Vote for MobileRead's best fiction book of 1901-1910

[pdurrant]

Voting is now open. There's no need to hurry - the poll will be open until the 15th June, that's four weeks and five weekends.

Do feel free to discuss the selections before making your choice. Try to read some you haven't read yet - at least a chapter or two - before making your choice. I shall certainly do so.

When you've voted, you might also like to vote in Lynx-Lynx's poll of which books you have read, see this thread.

Both polls will hide the results until the polls have closed. Note that the polls are not anonymous - people will be able to see what you've voted for at the end of the poll.

[eschwartz]

I won't be voting in this poll, since I've only read one of the books.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I won't be voting in this poll, since I've only read one of the books.

You have time to sample the rest!

[eschwartz]

Think about it this way, a public poll is a specific choice to shed a layer of anonymity.

@pdurrant -- suggest something to me? My knowledge of books written before at least ~1950-60 is rather sketchy. A problem, I know perhaps this is the right opportunity to amend that.

I mainly read Sci-Fi/Fantasy, although I do enjoy mysteries as well -- Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes (that's the one I read).

And I can't stand books with animals as the characters.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

@pdurrant -- suggest something to me? My knowledge of books written before at least ~1950-60 is rather sketchy. A problem, I know perhaps this is the right opportunity to amend that.

I mainly read Sci-Fi/Fantasy, although I do enjoy mysteries as well -- Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes (that's the one I read).

And I can't stand books with animals as the characters.

Kim has elements of mystery in it. It's my nomination, so if you haven't read it, I'd urge you to give the first chapter a go, and see if it captures your interest.

Clearly, The Wind in the Willows doesn't appeal to you on the surface. But they're not really animals (i.e.. not Watership Down) so you might like it.

I like the Psammead Trilogy myself, but it's dated more than the others, perhaps.

I'm sure I've read The Call of the Wild, but I remember very little of it.

I'm sure you'll have read The Hound of the Baskervilles.

And there we reach the limits of my knowledge. It seeems I have some previews to read myself!

[Glorfindel]

Anne of Green Gables is an ok book.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

Anne of Green Gables is an ok book.

Must you gush so???

[Glorfindel]

You don't often see lightsaber-wielding Elves gush over books

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

You don't often see lightsaber-wielding Elves gush over books

No. That is a very niche website indeed

[eschwartz]

Mind telling us all what specifically you feel makes it an "ok book" (complete with underexaggerated enthusiasm)?

Unless you only wanted to preach to the choir (I'm sure there is one in this thread).

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Think about it this way, a public poll is a specific choice to shed a layer of anonymity.

@pdurrant -- suggest something to me? My knowledge of books written before at least ~1950-60 is rather sketchy. A problem, I know perhaps this is the right opportunity to amend that.

I mainly read Sci-Fi/Fantasy, although I do enjoy mysteries as well -- Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes (that's the one I read).

And I can't stand books with animals as the characters.

Okay, what about Kafka's The Trial? Have you read it? It's in the 1920's voting period, and whilst this book very likely isn't normally associated with sci-fi, Kafka bends time and space with great particularity in order to tell the story.

And one of the major themes, justice, is as totally relevant today as it was at the time of writing (circa 1913).

Edit
One of my comments to self was that Kafka must have been seeing little green fairies* at the time of devising various scenes in the book, and again at the time of writing other aspects.

(*after absinthe consumption)

Originally Posted by treadlightly

Every Canadian child reads Anne of Green Gables in school and it is one of the (few) books from my school curriculum that I really enjoyed. Despite having read none of the other books from the list of nominees, I am not inclined to attempt any others before the voting closes because Anne has my heart for this decade.

I was educated in Alberta, and we never read the book in school. At least in my case, that was probably a good thing. I was a boy who was interested in science and detective stories, and who didn't have the maturity to accept much beyond that. Having read it as an adult, I was able to accept both Anne and her imagination.

[treadlightly]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

I was educated in Alberta, and we never read the book in school. At least in my case, that was probably a good thing. I was a boy who was interested in science and detective stories, and who didn't have the maturity to accept much beyond that. Having read it as an adult, I was able to accept both Anne and her imagination.

I knew as soon as I posted that there would be an exception. But it is probably one of the most widely read Canadian books in school. I don't have any data, but I would assume that Anne tops anything written by Farley Mowat or Margaret Atwood. What books by Canadian authors did you read in (public) school?

[Glorfindel]

Well, I voted AoGG.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by BWinmill View Post
I was educated in Alberta, and we never read the book in school. At least in my case, that was probably a good thing. I was a boy who was interested in science and detective stories, and who didn't have the maturity to accept much beyond that. Having read it as an adult, I was able to accept both Anne and her imagination.

Very cool insight. I've been quite fascinated by my own changes in preferences over the years when it comes to reading various genres and age related books.