MobileRead November 2013 *Category* Poll

[WT Sharpe]

The above poll contains your nominations for the November 2013 category. This visible poll is multiple choice and will be open for 4 days.

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The story thus far:

The 2013 MobileRead Book Club Monthly Categories

• January: Second Chance (No nominations this month. The polls will be comprised of selections that either came in second place or tied for second place during the previous 11 months.)
• February Romance
• March Travel/Adventure
• April Classics
• May Mystery/Thriller
• June Award Winners
• July Non-Fiction
• August Science Fiction
• September Banned or Challenged Books
• October Patricia Clark Memorial Library (MobileRead Library)

For reference and comparison purposes only, here are the 2012 Categories:

Spoiler:

• January — RunnerUp (No nominations, a vote of all the runners-up nominations from the last 11 months.)
• February — Romance
• March — Thriller/Suspense
• May — Humour
• May — Fantasy
• June — Classic
• July — Mystery/Crime
• August — FreeForAll
• September — NonFiction
• October — Horror
• November — Science Fiction
• December — Classic

[Dazrin]

Doh! I missed one of my check boxes (MR Authors). Oh well, didn't sound like it would win anyway.

[GA Russell]

I'm not too disappointed that Humor isn't doing very well because I think that December is the best month for it. The Christmas spirit is supposed to be happy and jolly!

[Asawi]

I'm fine with many categories this time, but I'm once again surprised that MR Authors doesn't do better.

[fantasyfan]

So far it's looking like another close poll!

[Bookpossum]

Indeed, and interesting contenders in the lead.

[desertblues]

Yes, I agree that it is an interesting poll.
Though I voted for Foreign, I am not totally against Short Stories. I didn't like short stories till I read one of Haruki Murakami ,'Blind willow, sleeping woman', with a preface that melted my heart towards the genre.

Spoiler:

(Haruki Murakami in Blind willow, sleeping woman)
"'One of the joys of writing short stories is that they don’t take so long to finish. Generally it takes me about a week to get a short story into some kind of decent shape (though revisions can be endless). It’s not like the total physical and mental commitment you have to make for the year or two it takes to compose a novel. You merely enter a room, finish your work, and exit. That’s it. For me, at least, writing a novel can seem to drag on forever, and I sometimes wonder if I’m going to survive. So I find writing short stories a necessary change of pace.
One more nice thing about short stories is that you can create a story out of the smallest details—an idea that springs up in your mind, a word, an image, whatever. In most cases it’s like jazz improvisation, with the story taking me where it wants to. And another good point is that with short stories you don’t have to worry about failing. If the idea doesn’t work out the way you hoped it would, you just shrug your shoulders and tell yourself that they can’t all be'winners. Even with masters of the genre like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Raymond Carver—even Anton Chekhov—not every short story is a masterpiece. I find this a great comfort. You can learn from your mistakes (in other words, those you can’t call a complete success) and use that in the next story you write. In my case, when I write novels I try very hard to learn from the successes and failures I experience in writing short stories. In that sense, the short story is a kind of experimental laboratory for me as a novelist. It’s hard to experiment the way I like inside the framework of a novel, so without short stories I know I’d find the task of writing novels even more difficult and demanding.
Essentially I consider myself a novelist, but a lot of people tell me they prefer my short stories to my novels. That doesn’t bother me, and I don’t try to convince them otherwise. I’m actually happy to hear them say that. My short stories are like soft shadows I’ve set out in the world, faint footprints I’ve left behind. I remember exactly where I set down each and every one of them and how I felt when I did. Short stories are like guideposts to my heart, and it makes me happy as a writer to be able to share these intimate feelings with my readers"

[WT Sharpe]

Come on Science ... or Philosophy ... or Humor, Short Stories, Biography/Memoir, or Speculative Fiction; pretty much in that order, but especially Science or Philosophy!

[Dazrin]

Wow, a couple last minute votes for Foreign takes it to the top.

[WT Sharpe]

The 2013 MobileRead book club selections are looking a lot like the Literary Book Club selections.

[issybird]

I'm delighted with the outcome (would have been pleased with several); I just have one fervent prayer:

Spoiler:

Please, not another Russian work!

But we're a long way from November.

[WT Sharpe]

The nominations thread for December's category is here.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm delighted with the outcome (would have been pleased with several); I just have one fervent prayer:

Spoiler:

Please, not another Russian work!

But we're a long way from November.

Would Lolita qualify?

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm delighted with the outcome (would have been pleased with several); I just have one fervent prayer:

Spoiler:

Please, not another Russian work!

But we're a long way from November.

Originally Posted by desertblues

Yes, I agree that it is an interesting poll.
Though I voted for Foreign, I am not totally against Short Stories. I didn't like short stories till I read one of Haruki Murakami ,'Blind willow, sleeping woman', with a preface that melted my heart towards the genre.

Spoiler:

(Haruki Murakami in Blind willow, sleeping woman)
"'One of the joys of writing short stories is that they don’t take so long to finish. Generally it takes me about a week to get a short story into some kind of decent shape (though revisions can be endless). It’s not like the total physical and mental commitment you have to make for the year or two it takes to compose a novel. You merely enter a room, finish your work, and exit. That’s it. For me, at least, writing a novel can seem to drag on forever, and I sometimes wonder if I’m going to survive. So I find writing short stories a necessary change of pace.
One more nice thing about short stories is that you can create a story out of the smallest details—an idea that springs up in your mind, a word, an image, whatever. In most cases it’s like jazz improvisation, with the story taking me where it wants to. And another good point is that with short stories you don’t have to worry about failing. If the idea doesn’t work out the way you hoped it would, you just shrug your shoulders and tell yourself that they can’t all be'winners. Even with masters of the genre like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Raymond Carver—even Anton Chekhov—not every short story is a masterpiece. I find this a great comfort. You can learn from your mistakes (in other words, those you can’t call a complete success) and use that in the next story you write. In my case, when I write novels I try very hard to learn from the successes and failures I experience in writing short stories. In that sense, the short story is a kind of experimental laboratory for me as a novelist. It’s hard to experiment the way I like inside the framework of a novel, so without short stories I know I’d find the task of writing novels even more difficult and demanding.
Essentially I consider myself a novelist, but a lot of people tell me they prefer my short stories to my novels. That doesn’t bother me, and I don’t try to convince them otherwise. I’m actually happy to hear them say that. My short stories are like soft shadows I’ve set out in the world, faint footprints I’ve left behind. I remember exactly where I set down each and every one of them and how I felt when I did. Short stories are like guideposts to my heart, and it makes me happy as a writer to be able to share these intimate feelings with my readers"

I also have a author from China in mind. But as you say November is a long way off.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by orlok

Would Lolita qualify?

Since Nabokov was as American as blueberry pie and Mom, for once Lolita wouldn't qualify. Not to worry though; we can squeeze it in for Classics and again for banned.