Preparing for 2014

Hello everyone!
It's that time of year again where we start planning for the next year. I have no idea what I want to do for next year so I'm looking for ideas from you all, my most-appreciated members!

Ideas can be of anything: authors, themes, countries, books, moderators, thread ideas, thread organization, new schedule.

These are the authors we have covered so far:

2013: Emile Zola, Honore de Balzac, Guy de Maupassant, Marguerite Duras, Simone de Beauvoir (France theme)
2012: Shusaku Endo, Natsume Soseki, Kobo Abe, Ryu Murakami, Yuko Mishima (Japan theme)
2011: Mario Vargas Llosa, Jose Saramago, JMG Le Clezio, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
2010: Stefan Zweig, Joseph Roth, Junichiro Tanizaki, Cormac McCarthy
2009: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Virginia Woolf, JD Salinger, Kazuo Ishiguro

I look forward to seeing what your beautiful minds come up with!

Thanks to a suggestion by Joyce (Nickelini) I've decided to focus on Canadian literature (CanLit) next year, as I've read very little of it compared to British, European and other world literature. I had planned to read at least four or five books by Alice Munro, the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature, along with books by Michael Ondaatje, Rohinton Mistry, Robertson Davies, Margaret Atwood, Mordecai Richler, Alistair MacLeod, Michel Tremblay, Jacques Poulin and others. I've received recommendations from eight Canadian LTers and compiled a list of them on my 75 Books thread, which you can find here.

I've been keeping a list over the year of writers I'd like to read more of. Here are some ideas for authors who either write in English or have a fair number of books translated into English. I am sure there are many more who would intrigue me!

Alejo Carpentier
Laszlo Krasznahorkai
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Wole Soyinka
Chinua Achebe
Umberto Eco
Machado de Assis
Antonio Tabucci
Shirley Jackson
Edna O'Brien
Nikolai Gogol

By the way, I liked having a year-long author and then quarterly ones, because that way if one of the quarterly ones didn't grab me, I could still read the year-long one. And I liked having the group read at the beginning of the year, maybe because I loved Toilers of the Sea so much.

A couple of author suggestions:
Ismail Kadare
Elsa Morante
Halldor Laxness
Eudora Welty

I concur with Rebecca, in that I enjoyed the format of a year-long author and then quarterly ones, + a year-long book.

After some hesitation (Kidzdoc's list helped a lot) I support the idea of choosing Canada for the theme, especially because Canadian author Alice Munro has won the Nobel Prize. An attractive feature of Canada, is also that it is at least bi-lingual, and would offer the option of reading some (more) francophone literature.

For other thread options, I would suggest that at least two of the quarterly authors would be authors who have achieved the status of belonging to the "classics". (In my ignorance, has Canada produced any pre-1900 classics?).

I spent a lot of time (buying) and reading books for the Author Theme read, at the expense of participation on other threads. It was well worth it.

I can't say I've been very active in this group so really feel free to discard any suggestion I make (I'm honest, given my participation rate I'm really not sure I'll be around next year, though I like it here).

So, out of curiosity: would some people be at all interested in science-fiction? For those who want to go Canadian, I hear there are really good Canadian science-fiction authors. For everyone who might think this is not their cup of tea, I want to point out that many good science-fiction books use the science-fiction setting to create societies slightly different from our own and explore the meaning and consequences of these differences, in a kind of social critique. 1984 of course comes to mind in this genre. Ursula le Guin is also famous for her series of books, each taking place on a different planet with a different kind of society.

I am not wild about the idea of picking Canadian authors, maybe because I've already read a lot of them and like the idea of being introduced to new authors. I also think we don't have to pick a country, as we did the past two years (with Japan and France) and could go back to having a geographically diverse group. I wouldn't be averse to one Canadian author, but I'd probably not get excited about all of them being Canadian.

I must admit I am not so very interested in the Canadian authors, but happen to have several unread books for most.

If I am to suggest four authors, I'd say:

Peter Handke
Bertrand Russell
Victor Segalen
Juan Goytisolo
Saul Bellow

I am also not so interested in reading novels from a Canadian background as I believe its culture is too close to those most of us already know. Not to mean that we need our books to be "exotic", whatever that is. I'm not against having a Canadian author, but I wouldn't create a theme out of it.

So please, continue to suggest authors that don't have to be limited to either Canada or a theme.

I believe its culture is too close to those most of us already know

Following that thought, the same could be said for many countries, yet I can't imagine anyone saying that of English or American authors as a group.

While I'm not advocating a theme of Canadian authors, I would say that first of all Canada is many cultures, not one. There are at least six distinct regions, each with its own culture and almost no relationship to other regions. The country is so huge that each of these regions would be larger than most European countries, so it is not really surprising that the regions have little in common. I would also say that if you've been in one region or city in Canada, you cannot judge the rest of the country by that particular part.

People outside Canada often assume that it is just like the US or England or Australia... take your pick. After all, they speak English don't they? That's like thinking Scotland and England have the same culture, or Argentina and Chile.

Again, no one has to read books by Canadian authors, but don't dismiss the country out of hand without reading at least some.

This is the first year I participated and I didn't get to as many of the authors as I would have liked, but I'll throw in my two cents anyway. In looking over the chosen authors from past years, I actually like the idea of not using a theme country as it was done in some of the earlier years. I think one year long author (someone with a large body of work) and then quarterly authors gives more people a chance to find something they are interested in reading. I don't think there has to be a theme, just interesting authors.

SassyLassy -
I think most people who know me here know that I'm not one to dismiss any country and that I'm fully aware that just because a country speaks English, does not mean it is just like America and like England. Just like Japan also does not equal China, and Portugal doesn't equal Brazil. That's why I used non-assertive words like "believe", "most", and "close".

But I have read quite a few Canadian books: one in French from the French part, one from a Japanese-Canadian written in English, and others just in English. Out of the ones I read, none were transcendental but some were good. I could read one Canadian author that is considered noteworthy, but as I mentioned before, I'd rather not stay in a Canadian theme all year.

But once again, please don't think I'm bashing Canada. If anything, I'm a lover of too many countries and want to explore them all.

jpaul -
Again, we don't need to have a theme this year. The reason we had themes the last two years is because France and Japan are my specific areas of interest and since I know so many authors from those regions, I knew there was a chance I could get others to read some great new authors.

That's why I encourage that if anyone has a region they particularly enjoy with great authors they know, please continue to suggest them.

How about this as a compromise: Have Alice Munro as the year-long author and keep a separate thread going on Canadian literature in general for those who want to explore further (as we did for Japanese and French), but the four quarterly authors don't have to be Canadian. So the theme is there for those who want it, but everyone isn't locked into a single part of the world all year long.

With Alice Munro, I feel everyone has already started reading her works due to her Nobel Prize win so she doesn't need the push that this group would give her. Any other Canadian authors that need their moment in the spotlight? (Although I'm still thinking mini-author, and not year-long, depending on other suggestions.)

Well, I'm a big fan of Mavis Gallant, and she is not well enough known, in my opinion, but she would definitely have to be a mini-author.

I cannot dispute your good taste, Rebecca. I have never heard of Mavis Gallant, but just at a glance, it seems an author I might be interested in.

But, it would mean that I would have to buy (one or) several books to participate.

More in general, I think that lowers the accessibility of the group, and most people will frown and not be bothered. Then, the same might happen as in the Monthly Author group about 1+ year ago, when some members selected a series of each in their own way fascinating, but largely unknown and obscure writers, which resulted in the "death" of the group.

I think exploring a country, or an era, or a literary group would be sufficiently broad to enable many people to participate in their own way.

For choosing individual (mini-) authors, I think criteria should include fame, status as a classic, or potential (such as young, promising and award-winning), etc.

Following edwin's idea of choosing individual authors, maybe it would be easier to establish criteria and then find authors who fit, rather than working from authors to a theme.

Mavis Gallant is an interesting choice indeed. It might be worthwhile looking at her along with some of her contemporaries: Marian Engel, Margaret Laurence, and Timothy Findley who also explored some of the same themes.

I've been thinking about my reading goals for next year, and what books I've purchased and read the past couple of years. A significant percentage of the books I've bought and read have been for particular LT themes and challenges, and although many of those books were good reads I've ignored dozens of books that I have been much more interested in reading. So, for the next year or two at least I plan to bow out of most of the theme based groups that I was previously involved in, including this one and Reading Globally, so that I can catch up on the most compelling books that are languishing on my shelves.

kidzdoc -

I definitely understand! And you know, I was actually considering making this next year a rest year as maybe we've all been inundated with too many group reads in our various groups.

That's why I suggested authors I'd already like to read more of in #3! But I also like being introduced to new authors.

I probably shouldn't chime in since I was not very active this year, but I will anyway. Of the authors already recommended, I heartily second I.B. Singer (perhaps there are some other authors we could pair him with to sample Yiddish, Jewish or Israeli themed literature; his brother Israel Joshua Singer is also a very interesting writer, i.e. The Family Carnovsky), Halldor Laxness, and Alejo Carpentier.

Additional authors I'd recommend would be Heinrich Boll (perhaps paired with Gunter Grass), William Golding, Alexandre Solzhenitsyn, Roger Martin Du Gard and Thomas Mann.

I'd prefer not to include Alice Munro or Mavis Gallant because, I'll admit it, I am prejudiced against short stories. :)

> 21

I like quite a few of the authors you have suggested, such as:

IB Singer
Guenther Grass
Heinrich Boell
William Golding
Thomas Mann

Like Kidzdoc, most of my suggestions are based on TBR consideration. I'd rather not buy (too many) books for the occasion, as I did this year.

Seconding (thirding? fourthing?) Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Thomas Mann could be interesting.

I'd like to nominate Dylan Thomas, it being his centenary in 2014, although I accept that others might be less keen as he isn't particularly known for his fiction.

I also like Sassy's suggestions of Ismail Kadare,
Elsa Morante, and Eudora Welty.

I've read a lot of Thomas Mann, but there are some I haven't read . . .

I like the idea of Thomas Mann and William Golding as well. I'll put them in as more concrete contenders.

Year-long contender:
Thomas Mann

Quarter read contender:
William Golding

Would anybody like to tackle a Russian (ie. Gogol) or an American (ie. Upton Sinclair)? Or Milan Kundera, who I thought we had covered before but apparently haven't. Or even Charles Dickens? Classic, famous, lots of choices. I know I need to read more of his work. Although these wouldn't necessarily be "new to us" authors like we tend to cover.

Personally, Louis Aragon looks interesting to me and I have a lot of his on my TBR but all his books are tomes. Could make him a stand-alone group read.

Luis Sepulveda is a Chilean author with very short novellas that I have enjoyed and who would work well as a quarter author.

I've suggested this before but maybe I can re-introduce it. One hit wonders for a quarter read for those authors who only really have one major work. This could help for those TBR piles as well as introduce new authors as well as leading to discussion as to why they were only a one-hit wonder, etc...

I would be happy to read the Thomas Manns I haven't read and I would like to reread Doctor Faustus because I felt i missed so much so I think he'd be great for a year-long read.

I have no thoughts one way or another about William Golding. I would love to read more Gogol, ambivalent about Americans (although they may be more interesting for people who don't live here), but I would not like to read Milan Kundera because I read a book by him this year and discovered that he annoyed me although I had liked him in my 20s. I would certainly be interested in Aragon who I've never read and Sepulveda who I've never heard of. It would be nice to have a woman for at least one quarter . . . Shirley Jackson, Edna O'Brien, Beryl Bainbridge (although I've read a lot by her), others????

My mind has gone blank about one-hit wonders. Who are some examples?

For Russians--how about Chekov? His work consists of short stories, and I know I said above that I didn't like short stories, but I like Checkov and would like to read more by him. Gogol would be good, and I also recommend for consideration Mikhail Bulgakov and Solzhenitsyn.

For females, some ideas are Nadine Gordimer, Grazia Deledda, Doris Lessing (all Nobelists), Joyce Carole Oates, Flannery O'Connor, or for classics George Eliot.

Like Rebecca, I don't like Kundera, and I would also prefer not to read Upton Sinclair.

I've never read Thomas Mann and would love some group support to tackle his books. I'm also not a fan of Kundera.

Following the German line, there's also W G Sebald

For women authors, I would go back to Elsa Morante as well as the others mentioned in >27 arubabookwoman:.

Actually, I still have piles of untouched books for this year's authors. Maybe I could just play catchup.

I'm going to make three suggestions for next year and please tell me which sounds the most realistic.

1) Continue the standard format: 1 year long author, 4 minis

2) 1 year long author, no minis

3) Take a break and catch up on what we already have

I'm putting this out here since most of us here are the exact same people discussing group reads in other groups. Maybe we are spreading ourselves too thin and we need to take a break. I'm perfectly fine with doing that here if that means a great group read somewhere else.

Hmm. I would like to suggest a combination of 2 and 3. That is, how about having one (or maybe two) year-long authors and also continue with our French and Japanese authors (and possibly other French and Japanese authors that these lead us to)? I know I have a lot of works on the TBR by these authors from the past two years, and I think that would not only be workable but keep this group "alive." I've discovered many great authors through this group and I wouldn't want it to fade away.

And I do think Thomas Mann would work well as a year-long author, even though I've already read a lot of his work, in that he has both very readable works and works that require a lot more commitment to read.

More writers for consideration: Susan Sontag, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Shakespeare (his plays, mainly). I also wouldn't mind continue reading writers translated from Japanese.

Hi, last year I around at the beginning of the year but studying for a masters in literature put a serious dent in the amount of time I had to read for fun. In 2014, however, I'm taking a studying break.
I love the idea of a year long author, I have several reading commitments so not so fussed about the minis unless they are someone that I love such as Shirley Jackson

Some great authors mentioned who I'd like to explore at length, Dickens, Umberto Eco, Thomas Mann, Dorris Lessing, Joyce Carol Oates (who has a huge back catelogue) and Flannery O'Connor

I'm going to call it now then. We are going to have Thomas Mann as our year-long author and we'll play catch-up on all the past authors so that we can have a bit of a break. Perhaps after two or three months post the New Years Inspiration Rush (TM) we can think of a group read or two.

Naturally I think this is a good idea since it was kind of what I suggested! I will be happy to post some comments about the books by Mann I've already read when 2014 rolls around (and also to think about which of his books might be a good group read -- after the trademarked New Years Inspiration Rush of course!).

Just so everyone is aware, I won't be readily available until after the 12th so I will not be able to start up new threads for next year. But feel free to start without me.

When I have a chance, I will post some reviews I've written of books by Thomas Mann. Have a great vacation, lilisin!