October-December 2024 Nominations and voting

It is this time again :)

Nomination gives a point to the author. Seconding, thirding and so on and all other kinds of support add a point as well. The 3 authors with the most points win in the order of the number of votes they got (unless someone has an anniversary or something - in which case I will try to match them to their month). Ties that produce more than 3 authors overall at the top will be broken with an admin half-vote and everyone who is in a tie but does not make it into this selection, gets half a point for next time.

Anyone is eligible to be nominated except for the authors we had read the last 24 months: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Monthly_Author_Reads#Recent_Picks . It is preferred that the author does have at least some work in English -- most of the participants read in English (even if some may be able to also use other languages) :)

George Eliot has 1/2 points from last time.

Just to make everyone's life easier (so you do not need to click on the wiki if you do not want to), here is the list of ineligible authors:

Sebastian Barry
Luis Alberto Urrea
J. G. Farrell
Anthony Trollope
Sylvia Townsend Warner
Alan Brennert
Chaim Potok
Elizabeth von Arnim
Edna Ferber
Honoré de Balzac
Emily St. John Mandel
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Colson Whitehead
The Brontë Sisters
Willa Cather
Elizabeth Gaskell
George Bernard Shaw
Sir Walter Scott
Wilkie Collins
Maggie O'Farrell
Margaret Atwood
Émile Zola
James Baldwin
Jane Gardam

Deadline: September 9, 2024, whatever time I get around to counting - a bit later than planned as I never posted the topic at the start of the month. :)

I'll nominate:

Robert Louis Stevenson
D. E. Stevenson (2nd cousin of RL Stevenson)
Amy Tan

>2 kac522: Loudly seconding Robert Louis Stevenson while I jump up and down in excitement. I would have nominated him if you hadn't done so first!

Nominating:
Victor Hugo
Mario Vargas Llosa
J M Coetzee

>3 SassyLassy: Speaking of Stevenson, there's a new book about his marriage to Fanny, A Wilder Shore:

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/19/nx-s1-5081139/a-wilder-shore-charts-the-course-of...

>4 kac522: Thanks for that - looks like I "need" it!

>3 SassyLassy: Seconding Hugo and Tan

Again, I’ll cast a whole vote for George Eliot, and suggest Isaac Bashevis Singer.

I'll 2nd Isaac Bashevis Singer.

I vote for George Eliot and second Robert Louis Stevenson and Isaac Singer.

Robert Louis Stevenson Day is November 13th. Should you happen to be in Edinburgh then, there will be celebrations. Here are some of the events from the past: https://rlsday.wordpress.com

While I am moving from one Hawaiian island to another, just a quick reminder to vote before Monday. :)

>11 AnnieMod: just to make us jealous, eh?

I'm going to throw in one more nomination:

L. M. Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables and many more.

November 30 will be the 150th anniversary of her birth.

>12 kac522: More of a "I am away from internet and just looking in and decided to chime in" :)

All votes are in:

Isaac Bashevis Singer: dianelouise100, kac522, Tess_W
Robert Louis Stevenson: kac522, SassyLassy, Tess_W
George Eliot: 1/2, dianelouise100, Tess_W

Amy Tan: kac522, Cecilturtle
Victor Hugo: SassyLassy, Cecilturtle
D. E. Stevenson (2nd cousin of RL Stevenson): kac522
Mario Vargas Llosa: SassyLassy
J M Coetzee: SassyLassy
L. M. Montgomery: kac522

Which means:
October: Isaac Bashevis Singer
November: Robert Louis Stevenson (November 13th is Robert Louis Stevenson Day so it works out nicely - and this is why Singer went into October)
December: George Eliot - that half vote does its work :)

Nothing remains for next voting. Threads will be up this week. Next voting: November (as early as I get around to it).

Such great winners (and losers!) I only have one Singer on my shelf, The Family Moskat, 624 pages, better start now!

I haven't got any books by Singer, but will try to find some...

A book by Singer I read earlier this year & thoroughly enjoyed was A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw. Here are my thoughts after reading:

This was a wonderful collection of stories of Singer's childhood. He selected these stories from his memoir In My Father's Court and then re-fashioned them for older children and young adults, and collected into this volume. The stories cover his young childhood through the First World War. The characters include family members (his rigid father, clever mother, rebel older brother Israel), friends, and people who seek his father's advice as a rabbi. Each scene is complete unto itself. They reflect a child's perspective and questioning of the adult's world. This 1969 edition includes archival photographs of pre-WWI Warsaw and rural Poland.

I will probably read The Spinoza of Market Street, which is also a short story collection.

>17 kac522: I have A Day of Pleasure, but wondering if it repeats stories of My Fathers Court, which Ive read

Havent read his Family Moskat yet so Ill go with that . curious to compare it with his brothers work the Brothers Askenazi which I really loved

>18 cindydavid4: Probably does, but it's still a delightful read. And if you have the edition with the archival photographs, they're worth a look.

>15 Tess_W: I guess I don't have that book! Hmm, must have ticked off the wrong thing! However, I do have two short stories, Gimple the Fool and The Spinoza of Market Street. I will begin with those and if I decide I want to go all in I will seek out a novel.

>14 AnnieMod: Hi Annie, are you still able to put up the threads for Oct-Dec please?

October (Isaac Bashevis Singer) is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/364531

I will post the rest tomorrow - I am traveling this week so my time is a bit weird.

November and December are up:

November: Robert Louis Stevenson: https://www.librarything.com/topic/364625

December: George Eliot: https://www.librarything.com/topic/364626

Next nominations and voting window will be through the whole month of November.

Happy reading everyone!