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October 2011 BOTM: Nominations

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boswellbaxter
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October 2011 BOTM: Nominations

Post by boswellbaxter » Fri August 12th, 2011, 3:07 am

This month's theme is classic literature. This includes both novels that were written as historical fiction (e.g., A Tale of Two Cities) and those that weren't (e.g., Pride and Prejudice). We'll be purely arbitrary and confine nominations to classics that were published before 1940. Nominations close August 15.

P.S. Since we all have lots of books to read, it's probably unrealistic to have War and Peace or Clarissa for the BOTM. Try to limit nominations to short and medium-sized classics.
Susan Higginbotham
Coming in October: The Woodvilles


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MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Fri August 12th, 2011, 3:35 am

Great choice! I nominate Don Quixote--it's short, it's funny, and if you haven't read it yet, you should. Idioms from the story, like 'tilting at windmills' have become part of the culture--which is much more surprising than Shakespeare, when you consider that Cervantes wrote in Spanish!

Oh, and an added plus, it's not set in England.

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Amanda
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Post by Amanda » Fri August 12th, 2011, 3:35 am

I'll nominate Tess of the d'Urbevilles by Thomas Hardy.

I watched the BBC versions with Gemma Atherton and loved it, so read the book too. He writes beautiful descriptions of the countryside......

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Divia
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Post by Divia » Fri August 12th, 2011, 4:21 am

Any cool halloweenish tales. I'm drawing a blank.
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MLE (Emily Cotton)
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3566
Joined: August 2008
Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
Location: California Bay Area

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Fri August 12th, 2011, 6:20 am

Divia, how could you have forgotten Washington Irvings's Legend of Sleepy Hollow? or Rip Van Winkle, for that matter? Although those aren't really long enough to be books.
Didn't the Scarlet Letter have a scene with the devil in it?

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Madeleine
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Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Fri August 12th, 2011, 8:57 am

If you'd like some Gothic, how about Lady Audley's Secret? Can't believe we're discussing Halloween!
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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Vanessa
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Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
Interest in HF: The first historical novel I read was Katherine by Anya Seton and this sparked off my interest in this genre.
Favourite HF book: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell!
Preferred HF: Any
Location: North Yorkshire, UK

Post by Vanessa » Fri August 12th, 2011, 10:27 am

How about The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins?
The Woman in White famously opens with Walter Hartright's eerie encounter on a moonlit London road. Engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie, Walter is drawn into the sinister intrigues of Sir Percival Glyde and his 'charming' friend Count Fosco, who has a taste for white mice, vanilla bonbons and poison. Pursuing questions of identity and insanity along the paths and corridors of English country houses and the madhouse, The Woman in White is the first and most influential of the Victorian genre that combined Gothic horror with psychological realism.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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Madeleine
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Currently reading: "Mania" by L J Ross
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Fri August 12th, 2011, 10:57 am

Oh great choice, Vanessa, it's a fab book!
Currently reading "Mania" by L J Ross

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Fri August 12th, 2011, 11:51 am

[quote=""Madeleine""]If you'd like some Gothic, how about Lady Audley's Secret? Can't believe we're discussing Halloween![/quote]

I enjoyed Lady Audley a lot. I've got a bunch of TBR free classics on the kindle. Be back later with a nomination from among them.
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Ash
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Post by Ash » Fri August 12th, 2011, 12:32 pm

If you want literature and spooky: Frankenstein or Dracula.

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