Just finished The Dud Avocado, the protagonist was likeable and sympathetic enough but I hated all her friends and "friends", and the stories of reeling from bar to bar before winding up in a police cell at 5am were infinitely less fun to read about than I daresay they were to experience.
I've also read the Achebe, Greene, T.H. White and Lampedusa, all good, torn between the last two.
C.P. Snow's "The Conscience Of The Rich"
this must be a short book.
― Scheming politicians are captivating, and it hurts (ledge), Monday, 12 April 2021 14:06 (two years ago) link
The Leopard . The Visconti film deepens the book.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 12 April 2021 14:08 (two years ago) link
Protest vote for Claude Ollier's La Mise en scène.
― alimosina, Monday, 12 April 2021 14:23 (two years ago) link
I've only read Things Fall Apart but I feel comfortable voting for it.
― wasdnuos (abanana), Monday, 12 April 2021 14:28 (two years ago) link
The Leopard has grown and grown in my imagination so probably that, although could easily vote for the Iris Murdoch. I think Dharma Bums is probably the best of Kerouac and would easily be in my personal canon of mountain climbing literature.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 12 April 2021 16:51 (two years ago) link
Things Fall Apart for me although I'm unfamiliar w/ most of these
― "Gaspar? No way." (sleeve), Monday, 12 April 2021 16:52 (two years ago) link
Another year in which I only know the screen versions: Burt Lancaster v. fine in The Leopard, Alec Guinness likewise in Our Man In Havana(and speaking of Richard Condon, I liked the screen versions of The Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi's Honor)(and I dimly recall liking the movie of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning alright, though Albert Finney was a little tiresome, as usual.)
― dow, Monday, 12 April 2021 16:54 (two years ago) link
I thiiiink Things Fall Apart is the only one I've read in its entirety. Definitely started Dharma Bums at some point, and maybe a couple of others (the Greene, the Sillitoe?) but I'm not convinced I finished any of them. I didn't adore TFA but I liked it well enough to give it a vote without it being too grudging.
― emil.y, Monday, 12 April 2021 18:41 (two years ago) link
Oh, ha, I missed the Duras on the list, which I have not read, but a friend is promising to lend it to me soon. I'll come back and report on whether it would have got my vote whenever I get round to it, I guess.
― emil.y, Monday, 12 April 2021 18:46 (two years ago) link
Nip The Budds, Shoot The Kids by Kenzaburō ŌeThe Getaway by Jim ThompsonModerato Cantabille by Marguerite DurasThe Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampideusa
Going for The Leopard here although The Getaway runs it close.
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 12 April 2021 21:55 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Wednesday, 14 April 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
Voting for Our Man in Havana, my favorite Graham Greene.
― Lily Dale, Wednesday, 14 April 2021 02:16 (two years ago) link
Votes but hard to keep up with these tbh
― It Is Dangerous to Meme Inside (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 April 2021 02:21 (two years ago) link
OMIH makes me think of the end of The Lavender Hill Mob. it's Alex Guinness but it's Rio rather than Havana.
― koogs, Wednesday, 14 April 2021 02:25 (two years ago) link
Votes=Voted
― It Is Dangerous to Meme Inside (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 April 2021 02:54 (two years ago) link
Voting The Bell, read it last year and thought it was fantastic, if flawed. Also thought Balcony in the Forest was excellent.
― JoeStork, Wednesday, 14 April 2021 07:12 (two years ago) link
Even tho I voted Leopard I'll still be pretty happy if Our Man In Havana wins.
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 14 April 2021 09:09 (two years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Thursday, 15 April 2021 00:01 (two years ago) link
Something of a dark horse winner there, but certainly deserving enough.
― sharpening the contraindications (Aimless), Thursday, 15 April 2021 02:09 (two years ago) link
Sadly I have read zero of these.
― o. nate, Thursday, 15 April 2021 02:21 (two years ago) link
Def try and read Achebe.
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 15 April 2021 09:18 (two years ago) link
Yeah, in retrospect it would've been a bit shameful if the single most acclaimed novel to come out of an entire continent didn't win this.
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 15 April 2021 09:26 (two years ago) link
Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1959
― Daniel_Rf, Thursday, 15 April 2021 12:28 (two years ago) link
I've never read a Duras novel I didn't like, but I don't outright love any of them either. Still, I vote for Moderato cantabile.
― pomenitul, Thursday, 15 April 2021 13:19 (two years ago) link