A language learners’ forum

Please vote for the September and October 2018 LLF Book Club selection. This is the final downselect vote. The poll will remain open for three days, and you may vote for two books. I included books that had four or more votes in the first round of voting. I'll link this poll back to the LLF Book Club thread.

***If there is a nomination for which is either cost-prohibitive or not available in one of your target languages, please let us know. We really want to ensure everyone that wants to participate can participate. Also, please feel free to participate even if you are not able to read in your target language yet; you are welcome to participate by reading in your native language. Click on the GoodReads links below for a summary of each book, and then click "all editions" to see if there is a translation in your target language.


Vingt Mille Lieues Sous Les Mers - Jules Vernes
La Neige était Sale - Georges Simenon
Les Rois Maudits 1 - Le Roí de Fer by Druon
Metamorphoses, or The Golden Ass - Apuleius
Persepolis - Marjane Satrap
My Name is Red - Orhan Pamuk

I must be slow this week; I just noticed this is for September and October. Will two books be selected, or will it depend on the length of the top book? i.e. if it's really long it will be the same book for both months?

It won't change my votes. I'm mostly just curious.

My original thought was to select two books - one for each month with the thought that some might want to combine shipping - particular for those who are ordering from another country. One book in particular is rather long and so if most everyone wants to take two months to read it, that's a good idea - at least for me! The other book could be pushed to the following month. If we end up in a three-way tie (a possibility), I would suggest we read one of the books for November - so as not to have another round to downselect. Thoughts?


edit to clarify: There was a comment on an earlier thread requesting that the next poll include both Sep and Oct to allow combining of purchases and to save on shipping when ordering from another country.

Based on poll results, the September LLF Book Club selection will be Les Rois Maudits 1 - Le Roí de Fer by Druon and the October selection will be My Name is Red - Orhan Pamuk.

Kanewai brought up a good point earlier in this thread: Several of the translations of My Name is Red are lengthy. The French translation is 700+ pages and the Spanish translation is just under 700 pages. Do we want to read this in one month - or spread it out over two? e.g. October vs October and November

Mohave wrote:Kanewai brought up a good point earlier in this thread: Several of the translations of My Name is Red are lengthy. The French translation is 700+ pages and the Spanish translation is just under 700 pages. Do we want to read this in one month - or spread it out over two? e.g. October vs October and November

My vote would be to keep it in October, with the idea that we have enough forewarning to manage our time and choose our reading languages/resources carefully. Some may want or need to read some of it in September also, for example, depending on what their schedule is like. A good part of my bias is wanting to have another group book ready for November rather than drawing one out over two months. The anticipation factor can drive more reading over time.

coldrainwater wrote:

Mohave wrote:Kanewai brought up a good point earlier in this thread: Several of the translations of My Name is Red are lengthy. The French translation is 700+ pages and the Spanish translation is just under 700 pages. Do we want to read this in one month - or spread it out over two? e.g. October vs October and November

My vote would be to keep it in October, with the idea that we have enough forewarning to manage our time and choose our reading languages/resources carefully. Some may want or need to read some of it in September also, for example, depending on what their schedule is like. A good part of my bias is wanting to have another group book ready for November rather than drawing one out over two months. The anticipation factor can drive more reading over time.

This seems like a very reasonable approach to me. The French edition of September's book "Les Rois Maudits - Le Roi de Fer" is only 226 (not including footnotes, etc).