I was a bit surprised but pleased at being tagged to pick the next book. I decided to put it up for a vote and hopefully the selection is generally pleasing.
Captain Blood - Rafael Sabatini
The Woman in the Dunes - Kobo Abe
The Pornographer - John McGahern
Mr. Fortune's Maggot - Sylvia Townsend Warner
A Season in Rihata - Maryse Conde
Sleepless Nights - Elizabeth Hardwick
"There are four kinds of readers. The first is like the hourglass; and their reading being as the sand, it runs in and runs out, and leaves not a vestige behind. A second is like the sponge, which imbibes everything, and returns it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtier. A third is like a jelly bag, allowing all that is pure to pass away, and retaining only the refuse and dregs. And the fourth is like the slaves in the diamond mines of Golconda, who, casting aside all that is worthless, retain only pure gems." --Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Reading:
FAQs
1. Who the hell are you people?
The Slaves of Golconda are a group of like-minded book-lovers who, without remuneration, individually blog about literary matters and sandwiches, and collectively read a selected book once every two months for the purpose of reviewing and discussing, the goal being, after Coleridge's quote, to retain, shine, and place in a remarkable setting the gems of literature as a gift to the Blogosphere.
2. What wag thought this up?
In the evil laboratory of his mind, the magnificent and munificent Quillhill captured the Slaves and forced them to do his literary bidding.
3. What if I want to toil in obscurity, and maybe even be whipped and starved, reading books and posting comments that sometimes up to three other people will read?
The choice is yours: become one of us, or face the consequences.
Contributing Slaves
- Alex in Leeds
- Anne Camille
- Bud Parr
- Danielle
- Doppelganger
- Eileen
- Frances
- Gentle Reader
- Girl Detective
- Grad
- Iliana
- Imani
- J.C. Montgomery
- Jodie
- Julie
- Kate S.
- Loose Baggy Monster
- Mike B.
- Oanh
- Quillhill
- Rebecca H.
- Rohan Maitzen
- SFP
- Sarah
- Stefanie
- Sycorax Pine
- TJ
- Teresa
- Unknown
- bibliophiliac
- dorian stuber
- dovegreyreader
- harriet
- jlshall
- litlove
- mandarine
- mdbrady
Search The Slaves of Golconda
Previous Book Discussions
The Transit of Venus, Shirley Hazzard
The Summer Book, Tove Jansson
The Small Room, May Sarton
Manservant and Maidservant, Ivy Compton-Burnett
Bad Blood, Lorna Sage
Vertigo, W.G. Sebald
Novel on Yellow Paper, by Stevie Smith
The Woman In Black, by Susan Hill
Dance Night, by Dawn Powell
The Slaves of Solitude, by Patrick Hamilton
The Post-Office Girl, by Stefan Zweig
Sexing the Cherry, by Jeanette Winterson
Ruth Hall, by Fanny Fern
The Glimpses of the Moon, by Edith Wharton
Dreaming in Cuban, by Christina Garcia
The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence
The Owl Service, by Alan Garner
The Woman Who Waited, by Andrei Makine
Sleepless Nights, by Elizabeth Hardwick
The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford
Lady Susan, by Jane Austen
The Street of Crocodiles, by Bruno Schulz
Indiana, by George Sand
The Island of Dr. Moreau, by H.G. Wells
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Virginian, by Owen Wister
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Summer Book, Tove Jansson
The Small Room, May Sarton
Manservant and Maidservant, Ivy Compton-Burnett
Bad Blood, Lorna Sage
Vertigo, W.G. Sebald
Novel on Yellow Paper, by Stevie Smith
The Woman In Black, by Susan Hill
Dance Night, by Dawn Powell
The Slaves of Solitude, by Patrick Hamilton
The Post-Office Girl, by Stefan Zweig
Sexing the Cherry, by Jeanette Winterson
Ruth Hall, by Fanny Fern
The Glimpses of the Moon, by Edith Wharton
Dreaming in Cuban, by Christina Garcia
The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence
The Owl Service, by Alan Garner
The Woman Who Waited, by Andrei Makine
Sleepless Nights, by Elizabeth Hardwick
The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford
Lady Susan, by Jane Austen
The Street of Crocodiles, by Bruno Schulz
Indiana, by George Sand
The Island of Dr. Moreau, by H.G. Wells
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Virginian, by Owen Wister
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Content licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
10 comments:
Oh, my -- what a difficult choice -- these all look very interesting. I suppose my first choice would be the Kobo Abe book. After that, I'm most interested in the Townsend Warner, and then the Hardwick books.
I have heard good things about: Sleepless Nights - Elizabeth Hardwick
I'm really interested in the Kobo Abe but will be happy with any of them.
I would cast a vote for Sabatini.
very interesting choices! I don't have a real preference, but either the Kobo Abe or the Hardwick sound good to me.
sleepless nights or townsend-warner oh yes!!!1
What difficult choices. I would love to read the Sabatini, too, but I have a feeling swashbuckling tales might not be to everyone's taste. I think I am going to put my vote in for Sleepless Nights by Elizbeth Hardwick, though I would be happy to give any of them a try. When do we find out the winner?
Later on today, Danielle. I was waiting for someone to break the tie for me. :D Which you've done nicely, thank you.
I think I will go with the Hardwick book too.
I promise to make the Slaves a priority and read the book on time :)
Hey--this means I get to order another NYRB classic! Great choices, Imani!
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