Reading 1001 discussion

It's that time: Voting for August botm is from authors Pater through Rhys. Voting is open from today through the 23. Winners will be announced on the 24th.

How to Vote Send your votes to the new shelf personality's email address: 1001secondedition@gmail.com.


Books over 600 pages are not included and books that have been past botm in 2024 are not included.

Randomizer selection: One book is chosen by the randomizer from the books submitted by you. Only books that have not been previous botm (*) in past 10 years (2016 +) will be added to the randomizer. Each book you choose that has not been previously botm in the past 10 years will be fed into the randomizer. Books not eligible for the randomizer are marked with a *.



Walter Pater - England
1. Marius the Epicurean

Alan Paton, South Africa
2. Cry, The Beloved Country, botm 2012

Cesare Pavese Italy
3. The Moon and the Bonfires
4. The Harvesters

Milorad Pavic - Webia
5. Dictionary of the Khazars

Octavio Paz, Mexico
6. The Labyrinth of Solitude, botm 2014

David Peace UK
7. Nineteen Seventy Seven

Mervyn Peake UK
8. Gormenghast
*9. Titus Groan. botm 2010, 2018


Victor Pelevin Russian
10. The Life of Insects
*11. The Clay Machine-Gun, botm 2020

Georges Perec - France
12. W, or the Memory of Childhood
13. A Void
14. A Man Asleep
15. Things: A Story of the Sixties

Benito Pérez Galdós - Spain
16. Compassion (Misericordia)

Arturo Perez-Reverte - Spain
*17. The Dumas Club botm 2012, 2022

Charlotte Perkins Gilman - US
*18. The Yellow Wallpaper, botm 2016

Fernando Pessoa - Portugal
* 19. The Book of Disquiet, botm 2020

DBC Pierre - Australia/Ireland
20. Vernon God Little

Ricardo Piglia - Argentina
21. Money to Burn

Luigi Pirandello - Italy
22. One, No One and One Hundred Thousand

James Plunkett - Ireland
23. The Trusting and the Maimed

Edgar Allan Poe - US
24. The Purloined Letter. botm 2010, 2012
25. The Pit and the Pendulum botm 2010, 2012
26. The Fall of the House of Usher, botm 2010

Elena Poniatowska France
27. Here's to You, Jesusa

Padgett Powell - US
28. Typical

Annie Proulx - US
29. The Shipping News, botm 2012

Manuel Puig - Argentina
30. Kiss of the Spider Woman, botm 2012
31. Heartbreak Tango

Alexander Pushkin - Russian
32. Eugene Onegin, botm 2014

Mario Puzo - US
33. The Godfather

Barbara Pym - UK
34. Quartet in Autumn
*35. Excellent Women, botm 2016

Thomas Pynchon - US
36. Vineland
*37. The Crying of Lot 49, botm 2018

Alexander Pope - Jonathan Swift - John Arbuthnot, etc
38. Memoirs of Martinus Sciblerus

Raymond Queneau - France
39. Exercises in Style

Raymond Radiguet - France
40. The Devil in the Flesh

Christoph Ransmayr - Austria
41. The Last World

Pauline Réage - France
42. The Story of O

Liviu Rebreanu - Romania
43. The Forest of the Hanged

Erich Maria Remarque - Germany
*44. All Quiet on the Western Front, botm 2014, 2016

Jean Rhys - Dominica
45. Wide Sargasso Sea, botm 2010
*46. Good Morning, Midnight, botm 2018
*47. Quartet, botm 2022

That's the list for August 2026. What would you like to read. Which ones have you already read? And Don't forget to vote!

I have read 22, which is about my average recently. I would like to read The Harvesters because I enjoyed The Moon and the Bonfires but can not find the book very easily so I will pass on that for now. Perhaps The Devil in the Flesh. That one is readily available.

27 already done and dusted. I have 3 somehwere in my boxed-TBR shelves:

Titus Groan (Peake)
Gormenghast (Peake)
Vernon God Little (Pierre)

A bit of a conundrum here: I would love to read Titus Groan, but it is a recent BOTM; I don't want to read Gormenghast before I read Titus Groan. That leaves me with Vernon God Little, which many of you have read. We shall see...

I have read Titus and Gormenghast but not Vernon God Little.

I've read 25 of these.
I have these 3 on the shelf
Dictionary of the Khazars
Devil in the Flesh
Typical

I would be interested in Titus Groan as well, but had noted that it was a recent BOTM and thought it wouldn't be picked bc of that. I've read Vernon God Little. I don't seem to be able to access The Devil in the Flesh.

It always surprises me, when these lists are posted, that I see titles I'm sure I've never seen or heard of before, despite scrolling through the list from time to time!

I don't have any of these ready to read, and I've read the ones discussed except for Typical, so I'll probably see what's available from the library and add some to the randomizer.

I’ve read 14 of these. I haven’t read Titus Groan or Vernon God Little and own both, I also own Memoirs of Martin Scriblerus which is quite short so I may give that a vote or two.

I've read about a dozen of these. Interested in the following, but I'll wait and see how others are feeling before casting any votes.

The Moon and the Bonfire
Money to Burn
Typical: Stories
Quartet in Autumn
Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus

I think we should read more Thomas Pynchon ;) ha ha

I have read 11 of these. Nothing is pulling me at the moment so I might just see what gets voted.

I've read 18, about my usual percentage. Only one mentioned by others is near the top of my to-read list, namely Quartet in Autumn by Pym mentioned by Jane; I liked her Excellent Women. I also have Raymond Queneau's Exercises in Style near the top of my to-read list (“a one page story is retold in ninety-nine different ways, highlighting that it is not the story, but the way the story is told that matters”). I will probably put a couple votes on each of those.

I also loved the Moon and the Bonfires Gail! But agree that I cannot find Harvesters - my usually excellent city library does not have it and even my University library does not have it, and the only for purchase that I saw were first editions for several hundred each. Hmm.

Scriblerus looks like fun, and I have not read Quartet in Autumn either, and Pym is not too heavy for the summer :)

I would like to read Piradello, and maybe I will do that for the Geo I if it doesn't come up here, but if others have not read it I will throw into the randomizer maybe.

I have DNFd Titus Groan in the past, but I have it, so will try again if it get picked, but wont vote for it lol.

I’ve read 11 (thanks to Poe!). I’ve just downloaded the Devil in the Flesh to my kindle, it sounds wonderful.

The other day I struck gold at my local charity book resellers and scored 5 hard-to-find copies of List books, including Black Water (Oates) and the Mandarins (de Beauvoir).

Rebecca wrote: "I’ve read 11 (thanks to Poe!). I’ve just downloaded the Devil in the Flesh to my kindle, it sounds wonderful.

The other day I struck gold at my local charity book resellers and scored 5 hard-to-f..."

Congratulations on the book haul. Happy reading.

There is about 24 hours to go to vote for August's BOTMs. At the moment, 10 books have received votes and there are no clear leaders; the last few votes will most likely determine which book will be selected as the popular BOTM!

If you have not done so, send your votes through to 1001secondedition@gmail.com .

Well, this was an interesting voting month where a clear leader finally emerged with the second last votes received. All up, 11 books received at least one vote.

Popular choice: Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym
Random selection: Typical by Padgett Powell (submitted by Kristel and Rosemary)

What will you read a few weeks after the World Cup crowns its champions?

I’ve read and liked Quartet in Autumn. I’ll read Typical if I can find a cheap copy, otherwise I’ll just crack on with USA trilogy.

I’ve read Quartet in Autumn. Pam is a great author imo. I hope to read Typical but I am not very fond of short stories. This one is on my Kindle so I’ll probably read them at night before I go to sleep.

I have neither of these but they appear to be readily available so I will probably read both, although I, too, am not very fond of short stories.

My only involvement with the World Cup is avoiding Toronto! ha, ha...

Happily, I am able to get Quartet in Autumn via inter-library loan, and it will be in the mail very soon (if not today). That means I probably will get it well before August though.

This will be interesting, because Typical is not available in the Oxfordshire public library system and expensive here online, but I nominated it hoping that if it was picked, I could access it at the Bodleian (Oxford University libraries) as a non-academic staff retiree, which is theoretically possible, but I have never tried to do it before. So let's see - if they let me in, it will give me access to a lot of other hard-to-find books on the list, but I will have to sit there and read them, I cannot borrow. Wish me luck LOL the Bodleian is a bit scary!

I'll be the dissonant voice about Pym and Quartet in Autumn: I hated it! While I might still be in Australia during August, I will probably have to skip Typical due to its physical unavailability here. I will most likely finish USA in the first week of August, then read my TBR selection and attack the whole Gormenghast trilogy.

Rosemary wrote: "This will be interesting, because Typical is not available in the Oxfordshire public library system and expensive here online, but I nominated it hoping that if it was picked, I could access it at ..."

That's one thing I regret not doing in my few visits to London: a day trip to Oxford and its libraries... Who knows, I might be able to arrange that in the future once I am in Montreal.

Valerie wrote: "My only involvement with the World Cup is avoiding Toronto! ha, ha...

Happily, I am able to get Quartet in Autumn via inter-library loan, and it will be in the mail very soon (if not today). That ..."

This sounds like an amazing experience -- good luck!

I'll be reading Quartet in Autumn, which currently has 5 holds on 1 copy at my library. Fingers crossed I will get it in time to save the money. I've requested Typical through ILL, but we'll see what I have time for.

Rosemary wrote: "This will be interesting, because Typical is not available in the Oxfordshire public library system and expensive here online, but I nominated it hoping that if it was picked, I could access it at ..."

I would have been in Oxford last weekend if I could have gotten a seat for my niece's commencement. She just got a PhD in anthropology there. She's American but living in Scotland then England for the past 6 years, marrying an Englishman shortly.

I just requested the one paper copy of Quartet in Autumn from Salt Lake city library- having it sent to a branch nearer to me, hope to get by Thursday (Friday is a state holiday in Utah).

George P. wrote: "Rosemary wrote: "This will be interesting, because Typical is not available in the Oxfordshire public library system and expensive here online, but I nominated it hoping that if it was picked, I co..."

Congratulations to your niece! I hope you get to go to the wedding.

George P. wrote: "I would have been in Oxford last weekend if I could have gotten a seat for my niece's commencement. She just got a PhD in anthropology there. She's American but living in Scotland then England for the past 6 years, marrying an Englishman shortly."

Congratulations from me, too! If anyone does come to Oxford please let me know - we should meet for coffee if you have a spare moment!