Nope, I'm fresh out of larrmcg421 list data.

Also, there is a reason I named the category "Poem" and not "Poetry", fwiw.

dola: And I have no clue how you guys are judging this thing with some of the rankings you have.

Ugh!

Boo, we want action. Hot, literary action!

Yeah, this is seriously irritating.

What makes it even worse is that Tuesdays are my absolute worst days, with 4 classes, 3 of which are right close to each other and the 4th of which is a 3 hour night class.

So I'm going to have to create a gigantic-arsed board for tomorrow and send it in to LS.

Course, with this cold, it'll probably be several more hours before I can finallly sleep.

Pffft, skip class. Seriously, it's February. You won't miss anything important.

:p

First class = voting on which creative story start to use. You have to be there to win and if yours win, you don't have to do anything else for that project for the rest of the class. I want to win.

Second class = already skipped once this month and the prof's a real asshat about attendance.

Third class = Stats, which there's no way I'm missing, not only because I make it a rule never to fall behind in a math class, but also because if there's a group assignment and I'm not there, I get a zero on that assignment.

Fourth class = A 3 hour class, which shouldn't be skipped anyway as it only meets once a week. But it's even more important because I'm expecting my critical writing samples back with commentary and suggestions from the prof and I need to pick a sample, do the editing on it and get it mailed to SJSU and Arkansas so they're there by Saturday.

So not really an option. :)

dola,

I find it pretty ridiculous that we have to wait hours on end for people to make their picks. That's the whole point of sending LS lists to pick from in case you're not around to make your selection. For those who have done that, I thank you for having the courtesy to do so.

It's particularly aggravating when you consider that one of the pre-requisites of being in this draft was that you would be logging into FOFC and checking frequently throughout the day.

You do realize, Iz, that is by far the fastest draft contest we've had?

I dispute your logic, sir.



:cool:

Nope, didn't realize that. Like I said, first draft I've participated in, though I think I've voted in a few drafts.

Sorry about the grumpiness, btw. Got about 3 and 1/2 hours of sleep last night and it isn't going to come easy tonight either.

Hmm. I don't think that more than one of those histories will be chosen so any of them would win. Or something like that.

As far as I remember, every draft pretty much comes to a stall around 9 or 10 at night, a pick or two is made over night sometimes, and then it picks back up in the morning, and generally go at a pace of about 1 or 2 rounds a day.

yeah...this draft is way fast. Stop complaining. I for one won't make pick-lists as I feel it removes my ability to think on the fly and react to runs on other picks, or things like that. plus it inhibits my creativity.

The only reason I would like it sped up a bit is to bear witness to all of the "Slap yo' momma" moments.

:D

*shrugs* I've changed my list multiple times in a day because of those very circumstances and sent it in, so that argument really doesn't fly, man.

But whatev.

Sorry guys, I honestly didn't expect it to get back to me by now...

Coming up with one in a second

whatev. Imma not continue down this line of things with you as you haven't slept much and i'm not about pickin fights.

1. Fiction - 1.8 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
2. Single Short Story - 5.8 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving
3. Poem - 2.3 Paradise Lost, John Milton
4. Fantasy/Science Fiction
5. Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially)
6. Sport Related
7. Children's
8. Non-Fiction - 4.3 Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx
9. Biography/Autobiography - 3.8 Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler
10. History

Care to respond to the rumors that you have a secret tape of a sleep deprived Izulde debating with himself about his picks?

:D

1. Fiction - 2.2 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
2. Single Short Story
3. Poem - 1.9 "The Waste Land" - T.S. Eliot
4. Fantasy/Science Fiction
5. Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially) - 3.9 The Musketeers Saga - The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere, The Man in the Iron Mask - Alexandre Dumas
6. Sport Related - 5.9 North Dallas Forty - Peter Gent
7. Children's
8. Non-Fiction - 4.2 The Art of War - Sun Tzu
9. Biography/Autobiography
10. History

One of the grittiest, hardest-hitting novels ever written about sports and its appearance shed new light and controversy on the NFL culture in a way that no work did previously.

Oh and the movie it spawned was pretty decent as well :D

this is very easily changed as the History picks have been underwhelming:
right now
1 Maple Leaf
t2 Izulde, Chief Rum, st cronin
5 cartman

bitch. This was either #1 or #2 on my short-story list. Guess I'm now going for the other one that I was debating. Nice pick.

Okay I've got tomorrow's board in.

I"m going to be very happy if I get at least one of my top two selections, which I should hopefully get unless Axxon somehow reads my mind and picks them both.

If I get one of my top two and the other is still sitting around for my next pick after that, I'll be thrilled beyond all belief.

I strongle considered Art of War at my last turn around picks. Good choice.

hmm i'm re-thinking...it's tough...re-thinking moving my fiction choice and picking up something else...

Thanks :)

I thought I was tired enough to sleep finally, but such is not the case... I keep tossing and turning, debating over my top two choices for my next pick. My hunch is that neither one of them is going to survive the sequence of picks after that, so I it's a real rough decision to make.

Damn. That was on my list that Is ent to lordscarlet this morning (although it probably wasn't going to get picked with that list). Very good choice.

Okay, mental anguish and debate's over. I'm hoping my first choice comes through.

So don't take it, Axxon! :D

Interesting. lordscarlet and I had a discussion about this very work and how it fits in the children's category. I asked him how he intended for the children's section to be defined, and did it include Young Adult level. Treasure Island was one of my two specific examples. His response was that he intended for this category to be younger than Young Adult, 12 or younger (I think, or thereabouts). He didn't out and out say Treasure Island wasn't a good fit, but that's more or less what he suggested. So I went with Charlotte's Web.

Atheist! :D

I thought Charlotte's Web was an excellent pick until Maple Leafs came behind w/ Dr Seuss a few picks later, I still will be giving Charlotte's Web some love for sure in the voting but I think Dr Seuss or perhaps a couple others that I have in mind might have been better to take w/ the first few selections in that category, the young adult debate notwithstanding.

okay. I sent myself my list to my gmail account. Now I just have to decide between the 3 choices I gave myself in each category

I actually thought a good long while about Dr. Seuss, but decided I wanted to go with a more complete novel type of work. Not that that diminishes the quality of Dr. Seuss, though. I probably would have gone with Green Eggs and Ham.

I sent in a list. It has seven titles. I am guessing two of them will survive to my picks. Otherwise, won't be home until about 7 p.m. PDT.

The Treasure Island pick is part of what is hurting NM's for me fwiw.

In this draft there are two things that I take as relatively big negatives:

Poor choices for an author when others are available
Bad fits to the category

That's just me, others may (and obviously are) looking at it differently though. For me fitting into these categories is part of the challenge - and Treasure's Island, in my mind, is "Young Adult" not "Children's".

FYI - LS has something to take care of this morning, so he forwarded me the lists he had - Chief Rum and Izulde.

So, until he posts you may want to PM any lists to both me and him as I'll be his proxy until he returns.

Izulde lost any chance of getting my vote with his constant bitching.

Change your tampon already. :p

I'm not sure I believe that my TI pick is what has me low on your board, considering you've had me low since before I made it. Fwiw. :)

Treasure Island was originally serialized in a children's magazine, and has always been intended as a book for children. The concept of "young adults" didn't come around until a later era.

Eh, I was having a bad night of it and I did apologize for being asshatish.

It's your choice though, of course. :)

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was my other choice for Short Story. However, I know some people that only know that story as the Headless Horseman rather than the actual name so I went with Flowers for Algernon.

You say that like it's a bad thing. ;)

You are very stuck on "Intent" and literary merit and such vs. reality and what the voters will see.

*shurg*

Not sure why you think I had you low before that pick - I like all of the rest of your picks, the only thing I stated before that last top 3 was that larry was my early favorite.

Whew -- glad you like the other picks. :)

You're right in that I don't feel all of the voters are just going to vote on title popularity. With this draft, I do feel that people who are interested in following a thread about books will weigh more they might with songs or what have you. One of the reasons I provide surrounding explanation for my picks is to fill in some of the gaps those voters might have -- for example, I chose Treasure Island in part to fill the gap in children's literature that wasn't being filled; if you want to vote for the toddlers, Dr. Seuss is tough to beat, whereas by staking out non-toddlers with a clear top children's lit choice gives voters more choices than just choosing the best from a bunch of similar books.

I'm just not a panderer, at the end of the day. I'm encouraged that several of us in the draft are sticking to our guns about wanting "good" literature, and not merely "popular" literature (even though all of my choices to this point have been immensely popular outside of the confines of this thread). My sense is that when our entire boards are assembled you'll see that several of us have worked to have a range of material and tones.

Just a comment to the commentors (who are adding a ton to the fun factor, by the way.)

Those who are saying "There's a book I personally like that I don't think will even be picked at all, but if it is I'll give my vote to whoever picks it"... um, that's kind of an interesting method for determining a vote.

i think i know what one of those books is, but now i'm personally torn between selecting it and selecting something that i would rather pick personally

Now may also be a good time for me to mention that I'm going out of town tomorrow...will have intermittent access to the web, so I'll try to get a list in order.

If it helps to sway any voters, I'll be gone because Kansas State University is bringing me in for two days to give a reading from my book, meet in one-on-one workshops with their advanced writing students and sit in on a class about creativity. I'll try to find some time to post my picks when I'm able. :)

I may have mentioned this before, but I tend to build my draft around personal preferences, with an eye towards as diverse a range as possible (as NoMyths suggested). Like I think I said earlier, I want my final list to be one I'd personally want to read.

And I'd say thus far I've accomplished at least that much. :)

But on the other hand, your strategy can be entirely different and that's what's cool about these drafts. Everybody has different priorities of selection methods.

Have fun! :D

*shurg*.. I think coming into these drafts with a music snob/movie snob/lit snob/whatever snob attitude is a losing strategy, but whatever floats your boat.


FWIW I backed off of my "you win!" comment to just bonus points ;).

You misunderstand me -- I'm not arguing for snobbishness at all. I'm just pointing out that I think voters will take into account more than just whether or not they've heard of a book with this draft. I don't feel I'm giving them too much credit. The nice thing about this draft is it shows the range of human experience that has been articulated over centuries. There are a number of strategies that could lead to winning, and I personally am more interested in the entire slate from each competitor than I am waiting for the one 'gotcha' title that's supposed to carry the day. I also think that some of us are trying to stay within the spirit of the rules more than others -- it is, after all, a book draft, not an author draft. Yes, there will be voters that just vote because of the name of the author, but I'd still rather try to stay within the spirit of things.

i'm insulted that you didn't select yourself for poetry BTW.

congrats, that sounds like a real accomplishment

Now that would've been hilarious. :D

hehe...eh, I'd have just had to weep when the voters chose Coleridge's dusty old warhorse of a (not-very-good) poem over my work. ;)

i agree. not a coleridge fan. although there were a couple other poems i could have chosen last night that after i posted my pick and went upstairs for dinner i literally...smacked myself on the forehead and went "DOH!" and then had to explain to everyone why I was beating myself up. Obviously can't discuss them now.

Dashing off to my first class.

I'll check in after it and I've sent the writeup I'd like used for my first choice if it's not taken to wade and LS so they can post it if Axxon picks and one or the other is here and I"m not. :)

You bastard. :D

Seriously, just catching up ( via dial up this weekend alas ) and this has been a brutal round to my draft board. Good drafting guys.

This one though, I so thought I'd get it as my short story. Great pick.

So, after reading through the overnight postings, am I correct in assuming that Axxon is now on the clock?

that was freaky. :)

That was the single category that scared the daylights out of me. I kept seeing authors that I was going to use there get picked and I started going back through stories in my mind. I remembered that book and the effect it had on me in high school (one of the few books in high school besides LotR that had any effect on me). I figured that would be a perfect short story and would open up some other categories for authors that I was considering for a short story.

+1

Fiction
Single Short Story
Poem
Fantasy/Science Fiction -
Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially)
Sport Related 5,10 - The Miracle of Castel di Sangro - Joe McGinniss
Children's
Non-Fiction
Biography/Autobiography
History

Yes, a soccer book and pretty much the best written sports novel I've ever read. I was hoping this one would drop but seeing how good you guys are and knowing this is a tough category, it's time.

I am going off the unupdated draft board and the read of the last few pages. If it has been taken and I missed it I do apologize but it's too slow to go back and triple check. :)

I would have waited on this one until your 6th round pick.

fyi - i'm here to make Izulde's pick after Axxon makes his 2nd pick.

Fiction
Single Short Story 6,1 - The Lottery - Shirley Jackson
Poem
Fantasy/Science Fiction -
Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially)
Sport Related
Children's
Non-Fiction
Biography/Autobiography
History

Not much to be said here. Now that Algie is down this is the best choice available. I do have a couple of "oh, those were short stories" that are popular but when all is said and done, this is a classic, it's creepy, its well written and oh yeah, it's famous. :)

Just to be clear, if by "you win" you mean me, specifically, then your strategy is perfectly valid.

Good story pick, Axxon.

Depends, are you going to pick _____________?

;)

Hehe, so would I actually and I had intended to but I got caught up trying to remember who had written it so when I remembered, I just put it down.

I hope this won't hurt me too much in the eyes of the voters. ;)

IZULDE BY PROXY

1. Fiction - 2.2 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
2. Single Short Story
3. Poem - 1.9 "The Waste Land" - T.S. Eliot
4. Fantasy/Science Fiction
5. Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially) - 3.9 The Musketeers Saga - The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere, The Man in the Iron Mask - Alexandre Dumas
6. Sport Related - 5.9 North Dallas Forty - Peter Gent
7. Children's
8. Non-Fiction - 4.2 The Art of War - Sun Tzu
9. Biography/Autobiography - 6.2. Night - Elie Wiesel
10. History

A small book, but the kind of book that, once you read it, you'll remember it for the rest of your life. Elie Wiesel's autobiographical account of his experiences during the Holocaust, it's moving and heartbreaking like few other texts in the world are. A woman who hated to read told me once, "You know, I don't like reading... but I cried when I read this book. It's so beautiful and so sad... I loved it."

Night will always stand as a reminder of how deeply a genocidal campaign like the Holocaust affects not only the people of the time and place in which it occurs, but generations afterwards.

nice pick by Izulde

and nice by Axxon on "Lottery." I was actually considering it

Damned fine pick by Izulde. My favorite in the category by far. So far, anyway...still have a pick there to make myself. ;)

can we get to my pick please? lol...although i'm still debating between 2-3 different choices in one category and 2-3 in another

I concur. Gotta say, I tried that strategy. Didn't work out too well. ;)

What's worse is that was actually a good category for me too since I read a lot of nonfiction. Ah well. After getting into it, I'd say that this approach is a really fun way to play, but it's gotta be harder for the voters who may not have read a lot of the choices we're picking.

FWIW - if I haven't heard of a piece I wiki it and try to establish some level of where it should fit. But, I have to be honest, if I have to wiki it that hurts it no matter how good/influential it may have been.

I know who I want in this category and it won't necessarily be the best for voting but it's a great read. If someone else takes it, I'll be amazed and actually pleased at the same time because...

I read a lot of biographies and I can't possibly run out of choices that are good reads.

It'd almost have to. How can you rank something you haven't read higher than something that you have read and enjoyed? You'd be voting someone elses opinions. Now, if it's up against something you dislike or even another you haven't heard of, then the wiki would be more important.

Exactly. When comparing two "unkowns" i'm going to use that as a relatively strong criteria.

hmm.. larry was here earlier, i'm surprised he didn't pick.

I believe going by the list that larrymcg421 is on the clock.

lol, that's twice now this morning I've had a simul-post

:)

OUT OF MY HEAD! ;)

One clarification. Does childrens books include young adult and teenage works or simply pre teen fare?

I think we've established that it's... "voter's discretion"...

Me, as a voter, I see "Children's" and I think of pre-teen fare. NM's and others disagree. I'll weight it in my voting, but see no reason to get strict in the rules on it.

And if we did now, it really hoses NM's earlier Treasure Island pick.

I was here, but the previous pick hadn't been made before I got pulled away.

Making my pick now...

Ok, that gives me some options then. I had one choice for childrens but was wondering if I had more latitude than I was using.

I'm back at work, but I'm leaving for lunch. ;) Hopefully I don't slow things down. I will update the two master lists when I get back.

1. Fiction - 1.8 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
2. Single Short Story - 5.8 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving
3. Poem - 2.3 Paradise Lost, John Milton
4. Fantasy/Science Fiction
5. Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially)
6. Sport Related
7. Children's - 6.3 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L Frank Baum
8. Non-Fiction - 4.3 Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx
9. Biography/Autobiography - 3.8 Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler
10. History

Good pick!

Interesting. I've never read Oz, but my impression was that the book was not really children's fair?

In the sixth round of this draft, I am continuing to shore up weak categories. Rather than just take a biography or autobiography of a famous person, I am going with a Pulitzer Prize winner. In the 1950s, John F. Kennedy was a senator from Massachusettes, but this work helped catapult him into fame and stardom (EDIT: and eventually the Presidency). That work was the 1957 Pulitzer Prize winning Profiles in Courage.

Here is a synopsis of his work: http://www.senate.gov/reference/refe...In_Courage.htm

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 - 6.4 Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy
History

some nice picks this morning!

I'd considered Oz, but didn't feel it resonated as widely as some other choices. Plus growing up in Kansas = Oz burnout. ;)

Good Kennedy pick, Warhammer -- definitely was a book that brought him some acclaim. Even if he didn't really write it. :)

Interesting categorization. I would have had it in history, as the passages are only about a rather specific event in those person's lives, and not a recounting of major portions of their lives as most biographies cover.

Agreed. But it won the Pulitzer Prize in the biography/autobiography category. If it is good enough for the Pulitzer Prize, its good enough for me.

It has some underlying themes that scholars believe match the political undercurrents of the day, but it is definitely a children's book.

From Wiki....

My turn, yes?

Yeppers