Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of… the 1870's, pt.2 (1874-1879)

Very happy at the arrival of Eça de Queirós (recommended to anyone who digs Flaubert), but I think it's the simple pleasures of Tom Saywer for me here.

these are all a bit modern for me!

voted for the one i finished (part 5 of) this morning.

Things moving fast now -- we're only 5 years from À rebours!

I voted for Hardy, but must confess that I've never read Anna Karenina, nor any of the Henry James

The Europeans is a minor masterpiece of drawing room comedy, but Daniel Deronda or Anna Karenina deserve to win.

I don't admire The Return of the Native as I do a couple other Hardys.

Can't not vote for Anna Karenina, though I've not read any of these Henry James either.

I think TRotN may be the first Hardy I read, and it has some setpieces that are seared into my memory (the bonfires in the opening chapter; Mrs. Yeobright's visit to her son's house and subsequent walk home; the cataclysmic storm)

the Egdon Heath opener is a bit of a slog.

I remember best Eustacia Vye allowing the boy to hold her ungloved hand -- a nice bit of pre-Bunuel sensuality.

the Egdon Heath opener is a bit of a slog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogPZ5CY9KoM

Anna Karenina

I've read a whole six of these, three of them by James of which my favourite is The American. I should probably vote for Anna Karenina but I can't remember a thing about it.

Voting Anna Karenina due to shocking lack of La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret

Nothing against Anna Karenina, but got to give it up one more time for ever-timely and dynamic doorstop The Way We Live Now.

Yes, it's long as hell, but once it pulls you in, will take you around.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I've read Tom Sawyer and nothing else here. I suppose I'll have to get to Karenina eventually.

Interested to hear from the Hector Malot fan.

i voted for the hector malot... i've read only 5 of the books on this list (the europeans, anna karenina, michel strogoff, tom sawyer and the hector malot) and as much as i enjoyed all of them and willingly admit the others might be better novels, alone in the world really made an impression on me when i was a kid. i just couldn't stop, reading it everywhere including at the breakfast table during family holidays, where i tried to hide my sobs at poor rémi's adventures. almost 30 years later it's still a running joke with my parents, couldn't not vote for it

even now just thinking about what happens to all the animals and good old vitalis brings a tear to my eye tbh

Cool, Jibe. I asked because I'd hardly heard of the name, finding out about new authors part of the fun of this.

Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of… the 1880's, pt.1 (1880-1884)

i was surprised to see it included tbh, even though it's a classic in france and most kids called rémi have been called rémi sans famille or rémi sans ami because of it i'd wager. i have to say i'm really enjoying those polls and your selections, even though i've never read more than 5 or 6 in each of them, so thanks. how do you go about selecting the lesser known ones like sans famille? you might have already explained this in a previous poll

I use the wikipedia lists of novels by year/decade, which I think does give these some idiosincracies - Brazil seems very good at documenting its output on English language wikipedia, for example. If I stumble upon something that's outside of the USA/UK/France/Russia circuit I'm more likely to include it, ditto female authors. I think in this case in particular I just figured that judging by the wikipedia entry it must be quite famous and that my ignorance of it was my own failing.