The OF Blog: New poll, plus a tongue-in-cheek challenge to vote in another's poll

Monday, April 20, 2009

New poll, plus a tongue-in-cheek challenge to vote in another's poll

Got a bit delayed in posting a new reading poll this weekend, although I have already reviewed the winner, Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series. Have six new choices for the seventh round of this and I made a more conscious effort to include a variety of styles here. Read all but two, but each of these is more than deserving of a review, I believe; I just don't have the time to write 10 reviews a week, alas!

Anyways, that's it for my poll. Now here's a challenge for those of you who read my blog but who aren't regulars over at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. Pat is currently running a similar poll, except his choices are a bit different than mine (only natural, since we like different things, with a few things in common). One of his choices is a personal favorite of mine (and a book I'll review this summer), Roberto Bolaño's 2666. As a way of skewing everything and raising hell, I think it'd be fun if people here would vote for Bolaño's book just to see what sort of review comes up.* I mean, who really wants to read a review of the John Scalzi-edited Metatropolis? Who gives a flying flip about James Enge's Blood of Ambrose? Who could be bothered to vote for Max Frei's The Stranger? And would the world be less if there weren't a review of Chris Wooding's Retribution Falls?

So why not wreak havoc and have some fun and vote for the Bolaño? Why not see what happens when a thousand or so page novel is reviewed that is really five distinct works in one? Why not strike a blow for Latin American literature on another's blog? So why not vote first here on my blog and then go and vote on Pat's? Win-win, baby!




*The above is facetious, as there are a few on that list I'd like to read sometime. I just want to see if we can have fun and get more talk of a positive, book-centered nature going on both this blog and on Pat's. There is no rivalry here, regardless of what a few might think. Besides, it's not like I'm as "stuffy" or "formal" as I've seen a few say in passing elsewhere. They'll get theirs as soon as they run their own damn polls!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Way ahead of you, as soon as I saw 2666 listed earlier this evening I started messaging friends to get them to vote for it.

Larry Nolen said...

Sweet! :D It'll be interesting to see what the final results are.

Terry Weyna said...

I want to read 2666 this summer myself -- so I voted for it on Pat's list, too. I think it would be way cool to see what he has to say about it!

Larry Nolen said...

All joking about "invading" his blog aside, I too am curious to see what he'd make of it, since it's a bit different than the usual fare over there.

Don't know if you read my comment over there, but I'm planning a re-read of it for May/June and I'll be writing a review...first in Spanish, then in English, as I really need to practice my writing in Spanish, since it's been a while.

Anonymous said...

Your passive-aggressive bullshit is so transparent despite what you say to the contrary.

Larry said...

Ironic, considering it was an anonymous comment. Personally, I like to have fun and raise hell on occasion - what about you? But thanks for visiting this blog and bolstering my oh-so-important page views. Much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Bolaño and Wooding are tied as of this posting, thanks to my vote.

Mary C

Larry Nolen said...

Sweet! :D Still tied at 8:11 PM CDT here. I wonder if this is spiking his traffic, not that he needs any help in reaching 2K visits a day, I'm sure :P

 
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