Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1987

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Poll Results

Option	Votes
Beloved by Toni Morrison	8
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson	3
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy	3
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami	2
Crossing To Safety by Wallace Stegner	2
The Door by Magda Szabó	2
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks	2
In The Skin Of A Lion by Michael Ondaatje	1
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle	1
You Must Remember This by Joyce Carol Oates	1
Misery by Stephen King	1
Life During Wartime by Lucius Shepard	1
Baltasar And Blimunda by José Saramgo	1
The Bonfire Of The Vanities by Tom Wolfe	1
Christopher Unborn by Carlos Fuentes	0
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher	0
Blackeyes by Dennis Potter	0
The Prospector by J.M.G. Le Clézio	0
The Storyteller by Mario Vargas Llosa	0
Red Sorghum by Mo Yan	0
69 by Ryu Murakami	0
The New Confessions by William Boyd	0
The Ancient Ship by Zhang Wei	0
Anthills Of The Savannah by Chinua Achebe	0
A Trumpet In The Wadi by Sami Michael	0
Our Twisted Hero by Yi Mun-yol	0
Antonio And David by Jemal Karchkhadze	0
The Fall Of The Imam by Nawal El Saadawi	0
World's End by T.C. Boyle	0
The Cartier Project by Miha Mazzini	0
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively	0
Farewell To The Sea by Reinaldo Arenas	0
Empire by Gore Vidal	0
The Medusa Frequency by Russell Hoban	0
Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut	0
A Yellow Raft In Blue Water by Michael Dorris	0
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner	0
The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji	0
The Broom Of The System by David Foster Wallace	0
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg	0
In The Country Of Last Things by Paul Auster	0
The Child In Time by Ian McEwan	0
The Book And The Brotherhood by Iris Murdoch	0
So Much To Tell You by John Marsden	0
Watchers by Dean Koontz	0
The Uplift War by David Brin	0
The Rules Of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis	0
More Die Of Heartbreak by Saul Bellow	0
Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter	0
Ambient by Jack Womack	0

― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 23 July 2021 09:32 (four years ago)

Oof, this is a tough one for me. Beloved is great, and will probably win this. Anthills Of The Savannah is a cutting, darkly comical novel - the way it illustrates how the ruling classes try to emulate the culture of the coloniser rang true to me even for a former colonial power like Portugal. Speaking of which, ultimately I'll have to revert to problematic patriotism and vote for the Saramago, just a crazy world to get lost in, quite jealous of the kids who got taught it in high school while I was stuck with Vergílio Ferreira's arid derivative existentialism.

― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 23 July 2021 09:35 (four years ago)

Ondaatje ftw.

― pomenitul, Friday, 23 July 2021 09:42 (four years ago)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/Sachar_-_There%27s_a_Boy_in_the_Girls%27_Bathroom_Coverart.jpg

Comment Is Free: Origins

― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 23 July 2021 09:57 (four years ago)

oops, mediocre joke ruined

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/Sachar_-_There%27s_a_Boy_in_the_Girls%27_Bathroom_Coverart.jpg

― Daniel_Rf, Friday, 23 July 2021 09:58 (four years ago)

Beloved

― horseshoe, Friday, 23 July 2021 13:30 (four years ago)

^pretty hard to argue with, though this is a very strong year! I used to love the McEwan, not sure what I'd think now

― rob, Friday, 23 July 2021 13:40 (four years ago)

I've only read "Bonfire of the Vanities", "Bluebeard", and "Misery". I guess it would be "Bonfire". Shout out to "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency".

― o. nate, Friday, 23 July 2021 14:04 (four years ago)

i read The Door last year. loved it!

― wasdnuos (abanana), Sunday, 25 July 2021 10:21 (four years ago)

The Door is great as are the Fitzgerald and Ondaatje but Beloved is on a different plane of existence entirely.

― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Sunday, 25 July 2021 10:28 (four years ago)

Um, I don’t see a Fitzgerald on this thread. Her name sister maybe.

― Two Severins Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 25 July 2021 19:18 (four years ago)

Oh! I always and so on and so forth

― Woolf & Stein 3d (wins), Sunday, 25 July 2021 19:36 (four years ago)

Careful. There are some threads for that, although lately they seem to get mixed up as well

― Two Severins Clash (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 25 July 2021 19:48 (four years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Monday, 26 July 2021 00:01 (four years ago)

I meant Penelope Lively. Mea culpa. Moon Tiger is fantastic.

― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 26 July 2021 08:36 (four years ago)

I read Beloved for my A-Levels and hated it. My choice is Ellroy for this year I think.

― Neil S, Monday, 26 July 2021 08:52 (four years ago)

I've read Phlebas, Bonfire, The Child in Time and The Door. Phlebas would definitely have been a favourite once but perhaps no longer, Bonfire and The Child in Time were too long ago and The Door was fine, I get the love for it but I didn't lose myself in it.

― At Easter I had a fall. I don't know whether to laugh or cry (ledge), Monday, 26 July 2021 08:53 (four years ago)

I considered The Child in Time, it's when McEwan still had that weird edge to his fiction that he later lost to much broader farce or dark comedy. It's a long time since I read it as well though, not sure it would hold up to a second reading.

― Neil S, Monday, 26 July 2021 08:57 (four years ago)

You Must Remember This is great

― johnny crunch, Monday, 26 July 2021 13:43 (four years ago)

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

― System, Tuesday, 27 July 2021 00:01 (four years ago)

Both fair and expected.

Wherein We Elect Our Favourite Novels of 1988

― Daniel_Rf, Tuesday, 27 July 2021 10:23 (four years ago)

Harry Mathews - Cigarettes

― xyzzzz__, Friday, 30 July 2021 12:40 (four years ago)

Oh yeah that’s a good one.

― Tim, Friday, 30 July 2021 12:42 (four years ago)

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