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.
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 2 September 2020 15:49 (three years ago) link
I can recommend "After The Divorce" by Grazia Deledda: love, death, injustice, misery, all the good stuff.
― Tim, Thursday, 3 September 2020 10:38 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Sunday, 6 September 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
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.
― the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Sunday, 6 September 2020 00:13 (three years ago) link
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
― sarahell, Sunday, 6 September 2020 00:28 (three years ago) link
For those unfamiliar with the history of the Mississippi Bubble, it refers to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Company
― the unappreciated charisma of cows (Aimless), Sunday, 6 September 2020 00:38 (three years ago) link
Also featured in this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds
― sarahell, Sunday, 6 September 2020 00:55 (three years ago) link
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.
― Lily Dale, Sunday, 6 September 2020 19:52 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Monday, 7 September 2020 00:01 (three years ago) link
Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1903
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 7 September 2020 13:52 (three years ago) link