There’s one more plot point I don’t want to let slip by before we finish, and that’s Avery’s killing of the tiger. On the whole, I think The Strangler Vine is not a book full of heavy symbolism, but I feel that Miranda Carter is trying to do more in that scene than just move the story along.
A member of the British East India Company (Avery) shoots and kills the classic symbol of India (the tiger – here, a mangy tiger) and is rewarded with a handful of gems (from a prince) that he ultimately accepts, though he knows it is wrong. It suggests the unhealthy, symbiotic relationship between the Company, the natives and the Indian royalty.
We can start tossing out ideas for February whenever you’re ready – while still hanging around to chat in case @Midwest67 or @CBBBlinker get caught up and have things to say about The Strangler Vine.
We usually pick a long book for the cold month of January. These are two previously mentioned:
Middlemarch - George Eliot (Time for a classic?)
The Nix - Nathan Hill
Then not-so-long:
The Sudden Appearance of Hope - Claire North (Just won the World Fantasy Award)
Young Jane Young - Gabrielle Zevin (Timely topic but by an author we’ve read.)
I still want to read (though possible the time has passed leaving me the only one who hasn’t read them):
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley - Hanna Tinti
The Dry - Jane Harper
Anyway I’m looking forward to seeing LOTS of other suggestions - hint, hint! Seriously my only suggestions not previously mentioned is The Sudden Appearance of Hope and Young Jane Young.
^ I haven’t read any of those books and would be happy with any choice. We may want to reconsider a tome like Middlemarch if we have new readers. I know from the other thread that @Packer and @AnonymousToo were thinking about joining us for the February selection.
Following up on @ignatius’ ”hint hint” with a few other ideas:
My daughter read and liked The Girls by Emma Cline.
I’ve heard intriguing things about Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. If we read that, we could pair it with the slim classic, Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. However, both are stories from the graveyard, which may be too grim or depressing for some of you.
I have You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir by Sherman Alexie on my to-read list.
The Power by Naomi Alderman is finding its way on to a number of Best Books of 2017 lists.
I’m not pushing any of the above, just giving us more to chew on.
Has this group yet read Pride and Prejudice? If so, then never mind, but if not, I’d be interested in reading and discussing it. I’m kind of afraid to tackle it on my own.
^ We. haven’t and I would love to do that. It would also fit in with our sort of-kind of-semi tradition of throwing a little romance into our February selection. How did you get this far in life without reading Pride and Prejudice?
It has been years (and years) since I read Pride and Prejudice and I would love to reread it. It would also be a great choice for February - a romance without any bodice-ripping. Solid thumbs-up from me. (I can’t like your post more than once but I want to.)
@Mary13: I thought about the length of Middlemarch when I suggested it. I decided to throw the title in for consideration anyway because of the number of posts about it in October on the Best Book Thread. Maybe it would pull in new readers and a few of those touting it as their favorite book of all time would want to reread it with us.
I haven’t read any of the books on @Mary13’s list.
^ @ignatius, I’m glad you added Middlemarch – I want to read it because I faked my way through it in college and don’t remember a thing. The comments on the best book thread really stoked my interest. I just thought it might be daunting as a first pick for a newcomer – although If anyone would be into a 900 page Victorian novel, it would be a CC member, right? So I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
But it may go on the back burner now because I’m excited about the prospect of Pride and Prejudice. It would fill our collective yen for a classic, while keeping us a bit more on the lighter side of life. (And @Caraid, you too? What? Were you guys all science majors?)
And I was a Comp Lit major, too!! Focused a lot on French romantics, ancient Greeks, and [what was at that time] contemporary Americans. Missed a lot of things I should have in my quiver – Shakespeare among them.
“Pride and Prejudice” or “Middlemarch” would be my choice. I have read “Pride and Prejudice” several time many ago years but would love a chance to discuss it. “Middlemarch” has been on my need to read book list for a while. Either would be great.
Meanwhile, I am reading the second series of Blake and Avery and it’s really good. It’s more “fun” in a way because we already know their personalities and there’s more reciprocity on Blake’s part. It really is taking on a Holmes/Watson feel (esp now that they’re in London). The mystery is dark and intriguing.
I used my favorite discernment technique for making the final book selection–a nap–and woke up with a clear head and a conviction that Pride and Prejudice is the way to for this round. I’m ready to devote a few winter weeks by the fireside (or actually, by the space heater) to Jane Austen.
I’ll start a new thread.
Middlemarch fans, don’t despair. We’ll get there yet.
