Literary Bookpossum Vote • February 2016

[sun surfer]

Help choose the February 2016 selection to read for the MR Literary Club!


Select from the following works:


Murray Bail - Eucalyptus

Spoiler:

The gruff widower Holland has two possessions he cherishes above all others: his sprawling property of eucalyptus trees and his ravishingly beautiful daughter, Ellen.

When Ellen turns nineteen Holland makes an announcement: she may marry only the man who can correctly name the species of each of the hundreds of gum trees on his property.

Ellen is uninterested in the many suitors who arrive from around the world, until one afternoon she chances on a strange, handsome young man resting under a Coolibah tree. In the days that follow, he spins dozens of tales set in cities, deserts, and faraway countries. As the contest draws to a close, Ellen and the stranger's meetings become more erotic, the stories more urgent. Murray Bail's rich narrative is filled with unexpected wisdom about art, feminine beauty, landscape, and language. Eucalyptus is a shimmering love story that affirms the beguiling power of storytelling itself.

Margaret Drabble - The Red Queen

Spoiler:

Two hundred years after being plucked from obscurity to marry the Crown Prince of Korea, the Red Queen doesn’t want her extraordinary existence to be forgotten. Her long and privileged life behind the Korean palace walls was not all it seemed, and the Red Queen (or her ghost) is still desperate to retell her tale.

Dr. Barbara Halliwell, with her own complicated past, seems the perfect envoy – having read the memoirs of the Crown Princess on the plane to Seoul, Barbara has become utterly engrossed in her story. But why has the Red Queen selected Barbara to keep her story alive, and what else does she want from her? As she explores the inner sanctums and the royal courts, Barbara Halliwell begins to feel a strong affinity for everything related to the princess and her mysterious life. After a brief, intense, and ill-fated love affair, she returns to London. Is she ensnared by the events of the past week, of the past two hundred years, or will she pick up her life where she left it?

Set in eighteenth-century Korea and the present day, The Red Queen is a rich, playful, and atmospheric novel about love, about personal and public history, and what it means to be remembered. Beautifully told, ingeniously constructed, this novel reveals Margaret Drabble at her extraordinary best.

F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby

Spoiler:

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.

E M Forster - Where Angels Fear to Tread

Spoiler:

When a young English widow takes off on the grand tour and along the way marries a penniless Italian, her in-laws are not amused. That the marriage should fail and poor Lilia die tragically are only to be expected. But that Lilia should have had a baby -- and that the baby should be raised as an Italian! -- are matters requiring immediate correction by Philip Herriton, his dour sister Harriet, and their well-meaning friend Miss Abbott.

Graham Greene - The Human Factor

Spoiler:

A leak is traced to a small sub-section of SIS, sparking off the inevitable security checks, tensions and suspicions. The sort of atmosphere where mistakes could be made? For Maurice Castle it is the end of the line anyway and time for him to retire with his African wife, Sarah.

The Human Factor is Greene’s most extensive attempt to incorporate into fiction what he had learned of espionage when recruited by MI6 during World War II ... What it offers is a veteran excursion into Greene’s imaginative world ... Sometimes seen as a brooding prober into the dark recesses of the soul where sins and scruples alike fester, he is equally at home in sending a narrative careering along at break-neck pace ... Raising the demarcation line between ‘serious’ fiction and fast-plotted entertainment, Greene ensures that components of both jostle energizingly together in his pages.” –from the Introduction by Peter Kemp.

Doris Lessing - London Observed

Spoiler:

Across eighteen short stories, Lessing dissects London and its inhabitants with the power for truth and compassion to be expected of the Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature 2007.

'During that first year in England, I had a vision of London I cannot recall now … it was a nightmare city that I lived in for a year. Then, one evening, walking across the park, the light welded buildings, trees and scarlet buses into something familiar and beautiful, and I knew myself to be at home.'

Lessing’s vision of London – a place of nightmares and wonder – underpins this brilliantly multifaceted collection of stories about the city, seen from a cafe table, a hospital bed, the back seat of a taxi, a hospital casualty department; seen, as always, unflinchingly, and compellingly depicted.

Bernhard Schlink - The Reader

Spoiler:

An exceptionally powerful novel exploring the themes of betrayal, guilt and memory against the background of the Holocaust. An international bestseller.

For 15-year-old Michael Berg, a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. The woman in question is Hanna, and before long they embark on a passionate, clandestine love affair which leaves Michael both euphoric and confused. For Hanna is not all she seems.

Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The woman he had loved is a criminal. Much about her behaviour during the trial does not make sense. But then suddenly, and terribly, it does - Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime, she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret.

'A tender, horrifying novel that shows blazingly well how the Holocaust should be dealt with in fiction. A thriller, a love story and a deeply moving examination of a German conscience' INDEPENDENT SATURDAY MAGAZINE

Evelyn Waugh - Scoop

Spoiler:

Lord Copper, newspaper magnate and proprietor of the "Daily Beast", has always prided himself on his intuitive flair for spotting ace reporters. That is not to say he has not made the odd blunder, however, and may in a moment of weakness make another. Acting on a dinner-party tip from Mrs Algernon Smith, he feels convinced that he has hit on just the chap to cover a promising little war in the African Republic of Ishmaelia.

One of Waugh's most exuberant comedies, Scoop is a brilliantly irreverent satire of "Fleet Street" and its hectic pursuit of hot news.

*


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-
bfisher, Bookpossum, Bookworm_Girl, caleb72, fantasyfan, Hamlet53, HomeInMyShoes, issybird, sun surfer

This includes posts thus far in the July to January 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.

The rotating nominator (this month - Bookpossum) may not vote in the poll. In the event of a tie, there will be a one-day non-multiple-choice run-off poll where the nominator again may not vote. If the run-off also ends in a tie then the tie will be resolved by the nominator.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Go Australia and Germany. Or maybe Doris Lessing.

[drjd]

I'm participating in these polls for the first time. I will vote for the "Where Angels Fear to Tread" by E M Forster. I have read "A Passage to India" by this master storey teller, which stands as a timeless achievement, one of the great novels of the 20th century.

I would also like to read Graham Greene's "The Human Factor", which is waiting it's turn in my TBR list since last few years, besides "The End of the Affair" and "Journey Without Maps" by the same author.

I hope to learn a lot about other authors and interesting books joining this club of avid readers. Thanks to all of you, and especially to Bookpossum, for the nominations this time.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by drjd

I'm participating in these polls for the first time. I will vote for the "Where Angels Fear to Tread" by E M Forster. I have read "A Passage to India" by this master storey teller, which stands as a timeless achievement, one of the great novels of the 20th century.

I would also like to read Graham Greene's "The Human Factor", which is waiting it's turn in my TBR list since last few years, besides "The End of the Affair" and "Journey Without Maps" by the same author.

I hope to learn a lot about other authors and interesting books joining this club of avid readers. Thanks to all of you, and especially to Bookpossum, for the nominations this time.

Welcome, drjd! Great selections by Bookpossum. I am still trying to decide what to vote for. Too difficult!

[Bookworm_Girl]

London Observed is published as The Real Thing in the US. There is an ebook version if you search under the alternate title.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

London Observed is published as The Real Thing in the US. There is an ebook version if you search under the alternate title.

Thanks, Bookworm_Girl. It looked interesting but I couldn't find it as an ebook in Canada under the title London Observed, otherwise I would have voted for it. Now I'm rooting for it to win

It's so confusing when publishers do that, especially when it's a prominent writer. I was quite puzzled when I couldn't find it.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by bfisher

Thanks, Bookworm_Girl. It looked interesting but I couldn't find it as an ebook in Canada under the title London Observed, otherwise I would have voted for it. Now I'm rooting for it to win

It's so confusing when publishers do that, especially when it's a prominent writer. I was quite puzzled when I couldn't find it.

Very confusing! It was the cover that made me say I wonder if this is the same book so I investigated further.

[Bookpossum]

Sorry for the confusion. I had no idea the book had another title in the US, as Australia always sticks with the English title.

[caleb72]

Yay for voting!

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

Sorry for the confusion. I had no idea the book had another title in the US, as Australia always sticks with the English title.

Canadian publishing is mostly run from 6th Avenue, so there is often re-titling, if the book did not originate in the US. Maybe it is seepage from Madison Avenue

[Bookpossum]

Well, that was fun! I do hope you enjoy the winner!

[sun surfer]

Eucalyptus it is! I notice that two of my friends on Goodreads have read it, our nominator Bookpossum and also issybird, and both rated it 5-stars so I'm looking forward to it. Interestingly the top six community rated reviews of it there are love or hate - four 5-star and two 1-star - so it seems to provoke intense reactions.


ETA - The discussion thread is up.

[Bookpossum]

Hope there's lots of love!

[Bookworm_Girl]

I borrowed Scoop as an audiobook. I enjoyed it. Definitely a satire! It was good entertainment for my workouts. Thanks again for the great list, Bookpossum!

[Bookpossum]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I borrowed Scoop as an audiobook. I enjoyed it. Definitely a satire! It was good entertainment for my workouts. Thanks again for the great list, Bookpossum!

Oh good - I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I found it hilarious when I read it many years ago and want to revisit it.