Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1958

Other works of note released in 1958: debut novels by Brian Aldiss, Harlan Ellison and Lois Duncan; sources-for-films "Some Came Running" (James Jones), "The League Of Gentlemen" (John Boland), "Home From The Hill" (William Humhrey) and "The Big Country" (Donald Hamilton); Richard Matehson's "A Stir Of Echoes"; Peter George's "Red Alert" (a major influence on Dr.Strangelove); William Goldman's "Your Turn To Curtsy, My Turn To Bow"; C.P. Snow's "The Conscience Of The Rich"; Michael Nelson's anonymously published gay novel "A Room In Chelsea Square"; "The Oldest Confession" by Richard Condon, an apparently wildly popular satirical writer I've never heard of; and entries by old reliables P.G. Wodehouse ("Cocktail Time"), C.S. Forrester ("Hornblower In The West Indies"), Ian Fleming ("Dr.No"), Julien Gracq ("A Balcony In The Forest") and Georges Simenon ("Maigret Has Scruples").

To my eternal shame I haven't gotten around to "Things Fall Apart" yet, but count on me to vote Achebe when "Anthills Of The Savannah" rolls around.

Also haven't read the Fumiko Enchi but I just finished a story of hers from the Penguin book of Japanese Short Stories and that went really hard.

Very weird to see the translated title of the Amado, it's so much about the rhyme (Gabriela Cravo e Canela).

"Our Man In Havana" is hilarious and one of Greene's best but as a non-anglo I'm going to stump for Lampideusa, a very Southern European stoicism in the face of capitalist modernization. Quite a damaging attitude in real life but I rate it as a vibe. Also how crazy is it that there's another novel by the same name released by a Jamaican author in the same year?

Our Man In Havana one of my favourite Greenes, all day everyday

Just finished The Dud Avocado, the protagonist was likeable and sympathetic enough but I hated all her friends and "friends", and the stories of reeling from bar to bar before winding up in a police cell at 5am were infinitely less fun to read about than I daresay they were to experience.

I've also read the Achebe, Greene, T.H. White and Lampedusa, all good, torn between the last two.

C.P. Snow's "The Conscience Of The Rich"

this must be a short book.

The Leopard . The Visconti film deepens the book.

Protest vote for Claude Ollier's La Mise en scène.

I've only read Things Fall Apart but I feel comfortable voting for it.

The Leopard has grown and grown in my imagination so probably that, although could easily vote for the Iris Murdoch. I think Dharma Bums is probably the best of Kerouac and would easily be in my personal canon of mountain climbing literature.

Things Fall Apart for me although I'm unfamiliar w/ most of these

Another year in which I only know the screen versions: Burt Lancaster v. fine in The Leopard, Alec Guinness likewise in Our Man In Havana(and speaking of Richard Condon, I liked the screen versions of The Manchurian Candidate and Prizzi's Honor)(and I dimly recall liking the movie of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning alright, though Albert Finney was a little tiresome, as usual.)

I thiiiink Things Fall Apart is the only one I've read in its entirety. Definitely started Dharma Bums at some point, and maybe a couple of others (the Greene, the Sillitoe?) but I'm not convinced I finished any of them. I didn't adore TFA but I liked it well enough to give it a vote without it being too grudging.

Oh, ha, I missed the Duras on the list, which I have not read, but a friend is promising to lend it to me soon. I'll come back and report on whether it would have got my vote whenever I get round to it, I guess.

Nip The Budds, Shoot The Kids by Kenzaburō Ōe
The Getaway by Jim Thompson
Moderato Cantabille by Marguerite Duras
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampideusa

Going for The Leopard here although The Getaway runs it close.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Voting for Our Man in Havana, my favorite Graham Greene.

Votes but hard to keep up with these tbh

OMIH makes me think of the end of The Lavender Hill Mob. it's Alex Guinness but it's Rio rather than Havana.

Votes=Voted

Voting The Bell, read it last year and thought it was fantastic, if flawed. Also thought Balcony in the Forest was excellent.

Even tho I voted Leopard I'll still be pretty happy if Our Man In Havana wins.

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

Something of a dark horse winner there, but certainly deserving enough.

Sadly I have read zero of these.

Def try and read Achebe.

Yeah, in retrospect it would've been a bit shameful if the single most acclaimed novel to come out of an entire continent didn't win this.

Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1959

I've never read a Duras novel I didn't like, but I don't outright love any of them either. Still, I vote for Moderato cantabile.