The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

Nominations for January are now open.

Please remember that the book should fit our time period, 1800-1910.

Each member can nominate one book that has not been read by the group in the last two years. Nomination thread will be closed in one week or when eight books have been nominated - whichever comes first.

The topic for January will be Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Fairy Tales.
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EDIT: Everyman made a valid point, I did not realize just how limited our options would be. So I'm edited the category to...
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Fairy Tales. I'll be liberal with the acceptance of nominations so please feel free to use your imagination.

Hmmm. Classic science fiction from before 1910. That's tough. There's Jules Verne, if you consider his work science fiction. There's H.G. Wells, though much of his writing was after our cut-off date. Twain had one sort of SF novel that I'm aware of.

I can't have Gulliver's Travels, since that's before our time period, even if it were considered science fiction rather than fantasy (if we are distinguishing between them).

Given Bulwer-Lytton's reputation based on his most famous sentence, I wouldn't dare nominate his The Coming Race.

This will take some thinking about.

Everyman wrote: "Hmmm. Classic science fiction from before 1910. That's tough. There's Jules Verne, if you consider his work science fiction. There's H.G. Wells, though much of his writing was after our cut-off dat..."
Good point... I've edited the category.

I would like to nominate News from Nowhere by William Morris, a Utopian fantasy.

'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' by Mark Twain? Links quite well to both science fiction and fairy tales through the time travel and myth elements.

Everyman wrote: "Given Bulwer-Lytton's reputation based on his most famous sentence, I wouldn't dare nominate his The Coming Race. "

Don't knock Bulwer-Lytton! ;-) Zanoni was amazing! Maybe that sentence wasn't such a horrible cliche back then.

Lord of the World (1907) by Robert Hugh Benson

I nominate Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

Also, didn't this group already read The Island of Dr. Moreau? I read it, and I thought it was with this group. (I found it extremely unpleasant and not for the squeamish.)

After I posted this I checked the bookshelf. The group read Dr. Moreau in 2013 and 2010, so not within the last two years.

Would Victorian Fairy Tales be accepted as it's an anthology of texts that fit the time period?

Given the expansion of the definition of science fiction (thanks, Gem!), I'll nominate The Wizard of Oz, published in 1900. It's one of those books like Alice in Wonderland or the Narnia Tales which on one level is a children's book but on another level is a much more serious psychological commentary on childhood and growing up.

Besides, it lets us watch the movie guilt-free. After all, it's an essential part of the discourse about the book!

I love that book, Everyman, even though L. Frank Baum makes some really corny jokes.

Everyman wrote: "Given the expansion of the definition of science fiction (thanks, Gem!), I'll nominate The Wizard of Oz, published in 1900. It's one of those books like Alice in Wonderland or the Narnia Tales whic..."

Wonderful idea, Everyman. Baum was an unlauded feminist and progressive, and certainly had an affect on my life.

A suggestion from my reading list: Samuel Butler, Erewhon

Erewhon is another good choice. I haven't read it for a long time.

Rosemarie wrote: "Erewhon is another good choice. I haven't read it for a long time."

Ditto. But in my case, a long, long time!

I would like to nominate Rudyard Kipling's Tales of Horror and Fantasy This is a huge book with 50 tales so I would suggest picking out maybe 10-15 of the fantasy ones. I loved Kipling's book Kim but haven't read any of these.

Camille wrote: "Would Victorian Fairy Tales be accepted as it's an anthology of texts that fit the time period?"

I'm going to double check with the more senior moderators (I'm the new kid on the block) just to be sure.

Tracey wrote: "I would like to nominate Rudyard Kipling's Tales of Horror and Fantasy This is a huge book with 50 tales so I would suggest picking out maybe 10-15 of the fantasy ones. I loved Kipli..."

Interesting. I've read a fair amount of Kipling, but never heard of this book. Though perhaps I've read some of the tales without knowing where they came from. But Kipling is an excellent author and underrated, I believe, because of his jingoism, though he was actually quite sensitive to the concerns of the native populations.

I'm closing nominations as we have definately have eight, possibly nine books to choose from. I'll be posting the poll for January sometime over the weekend.

Thank you everyone for your contributions and suggestions. I look forward to finding out which book will be our January read!