I like this one.
What boot are you riding right now?
Down winders, apple ciders, cherry pieders?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...ead-in-us-poll
24 Oct 2018
To Kill a Mockingbird voted top 'Great American Read' in US poll
Millions of American readers voted Harper Lee’s renowned story about racism as their favourite novel in six-month PBS poll
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s renowned coming-of-age story about racism and injustice in the American south, was voted the US’s best-loved novel by millions of readers as part of a national poll.
The Pulitzer prize-winning book, first published in 1960, topped the US public service broadcaster PBS’s Great American Read survey, the results of which were announced on Tuesday. More than 4 million votes were cast in the six-month long poll.
The 100-book shortlist voted on by readers was based on an initial PBS/YouGov survey of about 7,200 Americans who were invited to nominate their favourite novel. An advisory panel of experts from the literary industry culled the list to 100 books. Authors were limited to one title or series. Provided the novel was written in English, authors could be from anywhere in the world.
Seven out of the top 10 novels were written by women, with Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series coming in second, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter taking third place, and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice coming in fourth. JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings rounded out the top five, and was the top ranking novel by a male writer.
To Kill A Mockingbird has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide since its release and remains a fixture on school reading lists. Set in the 1930s US south, it centres on lawyer Atticus Finch and his young children, daughter Scout and son Jem. When Finch defends an African-American man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman, the trial and its repercussions open Scout’s eyes to the world around her.
It was the only novel Lee published during her lifetime. The posthumous publication of a companion novel, Go Set A Watchman, in 2015, was the cause of much controversy.
The Great American Read initiative included a TV series, a 50,000-member online book club, and a widespread social media campaign.
The top 20 books were as follows:
1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Outlander (series) by Diana Gabaldon
3. Harry Potter (series) by JK Rowling
4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
5. The Lord of the Rings (series) by JRR Tolkein
6. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
7. Charlotte’s Web by EB White
8. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
9. The Chronicles of Narnia (series) by CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
11. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
12. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
13. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
14. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
15. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
16. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
17. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
18. 1984 by George Orwell
19. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
20. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The full ranked list can be found on the Great American Read website.
Just finished John Grisham's latest, "The Reckoning". Over the years, I have mostly gone off of famous, bestseller list authors, finding that once they get famous, their books begin to appear as if they'd been written by committee. However, having always enjoyed Grisham's books, I gave this one a go.
It is not his normal........it is a dark, depressing, complicated, and often sad tale of war, betrayal, family, and the deep South. If you look it up on Amazon, it has far, far more negative reviews than any other Grisham book I can recall.....they are usually stacked with 5-star reviews from the "OMG" squad. I can only presume that many readers were looking for a comfortable beach read, and have little interest in history. If they sought comfort, they opened the wrong book.
At first, and without writing 'spoilers', I had real timeline issues with Part I; these were all cleared up in Part II, and were intentional. While a dark and ultimately depressing book, I personally think it ranks as Grisham's most ambitious, and best, work.
Last edited by Davis Knowlton; 26-10-2018 at 02:57 PM.
John Grisham
15 hrs ·
THE CLIENT was my fourth novel, published by Doubleday Books in 1993. The author photo? Also 1993... THE RECKONING (#40) is now in bookstores.
https://www.facebook.com/JohnGrisham...type=3&theater
Great story.
https://monoskop.org/images/2/2e/Bre...ja_1960_EN.pdf
Andre Breton's, Nadja- it's a trip- literally! Rereading- read it at uni and found it challenging, to say the least, so making a revisit.
^ I found this:
"This ultra-hip, post-modern vampire tale is set in contemporary New York City. Members of a dysfunctional family of vampires are trying to come to terms with each other, in the wake of their father's death. Meanwhile, they are being hunted by Dr. Van Helsing and his hapless nephew. As in all good vampire movies, forces of love are pitted against forces of destruction."
https://x1337x.se/torrent/1131057/Na...Rip-x264-FiCO/
Is it related?
A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.
I'm just finishing the fifth book in P.T. Deutermann's simply outstanding five-book WW2 naval series - two of the books deal with submarines, the other three with surface ships. All deal with the Japanese island-hopping campaigns. Deutermann is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and a retired Navy Captain; he knows of what he writes. Some of the best, most exciting, naval warfare books I have ever read.
Not a novel but I am really enjoying the book so thought I'd mention it:
The GCHQ Puzzle Book II.
The puzzles are well written and, for me, stick in the mind until they've been solved, There's a generic hints section on how to solve the problems and another short section on ciphers and how to crack them. Different people will find different puzzles easier than others and they can all take a while to work out. I'd say internet is taken into account when trying to solve them, as in without it you'd need to have eaten several encyclopedias for breakfast.
I should also mention how I came to buy the book. Having bought my wife's Christmas present, I arrived at Gatwick for my easyjet flight with two items of carry on luggage: My camera bag and my wife's present in a smaller shoulder bag. The dilemma was only one item of luggage in the cabin, later dropped to one item and airport terminal shopping. To be on the safe side I popped into WH Smiths, bought the book with carrier bag and popped wife's present into it. Silly rules but only for the stupid...
I've reached the stage in my life where it was so long ago that i've read some books, i've forgotten the plotline so i can re-read them
"The Wasp Factory", again. Anything by Iain Banks is worthwhile.
Not sure why I have never read them before, but i'm tucking into John Grisham at the moment. Just finished A Painted House which I really enjoyed, and now on Rogue Lawyer which clearly with his anti establishment thread running strong appeals to me.
^Not only are the Grisham's books very readable and thrilling by their plots but they are also quite eye-opening for many dreaming of an "American Dream", learning a lot.
E.g. in the A Painted House, how pitiful the living of farmers in Arkansas was (or still is?).
As a movie in https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362001/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
And as I wrote above in #1996, learning in The Rooster Bar:
Currently reading The Rooster Bar, astonished to learn how the law students run in huge debts quite impossible to be paid back...
Indeed - But its not just in the US. Re-read works by people such as Thomas Hardy, Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Arnold Bennett, J.M. Barrie, G.K. Chesterton, Owen Seaman, Henry Newbolt, Robert Bridges, John Masefield etc and the works from 1914 onwards all carry pro war messages - not simply because they were pro war, but because they were conscripted and told to write pro war sentiments in their works as well as publishing pamphlets, articles and the like. Its what is making the Grisham books so interesting.
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