Constant Reader discussion

Here are the nominations we received for Classics Corner, Jan–June 2026. Sadly, it’s short enough to fit in a single post!

Please vote for up to 4 titles. Anyone who is interesting in participating in the discussion(s) is eligible to vote. Please send me a direct message with your votes—don’t post them here!

Let’s set Friday, November 21 as the deadline to get your votes to me.

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Richard Adams – WATERSHIP DOWN (478p.)

Set in England’s Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of friends, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.

Maya Angelou – I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS (289p.)

Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters.

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.

Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.

Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.

Annie Dillard – PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK (297p.)

Part memoir, part field journal, part philosophical inquiry, Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is a sustained encounter with the natural world which offers a reading experience that feels both meditative and electric. Observing everything from the play of light on water to the brutal precision of a praying mantis, Dillard wrestles with questions of beauty, violence, and the divine. As her prose shifts from lyrical to clinical, from reverent to unsettling, it invites the reader into a heightened awareness of their own surroundings. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek doesn’t merely describe the world but models a way of seeing it—with rigor, humility, and awe.

Daphne du Maurier – THE PARASITES (352p.)

The Delaney siblings—children of famous performers—live in the shadow of their parents’ charisma and self-absorption. As adults, they navigate fame, dependency, and destructive love. Du Maurier exposes the way creative families feed on one another emotionally.

Keith Houston – THE BOOK: A COVER-TO-COVER EXPLORATION OF THE MOST POWERFUL OBJECT OF OUR TIME (565p.)

From barely decipherable scratches on ancient surfaces to the latest bestseller: a history of the book, its numerous ancestors, and its underlying technologies. Houston is both witty and intensely detailed, thus appealing both to general readers and to bibliophiles who will wish to know the specifics of making papyrus, of stitching together pages, and of learning how we arrived at today’s paper sizes. Humor appears almost always in the punny, allusive chapter titles—e.g., “Etching a Sketch: Copperplate Printing and the Renaissance.” The author calls out onto his stage numerous principals in his play—names not widely known—and gives them their due. A splendid, challenging mixture of information and fun.

Henry James – THE GOLDEN BOWL (210p.)

Set in England, The Golden Bowl is Henry James’s highly charged exploration of adultery, jealousy, and possession that continues and challenges James’s characteristic exploration of the battle between American innocence and European experience. Maggie Verver, a young American heiress, and her widowed father, Adam, lead a life of wealth and refinement in London. They are both getting married: Maggie to Prince Amerigo, an impoverished Italian aristocrat, and Adam to the beautiful but penniless Charlotte Stant. But both father and daughter are unaware that their new conquests share a secret—one for which all concerned must pay the price. This story completes what critics have called the “major phase” of James’ career. (From publisher’s description)

Carson McCullers – THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER (359p.)

Set in a small Georgia mill town in the 1930s, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter draws readers into a world of characters who live on the edges—the isolated, the misunderstood, the silenced. McCullers renders each character with compassion and precision, compelling us to recognize ourselves in people we might otherwise overlook. Though deeply rooted in its time and place, the story offers a timeless exploration of connection and alienation. Longing and sorrow coexist in balance with dignity and resilience. The result is a Southern Gothic of unusual emotional depth, offering no neat solutions, but rather shimmering moments of truth.

Charles Portis – TRUE GRIT (240p.)

#1 New York Times bestseller / “An epic and a legend.” ―Washington Post / “Quite simply, an American masterpiece.” ―Boston Globe / “Charles Portis had a wonderful talent―original, quirky, exciting.” ―Larry McMurtry
True Grit tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just 14 when the coward Tom Chaney shoots her father in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash. Filled with an unwavering urge to avenge her father’s blood, Mattie finds and, after some tenacious finagling, enlists one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available US Marshal, as her partner in pursuit, and they head off into Indian Territory after the killer.

Anthony Trollope – THE WAY WE LIVE NOW (418p.)

Published in 1875 after appearing in serial form, “The Way We Live Now” is widely acknowledged to be the masterpiece of Anthony Trollope’s prolific Victorian career. The novel is a scathing satire which Trollope wrote upon returning to England after traveling abroad. Trollope was horrified to discover how pervasive greed and dishonesty had become in England during his absence. In seeking to reveal the deceit and dissipation he found, Trollope spared no sinful aspect he perceived in business, politics, social classes, literature, and various vice-related activities. Inspired by the devastation wrought by several famous financial scams of the nineteenth century, Trollope drew upon these scandals to show how destructive such deception and avarice can become. The result of his efforts is an impressive array of characters, such as the old coquette Lady Carbury, her dissolute son Sir Felix, a spoiled and treacherously lovely heiress Marie, and her colossal figure of a father Augustus Melmotte, the great financier whose deceitful plots dupe countless wealthy individuals. Through the swindling, bribery, feuding, and shameless self-promotion of these characters, Trollope writes a sweeping panorama of vice for the sake of monetary greed that will cause readers to reflect on the morality of our own time. (From publisher’s description)

It may be a shorter list than others, but I see plenty of interesting options here. If nothing else, the shorter list should help focus things so that we might not have to deal with tie votes.

There's at least one book I should have read before but never got around to, and even a couple of options for the nonfiction fans. The one about the history of the book reminds me of Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything... which also reminds me that I should nominate that sometime :) I am disappointed that nobody took my hints to nominate the Rumer Godden book, though. Maybe next time?

There must be a mistake. We are currently reading Virgin Soil for December 2025.

Oops - good catch, Justin. I should have noticed that, since I put the current schedule together!!! I thought it sounded familiar but just figured I'd heard it mentioned in other Turgenev discussions. (duh!)

Shoot! Somehow it didn’t ring a bell with me at all, and I didn’t think to double check that! Newbie mistake 😁

I’ll ask the nominator if they have another to replace it with; hopefully we can get it replaced before we start getting votes!

Back on track! We got another nomination to replace the Turgenev. Please feel free to send me your votes!

Thanks, spoko. My votes are in!

So at the moment, we have a five-way tie for the 3rd- & 4th-place spots. Sure could use some more votes!

Just sent my votes. Love these choices. Come on, everyone, more votes. These will lead to some great discussions.

Just voted. Thanks for the reminder.

Oh sorry. I just saw this. My votes will be to you in a moment if not too late.

Mary Anne wrote: “Oh sorry. I just saw this. My votes will be to you in a moment if not too late.”

You got them in before I did the tally, so that works for me.

The winners have been posted, everyone!