According to my non-existent editorial calendar, we're doing another round of Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) next month! I have winnowed down the book selection to three books and now you, my friends, are going to vote on what you think is the best option. These have all been suggested to me by readers in the past and I'm happy for additional suggestions to keep adding to my list of potential books for CBBC.
Option #1
The Secret Garden by France Hodgson Burnett
Did I ever tell you about the time I SMASHED IT in the finals of a Quiz Bowl competition in middle school because I knew all the answers to the Frances Hodgson Burnett bonus round? My teammates watched on in amazement as I answered questions about Mary, Sara Crewe, and that book about a boy. Anyway, I DIGRESS.
Mary Lennox is orphaned and sent to a depressing ass manor house in the English Moors. There's a garden. There's a secret. There's a lot of colonialism, but what a classic. I read this over and over again as a tween, but probably haven't looked at since the late 1990s.
None of the Google images I pulled up were the copy I read as a child. Dang it all.
Option #2
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Honest confession here: I have tried to read this book like three times and have DNFed it each time. Will this be the catalyst I need to finish this gothic classic?
There's a new bride at Manderley, but Rebecca's presence is still there. That's all I know.
Option #3:
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
Remember when I thought I Capture the Castle was The Blue Castle? Ha ha. These are very different books.
In this one, Valency is a twenty-nine-year-old old maid living with overbearing relatives. How will Valency get out of this?!
Those are the options. You can try to lobby fellow readers to your favorites in the comments, but your vote will be cast at this Google form. I am asking for you to rank order your choices from your most preferred to least preferred book because of feedback from our last voting cycle. You do not actually need to be a blogger to participate in CBBC, but you should probably at least occasionally read this blog. I'll leave the form up until Wednesday, January 15 and then I'll tabulate the votes and post the schedule soon thereafter.
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What do you think of these book suggestions? Which one would you be most excited to read? Do you have any suggestions for me to add to my list of future CBBC reads?
Interesting choices. I *may* partake once the choice is made. I have not read any of Montgomery's non-Anne books.
ReplyDeleteI think this one is better than the Anne books, but I find Anne a bit grating, so I might not be the best judge.
DeleteVoted! Thanks for organizing this Engie - I know it's a lot of work!
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to get started!
DeleteOh boy!!! Except for that fact that I had a moment of PTSD when I saw the word "voting" (and btw we need ranked choice voting on our political ballots, so I approve of this method!) I'm excited about another book club! I'll read any of these! I have read Rebecca, a long time ago so that's probably my least favorite of the three. My sister insists that we read The Secret Garden as kids, but somehow I don't remember it. And I've definitely never read The Blue Castle so that's probably the one I'll vote for. But as I said- I'll happily read any of these. Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping the ranked voting helps people feel like their votes count even if their first choice isn't chosen. We'll see how it goes.
DeleteI voted for The Blue Castle because it has one of my favorite quotes. However, I'm going to try Rebecca anyway because I need a novel with an unreliable narrator. (Just did Murder of Roger Ackroyd with homeschool kid, and want to continue the theme.)
ReplyDeleteMaybe I just need to really think more about Rebecca and if I'm doing it for CBBC I'll love it and actually finish it? I don't know. It's currently the leader, so I might not have a choice.
DeleteOh, Blue Castle, 100%! It's my favorite LMM book---yes, more than Anne, even! I would love to discuss it so much. I put Secret Garden second; I haven't read it in ages, probably since I was a kid, so reading it again would be interesting. I'm not sure I would read Rebecca if that's the choice, but I'd try, at least.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't care for Anne, but this book was my husband's grandmother's favorite, so I have a soft spot for it.
DeleteYay!!! Here's the thought process behind my vote:
ReplyDelete- Secret Garden was my #2 choice. Actually it's my "when not if choice" - it's going to be picked for CBBC, and if not now it will be in the next round or so. I haven't read it since I was a child, and I'd love to read it with the CBBC crowd.
- Duh of course Rebecca is my #1 choice because it's one of my favorite books of all time. There is no way that I could not vote for it, but also a 3xDNF is probably not the right choice for CBBC.
- The only reason that Blue Castle is my #3 pick is because, duh, the other books are higher picks for me. Of course I'd love to read it. There are no losers here!
I'm happy to hear that you approve of all of these books. I agonized over which ones to add. The hardest part of CBBC for me is narrowing down to the books we vote on.
DeleteI will say that this is The Secret Garden's second go at CBBC and if it doesn't win, I'll probably just read it myself and take it off the CBBC list, so it's not likely to be picked again! I'll just have to admit to myself that my readers don't love it as much as I do.
Tell you what, if Secret Garden doesn't make the cut, then let's do an offline CBBC and read it close to the same time!
DeleteLots of volunteers for a Secret Garden buddy read! It's a close vote now, so we'll see if I get to take anyone up on it.
DeleteRebecca is a strange book! That is interresting that you love it, B! I would say of the three that would be my last choice. I actually re-read it a few years ago after remembering liking it a lot, but I did not love it the second time around. Going to vote now!
DeleteI've never read (or heard of Rebecca). I've never read Blue Castle, and read The Secret Garden a few times as a kid but never liked it. So I think I'm #1 for Rebecca (mostly because Birchie loves it and I've read a lot of LM Montgomery, #2 for Blue Castle and #3 for Secret Garden. I'll go vote more "officially".
ReplyDeleteOh, wow. Is Rebecca a deep cut? I thought it was a classic. This might be one of those I Capture the Castle situations when I assume everyone knows the books I read when I was a teenager.
DeleteVoted! Thanks for organising this - last summer with the CBBCers was fun! All good options, it was a struggle to choose, but I went with never read, read once a long time ago and don't remember, and read many times (I wanted to put that one first because I love it).
ReplyDeleteThanks for voting. Hopefully this one turns out as well as previous books.
DeleteI have always wanted to read Rebecca, so it was my #1 choice. I wouldn't mind reading The Secret Garden, though. I think I read it once? Maybe? I seem to remember it. I'm not familiar with the other book. But I read weird things when I was a teen. I did a book review in the eighth grade on The Shining.
ReplyDeleteIt's always so exciting when you chime in on my blog! Woot woot! You voted!
DeleteI have voted, but I'm not sure I'll have time to read the book, so feel free to discount my vote since I am sometimes too busy to participate. Thanks for organizing.
ReplyDeleteI'm always amused when people say I should discount their vote. LOL. What if we discounted votes for people in electoral politics who don't watch the news? Or skip jury duty? Hmm...maybe this isn't such a bad idea!
DeleteYay, another round of book club!!! Such good options!!!!! I loooove Rebecca (which perhaps means you will hate it, Engie?) but wouldn't vote for it because I read it fairly recently. Probably I would vote for Secret Garden, which I started reading to my kid a few years back but she lost interest.
ReplyDeleteMy history with Rebecca has not been pretty, but if that's what the group wants, then the group shall get it. I wonder if Carla would like TSG now that she's a bit older?
DeleteI'll buddy read The Secret Garden with you if it loses again! Rebecca, Blue Castle, SG, mostly because 1) never read, 2) only read a few times vs. 3) The Secret Garden, which I, too, read over and over and over...
ReplyDeleteI would absolutely join this buddy read! The Secret Garden and A Little Princess are definitely two of my comfort reads. I pink puffy heart LURVE them, though of course they are problematic and of their time.
DeleteWhat lovely offers. I'll definitely keep this in mind should TSG lose!
DeleteI third that!
DeleteI voted, 1. Blue Castle, 2. Rebecca, 3. Secret Garden. I LOVE The Secret Garden, and would be happy to discuss it, but I haven't read the others so thought maybe I'd throw my vote that direction.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think my love for the TSG would mean that I might get a little grumpy if people didn't like it. I didn't take it personally if people didn't like My Brilliant Friend (translated books aren't for everyone, the setting is sort of weird, etc.), but I would feel personally attacked if people didn't adore it, even with all its problems and historical quirks.
DeleteRanked voting! I love it! Minneapolis used ranked voting for one of our elections in the last several years and wow were people confused by it... I don't understand the backlash and didn't read all the reasons people were up in arms about it but it fired people up! I picked Blue Castle first because I haven't read it. Secret Garden was #2, Rebecca was #3. I have read Secret Garden and Rebecca. I didn't adore Rebecca but it would make for a good discussion! Can't wait to see what we read!!
ReplyDeleteI mean, it might mean that the book with the most number one votes doesn't win! I can see how that would upset people. It's pretty low stakes here in the CBBC, so I'm not that worried about it. But it can happen that people who win the most votes in a presidential election don't win, too, so we wouldn't be alone.
DeleteYay! Thank you for organizing this again, Engie - it's always fun!
ReplyDeleteI hope it is fun for everyone, too!
DeleteThanks for organizing, Engie! I have fond memories of all these comfort reads and can't wait to get started.
ReplyDeleteYay! I hope I do your comfort reads justice.
DeleteI *just* re-read Rebecca last year. I loved that book as a moody romantic teenager. It’s up there with Jane Eyre on my list. But also like Jane Eyre it’s got some absolutely bonkers shit going on that I thought was romantic thirty years ago but is really just manipulative. is that too spoiler-y???? But also there are a billion movie versions of Rebecca to follow up with.
ReplyDeleteI also loved The Secret Garden. But you know what I love more than the Secret Garden the Book? The Secret Garden the Musical. The musical is in my top five favorite musicals ever. Gorgeous music.
I’ve never read the Blue Castle.
Wow! I also dislike Jane Eyre, so maybe that explains my DNFs of Rebecca. Oh, well. If it's chosen, I'll read it!
DeleteOh, The Secret Garden the Musical! I'll have to get myself a copy of that!!
Excited for another CBBC, Engie! Thanks again for organizing.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to see you back, friend!
DeleteLove the choices. Have read The Secret Garden as a teenager and have fond memories (without knowing what happened) and always wanted to do a re-read. Rebecca is on my TBR for a few years and I actually put that down for my October read. So I would prefer that in fall to be honest but if that is the vote I will be on board. The last one is unknown to me so I am also in.
ReplyDeleteThank you soso much for doing this again. Can't wait.
I'm also I have potentially messed up your Rebecca reading timing. But... does this mean you have planned out what books you read in every month? Like... you know what books you're reading ahead of time? How does that work?!
DeleteI love all of these choices! I will happily read any of them. I have Rebecca on my bookshelf but DNF-ed it. I think I just wasn’t in the right mood. (Like Tobia, I was thinking of reading that in the fall!) I read one non-Anne LM Montgomery book and HATED it so I wonder how I will feel about TBC!
ReplyDeleteI don't know! It seems like LMM is a bit more divisive than I thought!
DeleteDang---I'm so behind in blog reading! Sorry I missed the vote, but honestly, I'll read whatever *you all* decide. I can't believe you added a 3x DFN to the list though; are you a glutton? 🤣
ReplyDeleteRight? If Rebecca wins, I'll HAVE to read it, though, and that's good for me.
Delete