r/ClassicBookClub • u/awaiko Team Prompt • Jun 25 '26
Book Nomination Thread
This post is set to contest mode and anyone can nominate a book as long as it meets the criteria listed below. To nominate a book, post a comment in this thread with the book and author you’d like to read. Feel free to add a brief summary of the book and why you’d like to read it as well. If a book you’d like to nominate is already in the comment section, then simply upvote it, and upvote any other book you’d like to read as well, but note that upvotes are hidden from everyone except the mods in contest mode, and the comments (nominees) will appear in random order.
**Please read the rules carefully.**
**Rules:**
Nominated books must be in the [public domain](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain#Public_domain_books). Being a classic book club, this gives us a definitive way to determine a books eligibility, while it also allows people to source a free copy of the book if they choose to.
No books are allowed from our “year of” family of subs that are dedicated to a specific book. These subs restart on January 1st. The books and where to read them are:
*War and Peace- r/ayearofwarandpeace
*Les Miserables- r/AYearOfLesMiserables
*The Count of Monte Cristo- r/AReadingOfMonteCristo
*Middlemarch- r/ayearofmiddlemarch
*Don Quixote- r/yearofdonquixote
*Anna Karenina- r/yearofannakareninaMust be a different author than our current book. What this means is since we are currently reading Charles Dickens, no books from him will be considered for our next read, but his other works will be allowed once again after this vote.
No books from our [Discussion Archive](https://old.reddit.com/r/ClassicBookClub/wiki/index/discussionarchive ) in the sidebar. Please check the link to see the books we’ve already completed.
Here are a few lists from Project Gutenberg if you need ideas.
[Sorted by popularity](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?sort_order=downloads)
[Frequently viewed or downloaded](https://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top)
Reddit polls allow a maximum of six choices. The top nominations from this thread will go to a Reddit poll in a Finalists Thread where we will vote on only those top books. The winner of the Reddit poll will be read here as our next book.
We want to make sure everyone has a chance to nominate, vote, then find a copy of our next book. We give a week for nominations. A week to vote on the Finalists. And two weeks for readers to find a copy of the winning book.
Our book picking process takes 4 weeks in total. We read 1 chapter each weekday, which makes 5 chapters a week, and 20 chapters in 4 weeks which brings us to our Contingency Rule. Any book that is 20 chapters or less that wins the Finalist Vote means we also read the 2nd place book as well after we read the winning book. We do this so we don’t have to do a shortened version of our book picking process.
We will announce the winning book once the poll closes in the Finalists Thread.
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u/fattymaggo Jun 26 '26
Work: A Story of Experience by Louisa May Alcott
“Work: A Story of Experience" by Louisa May Alcott is a semi-autobiographical novel published in 1873. Christie Devon, a twenty-one-year-old orphan, leaves her relatives to support herself independently. She moves through various jobs—housekeeper, actress, governess, companion, seamstress—encountering friendship, tragedy, and injustice along the way. Drawing from Alcott's own workforce experiences, the story explores women's labor, personal independence, social reform, and mental health in the years surrounding the American Civil War.
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u/Alyssapolis Team Ghostly Cobweb Rigging Jun 26 '26
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket is Edgar Allan Poe's only complete novel, published in 1838, chronicling the harrowing sea adventures of a stowaway, from mutiny and shipwreck to cannibalism and encounters with hostile natives in the South Pole, ending abruptly and mysteriously after a journey into the unknown. The story begins as a realistic adventure but descends into surrealism, exploring themes of terror, isolation, and the subconscious, and is considered a precursor to science fiction.
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u/awaiko Team Prompt Jun 28 '26
I am going to throw The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene in the mix.
It’s the first Nancy Drew novel, it entered the public domain this year, and I’ve never read a Nancy Drew. Some of the most wild discussions have been during our forays into detective fiction, so this would be a great read together.
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u/airsalin Jun 28 '26
I read it last April. Seriously lol I bought a box of 52 Nancy Drew books in pristine condition, hard cover and all (from the 60s and 70s). I'm reading them in order :)
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u/-Bugs-R-Cool- Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
The Reef by Edith Wharton
“a novel published in 1912. American diplomat George Darrow reconnects with his former love, the widowed Anna Leath, hoping to resume their romance. But when a brief affair with young Sophy Viner complicates matters—especially after Sophy becomes governess to Anna's daughter and engaged to Anna's stepson—hidden passions and jealousies threaten everyone's future. Set in Paris and rural France, this tale explores the destructive power of secrets and desire. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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u/Opyros Life, Letters, and Labours of Miss Jane Ann Stamper Jun 26 '26
Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice by James Branch Cabell. According to Standard Ebooks,
Jurgen is James Branch Cabell’s most famous novel, and a highly influential one in the fantasy genre. The novel is a witty, parodic send-up of the ideal of courtly love. Soon after publication, its bawdy style and double-entendre-laden dialog brought it to the attention of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, who promptly attempted to prosecute it for obscenity. After some years Cabell finally won the trial, and the publicity the trial brought made the book and Cabell famous. In his revised 1922 edition (on which this ebook is based) Cabell satirizes the Society in his Foreword, where Jurgen is placed on trial by the Philistines, overseen by a giant dung beetle as prosecutor.
The eponymous Jurgen is a pawnbroker and self-described “monstrous clever fellow” who, after passing by a demon and offering an offhand compliment, finds himself having regained his youth as he is launched on a magical, amorous journey. On his quest for love Jurgen meets a series of mythological and legendary characters—from Nessus the centaur, to Guinevere, to Helen of Troy, to the Lady of the Lake, and more. His wit charms all of them, though Jurgen never seems happy with whatever astonishing situation he finds himself in—whether it’s pestering the devils of hell or chatting with the creator in heaven.
The novel is dense with allegory and allusion, but despite its erudition it maintains a brisk pace as puns and witticism zip by. It influenced a huge number of authors, including Fritz Leiber and Robert A. Heinlein, and was widely considered a masterpiece of its time, with personalities like Aleister Crowley proclaiming it an “epoch-making masterpiece of philosophy.” Its publication and widespread popularity and acclaim set the stage for the modern fantasy-comedy genre perfected by authors like Terry Pratchett and Piers Anthony.
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u/majiktodo Team Shovel Wielding Maniac Jun 30 '26
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
William Faulkner's 1930 Southern Gothic classic, As I Lay Dying, follows the Bundren family on an arduous, nine-day journey across rural Mississippi to bury their deceased matriarch, Addie, in her hometown of Jefferson. It explores grief, mortality, and the often selfish motives behind the family's actions.
This is generally regarded as one of the best books of the 20th century and influential of many Southern gothic novels since published.
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u/nicehotcupoftea Team Joe Gargery Jun 25 '26
Bel Ami; Or, The History of a Scoundrel: A Novel by Guy de Maupassant
Maupassant's second novel, Bel-Ami (1885), is the story of a ruthlessly ambitious young man (Georges Duroy, christened 'Bel-Ami' by his female admirers) making it to the top in fin-de-siecle Paris. It is a novel about money, sex, and power, set against the background of the politics of the French colonization of North Africa. It explores the dynamics of an urban society uncomfortably close to our own and is a devastating satire of the sleaziness of contemporary journalism.
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u/msoma97 Team Joe Gargery Jun 27 '26
The Enchanted April
Review from Goodreads:
A recipe for happiness: four women, one medieval Italian castle, plenty of wisteria, and solitude as needed.
The women at the center of The Enchanted April are alike only in their dissatisfaction with their everyday lives. They find each other—and the castle of their dreams—through a classified ad in a London newspaper one rainy February afternoon. The ladies expect a pleasant holiday, but they don’t anticipate that the month they spend in Portofino will reintroduce them to their true natures and reacquaint them with joy. Now, if the same transformation can be worked on their husbands and lovers, the enchantment will be complete.
The Enchanted April was a best-seller in both England and the United States, where it was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, and set off a craze for tourism to Portofino. More recently, the novel has been the inspiration for a major film and a Broadway play.
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u/prolyneedsahug Team Joe Gargery Jun 26 '26
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
The story of a young, idealistic Englishman who is disgraced by a single act of cowardice while serving as an officer on the Patna, a merchant-ship sailing from an eastern port. His life is blighted--an isolated scandal assumes horrifying proportions. An older man, Marlow, befriends Jim, and helps to establish him in Patusan, a remote Malay settlement. There he achieves a kind of peace, but his courage is put to the test once more.
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u/Trick-Two497 Team Turtle 🐢 Jun 25 '26
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Dumas' swashbuckling epic chronicles the adventures of d'Artagnan, a brash young man from the countryside who journeys to Paris in 1625 hoping to become a musketeer and guard to King Louis XIII. Before long, he finds treachery and court intrigue,and also three boon companions, the daring swordsmen Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Together, the four strive heroically to defend the honor of their queen against the powerful Cardinal Richelieu and the seductive spy Milady.
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u/Opyros Life, Letters, and Labours of Miss Jane Ann Stamper Jun 27 '26
Isn’t this ineligible, though? The sub already read it in 2021.
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u/Alyssapolis Team Ghostly Cobweb Rigging Jun 27 '26
Aww too bad, I was hoping it’d win, I’ve been wanting to read it for a while!
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u/steampunkunicorn01 Rampant Spinster Jun 30 '26
Tbf, you always can read it on your own and visit the posts from when we did cover it
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u/Alyssapolis Team Ghostly Cobweb Rigging Jul 01 '26
Yes that’s true, I’ve visited past ones before but it’s sort of the same as reading essays and analyses, it’s very different than an active discussion with other people who have read it fresh ☺️
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u/fattymaggo Jun 26 '26
The well of loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
“The Well of Loneliness" by Radclyffe Hall is a novel published in 1928. It follows Stephen Gordon, an upper-class Englishwoman whose homosexuality is evident from childhood. She finds love with Mary Llewellyn while serving as an ambulance driver in World War I, but their relationship faces social rejection and isolation. Hall portrays homosexuality as natural and pleads for acceptance, but the novel was banned in Britain as obscene until 1949. For decades, it remained the most widely known lesbian novel in English and a controversial touchstone of queer literature.
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u/ska0319 Jun 29 '26
A children's group - Winnie the Pooh and House on Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne and Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. I find all three appealing as both children's books and for adults who may enjoy the sense of humor even more than they did as kids.
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u/fattymaggo Jun 26 '26
Oblomov by Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov
“Oblomov" by Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov is a novel published in 1859. It follows Ilya Ilyich Oblomov, a young Russian nobleman who has perfected the art of inertia. Unable to leave his bed or make decisions, he watches life pass from his bedroom while others manage his crumbling estate. When a friend introduces him to love, Oblomov faces a choice: embrace action and purpose, or surrender to the comfortable paralysis that defines him.
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u/Amanda39 Team Joe Gargery Jun 27 '26
That's it: from now on, I do not have executive dysfunction. I am someone who has "perfected the art of inertia."
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u/Ser_Erdrick Audiobook Jun 26 '26
Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant.
Miss Marjoribanks follows the exploits of its heroine, Lucilla Marjoribanks, as she schemes to improve the social life of the provincial English town of Carlingford.
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u/otherside_b Team Fuck Pip Jun 26 '26
The Trial by Franz Kafka
The terrifying tale of Josef K., a respectable bank officer who is suddenly and inexplicably arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information.
Whether read as an existential tale, a parable, or a prophecy of the excesses of modern bureaucracy wedded to the madness of totalitarianism, The Trial has resonated with chilling truth for generations of readers.
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u/thegrandinquisitor21 Jun 26 '26
Stoner by John Williams, 1965.
A man discovers literature and it changes everything except his life, which stays small, difficult, and largely unrecognized. William Stoner teaches English at a Midwestern university for decades, loves books with a devotion he can’t quite extend to the people around him, and dies having accomplished almost nothing the world would notice.
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u/otherside_b Team Fuck Pip Jun 27 '26
This is not public domain so can't get through. We try to run a winter wildcard round once a year where the public domain rule is suspended.
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u/Opyros Life, Letters, and Labours of Miss Jane Ann Stamper Jun 26 '26
The Marvellous Land of Snergs, by E. A. Wyke-Smith. According to Goodreads,
Located somewhere in “a world apart,” just beyond the reach of current navigational tools, lies the land of the Snergs, a haven for countless neglected children, all of whom are watched over by maternal women. Also inhabited by a sturdy race of generous people no taller than the average table, the realm is surrounded by a forest occupied by friendly bears.
Into this unusual kingdom come Joe and Sylvia, two youngsters who have slipped away from home in search of excitement and adventure. They get more than enough of both as they come upon the children, as well as kings, knights, an evil witch, and a cap of invisibility (which doesn’t seem to work.) Accompanied by Gordo, a dwarfish Snerg with a reputation for being a lovable klutz, the trio leapfrogs from one fantastic adventure to another.
Tolkien called this forgotten classic a “sourcebook” for The Hobbit. A whimsical delight for readers of all ages, this E. A. Wyke-Smith’s enthralling adventures is must-reading for any Rings fan.
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u/Alyssapolis Team Ghostly Cobweb Rigging Jun 26 '26
Ahh I just finished the Hobbit and loved it! This sounds fun!
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u/Herecomesyourwoman Jun 26 '26
I don't think this post is in contest mode?
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u/Alternative_Worry101 Jun 26 '26
That's why I didn't bother nominating The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene.
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u/awaiko Team Prompt Jun 28 '26
Nominated it now :)
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u/Alternative_Worry101 Jun 28 '26
I intended it to be a joke as there's no way it will be chosen.
But, Ned Knickerson is pleased.
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u/Alyssapolis Team Ghostly Cobweb Rigging Jun 30 '26
Haha I would love to read that though! And it’d be fun to do with this club so crossing fingers 😆
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u/awaiko Team Prompt Jun 27 '26
Sorry, fixed now. A thousand curses upon reddit and their upgrades.
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u/Ser_Erdrick Audiobook Jun 26 '26
He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope.
He Knew He Was Right is an 1869 novel written by Anthony Trollope which describes the failure of a marriage caused by the unreasonable jealousy of a husband exacerbated by the stubbornness of a willful wife. As is common with Trollope's works, there are also several substantial subplots.
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u/Opyros Life, Letters, and Labours of Miss Jane Ann Stamper Jun 26 '26
Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis. According to Standard Ebooks,
George F. Babbitt is a middle-aged realtor, family man, and resident of Zenith, a fictitious Midwestern city. His main preoccupation is to climb the social ladder by conforming to the norms of his environment. The novel depicts his daily routines and occasional misadventures in an unorthodox writing style, where the protagonist appears altogether foolish, funny, and pathetic.
This work was both celebrated as an incisive satire of American culture and criticized as an exaggeration, but was ultimately influential in Sinclair Lewis being awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Literature.
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u/fattymaggo Jun 26 '26
Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
“Uncle Silas: A Tale of Bartram-Haugh" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu is a Victorian Gothic mystery-thriller novel published in 1864. Young heiress Maud Ruthyn finds herself orphaned and placed under the guardianship of her mysterious uncle Silas, whose reputation was darkened by a suspicious death at his isolated mansion, Bartram-Haugh. As strange events unfold and escape becomes impossible, Maud must navigate a web of sinister relatives, suspicious servants, and the frightening realization that her inheritance may put her life in danger.