I have read Gobbolino, The Witch's Cat. And nothing else here.
― ledge, Monday, 15 February 2021 12:23 (three years ago) link
is he a good cat
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 15 February 2021 13:39 (three years ago) link
If you're 12 then sure.
― ledge, Monday, 15 February 2021 14:07 (three years ago) link
The only one I've read is the Christie. Not one of her better ones. One of those murder methods where it would have been easier and cleaner just to shoot the person.
― wasdnuos (abanana), Monday, 15 February 2021 15:28 (three years ago) link
Apologies for the obvious pvmic but describing L’Étranger as a ‘novella’ seems very Anglo-centric to me. I’ve never seen it described as anything other than a ‘roman’, at most a ‘roman court’. Indeed, these distinctions are far less meaningful in French.
― pomenitul, Monday, 15 February 2021 15:41 (three years ago) link
Fully support any wiki vandalism on your part in service of this stance.
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 15 February 2021 15:45 (three years ago) link
Noted. :)
― pomenitul, Monday, 15 February 2021 16:47 (three years ago) link
The Moon is Down (which gets my vote - havent read much this year) is only about 150 pages.
― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Monday, 15 February 2021 16:56 (three years ago) link
I wonder if the term 'novella' made more sense back when paradigmatic novels (e.g. Victorian-era) were often much longer than they are today. Most of the 'notable examples' of novellas just seem like novels now: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#Notable_examples
― jmm, Monday, 15 February 2021 17:07 (three years ago) link
The High Window by Raymond Chandler -- I know I've read this but buggered if I can remember what happens in it
The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck -- this is very good, but yes, the same size as The Stranger
Phantom Lady by Cornell Woolrich -- more Woolrich nuts plotting, good fun
Darkness Falls From The Air by Nigel Balchin -- excellent downbeat Blitz-in-London novel
Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh -- this is very funny and at least less incredibly racist than Basil Seal's other adventures in Black Mischief
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis -- Lewis with his thumb on the scales again
The Silence Of The Sea by Vercors -- French Resistance novella which is definitely even shorter than The Stranger, and is also quietly impressive (French dude and his niece have a cultured German officer billeted in their house)
Embers by Sándor Márai -- absolutely love this melancholy book
Maigret And The Hotel Majestique by Georges Simenon -- very good, but why did they pick this and not one of the other 412 Simenons published this year I wonder
Oliver VII by Antal Szerb -- two Hungarian masterpieces in one list? Wow
Saturnin by Zdeněk Jirotka -- Czech version of Jeeves & Wooster except that Jeeves is a bomb-throwing anarchist; fun
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Monday, 15 February 2021 23:58 (three years ago) link
The war and paper rationing made it hard to get any book published in 1942. No wonder novella-length fiction pops up in this list more often than usual. I've read almost none of these. Most I've never heard of.
I voted for Waugh over Steinbeck.
― Compromise isn't a principle, it's a method (Aimless), Tuesday, 16 February 2021 00:09 (three years ago) link
Especially in France where stuff like the Vercors was illegal and published clandestinely
― Tsar Bombadil (James Morrison), Tuesday, 16 February 2021 06:00 (three years ago) link
Surprised by some things being new here like The Robe and Meet Me In St Louis since I would have 5hought them earlier. & some things being this early. Donovan 's Brain cos it was filmed in the 60s with Hitler's brain being the transplant wasn't it? Then transformed into being about another appendage in a song by the Angry Samoans.
I think I started bu didn't finish the Screwtape Letters about the demon's messages home to his dad or whatever. A cunning ruse of a way for an Xian to talk about human foibles innit.
I don't remember seeing that Jim Thompson title before. Thought I was familiar with a lot of his work.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 16 February 2021 07:14 (three years ago) link
was wondering if i should read the screwtape letters in a spirit of know your enemy but life's too short, also what's the point in being enemies with someone who died 60 years ago.
― ledge, Tuesday, 16 February 2021 11:01 (three years ago) link
James, Maigret In Exile was the other Simenon they listed. I have no real rationale for which one I chose.
Ok, sold!
― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 16 February 2021 11:09 (three years ago) link
I haven't read many of these.
Of the 75 Maigret novels there are very few that aren't thoroughly entertaining, and this one is no exception. For detective series quantity + quality, Simenon is the world champion.
The High Window is not as good as the first two of Chandler's much shorter detective series, but it's a strong entry and gets my vote here.
― Brad C., Tuesday, 16 February 2021 16:15 (three years ago) link
screwtape letters is lewis at his most infuriating. the thing is just so cold and airless, like twain’s letters from the earth if it had been written by someone with no sense of humor.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 16 February 2021 18:00 (three years ago) link
I've only read the Chandler and didn't find it hugely memorable.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, 16 February 2021 21:18 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Wednesday, 17 February 2021 00:01 (three years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Thursday, 18 February 2021 00:01 (three years ago) link
Embers is good but didn't feel like voting for that
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 18 February 2021 07:40 (three years ago) link
Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1943
― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 19 February 2021 16:09 (three years ago) link