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make sure to read the temptation of saint anthony when you do b&p!

!

Nils wrote: "make sure to read the temptation of saint anthony when you do b&p!"

yes - thanks for the reminder...it is on my radar for next year.

Nathan "N.R." wrote: "!"

remember - I am going to read all of them next year, the question is - what makes a good start to 2016 and a good step from my year of modernism?

Jonathan wrote: "a good step from my year of modernism?"

ohyes! another reason for starting with Adam!

Nathan "N.R." wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "a good step from my year of modernism?"

ohyes! another reason for starting with Adam!"

you make a good point, but I must bow to the will of the people...I can't say I would be unhappy with any of these as a start, hence my inability to make up my mind!

I don't know if you're ready for Adam B. yet - has your dresser ever made you shout "Oh Schopenhauer!" and swoon into philosophical raptures?

Geoff wrote: "I don't know if you're ready for Adam B. yet - has your dresser ever made you shout "Oh Schopenhauer!" and swoon into philosophical raptures?"

No. But my washing machine made me mutter "Oh Hegel!" and give it a firm kick. Does that count?

Jonathan wrote: "Geoff wrote: "I don't know if you're ready for Adam B. yet - has your dresser ever made you shout "Oh Schopenhauer!" and swoon into philosophical raptures?"

No. But my washing machine made me mutt..."

I think it does!

I'ma read Larva and Poundemonium soon so I went ahead and voted in the name of the unreadababble

Oh, Flaubert!

I voted for the Flaubert... Good winter book. Been long on my must-re-read-soon shelf for ages now. I think it's in my planned-for-2016 shelf. Perhaps I'll join in if I manage to get through the books I want before year's end! Bad year for reading this has been...

Well shit…now I want to read all these as well. I'm going for the Ríos because it sounds amazing, but honestly I'll be interested to see the reviews for all of these. Except Vollmann. He's dead to me.

Warwick wrote: "Except Vollmann. He's dead to me."

Holy.. wait, are you the guy that's got his number??

I'd love to see ... well, anyone give Witz a go. I tried it a few years ago and was impressed with it but ended up abandoning it when I'd been reading it for a month, had only gotten about 100 pages in and had no idea what was going on.

Bjorn wrote: "I'd love to see ... well, anyone give Witz a go. I tried it a few years ago and was impressed with it but ended up abandoning it when I'd been reading it for a month, had only gotten about 100 page..."

I am curious to see if the fact that I am jewish and have read the Talmud and all that jazz helps....

I also voted for Witz largely out of selfish curiosity.

Please don't add books guys! I love Moby Dick, but am not going to start the year with a re-read!

Now I understand better the title of the List.. by My you mean Jonathan's - not transferable... OK.. will vote again.

So many good ones but I like bios so I voted for
"Speak, Memory" - g'luck!

Crack Falling IS WORTH A LOOK AT FOR VOTING

The Royal Family is the only one I've read, and thus the only one I can recommend... I'm intrigued by this book Adam Buenosayres, however.

Witz is an impressive feat, but lapses into opaque babble, and becomes largely unreadable.

Oops: I added books. Removed. And voted.

I would lock this list, otherwise you will wake up to Harper Lee, Emily Bronte, and Kiss & Blog vying for the #1 slot.

I also voted for more than one. I was never that big on reading instructions. Hell, you can make up your own mind!

Start with a bio! =)

Nice to have close to 45 people help one choose a book to read. Now you cannot resist democracy.

But we've been cold-decked! @Jonathan, Your own #1 and #2 Choices remain front runners due to inertia or the power of suggestion... or due to be being excellent choices of books to read. Either way.

I have no idea how to close the list so people can't add books...can anyone tell me how?

I voted for Adam because I need a reviewer to break the path -- it’s in my teetering pile and I want someone to entice me into it.

But Leg Over Leg is a very good option

Zadignose wrote: "Nice to have close to 45 people help one choose a book to read. Now you cannot resist democracy.

But we've been cold-decked! @Jonathan, Your own #1 and #2 Choices remain front runners due to inert..."

I think also both of these are the "better known" so people are more able to honestly rec it, rather than going blind.

I am very thankful for all the votes! Fun for me to turn this into a democratic process...

T.J. wrote: "Crack Falling IS WORTH A LOOK AT FOR VOTING"

Good ole Listopia!!!

Jonathan wrote: "I have no idea how to close the list so people can't add books...can anyone tell me how?"

Pain in the neck. You've gotta make a request in the Librarian Group. I did it once but not again. The solution is either Geoff's (deletion of the whole kit&kaboodle) or Aubrey's (constant policing and deleting of spam).

Personal lists aren't officially allowed,(they should be IMO, and there are other sites that allow them) so bringing this to the attention of the Librarian's Group will result in deletion by superlibrarians! It might happen anyway, so always back everything up with lists like this, likewise with reviews/ posts of items that are not actually books, which could be deleted from GR without warning.

As a deletion-proof alternative, you could make questions like this list into a poll in a group where the members include many of the friends you'd like to vote.

Not sure how many items allowed in those polls, but there is probably a way round if you wanted to try that approach instead of listopia.

Antonomasia wrote: "As a deletion-proof alternative, you could make questions like this list into a poll in a group where the members include many of the friends you'd like to vote."

Polls can be created extro=group as well. It's as easy as ::
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/new

I tried having fun with polls once upon a time, but it didn't get any bites like these fun Listopias got. But that could change....

[from polls I've seen the quantity of options is near=unlimited]

Nathan "N.R." wrote: "T.J. wrote: "Crack Falling IS WORTH A LOOK AT FOR VOTING"

Good ole Listopia!!!"

Indeed. I resisted the urge to tell him to go fuck himself.

Looks like we have a pretty clear winner though and so instead of going post-modernism in Jan, I will be going pre- or proto- instead.

Jonathan wrote: "Looks like we have a pretty clear winner though and so instead of going post-modernism in Jan, I will be going pre- or proto- instead. "

May I place a subquestion here? I was thinking that Godot would be an excellent follow=up to B&P. But then I thought, what else would also be a good follow=up to B&P?

Interesting. I have pretty much read all of Beckett's work already, and love it deeply, so probably won't be re-reading any of that next year.

Leg over Leg was also written in the 19thc and is also meta and pun-filled. That might be a good one.

Jonathan wrote: "Interesting. I have pretty much read all of Beckett's work already, and love it deeply, so probably won't be re-reading any of that next year. "

I had in mind the Dynamic Duo piece of it there. Just fun to have Godot in mind while reading B&P I think ; everything's more fun with Beckett!

Follow it with Locus Solus because... well, can you think of any reason not to?

Jonathan wrote: "Looks like we have a pretty clear winner..."

Great. I'm planning to read Bouvard et Pecuchet in janvier which is why I voted for it. I've already got a copy but perhaps I won't start it on January first - I need to be in good mental shape to take on those guys - I tried before and they hit me over the head with so many facts that by the time I'd picked myself up of the trotoir on the boulevard Bourdon, they'd left for the country.
Nathan, you're right that Beckett is a good fit with B&P but perhaps Mercier and Camier rather than Godot. Camier and Mercier talk more than Didi and Gogo and B &P seemed great talkers from the little time I spent with them...
damn spell checker!

Make sure you guys are reading the Dalkey edition of B&P - all older editions are woefully incomplete/hacked apart/suckitude.

Zadignose wrote: "Follow it with Locus Solus because... well, can you think of any reason not to?"

Ah! Thanks for the reminder - I had that on my list to read this year, but won't have time for it.

You intending to read it in the French Fi? I assume so....I will be sticking with the B&P English version as my french skills are nowhere near good enough...

Jonathan wrote: "You intending to read it in the French Fi? I assume so...."

Yup - but I expect they'll bend your ear plenty in English too!
Bon courage to us both...

Zadignose wrote: "Follow it with Locus Solus because... well, can you think of any reason not to?"

Locus Solus is definitely worth a read. Listen to the nose on this one.

Note how I neither authored it myself, nor added it to your list.

Well some "author" called David Anderson is about to get a sarcastic 1* review from me, and his novel immediately deleted from this list...

I haven't heard of most of these. :(
You'll have to rely on others, or chance.

There is one simple rule: “Majority is never right.” Dhalgren is a stupendous book but it isn’t a happy-new-year reading.