Literary A Journey, or Journeys • April 2019

[sun surfer]

What's interesting to me about this group is that if you gave someone this list of nominations without telling them the topic and asked them to guess the topic, they'd probably be able to do so. They really do altogether convey a sense of journeys.

I also really love this topic. I really like travel books and adventure books and at the start I didn't realise this month would focus so much on those. I was still conflating it with the old Journey around the World category which really I now see was a very different category.

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

It looks an interesting list.

I have been and still am travelling outside of civilization with no internet or even cellular coverage to enable me to post. But we seem to have drifted into a bit of weak cellular coverage this afternoon so I hope this squeaks out.

So I won't take part in the choice as I won't be able to follow the thread, but am looking forward to seeing what you all choose.

I hope you're having a good journey!

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

I was on a work trip a week ago and thought I’d have more time to read on the plane rides or at the hotel in the evenings but was just too tired. Then I had another trip over the weekend so I am just now nearing the end of Eva Luna. I have many thoughts in my head that I haven’t been able to post in that thread but will do soon.

I've finished Eva Luna. I'm trying to get round to posting more on it and Picnic.

[sun surfer]

I've now read previews of them all and I'm interested in all and will be happy with any winning. Going along with Bookworm_Girl's observation about classics and contemporary this month, I also think it's interesting that two of the nominees (Huckleberry Finn and Into the Heart of Borneo) were published a century apart (1884 and 1984).

Erebus sounds intriguing, especially with fantasyfan's positive recommendation. I also thought one of its covers (link here) looked something like the old poster for the film Time Bandits (link here). The ships are different but I do think these Monty Python fellows might have a thing for them.

I don't really know much about The Wonderful Adventures of Nils but I liked the preview and I see it's by a Nobel winner, and it's unique this month in a couple ways- the only female author and the only non-English-language (actually the only non-UK/US) author in the vote this month.

Journeys into unexplored or undiscovered (from 'western' civilisation anyway) places intrigue me so Journey without Maps is just up my alley and I really enjoyed its preview. In a similar vein of all of them being travel memoirs, I also really enjoyed the previews of Sea and Sardinia and The Old Ways.

Bookworm_Girl, your Twain nomination is perfect for me as some years ago I read Tom Sawyer for the first time and enjoyed it and so thought I'd like to read Huckleberry Finn eventually to complement it, and I think it could lead to a good discussion.

With only eight votes, here's how I'm casting them:

-2 to Journey without Maps
-2 to Erebus
-1 to Huckleberry Finn
-1 to The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
-1 to The Old Ways
-1 to Sea and Sardinia

[Spinnenmonat]

It's a very beautiful list. Thank you for the nominations. Now I would like to make my choice.
2 to Lawrence
2 to Greene
2 to Twain
1 to Lagerlöf
1 to O'Hanlon

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A little over half a day left for voting!

[Bookworm_Girl]

Here are my votes.

Erebus - 1

Sea and Sardinia - 1

Journey without Maps - 2

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - 2

The Old Ways - 1

The Orphan Master's Son - 1

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Voting is complete and we’ll be going on a Journey without Maps! I’ll have the discussion thread up soon.

[Bookworm_Girl]

This is the second month in a row that I’ll be reading the book on my iPad Mini with Scribd.

[sun surfer]

The discussion thread is up!

This is our first Graham Greene selection for the lit club, although a Greene thriller (Our Man in Havana) was chosen for the old general club some years ago.

Since we switched to more flexible topics each month we've mentioned that words in a topic could inspire a nomination by the same or similar words in a book title, but this is the first time that the selection included a topic word (well, depending on if one would count Goblin Market and Other Poems for A Touch of the Poetic) and the only nominee this month with that distinction. I do think it was simply coincidental though since the book is about a journey as well, but nevertheless the title does fit too.

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

This is the second month in a row that I’ll be reading the book on my iPad Mini with Scribd.

That's great that you've been able to read the most recent selections using your subscription.