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November BookClub voting - Amongst Women vs To Kill a Mockingbird

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  • 10-10-2009 7:52pm
    #1
    turgon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭


    A number of us are doing a Bookclub for November. The choices are:
    • Amongst Women by Irish author John McGahern
    • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

    In a few days the poll will close and we will decide which to read. We will have until November to read them!

    Amongst Women
    "Amongst Women is a novel by the Irish author John McGahern (1934-2006). The novel tells the story of Michael Moran, a bitter, ageing Irish Republican Army (IRA) veteran, and his tyranny over his wife and children, who both love and fear him. It is McGahern's best known novel and is considered his masterpiece. It was shortlisted for the 1990 Booker Prize and won the Irish Times/Aer Lingus Literary Award in 1991."
    Wiki

    To Kill a Mockingbird
    "To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful and has become a classic of modern American literature. The plot and characters are loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as on an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old.

    The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator's father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers. One critic explained the novel's impact by writing, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism."
    Wiki

    :)

    Which book would you like to read for the November Book Club? 6 votes

    Amongst Women by John McGahern
    0% 0 votes
    To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
    100% 6 votes


Comments

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    #2
    Quality
    Registered Users Posts: 6,900 ✭✭✭Quality


    Two great choices... Hard to decide!!


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    #3
    Valmont
    Registered Users Posts: 5,856 ✭✭✭Valmont


    Goodness, I voted for To Kill a Mockingbird because it is a great book and also because I could never live with myself knowing I was a contributing factor towards someone, somewhere, having to read Amongst Women. Horrible.


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    #4
    turgon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭turgon


    Its pretty tight, only 1 vote in it! So Im going to leave it for a few days to see if a gap develops...but not too long. :)


  • Options
    #5
    kerash
    Registered Users Posts: 6,688 ✭✭✭kerash


    turgon wrote: »
    Its pretty tight, only 1 vote in it!

    My fault, 'twas a draw when I voted! sorry Valmont:P
    You could leave it until Friday I suppose, turgon?


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    #6
    turgon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭turgon


    Yep!!

    Its gone to a draw again!


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    #7
    Data_Quest
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 119 ✭✭Data_Quest


    Valmont wrote: »
    Goodness, I voted for To Kill a Mockingbird because it is a great book and also because I could never live with myself knowing I was a contributing factor towards someone, somewhere, having to read Amongst Women. Horrible.

    I did the same 100% agree with you


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    #8
    turgon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭turgon


    To Kill a Mockingbird it is. :)

    Just over €6 on Book Depository for those who want to buy it.


  • Options
    #9
    kerash
    Registered Users Posts: 6,688 ✭✭✭kerash


    Oh well, it is a good choice :)


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    #10
    turgon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭turgon


    When discussion starts on this book ye may be interested in reading my thoughts on it in this thread.

    Best of luck with the book club, I hope ye will keep it up without me.

    Good luck.

    So it goes :pac:


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    #11
    Quality
    Registered Users Posts: 6,900 ✭✭✭Quality


    turgon wrote: »
    When discussion starts on this book ye may be interested in reading my thoughts on it in this thread.

    Best of luck with the book club, I hope ye will keep it up without me.

    Good luck.

    So it goes :pac:


    Where you going?


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    #12
    turgon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭turgon


    Quality wrote: »
    Where you going?

    My time on Boards.ie has run its course :)



    Scrambled my password and email there. Just have out log out now.


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    #13
    Quality
    Registered Users Posts: 6,900 ✭✭✭Quality


    turgon wrote: »
    My time on Boards.ie has run its course :)



    Scrambled my password and email there. Just have out log out now.


    Best of luck turgon..

    Will miss your good choices in books!


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    #14
    turgon
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,762 ✭✭✭turgon


    Quality wrote: »
    Best of luck turgon..

    Will miss your good choices in books!

    Cheers :D

    Best of luck to you too!


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    #15
    raah!
    Registered Users Posts: 2,629 ✭✭✭raah!


    turgon wrote: »
    Cheers :D

    Best of luck to you too!

    Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!

    The literature forum will not be the same. I wish I was around more to try and convince you to stay. Guess you'll never even see this :(


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    #16
    Quality
    Registered Users Posts: 6,900 ✭✭✭Quality


    raah! wrote: »
    Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!

    The literature forum will not be the same. I wish I was around more to try and convince you to stay. Guess you'll never even see this :(


    yeah, same here, dying for search to be back on.. so that I can see where it all went wrong!!


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    #17
    kerash
    Registered Users Posts: 6,688 ✭✭✭kerash


    Has anyone read the book?!


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    #18
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    I didn't know this was on... To Kill a Mockingbird is a bloody brilliant book, probably the best ever to be written by a female...


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    #19
    lemon_sherbert
    Registered Users Posts: 716 ✭✭✭lemon_sherbert


    kerash wrote: »
    Has anyone read the book?!

    Unfortunately, I think when turgon left boards we lost the motivation to continue this, but if you start a discussion thread, I'm sure people will join in, it is a very popular book.
    Denerick wrote: »
    I didn't know this was on... To Kill a Mockingbird is a bloody brilliant book, probably the best ever to be written by a female...

    No! It was excellent, truly, but I just can't agree with you there. What about Pride and Prejudice, Middlemarch, Jane Eyre, Gone with the Wind?


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    #20
    Eliot Rosewater
    Registered Users Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭Eliot Rosewater


    lemon_sherbert wrote: »
    No! It was excellent, truly, but I just can't agree with you there. What about Pride and Prejudice, Middlemarch, Jane Eyre...

    CHICK LIT!!!!! :P

    Only messing, I haven't actually read any of these. However - and Im thoroughly open to correction here - would it be fair to say that Mockingbird deals with themes that are slightly more important and relevant?

    The book tends to be looked down upon by the literary establishment. When one looks through how turgon dissected the novel its hard to be so dismissive. It clearly is "literary." Perhaps it is the perceived simplicity and the perfection of Finch that gets the snobs in a twist.

    Its interesting the way Lee just dried up...


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    #21
    Denerick
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,488 ✭✭✭Denerick


    Eliot Rosewater wrote: »
    The book tends to be looked down upon by the literary establishment. When one looks through how turgon dissected the novel its hard to be so dismissive. It clearly is "literary." Perhaps it is the perceived simplicity and the perfection of Finch that gets the snobs in a twist.

    Its interesting the way Lee just dried up...

    Oh captain my captain...


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    #22
    lemon_sherbert
    Registered Users Posts: 716 ✭✭✭lemon_sherbert


    Eliot Rosewater wrote: »
    CHICK LIT!!!!! :P

    Only messing, I haven't actually read any of these. However - and Im thoroughly open to correction here - would it be fair to say that Mockingbird deals with themes that are slightly more important and relevant?

    I really can't agree there, (sorry;)) I would consider the themes dealt with to be fairly comparable. My understanding of both sexism and racism come from a similar viewpoint - the notion that one group of people see a difference in another and conclude their position superior, which I really can't reconcile myself. Both have had disastrous consequences for the human race as a whole. If you find some themes more relevant, I think that's subjective, and equally, I find others more relevant to my life and point of view.

    While Pride and Prejudice is often dismissed as a romance, (and hey, what's wrong with love as a most relevant and universal theme) it has to be remembered that there are significant issues of class and gender roles at play.
    Consider Charlotte marrying a man she does not really like for the security of marriage, and the fear of life as a spinster.

    Middlemarch (which is my favourite book of all time - highly recommended) deals with questions of social class, the destruction of an idealistic view (definitely comparable to the loss of innocence suffered in To Kill a Mockingbird.)

    And I'm really not saying the book isn't good (I read it a good while back and would need a re-read to really examine it), but there are definitely others out there just as good.

    (I would go on, but I'm currently avoiding study... so I really should hit the books.)


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    #23
    Eliot Rosewater
    Registered Users Posts: 3,745 ✭✭✭Eliot Rosewater


    For the record, I knew I was being totally ignorant and was only speculating. I had only seen the P&P movie so ...

    /gives adequate time for people to roll their eyes :pac:

    .... I accept what lemon_sherbert say and look forward to reading those books, especially Middlemarch.


    By the way lemon_sherbert, epic reading log. You have to make 100!


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    #24
    lemon_sherbert
    Registered Users Posts: 716 ✭✭✭lemon_sherbert


    Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

    By the way lemon_sherbert, epic reading log. You have to make 100!

    Thanks:), I'm trying, though with college exams looming, I'd say it might be tough!


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