All About Books discussion

For our non-fiction group read in October/November our theme is Literary Letters

Nominations will run until 25th of August or until 6 poll-contestants are chosen. In order to move into poll a book needs to receive a second vote. So second if you are not nominating!

Please stick to one nomination OR one second vote per person.

Should you have a question, feel free to ask in this thread!

Just a question, can I nominate my newly released kindle book? And do we nominate in this thread..
Thank you

@Jenny do you mean actual letters like Saul Bellow's correspondence? or Under The Sun by Nicholas Shakespeare? Abelard and Heloise kind of thing?

I'll nominate those by Charles Dickens.

Since this is a massive feat, I'd suggest either the first out of the three volumes edited by his daughter Mamie The Letters of Charles Dickens Vol. 1, 1833-1856 (which is free on Kindle) or a selection such as that by Jenny Hartley, The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens.

Maybe the choice could be left to the individual reader, if it goes the distance? Sorry this is a bit long - it's an interesting theme for the nominations, but not as straightforward as some others.

Okay, got it. I'll go for Funny Letters from Famous People

There's an excerpt at amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Famous-...

Jean wrote: "I'll nominate those by Charles Dickens.

Since this is a massive feat, I'd suggest either the first out of the three volumes edited by his daughter Mamie [book:The Letters of Charl..."

I second The Letters of Charles Dickens.

I will nominate The Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters by Charlotte Mosely.

I second Funny Letters from Famous People.

Galilee wrote: "Just a question, can I nominate my newly released kindle book? And do we nominate in this thread..
Thank you"


Hi Galilee,

Let me check with the other mods, I'm not sure if you can do this but I'll get back to you. And yes, you can nominate in this thread.

Noorilhuda wrote: "@Jenny do you mean actual letters like Saul Bellow's correspondence? or Under The Sun by Nicholas Shakespeare? Abelard and Heloise kind of thing?"

Hi Noorilhuda,

All three of those would be fine. Thanks!

Charbel wrote: "Jean wrote: "I'll nominate those by Charles Dickens.

Since this is a massive feat, I'd suggest either the first out of the three volumes edited by his daughter Mamie [book:The Let..."

Thanks Jean and Charbel.

Pam wrote: "I second Funny Letters from Famous People."

Thanks Pam and Noorihuda!

I'll second the Mitfords letters but also nominate In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor which is very funny as well as being enormously fascinating as between them they knew just about everyone who was 'anyone' in the 20th Century! Both books are terrific reading....

Karen wrote: "I'll second the Mitfords letters but also nominate In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor which is very funny as well as being enormously fasci..."

Thanks, Karen:) We now have three books seconded.

Galilee wrote: "Just a question, can I nominate my newly released kindle book? And do we nominate in this thread..
Thank you"

Galilee, if you are the author of the book yourself you can't, due to our self promotion policy. Sorry. But feel free to nominate any other book that fits the theme by another author.

Great nominations so far, and Jean, I like the idea, I guess for the sake of bringing it to poll we might need to decide for a specific book though, unless we go for the author itself? Let's mull this over, however that shouldn't stop anyone from seconding Dickens / a specific volume in the meantime.

I will throw in a nomination myself as well: Here and Now: Letters the correspondance between Paul Auster and J.M. Coetzee between 2008 and 2011.

Can I nominate Letters to Milena by Franz Kafka?

Halima wrote: "I second Funny Letters from Famous people"

Thanks, Halima

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe or Love Life by Rob Lowe

I'd like to nominate Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald

Jenny and Rowena - Whichever way you choose to go with the author is fine by me. I just thought multi-volumes might be considered too long.

Deleted my nomination and will second Pink's.

Diane S. wrote: "Deleted my nomination and will second Pink's."

Thanks, Diane.

I nominate 84, Charing Cross Road

I'll go with Funny Letters by Famous People.

Diane S. wrote: "Deleted my nomination and will second Pink's."

:)

I'll nominate The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse.

I'll second 84 Charing Cross Road.

I VOTE IN Tearing Haste

Karen wrote: "I'll second the Mitfords letters but also nominate In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor which is very funny as well as being enormously fasci..."

Karen, I think usually you can nominate a book or second a book but not do both.

I'll second 84 Charing Cross Road.

Looks like we have 5 nominations that have been seconded so far. One more is needed and then we'll set up the poll. Thanks, everyone.

@Karen, Greg is right, it is either a nomination or seconding a book. which one would you like to do? Rowena or I ( once I find WIFI with my computer ;)) will set up a little list shortly to make it easier to keep an overview on what is nominated or seconded so far.

Deborah wrote: "I nominate 84, Charing Cross Road"

I second this.

Gill wrote: "I'll nominate The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse."

I'll second this.

Hi everyone, we now have 6 nominees for our next non-fiction group read. Thanks everyone for nominating! We'll be setting up a poll shortly.