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

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

bf, I'm planning to read Riddle soon. But when The 39 Steps was the book club's selection, it was discussed as if it was the first modern spy thriller. Are you confident that Riddle rather than 39 Steps was the one?

Yes, John Buchan was supposedly strongly influenced by The Riddle of the Sands.

Childers was no stranger to the twilight world. Although his Irish background was of the Protestant Ascendency and he was an Establishment insider (he was Clerk of Petitions), he sided with the Republicans. He ran a cargo of rifles into Ireland in June 1914 (supposedly used in the 1916 Easter Rising). He wound up on the wrong side in the Irish Civil War and was executed by firing squad in 1921, after a rushed military trial.

So I believe that will not be reading any of the books listed that I have not already read, at least not before the polling closes. So I went ahead and cast my vote for The Jungle.

[AnotherCat]

I have spent some time browsing the books nominated that I had not read or had not considered before, and have added Buddenbrooks to my "to Read" list, to the top if it in fact.

So thanks to the nominator because I would probably never have thought to give it a go otherwise.

That and The Virginian, which was already on my list, together with books from later decades should keep me out of trouble for a while .

[AnotherCat]

If it is possible, would it be worth making these polls "Stickies" so that they do not get lost down the list under later responses to other threads; especially as the close of the poll approaches?

PS. Am well into Buddenbrooks - a good book

[Dazrin]

No comments on this one closing? Did everyone forget about it?

Of the two top selections I do prefer Anne of Green Gables but Hound would have been an excellent choice as well. I have only read two of the others though.

[GA Russell]

Yes, I forgot!

[Lynx-lynx]

The outcome of the poll is quite meaningless by itself, because there is no indication as to how many of the books were read by the voting population.

So, if only (say) 4 books were read and one of those 4 was voted for (and one was only supposed to vote for books that they'd read) then the book showing the highest number of votes is potentially only indicative of a book that has been read and considered the best by a small percentage of the overall voting population.

I abstained from voting, because the poll was changed from open vote to closed vote, even though I nominated a book for this (and every) period. So, there may be others who also nominated books and didn't vote because of the change. (Or didn't nominate books but considered that open vote was their preference)

For me this Best Book exercise has proved most fruitful in drawing out the books of each decade that I have now followed up on (and which I might never have come across otherwise).

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

For me this Best Book exercise has proved most fruitful in drawing out the books of each decade that I have now followed up on (and which I might never have come across otherwise).

[Dazrin]

I don't think it is meaningless that not all the books have been read, it might just speak to the popularity of some books which is one way this could have been interpreted. The top two books had twice as many votes as any of the others (except Kim by Rudyard Kipling, barely) which is a surprising spread to me. I was expecting a tighter grouping.

Certainly the most valuable part of this will be in adding to my want-to-read list though.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I don't think it is meaningless that not all the books have been read, it might just speak to the popularity of some books which is one way this could have been interpreted. The top two books had twice as many votes as any of the others (except Kim by Rudyard Kipling, barely) which is a surprising spread to me. I was expecting a tighter grouping.

Certainly the most valuable part of this will be in adding to my want-to-read list though.

I suspect that one of the reasons why some books appear to be more popular than others is because other nominated books were not introduced into the voter's orbit in their junior reading years.

For example, Anne of Green Gables being part of the Canadian education system, and The Getting of Wisdom part of the Aus ed system. Other books however may have not been widely introduced to the readers attention until university or some other experience, say Henry James.

Other books have been made into movies, say like Kim, and Hound of the Baskervilles, and I know that the reason that I haven't read those books is because I've seen the movies.

As to the end result being 'meaningless', I refer to trying to decipher the outcome of a poll where not all books had to be read as a prerequisite to voting ..... so statistically, interpreting the votes can't be tested unless you know how many books each voter had read. (Well, I'm numerically illiterate but that's my take on it)

[treadlightly]

What I think is exciting? 60 voters!!!

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

For example, Anne of Green Gables being part of the Canadian education system,

I never saw anything of Anne of Green Gables when I was going to school, but it apparently was once very popular in Japan. I visited the Green Gables house on P.E.I. in 2003 and was amazed by the number of Japanese tourists there.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-...b_4899252.html

I guess it's one of these odd things like "Why do so many of Britain's top goalies love the Yangtze?"

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

I suspect that one of the reasons why some books appear to be more popular than others is because other nominated books were not introduced into the voter's orbit in their junior reading years.

For example, Anne of Green Gables being part of the Canadian education system, and The Getting of Wisdom part of the Aus ed system. Other books however may have not been widely introduced to the readers attention until university or some other experience, say Henry James.

Other books have been made into movies, say like Kim, and Hound of the Baskervilles, and I know that the reason that I haven't read those books is because I've seen the movies.

As to the end result being 'meaningless', I refer to trying to decipher the outcome of a poll where not all books had to be read as a prerequisite to voting ..... so statistically, interpreting the votes can't be tested unless you know how many books each voter had read. (Well, I'm numerically illiterate but that's my take on it)

Forced reading could be part of it but I know I didn't have to read any of them for school. Not that that means much.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

The outcome of the poll is quite meaningless by itself, because there is no indication as to how many of the books were read by the voting population...

...For me this Best Book exercise has proved most fruitful in drawing out the books of each decade that I have now followed up on (and which I might never have come across otherwise).

I think issues along the lines of the first point are difficult to avoid as it is unlikely that many (if any?) have read all the books and that will be especially so in the next decades, for example, when the likes of Proust and Joyce appear, they being landmark books in the history of literature and of undoubted quality, but read by few (comparatively speaking). I assumed that the outcomes would be weighted towards what voters enjoyed most or were more popular reads from among the nominations (the quality of none I dispute). I don't regard that as a bad thing.

Likewise for me regarding your last point, the nominations have pointed out books in each decade that I have not read, or thought about, but worth looking at. I have ploughed through and enjoyed the quite long Buddenbrooks from this decade, for example.

I had planned on trying Vance Packard's The Passage as I enjoy Australian books along its lines (as I have mentioned before ) but as I cannot find an eBook and our local library not having a pBook, together with its nominator seeming to have given up expanding on her nominations I feel abandoned on that one (by the way, it is out of copyright on our side of the Tasman so I could even build an eBook if I had the needed text ).

[pdurrant]

Our first winner!

And this weekend I'll try to get the next voting thread up.