The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

It's a bit early for this but wanted to get us started. Please nominate a book you would like to read in May. One nomination per person please :) . It should be a book which we have not read in the last two years, and fits into our time period.

I would like to nominate The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne or if you have read that already another book by the same author--The Blithedale Romance or The Marble Faun.

I don't know if I will get many takers on this. I know James generates a lot of strong mixed feelings, but I haven't read him in a while, so I will put it out there.

The American by Henry James

Silver wrote: "I don't know if I will get many takers on this. I know James generates a lot of strong mixed feelings, but I haven't read him in a while, so I will put it out there.

The American by..."


If it wins, would you be willing to lead the discussion?

Deborah wrote: "Silver wrote: "I don't know if I will get many takers on this. I know James generates a lot of strong mixed feelings, but I haven't read him in a while, so I will put it out there.

[book:The Amer..."

Yes I will

Silver wrote: "Deborah wrote: "Silver wrote: "I don't know if I will get many takers on this. I know James generates a lot of strong mixed feelings, but I haven't read him in a while, so I will put it out there. ..."

Great. I'm one of those with strong feelings about James so that helps out a lot,

I've a good start on The Golden Bowl by Henry James right now and am hoping for not too many interruptions, since it has been on my TBR for so long. But I also have too many books I am trying to read concurrently right now -- Villette (I haven't joined the discussion, at least yet.), Emma , Of Human Bondage, and David Copperfield. So my reading is more than slightly out of control at the moment and I will be neither voting nor nominating here. But, I will speak in favor of Henry James, despite the distaste of so many for him. He may be obtuse at times, but I believe, if willing to put up with that, all the readers contributing regularly here have the reading skills and people/community sensitivity to be able to tackle him. I would try to fit in joining the discussion on The American if it is chosen.

Just took a look at the Goodreads reviews. Reinforced my interest. But, many have spoilers, so don't particularly recommend to those who care. Will quote this:

"...It's a fascinating struggle between the traditions, prejudices, and culture of the old world, and the new. Interestingly, The American has many highly comedic moments, and an even-handed amount of drama,..." -- Kirsten

Sorry for this diversion in the midst of a nominations thread, but I decided to petition a bit for James.

Hello, everyone. I'm new to the group so I hope I'm doing this right. :)

I'd like to nominate A Hazard of New Fortunes by William Dean Howells.

Here's the GoodReads synopsis: "A self-made millionaire and a social revolutionary are at odds with each other in a novel set against the background of a nineteenth-century New York streetcar strike."

Monique wrote: "Hello, everyone. I'm new to the group so I hope I'm doing this right. :)

I'd like to nominate A Hazard of New Fortunes by William Dean Howells.

Here's the GoodReads s..."


You did just fine Monique :)

I also have The American on my to-read list, so that sounds good. But then I've never read House of Seven Gables either, so not sure which one to vote for :-)

We actually read House of the Seven Gables just a short time ago - I think it was last summer?

Lynnm wrote: "We actually read The House of the Seven Gables just a short time ago - I believe it was last summer?"

It doesn't appear on our read shelf

I'm going to go for something lighthearted for spring: Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat

While it's viewed as a work of humor, it's based on an actual trip and started out as a travel guide for the then fairly recent passion for leisure boat-camping in England. But the humor soon won out over the travel information.

I nominate South: the Endurance Expedition, I hope it's okay, I'm new here.

Emerson wrote: "I nominate South: the Endurance Expedition, I hope it's okay, I'm new here."

Emerson, thanks for your nomination. Unfortunately, we only cover up to 1910. This work is later than that. We'd love to have you nominate something else.

Thought it was close enough, allright then I'll nominate The Doll by Bolesław Prus thank you.

Deborah - it was the summer of 2014 that we read The House of the Seven Gables. If you look through the polls, you can see that it won the poll.

EDIT - And I just found the discussion threads in the archives. It was a discussion led by Silver.

While I don't think that we can never reread a book, but Summer 2014 wasn't that long ago. Too many books from this time period that we haven't read to repeat a book that we just read a little under two years ago.

I nominate The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.

In that I will go with my second choice-- The Blithdale Romance.

As an additional comment, I want to read all of the nominated books so far!

I would like to nominate The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott

Tracey wrote: "I would like to nominate The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott"

Ooh, we've only read one Scott before, and he was such a major 19th century writer he deserves more attention from us.

The Call of the Wild
Emma
The Count of Monte Cristo
War & Peace

Ustink wrote: "The Call of the Wild
Emma
The Count of Monte Cristo
War & Peace"

One nomination per person so please choose the one you would most like to read

Deborah wrote: "...
One nomination per person so please choose the one you would most like to read"

Perhaps the format should be "most like to read and discuss." Maybe it's just me, but I think it's a waste of the group intelligence if (as I know people have done in the past, maybe not here, but definitely in other groups) people just nominate books they want to read but have no interest in discussing.

There is such a range of books suggested as group selections that I would enjoy reading and discussing many of them. In another group I was the only person reading the book. This group has interesting discussions, which I really enjoy, but not all books lend themselves to discussions.

Rosemarie wrote: "not all books lend themselves to discussions. " and Everyman wrote "a waste of the group intelligence"

There I politely and most respectfully disagree with you! Written and spoken words are a product of a person, a place and a time and, as such, are intrinsically interesting. If you add literary critical theories into the equation, you can get as many readings out of a three-word sentence as there are literary theorists ;-)

I think this group is intelligent enough to vote for the works they actually want to talk about; rarely - if ever - here have I seen a book voted for by masses followed by a flat discussion. Three cheers for the group Moderators.

Pip, I agree that this group has excellent moderators. I concede that with a certain amount of effort and imagination, any book can lend itself to a discussion.

Pip wrote: "Rosemarie wrote: "not all books lend themselves to discussions. " and Everyman wrote "a waste of the group intelligence"

There I politely and most respectfully disagree with you! Written and spok..."

Perhaps I was unclear in my intent. I was referring to books that are nominated with no intent to discuss them.

As to whether any book can lend itself to a discussion, that may be true, but some are much more amenable to discussion than others. I'm not sure what we would do, for example, with Euclid's Elements (though it doesn't of course fall in our time period), or for one that does, some of the justifiably forgotten "french novels" of the period.

Fortunately, though, I think the issue is moot since this group is highly unlikely to vote in such a work. Still, I think it is unfortunate when people nominate a book they have no intention of discussing.

Everyman wrote: " Still, I think it is unfortunate when people nominate a book they have no intention of discussing. ..."

Well, I do think occasionally a participant can recognize that a book would fit for the group to discuss even while having little personal interest or time for the discussion himself or herself. I don't think we should rule out such a benevolent contribution as possible. The group then has what should be a relatively easy decision for themselves -- endorse that nomination or not. I'd expect such cases to be rare, but not implausible.

I nominate Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, by Baroness Orzcy, published in 1910. Here is one internet summary:

Lady Molly of Scotland Yard is a collection of short stories about Molly Robertson-Kirk, an early fictional female detective. It was written by Baroness Orczy, who is best known as the creator of The Scarlet Pimpernel, but who also invented two immortal turn-of-the-century detectives in The Old Man in the Corner and Lady Molly of Scotland Yard.

First published in 1910, Orczy's female detective was the precursor of the lay sleuth who relies on brains rather than brawn. The book soon became very popular, with three editions appearing in the first year. As well as being one of the first novels to feature a female detective as the main character, Orczy's outstandingly successful police officer preceded her real life female counterparts by a decade.

Lady Molly, like her fictional contemporaries, most often succeeded because she recognised domestic clues foreign to male experience. Her shocking entry into the male domain of the police is forgivable when it is discovered that her motive is to save her fiancé from a false accusation. Once her superior intuition has triumphed, Lady Molly very properly marries and leaves the force.

Hi, everyone!

I nominate Père Goriot and I would lead the discussion if needed.

Nominations are done. Poll will be up later today.