Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

January 2024 New School group read nominations are now open! Please review the requirements below for book eligibility.

1. Books that have already been featured as group reads are not eligible for nomination. Bookshelf

In the interest of variety, please wait a month to renominate a book that has been in the poll. These are the books from last month's poll that did not win:

South Moon Under by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
City Primeval by Elmore Leonard
A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene
The Great World by David Malouf
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson
The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler


2. Eligible publication dates for books are 1900-1999.

3. When making a nomination, please use "add book/author" link to help moderators and others view the book selected.

4. Only seven books, by seven different authors will move forward to each poll. This will be determined by the number of seconds a book receives. The seven books with the most seconds moves to the poll.

5. One nomination and one second per member will be allowed. A nomination can be changed only until it has been seconded. Once seconded, in fairness to the member making the second, the nomination will stand.

5a. A second can be withdrawn and placed on another choice. This change must in some way be noted in a post such as, "I am withdrawing my second for book A and placing it on book B." It will be easier to moderator to track changes.

6. Only one book per author; in the event of more than one book by the same author is nominated, only the first one to receive a second will be eligible. The nominator of the ruled ineligible book will be able to nominate a replacement or second another already in nomination.

6a. Same author-multiple categories. The same author may be nominated in multiple categories in a single month as long as the nominations are for different books. In the case of identical nominations, precedence will go to the first one to receive a second.

7. Availability Members nominating for a monthly Group Read will need to check that a copy of the text is reasonably available for members, and is available in English. Moderators may disallow a nomination if a copy is not readily available.

Nominations will remain open until the 14th of the month. Polls will open on the 16th and run until the end of the month.

I would like to nominate Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali, 244 pp, 1992

Historical fiction set in the late 15th century world of al Andalus Spain with a Muslim population.

Tariq Ali is a British-Pakistani historian

I nominate The Wreath by Sigrid Undset, which is the first book of Kristin Lavransdatter. 305 pages, published 1920.

I nominate Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (152 p., pub. 1922).

spoko wrote: "I nominate Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (152 p., pub. 1922)."

This was our Monthly Short Story, May 2016.
You can nominate it in our Revisit the Shelf Category.

I nominate Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard 1974 288pp

spoko wrote: "I nominate Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (152 p., pub. 1922)."

Spoko, I moved the nomination to the Revisit the Shelf Thread. Let me know over there if you did not want that to happen.

I second The Wreath.

J_BlueFlower wrote: "I would like to nominate Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali, 244 pp, 1992

Historical fiction set in the late 15th century world of al Andalus Spain with a M..."

I second.

I nominate Regeneration by Pat Barker. Published in 1991. 256 pages.

I second The Wreath

I second Shadows of the Pomegrante Tree by Tariq Ali

Sam wrote: "I nominate Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard 1974 288pp"

I'll second this one :)

I nominate Quicksand by Nella Larsen.

Published 1928, 192 pgs.

I second The Wreath

I nominate Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel. First published in 1927. 247 pages

I second Quicksand

Kimberly wrote: "I nominate Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel. First published in 1927. 247 pages"

I second this one.

I nominate The President by the Nobel prizer Miguel Ángel Asturias 256 pages, 1946

I second Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree.

Terris wrote: "Sam wrote: "I nominate Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard 1974 288pp"

I'll second this one :)"

Almost forgot a thank-you!

Kimberly wrote: "I nominate Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel. First published in 1927. 247 pages"

I second this

I second Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I may have read this one years ago. I’m certain that i owned it, but I just don’t remember reading it.

Thanks Terry!

I would like to second Quicksand

Nominations Update

Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali, 1992, 244 pages
J_BlueFlower, sabagrey, Jane, Carolien

The Wreath by Sigrid Undset, 1920, 305 pages
Wobbley, Margaret, Chris, Darren

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard, 1974, 288 pages
Sam, Terris, Terry

Quicksand by Nella Larsen, 1928, 192 pages
Kathleen, Kimberly, Janice

Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel, 1927, 247 pages
Kimberly, Wobbley, Julie

Regeneration by Pat Barker, 1991, 256 pages
Marilyn

The President by Miguel Ángel Asturias, 1946, 256 pages
AiK

I second Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree

I second regeneration

I would like to nominate Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, 1972, 290 pages. Historical fiction and magical realism, banned book, written by "the founder of modern Chicano literature".

Another second for Alberta and Jacob

Looks like The Wreath has several seconds. I'd like to change mine to second Bless Me, Ultima.

Second - Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Margaret wrote: "Looks like The Wreath has several seconds. I'd like to change mine to second Bless Me, Ultima."

Thank you Margaret!

AiK wrote: "I nominate The President by the Nobel prizer Miguel Ángel Asturias 256 pages, 1946"

I second.

I second Bless Me, Ultima.

I second Regeneration.