New Leaf Nominations for February 2019 • Let's Make a Deal: Trade Secrets

[Bookpossum]

I third The Last Grain Race. I have read another of Eric Newby's books, but didn't know of this one.

[CRussel]

I'll second A Delicate Truth. It's a le Carré I haven't read, and available from the library.

[CRussel]

I'm not going to nominate another book right now, but I'd like to suggest a book within this theme for those who enjoy a nice, cozy read where characters matter and the action is relaxed -- Nathan Lowell's Quarter Share, the first of his Solar Clipper series. These are YA, especially the earlier ones, but thoroughly enjoyable by adults. They are inexpensive, available in audio editions (both Audible, and older, free, podcast versions read by the author), and perfect for a cozy winter read around a fire.

[bfisher]

I'll third A Delicate Truth.

[bfisher]

I'll second Balance of Trade.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm going to nominate The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby. I've read other books by him and greatly enjoyed them.

Really glad to see this book nominated; it is excellent.

For anyone who is interested in the last days of the windjammers, Newby took a camera with him on his voyage, and several editions of an oversize book were published with many of his photos and commentary. I read it as "Learning the Ropes: An Apprentice on the Last of the Windjammers", published by John Murray in 1999. It was published in the USA as "Windjammer: Pictures of Life Before the Mast in the Last Grain Race" by Dutton in 1968. There may be other versions and titles.

By a peculiar coincidence, this book has surfaced in this club at the same time as Abby Sunderland's sailboat has reappeared off South Australia after vanishing for 6 years. I am reminded how wild the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties are, and of how hardy and courageous a sailor must be in those regions.
https://www.theguardian.com/australi...boat-abandoned

[Catlady]

I'm making two nominations about trading identity.

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

Mark Twain’s satiric novel about two boys who trade places in Tudor England—written “for young people of all ages”—was his first foray into historical fiction.

Set in 1547, The Prince and the Pauper brings together Tom Canty, an impoverished urchin who lives with his abusive father in London’s filthiest streets, and pampered Prince Edward, the son of King Henry VIII. Noticing their uncanny resemblance, the two boys trade clothes on a whim. While Tom lives in the lap of luxury and finds he has a knack for rendering wise judgments, the ragged Prince Edward roams the city and discovers firsthand the misery of his poorest subjects’ lives. But when the king dies and Edward tries to claim his throne, he finds that changing places will be difficult to undo. In this rollicking tale, Twain’s scathing indictment of injustice comes richly clothed in his trademark humor and wit.

Public domain.

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

One of the great crime novels of the 20th century, Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley is a blend of the narrative subtlety of Henry James and the self-reflexive irony of Vladimir Nabokov. Like the best modernist fiction, Ripley works on two levels. First, it is the story of a young man, Tom Ripley, whose nihilistic tendencies lead him on a deadly passage across Europe. On another level, the novel is a commentary on fictionmaking and techniques of narrative persuasion. Like Humbert Humbert, Tom Ripley seduces readers into empathizing with him even as his actions defy all moral standards.

The novel begins with a play on James's The Ambassadors. Tom Ripley is chosen by the wealthy Herbert Greenleaf to retrieve Greenleaf's son, Dickie, from his overlong sojourn in Italy. Dickie, it seems, is held captive both by the Mediterranean climate and the attractions of his female companion, but Mr. Greenleaf needs him back in New York to help with the family business. With an allowance and a new purpose, Tom leaves behind his dismal city apartment to begin his career as a return escort. But Tom, too, is captivated by Italy. He is also taken with the life and looks of Dickie Greenleaf. He insinuates himself into Dickie's world and soon finds that his passion for a lifestyle of wealth and sophistication transcends moral compunction. Tom will become Dickie Greenleaf--at all costs.

Unlike many modernist experiments, The Talented Mr. Ripley is eminently readable and is driven by a gripping chase narrative that chronicles each of Tom's calculated maneuvers of self-preservation. Highsmith was in peak form with this novel, and her ability to enter the mind of a sociopath and view the world through his disturbingly amoral eyes is a model that has spawned such latter-day serial killers as Hannibal Lecter. --Patrick O'Kelley

Amazon U.S., $8.48

[gmw]

I will third Balance of Trade.

I will second The Prince and the Pauper.


(ETA: The Seventh Cross does sound interesting, but not enough to justify the price for me at the moment. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator would probably be interesting too ... but think I'd rather either full fiction or full fact.)

[issybird]

I've decided to nominate Emma by Jane Austen after all. It's free, it would provide much to discuss and it's delightful, a penetrating comedy of manners.

According to Wikipedia, Emma "is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance." and:

Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian–Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters and depicts issues of marriage, gender, age, and social status.

<snip> Emma is spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities; she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives; and her imagination and perceptions often lead her astray.

The Guardian says:

In January 1814, Jane Austen sat down to write a revolutionary novel. Emma, the book she composed over the next year, was to change the shape of what is possible in fiction.

If Emma wins, I'm out for sure. I loathed that book, thanks to its eponymous protagonist. During the agonising struggle of finishing it, I read somewhere that Austen set out to write an unlikeable lead.It was only that, the belief that I was being tortured by a display of a writer achieving her goal, which gave me the strength I needed to endure and crawl, broken, bloodied and bowed, across the finish line. I salute her achievement, but an army of Cerberus clones could not compel me to revisit that nightmare.

[astrangerhere]

I will second The Talented Mr. Ripley and Emma.

[Catlady]

I'll third Emma. (Sorry, stuartjmz.)

[issybird]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I am going to nominate Anna Segher's novel The Seventh Cross. <snip>



I don't know if this will get any traction or not as it is a little pricey, but maybe it will interest others as much as it does me.

I see it's only £3.99 in the UK, or roughly five bucks US.

[Victoria]

( I’m sorry - can’t figure out how to delete this post. I initially added another vote for “Balance of Trade’, but then saw it already has three nominations. )

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Victoria

I’ll 4th Balance of Trade (I’ve never done this before, so I hope this is the correct way to respond?)

Welcome, Victoria!

Your method is perfect. However, Balance of Trade has now been fully nominated (each book requires three nominations to make it to the poll), so you get your nomination back. Each nominator gets three, to use to propose a book or second/third other proposals.

Fully nominated books are listed in the first post in this thread.