Slaves of Golconda: August 2011

"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

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.

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

Thursday, August 04, 2011

The Golden Mean wins -- plus more books!

Annabel Lyon's The Golden Mean has won the most votes, so that will be our next book for September 30th. It's available in paper in the UK and Canada and will be available in paper in the U.S. on September 6th. There are a lot of used hardcover copies available on Amazon right now, though, if you would like it sooner. Thanks for voting everyone and thanks to Lilian for choosing the list!

And now for a few more books that couldn't quite make it on the list. Lilian's editor sent these along as possibilities, but they didn't arrive in time for the voting, so I thought I would include them here for those who are curious. These are books published recently by Canadian authors that might be of interest:

The Lizard Cage, by Karen Connolly
Consumption, by Kevin Patterson
Fauna, by Alissa York

I'm looking forward to the discussion in September!

Slaves of Golconda

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Thursday, August 04, 2011

The Golden Mean wins -- plus more books!