MobileRead March 2017 Book Club Nominations

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by obs20

Humbugs of the World
by P.T. Barnum
3.76 · Rating Details · 42 Ratings · 12 Reviews
This work exposes several of the chief humbugs of the world, written in the entertaining and humorous style Barnum is known for. Found within are discussions relative to hoaxes, money manias, adventurers, medicine and quacks, religious humbugs, trade and business impositions, spiritualists, ghosts and witchcrafts, and personal reminiscences.

What is the ADE page count of this book?

[obs20]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What is the ADE page count of this book?

The page count is 269.

[Dazrin]

I will third The Red Cockade and Humbugs of the World.

[obs20]

I will second A to Izzard.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by obs20

I will second A to Izzard.

A to Izzard has been fully nominated, so you've got your last nomination back.

[issybird]

C'mon, folks! Thousands of free books to choose from and 2½ days to go - plenty of time to get more books in the poll.

[GA Russell]

OK, issy! Recently I have been in the mood to read something in the Action & Adventure genre.

So I nominate King of the Khyber Rifles by Talbot Mundy.

"The men who govern India—more power to them and her!—are few. Those who stand in their way and pretend to help them with a flood of words are a host. And from the host goes up an endless cry that India is the home of thugs, and of three hundred million hungry ones."

Kindle
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=74966

ePub
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=74962

[CRussel]

I've got one ticket left. I'd really kind of like to read a classic of some sort, but one that's an enjoyable, rather than challenging, read, if you follow me. Anyone got a suggestion? Even if you don't have any nominations let.

If this were Life+50, I'd have a bunch of suggestions from things I've been meaning to read. But I'm not coming up with anything off the top of my head. And the library does NOT lend itself to browsing.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I've got one ticket left. I'd really kind of like to read a classic of some sort, but one that's an enjoyable, rather than challenging, read, if you follow me. Anyone got a suggestion? Even if you don't have any nominations let.

If this were Life+50, I'd have a bunch of suggestions from things I've been meaning to read. But I'm not coming up with anything off the top of my head. And the library does NOT lend itself to browsing.

I'm curious about those who fall into those two decades. Off the top of my head, I've got Waugh, Hemingway, Orwell, Faulkner, Sinclair Lewis, although of course there are many others.

From your comment, I think you want something recent (in this context) and not a moldy old book that's no good, to employ a member's phrase. How about The Forsyte Saga? Good read, author's a Nobelist, started the Brit television drama craze in the US that persists to this day.

Or there's the very readable F. Scott Fitzgerald, although the club did read something by him several years ago (full disclosure: one of my favorite club discussions ever).

It's a fun question and I shall continue to think about it although i know the clock is ticking.

[BenG]

I'll nominate Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. It was nominated before but didn't win.

Too be honest I didn't believe I would care too much for the book, but I ended up liking it a lot.

The most well-known and well-liked of Gaskell's works, this softly humorous picture of an English country village was first serialized in a magazine edited by Charles Dickens in 1851. Based on the village of Gaskell's childhood, "Cranford" is narrated by a young woman visiting the town who describes the genteel poverty of two middle-aged spinster sisters, Miss Matty and Miss Deborah. Gaskell tells of their little adventures in a confidential and almost chatty tone, perfectly conveying their habits and standards of propriety, decency, and kindness in reduced circumstances. The colorful characters and subtle class distinctions of the village of Cranford are captured in this compassionate and hopeful portrayal of small-town English life.

and from a Goodreads review:
"the humor is so sly. at times it's difficult to believe that this was written over 150 years ago. I guess that gentle social humor has always been with us.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=13375

[BenG]

I'll also nominate the first book in one of my favorite series, Queen Lucia by E.F. Benson. The series really hits its stride with the third book, Mapp and Lucia, but Queen Lucia is good in its own right.

Mrs. Lucas, Lucia (pronounced Lu-CHEE-A) to her intimates, resides in the village of Riseholme, a pretty Elizabethan village in Worcestershire, where she vigorously guards her status as "Queen" despite occasional attempts from her subjects to overthrow her. Lucia’s dear friend Georgie Pillson both worships Lucia and occasionally works to subvert her power.

A very witty book, you feel affection for Lucia and her affectations but at the same time you want to see her taken down a notch.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=107672

[BenG]

And I'll second King of the Khyber Rifles.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by BenG

I'll also nominate the first book in one of my favorite series, Queen Lucia by E.F. Benson. The series really hits its stride with the third book, Mapp and Lucia, but Queen Lucia is good in its own right.

I'm a huge Lucia fan and I know there are others here. Sheer delight.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm curious about those who fall into those two decades. Off the top of my head, I've got Waugh, Hemingway, Orwell, Faulkner, Sinclair Lewis, although of course there are many others.

From your comment, I think you want something recent (in this context) and not a moldy old book that's no good, to employ a member's phrase. How about The Forsyte Saga? Good read, author's a Nobelist, started the Brit television drama craze in the US that persists to this day.

Or there's the very readable F. Scott Fitzgerald, although the club did read something by him several years ago (full disclosure: one of my favorite club discussions ever).

It's a fun question and I shall continue to think about it although i know the clock is ticking.

I remember not particularly enjoying F. Scott Fitzgerald in my youth, when it was required reading, but my opinion might well have changed by now. Worth a thought.

As for The Forsyte Saga? Perhaps. Though it's rather large, even if you only look at the first triplet. Though the first book alone would be a more manageable 220 pages or so. OTOH, I've wanted an excuse to read this epic work for years. So, why not. Time is short, but I'll nominate it in the hope that others will be willing to come along for the ride.

I nominate book 1 of The Forsyte Saga, The Man of Property, by John Galsworthy.

John Galsworthy (1867-1933) devoted virtually his entire professional career to creating a fictional but entirely representative family of propertied Victorians: the Forsytes. He made their lives and times, loves and losses, fortunes and deaths so real that readers accused him of including as characters in his drama real individuals whom they knew. He was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.

The entire saga comprises three trilogies of books, of which this is the first. The other two ("A Modern Comedy" and "End of the Chapter") are available as separate downloads.

This first trilogy, "The Forsyte Saga", chronicles the life of three generations of the Forsyte family, a wealthy upper middle class English family, in the turbulent years between the 1880s and the 1920s - a time period during which English society was completely transformed. The books are set against the great events of the day - the Boer War and WWI, the rise of Labour, the death of Queen Victoria, and much more.

This book was originally published as three novels, with a short story "interlude" between each one, the structure being:

The Man of Property
(Interlude) Indian Summer of a Forsyte
In Chancery
(Interlude) Awakening
To Let

This is far from "light reading", but richly rewards the effort. Once you get "into" the story, these are great books.

This book was previously uploaded by HarryT (the above text is mainly what HarryT wrote), that's why I start with v4. Since his version was, as he told me, just a direct translation of the PG text, I've created this new one, for this I proofread the text (at what I call level 2, hundreds of corrections done, checking against a scan from the Internet Archive), added a music score fragment and a family tree, curly quotes, italics, etc.

I've linked to Jelby's version, since it was built on HarryT's and edited, but if you prefer others, there are multiple versions in the PCML. Choose the one that you prefer!

Also, here's an Audible link for the David Case narration of the first volume. Again, there are multiple versions if you have someone you prefer, though I find that hard to imagine, David Case being one of my favourite narrators of all time.

[bfisher]

I'll second Cranford