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It is time to vote for November BOTM. Please select books from the following list.

How to Vote
You may cast votes according to participation points. Your participation points can be found here
Everyone gets 1 free votes and you can use 4 more participation points if you have them. You can cast all your votes for one book or you could spread them out to 5 books if you have the participation points to do so. Participation points are earned by various means. You can get some quick points by answering Fast Point questions, reading and discussing BOTM and challenges and many other ways.

Please feel free to make comments about various books, try to persuade people to vote for your preferences or other comments pro or con.

Voting will be at this link

1. Come Back, Dr. Caligari by Donald Barthelme 1964, 200 pages.

2. The Dead Father - Donald Barthelme, 1975, 200 pages.

3.Amateurs - Donald Barthelme, 1976, 200 pages.

4. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis - Giorgio Bassani, 1963, 200 pages.

5. L'Abbé C - Georges Bataille, 1950, 150 pages.

6. Blue of Noon - Georges Bataille, 1957, 150 pages.

7. The House of Ulloa - Emilia Pardo Bazán, 1886, 400 pages.

8. Jacob the Liar - Jurek Becker, 1969, 250 pages.

9. Murphy - Samuel Beckett, 1938, 200 pages.

10. Molloy - Samuel Beckett, 1951, 250 pages.

11. Malone Dies - Samuel Beckett, 1951, 100 pages.

12. Watt - Samuel Beckett, 1953, 200 pages.

13. The Unnamable - Samuel Beckett, 1953, 200 pages.

14. How It Is - Samuel Beckett, 1961, 150 pages.

15. Mercier and Camier - Samuel Beckett, 1946, 150 pages.

16. Worstward Ho - Samuel Beckett, 1983, 50 pages.

17. Vathek - William Beckford, 1786, 150 pages.

18. Borstal Boy - Brendan Behan, 1958, 400 pages.

19. Oroonoko - Aphra Behn, 1688, 250 pages.

20. Dangling Man - Saul Bellow, 1944, 200 pages.

21. The Victim - Saul Bellow, 1947, 300 pages.

22. The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow, 1953, 586 pages.

23. Seize the Day - Saul Bellow, 1956, 100 pages.

24. Henderson the Rain King - Saul Bellow, 1959, 350 pages.

25. Herzog - Saul Bellow, 1964, 350 pages.

26. Humboldt's Gift - Saul Bellow, 1975, 487 pages.

27. The Old Wives' Tale - Arnold Bennett, 1908, 565 pages.

28. G. - John Berger, 1972, 300 pages.

29. Under Satan's Sun - Georges Bernanos, 1926, 450 pages.

30. Correction - Thomas Bernhard, 1975, 250 pages.

31. Yes - Thomas Bernhard, 1978, 150 pages.

32. Concrete - Thomas Bernhard, 1982, 150 pages.

33. Wittgenstein's Nephew - Thomas Bernhard, 1982, 100 pages.

34. Old Masters: A Comedy - Thomas Bernhard, 1985, 150 pages.

35. Extinction - Thomas Bernhard, 1986, 350 pages.

36. Death Sentence - Maurice Blanchot, 1948, 100 pages.

37. The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolaño1998, 577 pages.

38. Ficciones - Jorge Luis Borges, 1944, 200 pages.

39. Labyrinths - Jorge Luis Borges, 1962, 250 pages.

40. This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen -
Tadeusz Borowski, 1948, 200 pages.

41. The Last September - Elizabeth Bowen, 1929, 300 pages.

42. To the North - Elizabeth Bowen, 1932, 300 pages.

43. The House in Paris - Elizabeth Bowen, 1935, 250 pages.

44. The Heat of the Day - Elizabeth Bowen, 1949, 350 pages.

45. A World of Love - Elizabeth Bowen, 1955, 250 pages.

46. Eva Trout - Elizabeth Bowen, 1968, 300 pages.

47. World's End - T.C. Boyle, 1987, 500 pages.

48. Drop City - T.C. Boyle, 2003, 497 pages.

49. Billiards at Half-Past Nine - Heinrich Böll, 1959, 300 pages.

50. Group Portrait with Lady - Heinrich Böll, 1971, 400 pages.

51. The Safety Net - Heinrich Böll, 1979, 300 pages.

One additional BOTM will be chosen by random selection from the 51 books listed here. You have about a week to cast votes. Jen will announce the winners.

Ooooooh, Labyrinths!

Hi Kristel, I couldn't get the excel link to work. Anyone else having trouble opening this?

Can't open either. I will fix that. Thanks.

Lots of unknowns for me this month! I've heard of Beckett of course, and Borges. But never read anything by either of them. Ooronoko by Aphra Behn has been on my radar for a while. And Herzog by Saul Bellow turns out to be marked as TBR for me.

The only book from this list that I have read, is the book where my parents got my name: Group Portrait with Lady. I can report that I have very little in common with the character besides the name!

Guess who I didn't vote for??
( Hint: Bataiile or Beckett)

Story of the eye is missing (I think).

Story of Eye, Uncle Tom's Cabin and Alamut were the BOTMs last time around.

I've tried to figure out the Borges books. I've got Collected Fictions which includes all of Ficciones - and as far as I can tell also of Labyrinth and then some. It looks as though Labyrinth includes all of Ficciones as well... I guess the original version contained Ficciones and that was later replaced by Labyrinth...

Jen wrote: "Story of the eye is missing (I think)."
The ones that are missing were BOTM in 2015.

Kristel wrote: "Jen wrote: "Story of the eye is missing (I think)."
The ones that are missing were BOTM in 2015."

Oh, thanks. I didn't think we had read it so recently.

Wittgenstein's Nephew is my vote this month. I don't relish reading many on this list. I disliked all that I have read except "The Safety Net" which was brilliant. I could read another Boll but they are not easy to find in NZ.

I read Jacob the Liar and really enjoyed it. I read Malone Dies which cured me of reading any more Beckett. Also read The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen and I am not anxious to read any more of her books either.

I missed This Way for the Gas the last time it was chosen and would like to read that. I also have Oroonoko on my TBR list. I could also be persuaded for Labyrinths.

Pip wrote: " I don't relish reading many on this list. "

I feel the same way. Most of the books I have read from this list were "meh".

Wittgenstein's Nephew is an odd book.

Of the ones on the list that I have already read, I really enjoyed The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, and I found Oroonoko interesting because how old it is (and because she apparently used real events as inspiration for her stories). I found Borges overrated, but mostly because I think what he pioneered has been expanded and improved by later writers.

I'm not really interested in any of this month's books, so I will vote for something I have on hand.

This group of authors are not that exciting, especially Beckett and Bataille. I would like to read T.C.Boyle as I have not read any by him yet. I like Bellow's but others despise him. I haven't read any Bernhard. I have been looking at The Garden of Finzi-Continis as possible since starting on this list and still have not read it. I read Oroonoko and agree with Paula on that one. Borges was fine but I think there is not much difference between Ficciones and Labyrinth.

I stand in dread of what the randomizer will pick this month.

Like many others, I'm not feeling inspired this month. If anyone is feeling particularly inspired, let me know and I'll throw some votes toward your book choice - If I haven't read it yet.

A few of these are hard to find. I haven't found the Bernanos book for less than $100. Hopefully, the randomizer will be kind and avoid that one.

Kristel wrote: "This group of authors are not that exciting, especially Beckett and Bataille. I would like to read T.C.Boyle as I have not read any by him yet. I like Bellow's but others despise him. I haven't rea..."

I'm a fan of T.C. Boyle, but have read Drop City . . .so may go for the other option, but will look through the others first.

Diane wrote: "A few of these are hard to find. I haven't found the Bernanos book for less than $100. Hopefully, the randomizer will be kind and avoid that one."
I found it at a university library. I don't know if you have access to interlibrary loans, but that may be a place to look. I think it's out of print.

I voted for the shortest Bernhard- I thought maybe it was time to give him a try. But I'll be good with whatever, too.

Jacob the Liar was good, and I love Borges and Boll. I also liked House of Ulloa.

Otherwise, there's a big group of authors with a lot of books on the list, and none of them are too exciting.
I'm just glad Story Of The Eye's not a choice this time around. Ick.

Not excited by anything on this list either - except for the longer ones, which I'd rather avoid for BOTMs. At some point I started Old Masters but did not get very far.

I'd like to read some T. C. Boyle.

Ooronoko and Vathek are free on Project Gutenberg, and practically free on Kindle. And on a list where I'm not super excited by anything, low price becomes a big selling point.

That said, looks like my library has Murphy by Beckett.

I have these on my tbr shelf
Beckett Samuel Malone Dies
Beckett Samuel The Unnamable
Beckett Samuel Molloy
Böll Heinrich Group Portrait with Lady
Bowen Elizabeth A World of Love
Bowen Elizabeth Eva Trout
Boyle TC World's End
Boyle TC Drop City

I would be willing to get behind World's End if that works for others.

I am joining the group of uninspired here :) please feel free to sell me the book of your choice as I have not voting preference at the moment.

Hey, JenP when is voting done?

I will post results on Sunday so voting is open through Sunday 8am est

We have a three way tie this month. These are the top three books. If you voted for a different book, you may revote for one of the top three (I deleted your survey monkey responses).

If any of your votes went to the top three books then your votes are locked in and you may not revote. Here are the options:

Voting closes Wednesday 27 at noon EST. Revote for one of the three choices here:



1. World's End
2. Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings
3. Wittgenstein's Nephew

I have Labyrinths, I'm ok with World's End, but don't want to go to Thomas Bernard... - revoted...

Revoted

Revoted for Labyrinths. It seems the easiest to get hold of, and also the one I'm least likely to read without the push and pull of a group read.