Vote for MobileRead's best fiction book of 1911-1920

[Rizla]

Not my nomination, but you have to recognize the achievement of Burroughs. Raymond Chandler recognized the brilliance of his prose. Burroughs himself said he knew nothing about writing prose, so just wrote it. His prose is the opposite of affected. It's simplicity elevates it.

Anyway, that's not my nomination, but...I do like Burroughs. Though his stories are a bit pulpy. I wonder how his prose compares to Robert E. Howard (Conan).

[Rizla]

The Night Land.

Hodgson's prose in this book is the opposite of Burroughs, but it is not affected, it is faux 17th century which bothers a lot of people. But it's set a million years in the future long after the Sun died. Yea Gods! This was written before WW1! It covers reincarnation, telepathy, dimensional-gates and the most horrible monsters imaginable.

Seriously, if you like science-fiction and fantasy, and even if you don't, you need to read this (free) book.

Hodgson was killed leading a charge in WW1. Thank God he was so prolific before his early death. He said he saw the Night Land in no man's land between the trenches. His was born poor and drove his way forward through will and talent.

"And I cannot touch her face
And I cannot touch her hair,
And I kneel to empty shadows—
Just memories of her grace;
And her voice sings in the winds
And in the sobs of dawn
And among the flowers at night
And from the brooks at sunrise
And from the sea at sunset,
And I answer with vain callings …"

[Synamon]

The Secret Garden has stood the test of time and while it's nominally a children's story, I recently reread it and found it uplifting and beautiful. It's the story of an miserable orphaned girl uprooted from India to a remote English house and the friends she makes there and the healing power of both human connections and nature. The book captures the joy and power that helping someone else brings to our lives. This is a book I recommend unequivocally to everyone.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by Synamon

The Secret Garden has stood the test of time and while it's nominally a children's story, I recently reread it and found it uplifting and beautiful. It's the story of an miserable orphaned girl uprooted from India to a remote English house and the friends she makes there and the healing power of both human connections and nature. The book captures the joy and power that helping someone else brings to our lives. This is a book I recommend unequivocally to everyone.

I tried to like this book, but...I found it slow and uninteresting. I think the ideas are good, but the execution poor. IMO it does not deserve it's reputation.

[Rizla]

Re: Proust, I'm sorry, but I've yet to read anything French that grabbed me. It all seems such self-indulgent "intellectual" twaddle sans story-line. I suppose it doesn't help that they write in an archaic and dead tense that distances the language from how people really speak and live. I really have tried to enjoy French writing.

[pdurrant]

Voting is now open for the 1911-1920 selection of books, and will be open for about four weeks.

[sun surfer]

"It is the story of the voluptuousness of doom" - Thomas Mann

Death in Venice is a novella but packs a lot of heft into those few pages - musings on philosophy, desire, longing, degradation, melancholy, mortality and the intellectual artistic impulse through history. In its dealing with attraction it calls to mind the various ways this has manifested itself in human culture over time, and that people cannot help the mysterious force of attraction within. It's a great, thought-provoking book.

Gustav von Aschenbach is a successful, serious and aging German writer and widower who after suffering from writer's block decides to take a trip to Venice seeking a sort of spiritual fulfilment. In the hotel he is staying at, he happens to encounter a beautiful 14-year-old Polish boy on vacation with family named Tadzio that reminds him of a Greek sculpture and whom he takes an artistic interest in. As Aschenbach ponders philosophy and the difficulty of anyone making truly great art, his interest in Tadzio becomes obsessive and a deadly epidemic begins to spread through the old and decaying city.

[issybird]

Swann and Tarzan make strange bedfellows!

I just now noticed that Ford Madox Ford's name morphed into Ford Maddox Brown, which is no doubt why only one other voted for The Good Soldier!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by issybird

Swann and Tarzan make strange bedfellows!

I just now noticed that Ford Madox Ford's name morphed into Ford Maddox Brown, which is no doubt why only one other voted for The Good Soldier!

Sorry about the author name.

I've also realised I forgot to vote - now corrected, making Tarzan the outright winner. I'm afraid I definitely favour action and adventure.

[pynch]

So at least five of us at MR have read the Proust. That's good news, I guess.

[sun surfer]

Brown? I thought Ford Madox Fords come in any colour, so long as it's black.

[Ned]

Oh no! I missed the poll! Voters: 35. This poll is closed
I'd have voted for Proust too as I did a special paper on it at college but never finished reading it.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Sorry about the author name.

Totally my fault for not noticing it earlier. I'd still be typing, with all you had to transcribe.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Ned

I'd have voted for Proust too as I did a special paper on it at college but never finished reading it.

Well, he never really finished writing it, so that's fair.

Oops. Forgot about this and ended up not voting at all. I would have voted for Kokoro.