Such Things Be? as they look like the most interesting selections, but I've only read Harry Potter out of all the nominations, so unless Harry Potter or Mein Kampf wins, I'll be participating in the discussion thread just as soon as I manage to find the rules for the book club...

The way the MobileRead Book Club works is pretty simple, really. We start with a nomination thread, followed by a vote (this thread), and the winner is discussed in a third thread on the 20th of the following month. See the Nomination Thread for September to see how we got here. The first post of that thread tell you pretty much everything you need to know to get you started.

Welcome to the Club, and be sure to check out the Literary Book Club as well. The emphasis is somewhat different, but many of the same people participate in both clubs.

[ccowie]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Anybody who votes for Mein Kampf is an unfeeling person who doesn't care about anyone else. This book should never have been allowed. I don't give a dam if this is censorship or not. It's something that is very personal and very hurtful to have it in the list and to have been allowed there. If it's not taken down, then I will be protesting to Alex to deal with it. What I would like to say about the people who nominated/voted for this book would get me banned from MR. And I feel very sorry for this book club when it's leader is allowing this to be here. This is something that needs to be addressed and addressed now! I never thought anyone on MR could be so mean and nasty.

The option is always open for people to simply not read a book if it arouses particular sensitivities. It makes perfect sense that this would actually happen when we are deliberately nominating books that have been banned. And we haven’t restricted the category to books that were banned for what most would universally accept as stupid reasons. The category is simply “banned books.”


It’s my sense that there is no one here who has been lurking in the club awaiting the opportunity to read an evil work by an evil man because they’re seeking some input and coaching on how to encourage fascism and genocide. Nor is anyone trying to be mean and nasty to others. The club seems pretty interested in reading banned books through the lens of our current world and sensibilities to discuss their literary, historical and possibly political merits. The reason I won’t vote for the book in question is because I have read it and can discuss ad nauseam the frightening horrors it contains. I have no desire to read it again.


There are many topics or themes, sexual abuse being one, that finds its way into many very good books worthy of reading and discussing. However, in the interest of avoiding painful triggers, some individuals bow out of the reading and discussions simply to protect themselves. They don’t accuse everyone who’s interested of being cruel, mean, nasty, insensitive, uncaring, unfeeling etc.



I don’t mind hearing why you’re not interesting in reading something, in fact I appreciate that. Really! But no one in the club benefits from being called names for their reading interests.

[Dazrin]

Well said ccowie. I considered voting for it since I haven't read it before (only HP from this list) and it could make for an interesting study but decided against it due to the length; the version I looked at is 600+ pages. I don't want to spend that much time reading a work that I would feel sickened by despite my curiosity.

[HarryT]

Am I the only one who sees the irony in calling for a book to be banned when the very subject here is "banned books"? To my mind, "Mein Kampf" is the natural winner in this list, because it has far more justification to be banned than everything else in the list combined.

[CRussel]

Yes, it's ironic. But going beyond that statement would get us into a discussion about politics that is definitely out of scope here. Personally, I have no truck with censorship. Full stop. And no desire to read Mein Kampf.

[johnnyb]

I didn’t know Beloved was ever banned...

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by johnnyb

I didn’t know Beloved was ever banned...

Even as recently as 2013 it was called for to be banned:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...e79_story.html

Originally Posted by HarryT

Am I the only one who sees the irony in calling for a book to be banned when the very subject here is "banned books"? To my mind, "Mein Kampf" is the natural winner in this list, because it has far more justification to be banned than everything else in the list combined.

Not at all. It and perhaps One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich are the only two books on the list that in my opinion one can argue have been banned in a broad sense as opposed to local efforts to suppress availability, access, or use in education. Just because some religiously motivated, or feminist motivated, or political point of view motivated group got worked up about a book does not really make for much in the term "banned." I mean Harry Potter?!

I did not vote for Mein Kampf during the nomination process or in this ongoing balloting for two reasons. One reason is pretty much what Issybird has stated. This group is probably just not the place to discuss it. My second reason is that having at one time attempted to read it I was unable to finish it not because of the point of view, but because it was just crap writing.

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Even as recently as 2013 it was called for to be banned:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...e79_story.html

One mother demanding a book to be banned from on school’s curriculum does not make it a banned book though, does it?
No it doesn’t, Beloved never was a banned book! (it's a great book though)

[WT Sharpe]

I'd like to see some more love for Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce; especially seeing as how we have no short story category next year.

[John F]

Originally Posted by johnnyb

One mother demanding a book to be banned from on school’s curriculum does not make it a banned book though, does it?
No it doesn’t, Beloved never was a banned book! (it's a great book though)

How about this ban:

http://www.care2.com/causes/banned-b...s-beloved.html

I believe "banned" is the short title for the category. The category also includes challenged books, IMO.

I admit that I assumed it was banned somewhere due to the controversial nature of some of the content.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

I did not vote for Mein Kampf during the nomination process or in this ongoing balloting for two reasons. One reason is pretty much what Issybird has stated. This group is probably just not the place to discuss it. My second reason is that having at one time attempted to read it I was unable to finish it not because of the point of view, but because it was just crap writing.

I entirely agree - the writing is truly dire. It's one half largely fictitious autobiography and the other half interminable and incomprehensible ranting about his vision for a new Germany. An extremely tedious book.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by John F

How about this ban:

http://www.care2.com/causes/banned-b...s-beloved.html

I believe "banned" is the short title for the category. The category also includes challenged books, IMO.

I admit that I assumed it was banned somewhere due to the controversial nature of some of the content.

That was my understanding of the category. It's been around a few years and it was always banned/challenged.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I'd like to see some more love for Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce; especially seeing as how we have no short story category next year.

While I was really hoping for something a bit more modern, and an assured good read, which is why I've been hoping that Golden Compass gets a bit more love. Nothing against either Bierce or Voltaire, but I think Pullman's book will be a more enjoyable read.

Come on, folks, let's give Voltaire a bit of a challenge!

[issybird]

Hey, Candide is funny and it's short. Free, too. It doesn't get any more enjoyable than that.

This in contrast to the last two months, one of which was prohibitively long, the other prohibitively expensive and neither funny.

Although Bierce would be good, too. Let's do one now, the other in January!