Literary Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain & France Vote • November 2015

[sun surfer]

Help choose the November 2015 selection to read for the MR Literary Club!


Select from the following works:


Memoirs of Hadrian by Margeurite Yourcenar, Belgium

Spoiler:

From Goodreads:

Both an exploration of character and a reflection on the meaning of history, Memoirs of Hadrian has received international acclaim since its first publication in France in 1951. In it, Marguerite Yourcenar reimagines the Emperor Hadrian's arduous boyhood, his triumphs and reversals, and finally, as emperor, his gradual reordering of a war-torn world, writing with the imaginative insight of a great writer of the twentieth century while crafting a prose style as elegant and precise as those of the Latin stylists of Hadrian's own era.

Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant, France

Spoiler:

This one's free and to be found in the MR Library. It is the collection uploaded by crutledge. epub


From Goodreads:

Guy de Maupassant is one of the few writers whose short stories—witty, economical, elegant, yet straightforward in style—are so forceful that his literary reputation can rest on them alone. Beneath their deceptively simple surfaces lies a deep understanding of the complexities of the human psyche. Maupassant explores the full panoply of late-nineteenth-century French society, from prostitutes in Parisian brothels and peasants in rural cottages, to adulterous aristocrats at expensive spas and patrician parties.

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The poll will be open for three days and a discussion thread will begin shortly after a winner is chosen.

The vote is multiple choice. You may vote for as many or as few as you like. If you vote for the winner it is hoped that you will read the selection with the club and join in the discussion.

Bonus votes:

Spoiler:

When the poll ends, bonus votes will be manually added before determining final results. Basically, anyone who has commented in two out of the last six discussion threads is eligible for bonus votes, and everyone eligible will have any votes cast doubled.

Everyone is welcome and encouraged to vote if interested in participating in the literary club whether eligible for bonus votes or not, and anyone interested in bonus votes is encouraged to become eligible as it doesn’t take much.

Currently eligible-
BelleZora, bfisher, Bookpossum, Bookworm_Girl, caleb72, ccowie, fantasyfan, Hamlet53, HomeInMyShoes, Lynx-lynx, poohbear_nc, sun surfer

This includes posts thus far in the May to October discussion threads.
*There are a few caveats to eligibility as outlined in this post.
**If anyone feels there is any mistake in eligibility, please let me know before the poll is over. Once the poll ends and the tally with bonus votes added is announced, the results will be final.

In the event of a tie, it will be resolved in favour of the selection that received all of its initial nominations first.

[Bookpossum]

Hmm - tricky! I nominated the Guy de Maupassant, but I have read his stories before and have never read the Yourcenar, so I decided to go with Memoirs of Hadrian.

[sun surfer]

With or without bonus votes the result is the same - Memoirs of Hadrian it is!

I'll have the discussion thread up within the day.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Looking forward to this one. Two paperback books in a row!

[Bookpossum]

Yes, you have to get used to turning the page instead of swiping it with your finger!

I'm off to the library after lunch to borrow Hadrian.

[sun surfer]

The discussion thread is up!