Nearly every man, woman and child have heard of the 3 Musketeers (from the many cartoons and movies made). It is far superior pick than Monte Cristo which most don't know what it is about.

I think that my picks will not truly shine unless you compare them to the other books in each category. So far, I think I have the best poem (certainly top 2 or 3), the best sports book, and one of the top 3 series with Narnia. The only potential miss that I could see getting dinged for with the voters is Catch-22, but out of what has been selected for fiction, I'll put it up against any of them.

It's after 6 EST. Where's DT with his pick? :p

I've never payed very close attention to other drafts. How does one become a voter at the end? Is it just open to all board members?

Just vote.

Maple Leafs is just blowing me away with every pick. How Shakespeare can't be considered a Home Run is a mystery to me.

My top four:

1. Maple Leafs
2. larrymcg421
3. Warhammer
4. cartman

I have just about everyone clustered right behind these guys. Second place is completely wide open at this point, methinks, but Maple Leafs has a clear lead at the moment.

I agree, I will grade the picks on a curve. That's what I was saying about the Series in regards to NoMyths. Didn't really think about that at first but it makes the most sense.

I think that the 3 Musketeers is [Izulde's] 2nd best pick so far, behind The Art of War. I also think that the Musketeers Saga is a far superior choice to the Count of Monte Cristo, regardless of which is actually a superior piece of literature.

And that's the key. It's not about superior literature for most of the categories and I think Izulde accidently stumbled into a nice pick there. Ball Four is not good literature, but man, if you are over the age of 30, you have heard of it (if that's a good example).

Looking back at my remarks, I think I meant Shakespeare in Fiction didn't seem like a homerun to me. As in, compared to other possible fiction choices - now as poetry... perhaps better. If only there was a drama section - Waiting for Godot, Death of a Salesman, Glass Menagerie... I'm pretty far off topic now. Meh.

Exactly. Ball Four isn't great literature, but it had a HUGE impact in the way sports are covered, not only from a literary point of view, but a journalistic one as well. So even greater works of literature that came after still owe a huge debt of gratitude to that book.

Uh Oh, we have a "that guy" now.

Yeah, I wish there was a wild card, miscellaneous, or some other catch all category.

I hate everyone that doesn't respect my picks :-P

I just need to check that my pick hasn't been taken by someone...one sec

I liked your 3rd round pick and thought it was very solid.

Get on with it!

chief rum is a bastard and took my pick for poetry. Re-assessing

clarification - single poem, or book of poetry?

Single poem.

+1

This would have been a homerun for short stories as well. Just about everyone have heard of Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Cinderella or Hansel/Gretel.

screwit i'm picking. Everyone has me losing anyways. I'm picking with it being a book of poetry, versus the single-poem approach some others have seemed to use. So reward/penalize me for that

1. Fiction
2. Single Short Story
3. Poem: 5.5 Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman
4. Fantasy/Science Fiction: 4.6 FARENHEIT 451, RAY BRADBURY
5. Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially) 1.5 The Foundation Series, Isaac Asimov
6. Sport Related
7. Children's 3.5 Children's and Household Tales (1857 - 211 stories) by The Brothers Grimm
8. Non-Fiction
9. Biography/Autobiography 2.6 Autobiographical Notes, Albert Einstein
10. History

My top 3 looks like this so far:

1) Maple Leafs
2) Cartman
3) larrymcg421

Maple Leafs has a pretty decent lead, but it's still early and a few of the catagories are pretty vacant (which is helping ML a lot at this point). Once those catagories start filling up, he may slide down my leaderboard. I still have it pretty close among everyone else.

You guys are heavily penalizing Axxon for his Non-Fiction (King) pick?

gotta show some love for Whitman. America's first real great homegrown poet.

I really don't get how some people are going with their votes right now. Taking myself out of the equation, I still don't understand how people are voting.

You do realize you could've stayed with a single poem as the category dictates and still done well with Whitman, yes?

You'd think the word "Poem" would be self-explanatory, but I guess not. :D

does the category dictate single poem??

in that case it'd be When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, by Walt Whitman

if you want to make that my official pick (the poem) that's fine. I just went with the whole work because there's a lot more in there that's solid too. idk

O.O

Not, perhaps, the most solid strike on a second attempt.

Whitman considered Leaves of Grass one coherent work, FWIW. Also, this would've been my poetry pick. DT shoots up my chart with his last two picks (as in, he might now be ON my chart :p )

If NoMyths takes my pick, I'm gonna be ticked... This pick will seal up the last of my questionable categories.

"

but at least it matches the category now. :D

so sayeth you...and you would have picked which?

...but if I had to pick one section of the work, it would've been his moving elegy of Lincoln. :)

that's what I was always taught too.

If either of you take either of the picks I have planned for 5.9 and 6.2 I'm gonna be annoyed. :D

DT: I'd have taken "Song of Myself".

had other stuff I was considering, but when it came down to it I just said "go with whitman" idk why exactly

Ditto, if I was picking Walt Whitman.

There is a chance I might, since both of my picks are in categories I don't think you've picked anything from.

but "Lilacs" is a much more...known poem. And idk...I'm still sticking with the "whole book as one coherent work" theory. Same thing with Brothers Grimm. I provide the best value-for-money. Anyone else can pick Frost or Coleridge or whatever, but those guys can't put together an entire book the caliber of "Leaves of Grass."

Lilacs a much more-known poem?

:eek:

No way.

Hoisting you by your own petard: and Leaves of Grass isn't an entire book on the caliber of The Divine Comedy. ;)

Man I'm having a tough time choosing between two options.

NoMyths is up, right?

among lay-people...sure. I'd venture to say so. Or maybe that's just my circle of people (the history-folk)...idk. Whatever. 95% of those who are offering their judgements have me nowhere near winning, so i'm not too concerned about the relative merits of one Whitman poem vs. another

true. That can stand up to this. As can shakespeare.

What is a petard and why would someone be hoisted by it?

Yep.

I am ranking each pick by its catagory. Maple Leafs has two picks that are in catagories that have hardly been picked for yet (Children's and History) so his score for me is a bit inflated. I'm also curving down Poem and Sports, the two I have you at #1 for, since I know shit about those subjects. I suspect you'll do better on my board once you start picking for the other catagories.

That makes sense.

hmmm, I wonder which category i'm going to next...

Fiction
Single Short Story
Poem: 2.5 - The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri
Fantasy/Science Fiction
Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially) 3.6 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Sport Related: 4.5 - Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger
Children's: 5.6 - Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
Non-Fiction: 1.6 - On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin
Biography/Autobiography
History

Leaving behind the toddlers, we come to the meat of what children's literature is really about: bloody swordfights and pirate treasure, adventure on the high seas and peg-legged drunks all entwined in a coming-of-age tale that has dramatically shaped our cultural image of pirates--and adventure stories period. Plus we now get annual Talk Like a Pirate Day. Yaaar.

I think i'm going in one of two directions with the next pick, based on how the intervening picks shake out.

dola

my next pick I obviously meant

Well, be sure to get your list ready in advance. ;)

To add on to what sab said, here are my winners by categories (so far):

1. Fiction Axxon (my one bias pick)
2. Single Short Story Chief Rum
3. Poem cartman
4. Fantasy/Science Fiction cartman
5. Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially) Axxon
6. Sport Related Warhammer
7. Children's Maple Leafs
8. Non-Fiction Izulde
9. Biography/Autobiography
10. History Chief Rum

oh I have 2 works in mind, with a backup in one category, and multiple backups in the other. Not going to submit them or anything...it'd be too complicated to go "if x number of people choose this category then go with this pick, otherwise go with this other pick"

:p

doesn't hold much weight till all the picks are done. there's still plenty of quality literature out there available.

I'll throw out my catagory leaders

Fiction: Maple Leafs (out of 6)
Short Story: cartman (out of 3)
Poem: Warhammer (out of 8)
Fantasy/Scifi: st.cronin (out of 5)
Series: cartman (out of 7)
Sports: Warhammer (out of 3)
Children's: Maple Leafs (out of 4)
Non-Fiction: Izulde (out of 3)
Bio/Autobio: larrymgc421 (out of 4)
History: Maple Leafs (out of a whole bunch of picks in this my favorite catagory!!! I mean 2)

Fiction - 3.7 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Single Short Story - 5.7 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Poem - 1.7 The Iliad - Homer
Fantasy/Science Fiction -
Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially) - 2.4 The Cronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Sport Related 4.4 Ball Four by Jim Bouton
Children's
Non-Fiction
Biography/Autobiography
History

My fifth round pick is the 1960 Hugo award winner for best short story. It was made into the movie Charly and was later expanded by the author into a novel that ran 324 pages and won the Hugo for best novel in 1968. However, I am sticking with the original 60 page short story that many of you read in high school.

For clarification purposes, the short story was originally published in a magazine, however it was published as part of a compilation of short stories: Flowers for Algernon and Other Stories 1ST PB Edition.

http://www.amazon.com/Flowers-Algern...984652&sr=1-28

I'd completely forgotten that Flowers for Algernon was a short story first. I've never read the SS version FWIW, only the full-length novel, which is an awesome read.

Apparently the novel had some puberty flashbacks and a love story with his teacher which were not in the original. Most high schools use the short story version because there are fewer morally ambiguous situations supposedly.

I came at this from the opposite side, I had read the short story, but never read the novel. That is why I had the disclaimer down there because I had to dig for a version of the original that was not a magazine.

This might not be my best pick, but it is certainly solid for the category and could have been used in sci-fi as well. However, this is my most important pick because it fills in the one category that my originals authors were already picked and I needed a solid pick here.

Now we just need Larry to get on before I can make my pick.

Fiction: Izulde (out of 6)
Short Story: cartman (out of 3)
Poem: DaddyTorgo (close call here between him, Izulde and Warhammer) (out of 8)
Fantasy/Scifi: Axxon(out of 5)
Series: Axxon (out of 7)
Sports: NoMyths (out of 3)
Children's: DaddyTorgo (NoMyths at 1B) (out of 4)
Non-Fiction: larrymcg421 (out of 3)
Bio/Autobio: larrymgc421 (out of 4)
History: --abstain-- (Anne Frank shoulda been in Bio!) (out of 2)

This is basically exactly how I'm (trying) to rate things. However, I'm not curving any categories down.

NoMyths hits another solid pick, but I think he's still a solid 3rd in the category behind Brothers Grimm and Dr. Seuss.

Since it's the hip thing to do lately..

1. Fiction Maple Leafs
2. Single Short Story cartman
3. Poem Warhammer
4. Fantasy/Science Fiction Maple Leafs (very unsure of this pick though...definitely a toss-up in my mind)
5. Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially) cartman
6. Sport Related Warhammer
7. Children's Maple Leafs or DaddyTorgo (I suck, I can't decide)
8. Non-Fiction Izulde
9. Biography/Autobiography Chief Rum (with larry a very close second...I really like the pick of Mein Kampf)
10. History Chief Rum

Oh, and I also like the Flowers for Algernon pick. Not glitzy, but a good, solid pick.

Eh, I wouldn't worry about it. Though there has been a ton more "this is how I would vote right now" going on during this draft than in any other I've read, I think most of us are simply amusing ourselves commenting on selections so far for fun, and probably some people who never read this thread will vote, and many of us "scoring at home" will start over from scratch when the voting starts.

And I'm sure that every one of us that have ranked selections so far have our own totally separate ways of doing things. Personally, I don't have a list that I expect to see that I'm judging based on, I just look at each category once its full and go from there and see what/who jumps out at me.

Hope Larry or LS, if he has Larry's list, manages to get here soonish. I want to grab supper while I can still use my meal plan.

Eh, I'm going to go eat. I'll be back in an hour, two at the very latest. LS, I know you have my list, but I prefer to announce my own picks and I should be back shortly after larry picks, if not before that, so is that okay?

*goes to eat*

I'm certainly thankful for your support. :)

Yes, yes. I'm pretty much just keeping myself amused while I'm home sick from substitute teaching and cleaning my room. I'm almost certainly going to wipe the slate clean when we have full closure of the draft, and those wonderful "sleeper" picks aren't going to be as amazing looking once the draft is done and we can compare each selection to its fellows in each category. Until we have 10 selections for any one category, I don't think it's really possible to give a fair judgement on any of the picks, really.

Well, it is like mid-season college football polls.

I don't know, I think there's a pretty fair difference between a biography (written after the fact, with reflection) and a diary. Not sure I would have been punished for calling it a biography, but I don't think it's a clean fit.

Now if you mean if should have been there strategically, then yes, it looks like you might be right.

i'm really intending to bring it hard with my last few categories - I foresee myself taking a huge lead by the end

My remaining picks will be categorized as "Slap yo' mamma" picks. Meaning once you see the brilliance of them, you will slap yo' mamma and scream "now why didn't I think of that!"

:D

ditto

Yes, definitely. For me it is probably the worst pick of the draft so far.

I'll do my category leaders tomorrow morning, but wanted to say:

I have 3 picks that have not been selected yet that will give major bonus points for someone if they pick them:

One in Poetry
One in Children's
One in Short Story

Not that I'm the end all be all, just sharing ;).

that or Cronins biography pick

There's one fiction pick I'm really hoping to see go, and could possibly be my vote swinger. I wonder if it'll even get picked though.

It's one of the most read books in the history of the world, but not really popular in the West so I'm not sure how well it'd go over as a pick. It'll get points from me though.

Man, I'd actually like to see a draft like this done for every one of these categories broken down further. It's been enjoyable to read.

The category is biography or autobiography.

The Diary counts as autobiography, which is where I'd personally have put it.

no more hintizing or you might blow my pick (don't really think so though)

I know exactly what book you are refering to. There are two popular books that would blow everything out of the water but actually don't know what categories they would go in.

I still have 2 picks for Poem (with 2 left to pick), one the will be ranked highly and the other maybe not so highly, one Children's that will probably be 1 or 2 on my board, and 1 Fantasy/Sci-Fi (or Fiction...depending on who gets it I suppose) that will be ranked highly if someone takes it.

Does it, though? Isn't an autobiography typically considered to be something that's written after-the-fact, with reflection and context?

That's what I was thinking. It's iffy, IMO. I won't penalize for the pick not being in Autobiography, but I can see why someone would put diaries and journals in Autobiography.

I would argue that an autobiography is any work written by the author about his/her life. Whether it's written as events are occurring or written after the fact, as long as the condition of the author writing about his/her own life is met, it counts as an autobiography in my opinion.

I'm not quibbling with it in History, by the way. I just think it fits better as an Autobio.

Gotta chime in to say that Atlas Shrugged, added to his other picks, has cartman with a slight edge over Maple Leafs for the top spot on my board.

Agree though that there are at least seven participants in striking distance of the win, though. Love this thread.

I agree with Izulde. The Diary (or any diaries/journals) is considered a historical document only in hindsight. The author(s) wrote without the perspective of history.

Yay!

There is one children's, two short stories, two histories and one sports (almost certainly not to be picked) that would really sway my vote at this point. If the Children's isn't picked, I may cry.

If you tell me what to pick, I'll take it!

I have 1 children's, 3 histories, 1 sports and 1 non-fiction(?) that each would win their categories.

It kinda sucks sitting here for hours for your turn to come up when you've got your next few moves laid out.

It's been a while since the last pick. Is larrymcg421 currently on the clock?

He's been on the clock for a little over 2 hours, I think, yeah.

Sorry guys, I was tied up longer than expected tonight. I think I have a list for larrymcg, let me check.