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: 6.5 - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass
History

Having stolen himself from slavery, Frederick Douglass became one of the most important men in America. His book opened the country's eyes to both the inhumane conditions of slavery and the fact that men and women of African descent were human in a way society rarely acknowledged. One of the key books and men that led to the abolition of slavery in America.

From Wiki:
Frederick Douglass (February 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American abolitionist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer. Called "The Sage of Anacostia" and "The Lion of Anacostia", Douglass is one of the most prominent figures in African American history and a formidable public presence. He was a firm believer in the equality of all people, whether black, female, Native American, or recent immigrant. He was fond of saying, "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."

Excellent choice here. This one slipped between the cracks on my list but it's a very strong entry.

Night was a great pick by Izulde. I also like the Fredrick Douglas pick

yes. good picks.

ugh...agonizing between two...

According to the list, DaddyTorgo is on the clock

LOL

For the 3rd time today, I simul-post with the poster on the clock. :D

NoMyths has some of the broadest categories left to fill, so he should close pretty strong.

checking to see if my first choice falls under short story or novella...

bah. how do i determine that. it's referred to as both in different places.

I think I know what you're considering, and I avoided it specifically because I thought it was a bit too long for the Short Story category. I would say you could pick it, but with the caveat that some voters may penalize you if they don't think it fits.

Throw yourself on the mercy of the voters after you put it in there? ;)

I'd say that if you're pretty confidant it can be considered a short-story and that others will agree, go for it.

screwit...again i go with what i want

1. Fiction
2. Single Short Story: The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy
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

The greatest fictional meditation on death ever written. Considered by Nabakov and Ghandi to be the greatest work in the whole of Russian literature.

Oh, that's so a novella.

Just kidding.

:D

So, you're a Tolstoy fan too?

No, that wasn't it. I was thinking of something else.

was debating between this and war+peace, but eventually realized there's other places to go with fiction and this was high up on my short story list

First post updated.

Fiction - 1.4 Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
Single Short Story
Poem - 4.7 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Fantasy/Science Fiction - 3.4 War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells
Series
Sport Related
Children's - 5.4 The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss
Non-Fiction - 6.7 The Analects of Confucius, by Confucius
Biography/Autobiography
History - 2.7 The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank

That is my one regret in this draft, I could have gone with War and Peace rather than Catch-22 and completely forgot about War and Peace.

Just to clear up any confusion on the main page, Profiles in Courage is a biography, not autobiography.

My bad. :)

EDIT: Everything was an autobiography so far so I was on a roll. :)

Am I up?

Yes, should I use your list or do you have it?

I have it, one second please.

Fiction
Single Short Story - 1.3, The Dead, James Joyce
Poem
Fantasy/Science Fiction - 2.8, 1984, George Orwell
Series - 3.3, Dune, Frank Herbert
Sport Related - 4.8, Rabbit, Run, John Updike
Children's
Non-Fiction
Biography/Autobiography - 5.3 The Diary of Anais Nin, Anais Nin
History - 6.8, The Second World War, Winston Churchill

Is that the Baz Luhrmann version?

Good pick, I was debating whether or not to use it. The primary benefit of the books is not so much as a history per se, but rather as Churchill's memoirs during the war.

EDIT: It is history, but its not so much a comprehensive history of WWII as much as it is Churchill's memoirs.

This is great guys.. we are flying through picks. Anyone who participated in the History draft is getting sick from the g-forces. :)

Cartman is up next. I don't have a list from him, but I do from CR and st.cronin once cartman makes it in. That will jump us from pick 6.9 to 7.4 in a matter of minutes as long as I notice as soon as cartman makes his pick. That means ML, DT and NM.. start thinking about your picks. :)

Yeah, I had it on my list for biography/autobiography, as well as series.

Excellent pick and it's one I considered as a fallback option if I hadn't gone with The Art of War

I'm trying to steal some Asian delegates from you.

I had this as a secondary option as well, which makes me feel even better about taking Night... because if it and this had both been gone off the board, things would've looked awfully tight for me in that category.

:D

So just to be clear, a length "series" that shared characters but had standalone stories or could be read in any order wouldn't fit in the spirit of the category?

Get ready to 'Slap yo' mammas', my pick is coming right up!

I'm trying to think of an example of what you're talking about that s off the board. I imagine you mean something like.. Hm.. Everything that pops into my head is still on the board. :)

How about this.. Actually.. PM me. But ultimately, I'm fine with an interpretation like that being handled by votes. I try to be as loose as possible on the categorization outside of Historical Fiction when it was intended to be non-fiction. Whenever I am a participant I prefer it that way, so I'm trying to run it that way as well.

My next pick I had briefly considered putting under Poem, but thought it was a weak choice for that category. The category I'm going to put it under made a whole lot more sense. Most sports stories are either too "Hollywood", meaning the ending is entirely predictable, or too tabloid "example: Ball Four", meaning they pay too much attention to the off-the-field facets. My pick is elegantly simple. It shows the hopes and dreams of a team's fans hoping their hero can win the game for him. And in the end, he fails. Everyone knows the story of the Mudville Nine, and the score of 4-2, with but one inning left to play. My pick:

Casey at the Bat, Ernest Thayer

cartman's picks:

1. Fiction - 4.9 Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
2. Single Short Story - 3.2 The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe
3. Poem - 5.2 Paul Revere's Ride, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
4. Fantasy/Science Fiction - 2.9 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
5. Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially) - 1.2: The Lord of The Rings Trilogy (Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King), J.R.R. Tolkein
6. Sport Related - 6.9: Casey At The Bat, Ernest Thayer
7. Children's
8. Non-Fiction
9. Biography/Autobiography
10. History

is it ok if I edit the post to bold my pick?

I'd kicked around Casey as a sports option a few rounds ago and talked myself out of it. Definitely worth the risk this late, though.

Hey! Don't go slamming my picks! Mr. I'm putting Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in Sci-Fi/Fantasy rather than children's! :D

oh man i better think about my pick. it comes down to "do i pander to the voters" or not

Casey at the Bat is an excellent choice, IMO. :) It will definitely stand out in the Sports category. Sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad, depending on the voter, but I think it stands out, and that is going to be important in a category that has a lot of equality.

I'm going to post this quick and not hunt down the full lists for proper formatting. :)

Chief Rum

6.10 Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card [Series]
7.1 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep, Phillip K. Dick [Sci-Fi/Fantasy]

Some great picks so far...I think Izulde takes it with Night as my favorite pick of the day. Casey and Frederick Douglas are right up there.

I'm impressed with how good each drafter is doing. I don't think anyone is out of this. The top just got incredibly crowded with the last round of picks, I think. Serious contenders:

Edit - so I just made a list with 10 names on it. Good work.

Hrm. I love Ender's Game...but I think it's a stronger entry as Sci-Fi than as a series. The rest of the series just isn't well known enough.

Dang it! I was going to try and snag Ender's Game as Sci-Fi this round!

EDIT: Would have done well as a short story too. I considered it in place of Flowers for Algernon on my list, but figured I could wait a few rounds before picking it up.

Hrmm..

I think Ender's Game runs into the same risk here as Dune - that it really falls apart later in the series.

But the first.. oh... 3 books in the series.. may be enough to carry this as a series for me.

I think this proves how broad and excellent literature is. I somewhat took on a bad topic for this draft in that way. Or I didn't narrow the categories enough. You can come up with 10 excellent lists and still have so many great works leftover. However, I don't think that diminishes the enjoyment of the process in any way.


I was talking to Wade about this yesterday. I absolutely love Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, but I think it starts to fall off to varying degrees after that. I also really enjoyed the concept of Ender's Shadow and the fact that rewriting the same story worked is incredible. This may be similar to the Dune pick with some fall off, but I don't think as much. The lack of familiarity may be like the Hitchhiker's pick (really? people don't know that Hitchhicker's Guide is part of a series?). We shall see.

Going for the figurative "home run" with my next pick. I'm going to the category of non-fiction. I'm very interested to see people's reaction to this pick.

This title could be considered one of the most misunderstood books in history. It could be considered an instructional manual, a relationship guide, and a spiritual guide. Most people focus too much on the "instructional manual" aspect of the book, overlooking the fact the book actually was trying to place enjoyment of the senses into its proper place in life. With my next pick, I'm going with:

Kama Sutra, Mallanaga Vatsyayana

1. Fiction - 4.9 Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
2. Single Short Story - 3.2 The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe
3. Poem - 5.2 Paul Revere's Ride, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
4. Fantasy/Science Fiction - 2.9 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
5. Series (A set of books continuing the same story and intended to be read sequentially) - 1.2: The Lord of The Rings Trilogy (Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King), J.R.R. Tolkein
6. Sport Related - 6.9: Casey At The Bat, Ernest Thayer
7. Children's
8. Non-Fiction - 7.2 Kama Sutra, Mallanaga Vatsyayana
9. Biography/Autobiography
10. History

Solid pick. Actually quite a relevent non-fiction piece while pandering to the FOFC hornballs at the same time.

Nicely done!

This is the first sports lit I thought off. it is a steal to get it this late.

And with my 2,000th FOFC post, st.cronin selects:
7.3 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig [Non-Fiction]

Great pick.

HAH. He's here. ;)

Of Course Ender's Shadow is a late book in that series.

Correct. :) It starts a resurgence of the series, IMO. The Shadow books are good for a while, just as the original set is. But they start to fall off. It's a bit of a roller coaster of quality. :)

Kama Sutra - good pick. Although I'm more practicing the Mama Sutra with my wife right now...

I had the Kama Sutra on my list, but crossed it off for some reason.

I'm disturbed that "Kama Sutra" is apparently a book you think will make people want to smack their mothers.

Of course you'd think your pick is a great pick! :D

You're up! :)

No no no, I've learned that the opening flower position will cause the female to suddenly remember that she must pack the child's lunch for the next day. That is the Mama Sutra.

Fiction - 1.4 Hamlet, by William Shakespeare
Single Short Story
Poem - 4.7 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Fantasy/Science Fiction - 3.4 War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells
Series
Sport Related - 7.4 Paper Lion, by George Plimpton
Children's - 5.4 The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss
Non-Fiction - 6.7 Analects, Confucius
Biography/Autobiography
History - 2.7 The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank

why does maple have 2 short stories listed?

and am i up now?

Nice pick Maple Leafs, I was going to go this way if I didn't get Ball Four.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE!

Considering he has yet to make a short story pick that is a good question. :)

just edit it out maple

am i 7.5 or 7.6? i get confused by being in the middle

Wow, that Kama Sutra pick was absolutely brilliant.

I really like cartman's list so far, with the exception of Atlas Shrugged, which I despise.

You're next. It's in the first post.

7.5

Your odd rounds will always be 5, evens always 6.

dola, Atlas Shrugged, which I hate and "Paul Revere's Ride", because I think there's far too many other better poems out there. :)

Kama Sutra = brilliant.

and wade and LS tag-team to cockblock the dola. :D

So, that means, my team has girl on girl porn, and cartman's has boy on boy porn. I wonder which will be more popular among the voters.

can i have 2 picks for one category? or can we have a wildcard category?

We have two wildcard categories. Fiction and Non-Fiction.

no no no. i mean like another "whatever you want" category. cuz i have 2 selections for this next pick that are both "smack your mama" picks and i want both of them

I guess you'll have to select either backhanded or open palm, but not both. :)

dammit. one is more "classic" and one is more for the "smarks"

Don't trust your instincts.

Everyone goes through this on their picks.

DT = Minnesota Vikings

That's why I felt "Kama Sutra" was the ultimate pick. Covers both bases.

:D

Can I make my pick yet?

1. Fiction: Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong
2. Single Short Story: The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy
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

DT's pick better deliever with all the shit he's talking

dude, you call that smack yo mama?

I considered Rot3K for series, and it would've been great there.

For fiction, it's okay.

I think this was the smack yo mama he was talking about.

not a series...it's one big multi-volume work

w/e - f*ck all you haters

Yeah and it's nowhere near smack yo mama in fiction. It's average. It would've been a really nick pick in series, though.

I think multi-volume works are one of those things where you can go either way on. Technically it's one book, but the actual form is multiple books.

w/e - not a surprise...nobody likes the vast majority of my draft anyways, with the exception of the brother's grimm pick.

guess i should have gone with my other thought, although i'm sure that would have been met with deafening silence. doubtful that my history + nonfiction books can pull it out for me anyways, so w/e

I really liked the Asimov pick.

sorry. and warhammer likes some of my picks. and i think EF liked one of them.