Classics Without All the Class discussion

Hey guys I'm filling in for Angie on posting this! Sneaky sneaky!

This thread is for adding suggestions to the bookshelf for future polls. Each month the thread will close and a new thread will open in order to keep the threads shorter. We are now accepting suggestions from 2004 in keeping with our 10 year gap since we're now voting on book selections in 2014.

Before you make a suggestion, please make sure you check the bookshelves. Your suggestion might already be there. :) Go to the home page of the group, and click the link to the left that says bookshelf. All the suggestions so far are on the shelf. We have chosen to give a ten year gap to give a book a chance to be deemed "classic." Here are the guidelines for making suggestions for the group:

1. Nothing published after 2004. Please feel free to ask if you are unsure if a book falls under the category of "classic." This can be an especially difficult issue for contemporary classics.
2. No children's novels
3. No non-fiction
4. No poetry
5. No dramas (plays) - not even Shakespeare or Dante's Inferno!

Although these suggestions can't be made for the group, there may be times that exceptions are made for special reasons. Also, feel free to make suggestions from these categories in threads that are created by members, like yourself! :)

Thanks!!

I will start. I would like to suggest Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell because it not only won the Hugo Award, it was also a nominee or winner for several other awards. It sounds like an interesting tale (although a monster read for sure at over 1000 pages!)

As well as that year's Pulitzer Prize winner Gilead

Gilead is one of my all time favorites. The writing is so beautiful.

Katrina wrote: "Gilead is one of my all time favorites. The writing is so beautiful."

That's so great to hear! I actually had picked up a copy from my friends of the library bookstore and have yet to read it. Too many books! Hoping if we vote for it then I will have to move it up the list.

I also vote for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell!

I thought Strange and Norrell was very overrated, and am not convinced you could count it as a classic. What is our definition of a classic by the way?! 2004 seems very recent to apply the "test of time"/"timeless" criteria.

Personally, I would like to see us having a go at earlier, ie: pre-Victorian classics. There are a lot of wonderful, not too taxing novels from the 18th century!

A portrait of the artist as a young man

I secondA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Guys, I'll chime in here since Angie's a bit busy at the moment teaching our youth. You need to check the bookshelves. Moby-Dick and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are already on there. We take those suggestions and we put them in a randomizer and pull our poll choices. This thread is for adding books to those lists to be chosen from.

Things are a little slow right now because the group is going under a huge overhaul. I had to quit being a moderator and Jeane is going to graduate school. She's doing her best to get names of people who are interested in leading discussions and helping out. Please be patient.

Hi All,
My name is Sunny S and I am an author. Well, still learning to be a writer... My debut YA sci-fi fantasy fiction has been published named - 'Nav and the Ninth Universe - The Clock Of Time'

This is, a little cliche but, you should try it as it is about the wonders of the world - something which you would have not thought about earlier but when you read it, you would definitely feel that this might be possible.
This is one book that is being compared to the Harry Potter series, which I am not quite comfortable with but I would really ;like to hear all your feedbacks about it.
You can read the first chapter on http://www.sunnyshandilya.com

Nav and the Ninth Universe - The Clock Of Time

Hello guys,

My name is C.E. Wilson and I just wanted to send out a recommendation for my new series, Shakespeare for Everyone Else. They are YA retellings of The Bard's plays and there are already two books currently available:

Othello and Much Ado About Nothing.
If interested in doing a read/review, just shoot me a message!!

Have a good one group members, C.E.