19.04.2023 11:45:57
Melpomene

---

The suggestion time is now over and I’m here to share the poll options with you (for a link to it and enrolling into the club, send me a message or comment on the thread). Because there are so many options, and I for one would love to read many of them, I though a different polling system might be an order. So rather than picking just one option, this time you can choose a few favorites. Five to be exact. The poll will be open until the 23rd of April, Noon BL time.

Below you will find a short description of each suggestion compiled by me based on online information. I mixed the order of the suggestions around a little to make reading through them more interesting. Take your time to at least glance at them ~

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

'If I had my way, every idiot who goes around with Merry Christmas on his lips, would be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. Merry Christmas? Bah humbug!'

To bitter, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is just another day. But all that changes when the ghost of his long-dead business partner appears, warning Scrooge to change his ways before it's too late.

Genre: Historical, Classic, Fantasy, Short Story

Length: Around 64 pages (30,762 words)

The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie

It had been a typical New Year’s Eve party. But as midnight approaches, Mr Satterthwaite - ­­a keen observer of human nature – senses that the real drama of the evening is yet to unfold. And so it proves when a mysterious stranger knocks on the door. Who is Mr Quin?

Mr Satterthwaite’s new friend is an enigma. Throughout this collection of short stories he seems to appear and disappear almost like a trick of the light. In fact, the only consistent thing about him is that his presence is always an omen – sometimes good, but sometimes deadly.

Genre: Short Stories, Mystery, Classic, Detective

Length: Around 396 pages (118,404 words)

Working It: Sex Workers on the Work of Sex (edited by Matilda Bickers, peech breshears, Janis Luna; foreword by Molly Smith)

Fiercely intelligent, fantastically transgressive, Working It is an intimate portrait of the lives of sex workers. A polyphonic story of triumph, survival, and solidarity this collection showcases the vastly different experiences and interests of those who have traded sex; among them a brothel worker in Australia, First Nation survivors of the Canadian child welfare system, and an afro-latina single parent raising a radicalized child. Packed with first-person essays, interviews, poetry, drawings, mixed-media collage, and photographs Working It honors the complexity of lived experience. Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hardboiled, these dazzling pieces will go straight to the heart.

Genre: Nonfiction, Essay, Poetry

Length: Around 240 pages

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

One hot spring, the devil arrives in Moscow, accompanied by a retinue that includes a beautiful naked witch and an immense talking black cat with a fondness for chess and vodka. The visitors quickly wreak havoc in a city that refuses to believe in either God or Satan. But they also bring peace to two unhappy Muscovites: one is the Master, a writer pilloried for daring to write a novel about Christ and Pontius Pilate; the other is Margarita, who loves the Master so deeply that she is willing literally to go to hell for him. What ensues is a novel of inexhaustible energy, humor, and philosophical depth, a work whose nuances emerge for the first time in Diana Burgin's and Katherine Tiernan O'Connor's splendid English version.

Genre: Magical Realism, Fantasy, Classic, Historical

Length: Around 372 pages (140,350 words)

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

All is not what it seems…

In the murky London gloom, a knife-wielding gentleman named Jack prowls the midnight streets with his faithful watchdog Snuff – gathering together the grisly ingredients they will need for an upcoming ancient and unearthly rite. For soon after the death of the moon, black magic will summon the Elder Gods back into the world. And all manner of Players, both human and undead, are preparing to participate.

Some have come to open the gates. Some have come to slam them shut.

And now the dread night approaches – so let the Game begin.

Genre: Fantasy, Mystery, Horror, Humor, Science Fiction

Length: Around 280 pages (83,720 words)

The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft

Boston, 1926.

Francis Thurston goes through documents left behind by his grandfather's brother, recently deceased under mysterious circumstances. He soon discovers the existence of a cult that worships ancient and unspeakable horrors. Mysterious murders, blood rituals in the depths of the Louisiana swamps, artists who descend into insanity after nightmarish visions, and a Cyclopean city that rises from the sea.

Step by step, Thurston realizes that his relative's research got too close to the truth. In the shadows, there are those who want to wake the sleeping god Cthulhu in order to spread madness and destruction over the entire world. The stars are right. Is the end near?

Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Classic Short Story

Length: Around 43 pages (11,905 words)

After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Nineteen-year-old Mari is waiting out the night in an anonymous Denny’s when she meets a young man who insists he knows her older sister, thus setting her on an odyssey through the sleeping city. In the space of a single night, the lives of a diverse cast of Tokyo residents—models, prostitutes, mobsters, and musicians—collide in a world suspended between fantasy and reality. Utterly enchanting and infused with surrealism, After Dark is a thrilling account of the magical hours separating midnight from dawn.

Genre: Magical Realism, Contemporary, Fantasy

Length: Around 191 pages (46,929 words)

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on the 24th of October, 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928. While this extended essay in fact employs a fictional narrator and narrative to explore women both as writers and characters in fiction, the manuscript for the delivery of the series of lectures, titled Women and Fiction, and hence the essay, are considered nonfiction. The essay is seen as a feminist text, and is noted in its argument for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy.

Genre: Essay, Classic, Nonfiction, Feminism

Length: Around 112 pages (37,761 words)

Delirium by Lauren Oliver (Delirium #1)

In an alternate United States, love has been declared a dangerous disease, and the government forces everyone who reaches eighteen to have a procedure called the Cure. Living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Portland, Maine, Lena Haloway is very much looking forward to being cured and living a safe, predictable life. She watched love destroy her mother and isn't about to make the same mistake.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena meets enigmatic Alex, a boy from the "Wilds" who lives under the government's radar. What will happen if they do the unthinkable and fall in love?

Genre: YA, Dystopia, Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Length: Around 441 pages (114,476 words)

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

First published in French as a serial in 1909, The Phantom of the Opera is a riveting story that revolves around the young, Swedish Christine Daaé. Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is raised in the Paris Opera House with his dying promise of a protective angel of music to guide her. After a time at the opera house, she begins hearing a voice, who eventually teaches her how to sing beautifully. All goes well until Christine's childhood friend Raoul comes to visit his parents, who are patrons of the opera, and he sees Christine when she begins successfully singing on the stage. The voice, who is the deformed, murderous 'ghost' of the opera house named Erik, however, grows violent in his terrible jealousy, until Christine suddenly disappears. The phantom is in love, but it can only spell disaster.

Genre: Classic, Gothic, Mystery, Horror, Historical

Length: Around 360 pages (78, 500 words)

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

Genre: Contemporary, Humor

Length: 337 pages (84 250 words)

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

First, there were ten—a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a little private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal—and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. A famous nursery rhyme is framed and hung in every room of the mansion.

"Ten little boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. […] and then there were none."

When they realize that murders are occurring as described in the rhyme, terror mounts. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. Who has choreographed this dastardly scheme? And who will be left to tell the tale? Only the dead are above suspicion.

Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Classic

Length: Around 264 pages (68,000 words)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Set in England in the early 19th century, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Mr and Mrs Bennet's five unmarried daughters after the rich and eligible Mr Bingley and his status-conscious friend, Mr Darcy, have moved into their neighbourhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane, Darcy has difficulty adapting to local society and repeatedly clashes with the second-eldest Bennet daughter, Elizabeth.

Though Austen set the story at the turn of the 19th century, it retains a fascination for modern readers, continuing near the top of lists of "most loved books." It has become one of the most popular novels in English literature, selling over 20 million copies, and receives considerable attention from literary scholars.

Genre: Historical, Romance, Classic

Length: Around 279 pages (122,189 words)

The Extras by Scott Westerfeld (Uglies #4, self-contained)

A few years after rebel Tally Youngblood takes down the Specials regime, a cultural renaissance sweeps the world. “Tech-heads” flaunt their latest gadgets, “kickers” spread gossip and trends, and “surge monkeys” are hooked on extreme plastic surgery. Popularity rules, and everyone craves fame.

Fifteen-year-old Aya Fuse is no exception. But Aya’s face rank is so low, she’s a total nobody. An extra. Her only chance at stardom is to kick a wild and unexpected story.

Then she stumbles upon a big secret. Aya knows she is on the cusp of celebrity. But the information she is about to disclose will change both her fate…and that of the brave new world

Genre: YA, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Length: Around 417 pages (87,274 Words)

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendiá family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad and alive with unforgettable men and women—brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul—this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.

-- A microcosm of Columbian life, its secrets lie hidden, encoded in a book and only Aureliano Buendia can fathom its mysteries and reveal its shrouded destiny. Blending political reality with magic realism, fantasy with comic invention, One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of the most daringly original works of the twentieth century.

Genre: Magical Realism, Historical, Fantasy, Classic

Length: Around 417 pages (144,739 words) 

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking #1)

Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.

Genre: YA, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Length: Around 512 pages (112,022 words)

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy

Jude Fawley's hopes of a university education are lost when he is trapped into marrying the earthy Arabella, who later abandons him. Moving to the town of Christminster where he finds work as a stonemason, Jude meets and falls in love with his cousin Sue Bridehead, a sensitive, freethinking 'New Woman'.

Genre: Classic, Historical, Fiction

Length: Around 310 pages (57,500 words)

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Lui

With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. This mesmerizing collection features many of Ken’s award-winning and award-finalist stories, including: “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary” (Finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards), “Mono No Aware” (Hugo Award winner), “The Waves” (Nebula Award finalist), “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species” (Nebula and Sturgeon Award finalists), “All the Flavors” (Nebula Award finalist), “The Litigation Master and the Monkey King” (Nebula Award finalist), and the most awarded story in the genre’s history, “The Paper Menagerie” (The only story to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards).

Insightful and stunning stories that plumb the struggle against history and betrayal of relationships in pivotal moments, this collection showcases one of our greatest and original voices.

Genre: Short Stories, Magical Realism, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Length: Around 464 pages (116,000 words)

PS. For series, I put down the first book of the in the publication/reading order unless otherwise specified. I wasn’t entirely certain if some comments were actual suggestions or just general conversing. I’m sorry if I accidentally added or missed something I wasn’t supposed to – although certainly there is plenty to choose from in this list. In the future, perhaps, we should also limit the amount of suggestions to one per person?