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Chris OConnor 
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Chris OConnor
Rhodes Scholar
BookTalk.org Owner
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Joined: 05 May 2002
Posts: 7370
Thanks
Given: 64
Received: 21 in 17 Posts
Gender:
Location: Florida
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 Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 10:21 pm Post subject:
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Book 1: Anna Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143035002?ie=UTF8&tag=booktalk08-20& link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=0143035002
Product Description
Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. Tragedy unfolds as Anna rejects her passionless marriage and must endure the hypocrisies of society. Set against a vast and richly textured canvas of nineteenth-century Russia, the novel's seven major characters create a dynamic imbalance, playing out the contrasts of city and country life and all the variations on love and family happiness. While previous versions have softened the robust, and sometimes shocking, quality of Tolstoy's writing, Pevear and Volokhonsky have produced a translation true to his powerful voice. This award-winning team's authoritative edition also includes an illuminating introduction and explanatory notes. Beautiful, vigorous, and eminently readable, this Anna Karenina will be the definitive text for generations to come.
Book 2: Dead Souls: A Novel
by Nikolai Gogol
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679776443?ie=UTF8&tag=booktalk08-20& link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=0679776443
Amazon.com Review
A socially adept newcomer fluidly inserts himself into an unnamed Russian town, conquering first the drinkers, then the dignitaries. All find him amiable, estimable, agreeable. But what exactly is Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov up to?--something that will soon throw the town "into utter perplexity."
After more than a week of entertainment and "passing the time, as they say, very pleasantly," he gets down to business--heading off to call on some landowners. More pleasantries ensue before Chichikov reveals his bizarre plan. He'd like to buy the souls of peasants who have died since the last census. The first landowner looks carefully to see if he's mad, but spots no outward signs. In fact, the scheme is innovative but by no means bonkers. Even though Chichikov will be taxed on the supposed serfs, he will be able to count them as his property and gain the reputation of a gentleman owner. His first victim is happy to give up his souls for free--less tax burden for him. The second, however, knows Chichikov must be up to something, and the third has his servants rough him up. Nonetheless, he prospers.
Dead Souls is a feverish anatomy of Russian society (the book was first published in 1842) and human wiles. Its author tosses off thousands of sublime epigrams--including, "However stupid a fool's words may be, they are sometimes enough to confound an intelligent man," and is equally adept at yearning satire: "Where is he," Gogol interrupts the action, "who, in the native tongue of our Russian soul, could speak to us this all-powerful word: forward? who, knowing all the forces and qualities, and all the depths of our nature, could, by one magic gesture, point the Russian man towards a lofty life?" Flannery O'Connor, another writer of dark genius, declared Gogol "necessary along with the light." Though he was hardly the first to envision property as theft, his blend of comic, fantastic moralism is sui generis.
Book 3: The Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451528832?ie=UTF8&tag=booktalk08-20& link_code=as3&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=0451528832
The Secret Garden, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is a charming book about a girl named Mary Lennox. She is a spoiled and sickly child who lives in India. When her parents die because of a cholera epidemic, she moves to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her rich uncle in England. Things are a definite change for her. Slowly she becomes stronger and starts to take an interest in the outdoors. She meets all sorts of people like Martha, Dickon, and Colin. Martha is a maid on the grounds who has taken a fancy to Mary, and Dickon is her brother. Dickon is quite an unusual fellow. He possesses the ability to talk to animals and is able to grow anything with a little bit of soil. Colin, who you will meet later in the story, is a child who has basically given up the will to live, believing he is doomed to be a hunchback like his father. Strong-willed Mary reprimands him and takes matters into her own hands. Mary has all kinds of adventures with strange sounds at night, funny accents, and a locked garden. The Secret Garden is a wonderful book about friendship, determination, and perseverence. |
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Chris OConnor
Rhodes Scholar
BookTalk.org Owner
Usergroups: None
Joined: 05 May 2002
Posts: 7370
Thanks
Given: 64
Received: 21 in 17 Posts
Gender:
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:55 pm Post subject:
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My votes:
Book 1: Anna Karenina - 2 votes
Book 3: The Secret Garden - 1 vote |
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Raving Lunatic
I can enter The Chamber
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| Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2008 9:20 am Post subject: Vote
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| I would like to cast all three votes for Secret Garden |
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realiz
Freshman
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| Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2008 4:31 pm Post subject:
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| Anna Karenina - 3 votes |
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giselle
Experienced
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| Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2008 6:14 pm Post subject: fiction votes
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| 3 votes for Anna Karenina |
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Chris OConnor
Rhodes Scholar
BookTalk.org Owner
Usergroups: None
Joined: 05 May 2002
Posts: 7370
Thanks
Given: 64
Received: 21 in 17 Posts
Gender:
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 1:38 am Post subject:
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Where are all the votes?
Ashleigh, MRK, GentleReader9, bohemian_girl, lorifog (almost enough posts to vote), President Camacho, etc... You guys all suggested books or expressed an interest in one of the books currently on this poll that were suggested by other members, but the poll is almost over and you have yet to vote.
Anyone else wanting to vote? |
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bohemian_girl
Almost a regular
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| Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 9:10 am Post subject:
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Sorry, I haven't been able to get on here for awhile.
I put my votes toward Anna Karenina |
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GentleReader9
Sophomore
Silver Contributor
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Joined: 07 Sep 2008
Posts: 276
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Given: 15
Received: 18 in 18 Posts
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Location: Eugene, Oregon, USA, Earth.
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| Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 12:02 pm Post subject:
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Thanks for the email reminder, Chris. My energy and attention have been elsewhere, but I appreciate being invited to participate in this choice.
2 votes for The Secret Garden....
I feel this pressure to vote at least once for Anna Karenina because it's Great Literature for Adults and I haven't read it yet, but I'm afraid it will drive me into a state of overwhelming depression and grief and despair. I don't care if it represents a cop out or moral cowardice or weakness! I don't care what you think! (Okay, that's a lie).
3 votes for The Secret Garden, though. Final answer. |
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Robert Tulip
Masters
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Joined: 04 Oct 2005
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Location: Canberra
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| Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 12:22 am Post subject:
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Three votes for Gogol I have always wanted to read Dead Souls.
| Quote: |
| In 1841 the first part of Dead Souls was ready, and Gogol took it to Russia to supervise its printing. It appeared in Moscow in 1842, under the title, imposed by the censorship, of The Adventures of Chichikov. The book instantly established his reputation as the greatest prose writer in the language. After the triumph of Dead Souls, Gogol came to be regarded by his contemporaries as a great satirist who lampooned the unseemly sides of Imperial Russia. Little did they know that Dead Souls was but the first part of a modern-day counterpart to The Divine Comedy. The first part represented the Inferno; the second part was to depict the gradual purification and transformation of the rogue Chichikov under the influence of virtuous publicans and governors — Purgatory. On the night of February 24, 1852, he burned some of his manuscripts, which contained most of the second part of Dead Souls. He explained this as a mistake — a practical joke played on him by the Devil. Soon thereafter he took to bed, refused all food, and died in great pain nine days later. |
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Chris OConnor
Rhodes Scholar
BookTalk.org Owner
Usergroups: None
Joined: 05 May 2002
Posts: 7370
Thanks
Given: 64
Received: 21 in 17 Posts
Gender:
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:22 am Post subject:
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Last call!  |
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Chris OConnor
Rhodes Scholar
BookTalk.org Owner
Usergroups: None
Joined: 05 May 2002
Posts: 7370
Thanks
Given: 64
Received: 21 in 17 Posts
Gender:
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:24 am Post subject:
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I am hoping Ophelia will join in on this one.  She is the glue that holds the fiction section together. I hope that sounds like a good thing.  |
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Ophelia
Embodiment of Reason
Gold Contributor
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| Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 5:59 am Post subject:
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I'm not sulking or anything  I just have a problem here.
All three books seem to be worthy suggestions, but I take the voting instructions very seriously: voting means I will read the book and do my best to participate. I know that's unlikely with Anna Karenina, as I have already tried to read it and failed.
As for the other two, I've read what I could find on the web, and I just don't know, so I'll buy the selected book if it's one of those, but I'm not voting this time.
P-S: For "Compliment of the day" , "glue" will do...  |
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giselle
Experienced
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| Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:36 pm Post subject:
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| Ophelia wrote: |
I'm not sulking or anything I just have a problem here.
All three books seem to be worthy suggestions, but I take the voting instructions very seriously: voting means I will read the book and do my best to participate. I know that's unlikely with Anna Karenina, as I have already tried to read it and failed.
As for the other two, I've read what I could find on the web, and I just don't know, so I'll buy the selected book if it's one of those, but I'm not voting this time.
P-S: For "Compliment of the day" , "glue" will do... |
Ophelia, I think you are the glue of this fiction thread and I for one will "stick" with you. |
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Chris OConnor
Rhodes Scholar
BookTalk.org Owner
Usergroups: None
Joined: 05 May 2002
Posts: 7370
Thanks
Given: 64
Received: 21 in 17 Posts
Gender:
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 4:54 pm Post subject:
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| Giselle, I'm not sure I am following you. What do you mean by you'll stick with Ophelia? Are you taking back your 3 votes for Anna Karenina? If so you really have to be precise in these poll threads. Please don't leave room for guessing. If you take back your 3 votes then that changes the outcome. |
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