Reading the 20th Century discussion

Nigeyb wrote: "I can only urge you to put aside your feelings about space - 'The Right Stuff' is a gripping page turner.


Like you, I have no great interest in the Space Race, or trying to break t..."

I loved the movie and have the book. But haven't started it yet.

I also loved the movie but haven't read the book either.

The Bonfire of the Vanities and Money or London Fields by Martin Amis were the first titles that occurred to me as quintessentially 80s, but Bonfire is very long, though excellent, and I didn't really like London Fields...

Bonfire is indeed a behemoth


Agree that Money is another very 80s novel. I loved it at the time, however read it again a few years ago and didn't feel it had aged that well. Still pretty good though. Full of 80s excess.

Pollwatch:


High Dive 5 votes, 38.5%
The Juniper Tree 4 votes, 30.8%
Black Swan Green 2 votes, 15.4%
Billy Elliot 1 vote, 7.7%
The Handmaid's Tale 1 vote, 7.7%

High Dive takes a narrow lead. I'll fess up that I changed my vote. High Dive is wonderful and should make for a great discussion. Then again, so would all the nominations.

Ooh, exciting times! I must admit I would be happy to see Jonathan Lee win the vote - he is a wonderful author and I really enjoyed his novel Joy and keep meaning to read Who is Mr Satoshi?.

Also, I think the Brighton bombing is very evocative of the 1980's. I recall those times well. I went to a Catholic school in East London and we had bomb scares on an almost daily basis around that period.

Of course, the vote may easily change between now and the end and all of the nominations look enticing. We are lucky to have members who continually come up with interesting suggestions.

We have a winning book for sixth theme, the 1980s. We will be reading and discussing High Dive by Jonathan Lee in June 2018.

Here are the final results from our poll:

High Dive 5 votes, 38.5%
The Juniper Tree 4 votes, 30.8%
Black Swan Green 2 votes, 15.4%
Billy Elliot 1 vote, 7.7%
The Handmaid's Tale 1 vote, 7.7%

Thanks to everyone who nominated, voted, and discussed ideas, for our forthcoming 1980s themed read.

I might have considered nominating The Line of Beauty if I had been here. It sums up certain aspects of the 1980s, but we have another Alan Hollinghurst novel coming up and the winner looks good.

I adored The Line of Beauty, Val. I hope you will enjoy, High Dive. I thought it was very interesting when I read it and I am also looking forward to reading more Hollinghurst.

Roman Clodia wrote: "I'll nominate The Handmaid's Tale: although set in an undated (I think) 'future', it was first published in 1985 and obliquely reflects the pressures and stresses of 1980s politics as felt by Atwood.

It may, though, be a book that we've all read?"

I've just started it RC having never read it before.

I'm enjoying the inventiveness however having to be quite patient because there's been little in the way of plot development after 6 chapters.

PS - perhaps we need a Margaret Atwood favourite author thread?

I liked Handmaid's Tale, but haven't read anything else by Atwood. I have a book with a similar theme, which I got from NetGalley and have yet to read:

Vox

Silence can be deafening.
Imagine a world in which you can only speak 100 words a day.

Any more and a thousand volts of electricity will course through your veins.

But only if you’re a woman.

Perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale, don’t miss the thrilling debut that everyone is talking about!

I've read several books by Atwood in the past, but it looks as if nearly all of them were before I joined Goodreads in 2007 - can it really have been that long?

As far as I remember, I really liked Alias Grace, Surfacing and Lady Oracle... but anyway I will set up a thread for her, unless Nigeyb has already done it by now, and say more!