TIOLI November Read a Book By a Nobel Laureate Challenge

In honor of Mario Vargas Llosa's selection as this year's Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, my November TIOLI challenge will be to read a book by a Nobel Laureate. There are 107 laureates, and the Nobel Prize web site has a list of All Nobel Prizes in Literature.

This challenge isn't listed to literature laureates; books by authors who are Nobel Laureates in other categories also count, including Amartya Sen (Economics), Paul Krugman (Economics), Harold Varmus (Physiology or Medicine), Barack Obama (Peace), Nelson Mandela (Peace), and Martin Luther King, Jr. (Peace).

I will be reading Theodor Mommsen's History of Rome which has only been in the BlackHole for something like 10 years :)

#2: I think you'll get the prize for choosing a book from the earliest Nobel Laureate (1902)!

I have four books that I'm planning to read:
The Words by Jean-Paul Sartre: I have a first edition copy of his 1964 autobiography
Absalom, Absalom! and Light in August by William Faulkner
Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa

I have at least two dozen other books that would fit this challenge, and I may choose to extend it into December, as I also plan to read Sanctuary and Flags in the Dust for Le Salon du Soüthern Gothique.

#3: I will be reading Sanctuary either in November or December.

I may have overstepped myself with Mommsen - I just found out it is over 2000 pages. Yikes! Oh well, nothing ventured, right?

Eek! Would that be the largest book you've ever read? I think that Don Quixote holds that honor for me, at 940 pages. I'm planning to read Three Days Before the Shooting... by Ralph Ellison next year, which is about 1300 pages.

I'll start The Words by Jean-Paul Sartre today, and try to finish it early next week.

I've listed three - but I very much doubt that I will have time to read them all:
The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing
My Name is Red - Orham Pamuk
Independent People - Halldór Laxness

ETA 2000 pages? That could be a challenge, Stasia, although I should think that's well within your capabilities given a month to read it!

I'll be moving The Good Earth from October (I was the sole reader) to this one for a shared read. Now I won't have to rush through it this weekend.

So tempted to add Independent People but I'm getting maxed out. Caty, since you're doubtful, I'll wait till mid-month or so to see how we're faring!

#8 I want to get to it, but almost every book I've picked this month seems to be enormous. I'll be sure to mention whether I get to it and if so whether I expect to finish it!

#7: 2099 pages to be exact. What I failed to take into account was that History of Rome was originally published in 5 volumes.

Since it seems that several of us (including me) have books for this challenge that we may not finish in November, I hereby announce that this challenge will be continued in December. I'll post the same info on the main TIOLI thread as well.

I'm going to read The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison - my first Toni Morrison. I also have Song of Solomon but I don't think I will read it this month too.

There seems to be a few Faulkner fans/readers... does anyone have an opinion on which Faulkner would be the best to read first? I tried reading Absalom, Absalom! last year and failed.

>12 kiwiflowa: kiwi - anything Faulkner I refer to Linda - laytonwoman3rd. If you PM her I'm sure she'd happily give you some suggestions!

#12: I've only read one novel by Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, which I thought was good, but not great. I tried reading The Sound and the Fury earlier this year, but gave up on it after 20-30 pages. So, I can't comment intelligently about Faulkner. I'll start with Absalom, Absalom!, followed by Light in August, Flags in the Dust and The Sound and the Fury, as these four novels, along with As I Lay Dying, are the ones that Le Salon du Soüthern Gothique selected to read this year.

If I can't get into Faulkner then I'll choose one of the other three dozen or so books by Nobel laureates that I haven't read yet.

#13: Thanks for that suggestion, Terri!

I'm hoping to read Death in the Andes which I picked up last week, and My Name is Red which I bought back in the summer. Both shared reads, if we all stick to plan that is! Not read anything by either of these authors before so I'm looking forward to discovering what they are like.

I've just added Making Globalization Work by Joseph Stiglitz to the wiki. I think it's the only economics Nobel winner in there so far. It's a fast read and very accessible to non-economists, if anyone wants to join me!