Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1902

lol yeah was gonna make a "I enjoyed the film" joke.

It's gonna be Baskervilles for me here, even tho I don't think that novel's the greatest, but what strikes me is what I haven't read but wish I had - the Bennett ones, Pauline Hopkins, The Sport Of The Gods, P.G. Wodehouse's debut novel (Wodehouse is such a strong brand that it feels WRONG that there would be a debut novel, weird to think of "a start" for him).

Voted Hound too as it's easily the best Sherlock novel. Have read a whole four books from this list, which is an increase of four on 1901.

Aliens by Mary Tappan Wright - obviously disappointed when I googled this one.

The Pothunters by P.G. Wodehouse

I was more disappointed by this.

I don't think I ever read The Immoralist, I do find Gide a really interesting author in general so was hopeful I could join in this one, but alas it seems no... I have read Five Children and It and Hound of the Baskervilles (+ excerpts of Heart of Darkness, blargh) but don't feel strongly enough about either to vote for them.

Supermale by Alfred Jarry

Anyone read this one?

The Immoralist is well written and evocative, but it's also a memoir about paedophilia and just extremely icky in general

Gide was overrated throughout most of the 20th century and now I barely see him discussed anymore, if at all, which is a bit of a stiff corrective if you ask me. The proto-pomo Paludes (1895) is the novel of his I still think about the most. I don't much care for The Immoralist tbh (CaAL otm).

Anyway, it's Heart of Darkness for me based on my limited acquaintance with these titles (I do wish I'd read the Jarry).

Oh, ew. I mean, part of why I always found Gide interesting is his combo of sexuality and weird religious rigidity, but there's a difference between sexual exploration (what I thought this book would be about) and, uh, paedophilia.

…colonialist pedophilia, to boot.

Nice, nice. Yeah, I might not bother with this one.

The Gide I tried was The Fruits Of The Earth and oof, getting lectured on the greatness of nature in a pseudo-classical way v much not my thing.

I can recommend "After The Divorce" by Grazia Deledda: love, death, injustice, misery, all the good stuff.

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I voted for one of the few I've read: The Grand Babylon Hotel, Arnold Bennett. It had no pretensions beyond telling a silly, entertaining yarn, but it was that. Beyond which, it colorfully captures a particular milieu which has all but disappeared, the extravagantly grand hotel that serves as a stand-in mansion & servants for the traveling wealthy or even as a residence. It was a fun book.

Curious about The Mississippi Bubble based on the title ... voted Heart of Darkness because I liked the movie and the history of European (esp. Belgian) colonialism of Africa is really compelling in its awfulness

For those unfamiliar with the history of the Mississippi Bubble, it refers to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Company

Also featured in this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds

Voted Five Children and It partly because I haven't read very many of these books, but also because it was such a milestone in children's literature. Children's lit was barely there before E. Nesbit came along, and she wrote books that treated kids as kids - not little angels or cautionary tales, but real kids who had their own lives and interests. Before her, children's fantasy was mostly psychedelic dreamscapes. She invented the kind of children's book where something magical intersects with the real world, so that the characters have to fit time travel or wish-granting sand-fairies into their regular lives, with all the practical problems that would entail. That's a huge leap forward for children's lit and for fantasy in general.

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Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1903