New Leaf Runoff vote for November 2018 • Lies and Misdirections: Unreliable Narrators

[issybird]

This is a runoff vote to select the book we'll read and discuss in November 2018!

We love new participants. We're happy for you to vote, but we'd like to request that you not vote unless you plan to join the discussion whatever the selection, in the interest of a vibrant conversation.

Vote for one. Questions? FAQs | Guidelines Or just ask!

Choices:

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Amazon U.S., $11.99 | Amazon CA $4.99 | Amazon UK, £4.99 | Amazon AU $11.99 | Kobo U.S. $11.99 | Kobo CA $4.99 | Kobo UK, £4.99 | Kobo AU $11.99 | OverDrive | Audible

Spoiler:

In this astonishing tour de force, Margaret Atwood takes the reader back in time and into the life and mind of one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of the nineteenth century. In 1843, at the age of sixteen, servant girl Grace Marks was convicted for her part in the vicious murders of her employer and his mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Grace herself claims to have no memory of the murders. As Dr. Simon Jordan – an expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness – tries to unlock her memory, what will he find? Was Grace a femme fatale – or a weak and unwilling victim of circumstances? Taut and compelling, penetrating and wise, Alias Grace is a beautifully crafted work of the imagination that vividly evokes time and place. The novel and its characters will continue to haunt the reader long after the final page.

480 pp.

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
Amazon US $5.99 | Amazon UK £4.99 | Amazon AU $10.99 | Amazon CA $14.99 | Audible | OverDrive

Spoiler:

From Wikipedia:

Picnic at Hanging Rock is an Australian historical fiction novel by Joan Lindsay. Set in 1900, it is about a group of female students at an Australian girls' boarding school who vanish at Hanging Rock while on a Valentine's Day picnic, and the effects the disappearances have on the school and local community. The novel was first published in 1967 in Australia by Cheshire Publishing and was reprinted by Penguin in 1975. It is widely considered by critics to be one of the best Australian novels.

Although the events depicted in the novel are entirely fictional, it is framed as though it is a true story, corroborated by ambiguous pseudohistorical references. Its irresolute conclusion has sparked significant public, critical, and scholarly analysis, and the narrative has become a part of Australia's national folklore as a result.

198 pp.

[Bookpossum]

Tough call, but I have read the Lindsay and haven’t read the Atwood, so voted accordingly.

I’m currently on a train crossing Australia from east to west, so I’m glad I was in Wifi range for this runoff vote.

[CRussel]

I haven't read either, even though Margaret Atwood is a Canadian, I haven't enjoyed the books of hers we've read here, or the one other I read. I'm going Aussie this time!

Charlie.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Tough vote! I’m happy with both choices.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Tough vote! I’m happy with both choices.

I'm pleased to note that no matter what, we'll have a woman author and a book neither UK nor US. That'll push us to 40% women authors overall and 25% not US/UK for fiction. However, our POC stat will continue to fall off; we were at 50% through September for our fiction selections.

(Can you tell I love Dazrin's stats? )

[Bookpossum]

And neither of them was nominated by a fellow national!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

And neither of them was nominated by a fellow national!

And as the voting's gone so far, 75% of fellow nationals have voted for the other!

[issybird]

I've referred to the famous film of Picnic at Hanging Rock which I'll rewatch (after a gap of 40 years) if that's our choice; it's a measure of how far I'm out of it in regard to current films/videos that I didn't realize that Alias Grace was a Netflix (in the US) miniseries only last year. Has anyone here seen it and without getting spoilery, how was it?

[Catlady]

I am equally out of touch; I didn't know Alias Grace was a Netflix offering until I read it in the blurbs.

I came across the book only because of the Audiobookstand going-out-of-business sale, when I picked up anything that looked even remotely interesting. But I haven't listened to it yet.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Picnic at Hanging Rock was also made into a TV miniseries in 2018, starring Natalie Dormer from The Tudors and Game of Thrones.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by issybird

And as the voting's gone so far, 75% of fellow nationals have voted for the other!

I'll hold up my hand as being an Australian and voting for Picnic at Hanging Rock, though my choice had nothing to do with patriotism. Personally I would have preferred One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to both. I simply don't feel like reading another Atwood at the moment, though she is a fine author.

I would also add that whilst there is certainly nothing wrong with examining the stats I would hope that we are not choosing books based largely on the sex of the author or the colour of their skin. Or, for that matter, patriotism.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by darryl

I'll hold up my hand as being an Australian and voting for Picnic at Hanging Rock, though my choice had nothing to do with patriotism. Personally I would have preferred One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to both. I simply don't feel like reading another Atwood at the moment, though she is a fine author.

I would also add that whilst there is certainly nothing wrong with examining the stats I would hope that we are not choosing books based largely on the sex of the author or the colour of their skin. Or, for that matter, patriotism.

Of course not. The interest in the stats lies neither in its predictive value nor in its determinate value, but in its assessment of choices made, which becomes increasingly more meaningful as more data are generated. I always make my choice based on various qualitative assessments and would never not vote for the white male Anglophone for that reason. That said, if we always picked the white Brit/Yank male, that would indicate something very wrong indeed, which is why the stats are interesting and reassuring.

In fact, I'd have chosen Kesey myself. A marvelous book I'd love to revisit. But there's also something reassuring that it won't be an American or Britisher or man, this time around.

[darryl]

@issybird. Sensible and practical. That is the correct use of these types of stats. To flag possible problems. Always picking white Brit/Yank males would upset me for the simple reason that it would mean we were missing out on discussing so many other great books. Quite frankly I would be much happier to know nothing about an author's sex, ethnicity etc. until after reading the book concerned, except in those very few cases where it may arguably have some relevance. This being impossible in the real world I do try and I hope succeed in ignoring such things.

[issybird]

Bumping to say there's a day to go on the runoff vote.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Picnic at Hanging Rock was also made into a TV miniseries in 2018, starring Natalie Dormer from The Tudors and Game of Thrones.

Just noticed that it's free to stream for Amazon Prime members.