Official Poll - June & July Fiction selection

Chris OConnor

Official Poll - June & July Fiction selection

We accidently deleted the thread where we were discussing what we want to read as our next fiction selection, but we had narrowed it down to a few good choices. I'm going to create a poll right now so we can select a winner from these two choices. Both were short stories collections. This will be a first for BookTalk, but it sounds like a wonderful idea.

They were...

The Best American Short Stories 2007 (The Best American Series) (Paperback) by Stephen King (Editor)

http://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Short-Stories-2007/dp/0618713484/r ef=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210814269&sr=8-1

Book Description
Wonderfully eclectic, The Best American Short Stories 2007 collects stories by undeniable talents, both newcomers and favorites. These stories examine the turning points in life when we, as children or parents, siblings or friends or colleagues, must break certain rules in order to remain true to ourselves. In T.C. Boyle's heartbreaking "Balto," a 13-year-old girl provides devastating courtroom testimony in her alcoholic father's trial. Aryn Kyle's charming story "Allegiance" shows a young girl caught between her despairing British mother and motherly American father. In "The Bris," Eileen Pollack brilliantly writes of a son struggling to fulfill his filial obligations, even if this requires a breach of morality and religion. Kate Walbert's stunning "Do Something" portrays one mother's impassioned and revolutionary refusal to accept her son's death. And in Richard Russo's graceful "Horseman," an English professor comes to understand that plagiarism can reveal more about a student than original work.

From Publishers Weekly
King admits in his introduction that he prefers all-out emotionally assaultive stories to those that might appeal to his critical nose. Yet King's selections are right at home among those of recent BASS editors Lorrie Moore, Michael Chabon and Walter Mosley: John Barth's darkly comic take on aging and mortality; a child's unforgiving view of her alcoholic parent from T.C. Boyle; an exploration of the grief of a crystal meth addict by William Gay (a writer King notes is a relatively obscure American talent); Lauren Groff's piece about a polio survivor learning to swim during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic (based loosely on real-life Olympian Ethelda Bleibtrey); Roy Kesey's imagining of an airport terminal as microcosm of global politics; and Karen Russell's halfway house for the human children of werewolves (their condition skips a generation). Stories drawing on horror and on Maine add a personal King touch to this year's cull of 20, taken from among the 4,000 that series editor Pitlor read last year in periodicals. The book reflects the variety of substance and style and the consistent quality that readers have come to expect from the series, now in its 30th year.

Saffron · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 9:07 pm Post subject:

3 votes for Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus

Saffron

Chris OConnor · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 10:24 pm Post subject:

2 votes for The Best American Short Stories 2007
1 vote for Exile and the Kingdom

My reasoning is as follows. The Best American Short Stories 2007 contains short stories by many different authors so it seems a safer bet. All our eggs are not in one basket. If we don't like the writing style of one author we can move to the next short story. Everyone is bound to find a story or two that they enjoy, whereas with Exile and the Kingdom we're stuck with one author throughout the entire book.

NOTE:

I am well aware that we take this same risk every time we read any book. Most books are authored by a single author. I just think this short story concept is a good one and we maximize the probability that more people will find something worth reading and discussing if we do a book that has multiple authors.

Michela · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 12:02 am Post subject: fiction book poll vote

2 points for Exile and the Kingdom
1 point for The Best American Short Stories 2007

while both books sound good, my vote is pure for what sounded appealing to me from the descriptions.

Biomachine · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 12:04 am Post subject:

3 points for Exile and the Kingdom

Ophelia · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 2:06 am Post subject:

Ophelia

You can read all 6 stories from "EXILE AND THE KINGDOM", by Camus, on this site:

http://www.truly-free.org/

Naturally, as we are a little pressed by time, I would not expect you to finish the reading before you cast your vote. Wink

Biomachine · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 5:13 am Post subject:

Ophelia, thanks for the link. I downloaded a few other books from the site.

wrryn · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 6:56 am Post subject:

ralphinlaos · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 6:57 am Post subject:

Three votes for "Best American Short Stories of 2007."

For the same reason as Chris; I'd rather read twenty stories by twenty different authors than six stories by one author.

President Camacho · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:13 am Post subject:

Wrryn,

I think the 10 post rule is a tiny speed bump. This limits the amount of transient visitors who participate in the voting but then don't bother to read the book or participate in the discussion.

10 posts isn't exactly a back breaking chore. You already have 5 posts. It's easy to start up a thread of something you'd like to talk about. Soon you'll have 10 posts!

The voting is also not a one day affair; it goes on for weeks and you always have the option of starting your own thread for a book you'd like to read and invite other people to read with you.

BT is an open community. No one has ever excluded me, even though I know that I sometimes rub folks the wrong way Wink

I suggest starting a thread about your favorite book and giving your opinion on it.

Ophelia · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:36 am Post subject:

2 votes for "Best American Short Stories of 2007".

1 vote for Camus's "Exile and the Kingdom".

Saffron · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:48 am Post subject:

Nicely said Camacho! Smile

Chris OConnor · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 9:29 am Post subject:

wrryn

Message boards, such as ours, gets tons of visitors on a regular basis. Like President Camacho explained, we cannot allow the opinions/votes of these people to influence the direction of our community. From experience most visitors never come back. This is not unique to BookTalk, but is how most humans surf the Internet. They find a site, look around briefly, and then surf on to the next site.

Our 10 post minimum is an attempt to get people to get involved on our forums. By the time you have made 10 posts you should understand how to create relpies to other threads, reply to comments people give to you, and generally navigate the forums. If you don't know how to do all of the above what are the chances that your vote will have any real meaning? You'll influence the book we read and then probably never make another post.

As far as the "Explore BookTalk!" contest goes, that contest serves a purpose of bettering BookTalk. It is not just about giving away random books to members. If that were the case I would flip a coin and start shipping books here and there. No, the goal of that contest is to get our existing members to tap into the available resources and features of the community. I don't think you realize how few 25 posts really is. If getting to 25 posts is a challenge you probably won't be around very much. Some members make 25 posts in a day or two...not that this level of activity is expected.

We have a pile of free books that is continuously growing. That pile is growing because authors and publishers are willing to send those books to us for free, to be given away as awards, based on the fact that we're a large and active book forum. They are not giving the books to us randomly. They give them because they want exposure for their books and feedback. Those authors and publishers would not be happy if we were giving the books away randomly or to people just passing through the community. (I know this. They have told me this repeatedly)

I hope this all makes sense. Smile

dbooks · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:19 am Post subject:

3 votes for "Best American Short Stories of 2007"


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