This is the runoff poll to select the book we'll read and discuss in September of 2020.
Note: I won't be voting in this poll unless there is another tie, at which point I'll cast the tie-breaking vote. We love new participants. We're happy for you to vote, but in the interest of a vibrant conversation, we'd like to request that you not vote unless you plan to join the discussion whatever the selection. So if you haven't posted in a book club thread yet, do please say a quick hello here or in the Welcome thread.This is a
image » poll. Vote for as many books as you'd like.
Questions?
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Choices: - Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne.
Spoiler Warning below
Quote Wikipedia
“ The story starts in London on Wednesday, 2 October 1872.
Phileas Fogg is a rich British gentleman living in solitude. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives a modest life with habits carried out with mathematical precision. Very little can be said about his social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club, where he spends much of every day. Having dismissed his former valet, James Forster, for bringing him shaving water at 84 °F (29 °C) instead of 86 °F (30 °C), Fogg hires Frenchman Jean Passepartout as a replacement.
At the Reform Club, Fogg gets involved in an argument over an article in The Daily Telegraph stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. He accepts a wager for £20,000, half of his total fortune, from his fellow club members to complete such a journey within this time period. With Passepartout accompanying him, Fogg departs from London by train at 8:45 p.m. on 2 October; in order to win the wager, he must return to the club by this same time on 21 December, 80 days later. They take the remaining £20,000 of Fogg's fortune with them to cover expenses during the journey.”
~130 pp.
- Erebus: The Story of a Ship By Michael Palin.
Spoiler Warning below
Quote
In the early years of Queen Victoria’s reign, HMS Erebus undertook two of the most ambitious naval expeditions of all time.
On the first, she ventured further south than any human had ever been. On the second, she vanished with her 129-strong crew in the wastes of the Canadian Arctic.
“Her fate remained a mystery for over 160 years.
Then, in 2014, she was found.
This is her story.“
365 pp.
Well, we have a clear choice here. One is fiction, one is non-fiction. One is short, the other fairly long for us. One is free, one is not. One was written in French, but about an Englishman, the other was written by an Englishman, but is quintessentially a Canadian story.
Last Call. This runoff will close in the morning. (Though really, I don't think we can go wrong here. Both were on my "I'm going to read this regardless" list.
The results are in, and we'll be reading and discussing that Jules Verne classic "
Around the World in Eighty Days". I remind folks that there are multiple versions of this, in both eBook and audiobook, but you're free to read whatever version you choose. Personally, I'll be reading the Patrick Tull narration from Audible. Supplemented by the Amazon Classics eBook.
In just two more days, we'll be discussing
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock Spoiler Warning below
Quote GrannyGrump
Stephen Leacock was a Canadian educator, political scientist, writer, and humorist. Between 1911 and 1925 he was so well-known as the worlds greatest humorist that it was said more people had heard of Stephen Leacock than had heard of Canada.
Quote wikipedia
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town is a sequence of stories by Stephen Leacock, first published in 1912. It is generally considered to be one of the most enduring classics of Canadian humorous literature. The fictional setting for these stories is Mariposa, a small town on the shore of Lake Wissanotti. Although drawn from his experiences in Orillia, Ontario, Leacock notes: "Mariposa is not a real town. On the contrary, it is about seventy or eighty of them."
This work has remained popular for its universal appeal. Many of the characters, though modelled on townspeople of Orillia, are small town archetypes. Their shortcomings and weaknesses are presented in a humorous but affectionate way.
At right around 100 pages, this is a short work and it's in the public domain, so even if you haven't started it, there's still time before discussion starts. Or at least before it gets too far along. So please, join us for the discussion starting Saturday.
I look forward to
Around the World in Eighty Days. Of course I have seen the film but have never bothered to read the book. So it will be a new experience.
Quote fantasyfan
I look forward to Around the World in Eighty Days. Of course I have seen the film but have never bothered to read the book. So it will be a new experience.
Yup, I'm in the same situation. I'd have enjoyed either choice, but this one at least has one of my all time favourite narrators, so I'll enjoy that part of it, at least.
[QUOTE=CRussel;4022793]Yup, I'm in the same situation. I'd have enjoyed either choice, but this one at least has one of my all time favourite narrators, so I'll enjoy that part of it, at least. [/QUOTE
I think I’ll try that Audible version too. Thanks for mentioning it.
I'm intending to listen to the Jim Dale version.
ETA: This was a freebie from RH Audio at some point, so check your files.
Quote Catlady
I'm intending to listen to the Jim Dale version.
ETA: This was a freebie from RH Audio at some point, so check your files.
I'm sure his will be good as well. Really, there a surfeit of quality narrations of this book.
I'm not sure I can read this. It turns out that Verne is an anti-Semite. According to the New York Times, he was a voracious anti-Semite and his publisher Hertzel dialed it back some.
