Clean Up Our List!

We've noticed that a lot of the books on our list are very hard to find, expensive if available, too long, or in general, no one really wants to read them. Even Keith is getting tired of pulling the same names out of the hat every time. So this thread is your opportunity to tell us what you think!

Here are the books on our list:
1. It's One O'Clock and Here is Mary Margaret McBride: A Radio Biography-- Susan Ware
2. Truman-- David McCullough
3. Kate Chopin, The Life of the Author of The Awakening-- Emily Toth
4. Unveiling Kate Chopin-- Emily Toth
5. Tom & Huck Don't Live Here Anymore-- Ron Powers
6. Lighting Out for the Territory-- Roy Morris
7. Drag the Darkness Down-- Matt Baker
8. From the Heavens to Hell and Back -- George Stier
9. Autobiography of Mark Twain-- Mark Twain
10. The Wild Vine-- Todd Kliman
11. Gangs of St. Louis: Men of Respect -- Daniel Waugh
12. Egan's Rats-- Daniel Waugh
13. Miss Me When I'm Gone -- Philip Stephens
14. Gully Town -- George P. Schultz
15. The Dead End Kids of St. Louis: Homeless Boys and the People Who Tried to Save Them-- Bonnie Stepenoff
16. Standing in the Rainbow -- Fannie Flagg
17. Can't Wait to Get to Heaven-- Fannie Flagg
18. Beauties-- Mary Troy
19. A Good American-- Alex George
20. Across the Wide Missouri -- Bernard DeVoto
21. The Looking Glass Brother-- Peter von Ziegesar
22. The Lost Cause: The Trials of Frank and Jesse James-- James Muehlberger
23. Sisterland-- Curtis Sittenfeld
24. Pioneers of the Ozarks-- L. L. Broadfoot
25. The Outlaw Album--Daniel Woodrell
26. Mr. Vertigo--Paul Auster
27. The Maid's Version--Daniel Woodrell
28. On Shaky Ground--Norma Haynes Bagnall
29. Orphan Trains: The Story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children He Saved and Failed--Stephen O'Connor.

Choose up to five with your reasons (whatever they are), and when we have some opinions, we'll remove some of the high scorers.

Of course, if you have other suitable suggestions, feel free to share them with us--we don't want the list to get too short!

And plehttp://www.librarything.com/topic/163823#ase, feel free to get more involved in our group!

I will start things off with my own list.

1. Tom & Huck Don't Live Here Anymore. I SO hated the last book we read by Ron Powers that I just couldn't read another book by him.

2. Autobiography of Mark Twain. I will probably read this some day, but it's really too long for a group read.

3. Can't Wait to Get to Heaven. I've already read it, and I didn't care for it too much. I guess that includes Standing in the Rainbow, too.

1. Tom & Huck Don't Live Here Anymore For the same reason Teri gave above.

2. The Dead End Kids of St. Louis. I also didn't care much for the Stepenoff book we read earlier.

3. Autobiography of Mark Twain. Agree with Teri regarding length, but I will never read this :/

Already read (4) The Good American, (5) The Outlaw Album, and (6) The Maid's Version

1. Both Kate Chopin books by Emily Toth - neither are available at our library, plus I don't know who Kate Chopin was so I don't know why I'd want to read about her

2. Anything by Ron Powers

3. Drag the Darkness Down by Matt Baker - not at the library and even LT hasn't heard of it

I agree that the Mark Twain Autobiography is too long and I'll probably never read it, but I want to want to read it (does that make sense?) and would be willing to give it a try if we did it as a group.

I've already read Outlaw Album but would read it again if it were chosen by the group.

4-5-6. From the Heavens to Hell and Back, Gangs of St Louis, Beauties - these are too hard to find to leave on the list. However, I'd be interested in any of them if I could get my hands on a copy.

The Mary Margaret McBride book, It's One O'clock and Here Is Mary Margaret McBride is probably too hard to find for a group read. However, MMM is such a hoot, I simply adored her and the book. People might be able to find the book using Interlibrary Loan. I bought my used copy a few years ago at Amazon, but now I notice the only used copies are rather expensive. There's a Kindle edition for $20--but good grief, twenty bucks? I know a lot in this group are frequenters of used book stores. Be on the lookout for this one--it's worth it!

>4 sjmccreary:. Sandy, Kate Chopin was an American author (1850-1904). Her most remembered novel is probably The Awakening. I honestly can't remember what I thought of Emily Toth's biography of her, and the book is in a box in the garage, so I can't get it out to take a look at it. However, I seem to remember that it was pretty good. --Not much help, I know.

Truman by David McCullough is a great read, but I'm thinking that probably many here have read this one? If not, I would totally recommend it.

I will vote a definite ix-nay on #2, 5, and 9.

2. Truman - I've read it; it was wonderful but too big to visit again this soon.

5. Tom and Huck… - I will trust you guys on this Ron Powers guy. I think I opted out of the first one by him because of the negativity.

9. Mark Twain - I like the man but not three volumes worth!

I have read: Truman and both books by Daniel Woodrell. I would be glad to read The Outlaw Album again but not The Maid's Version which I thought was very disappointing.

Further thoughts:
#1 is not in the MOBIUS system, but many of McBride's other books are. In fact, the Greene Co. Library (Springfield) has three of her books. Could we choose a title that is more readily available? Maybe Becky has some suggestions.

Instead of reading Mark Twain's autobiography, why not read one of his other works that have to do with his life written by him? Suggestions: Roughing It or Life on the Mississippi, both free on Kindle. I will be reading something by Mark Twain for Mark on LT's American Author Challenge in the month of July and would love to have some company from this group.

ETA: I also propose that in the future if we don't vote for a future choice submitted three times…it is OUT!

#5 Actually, our library has the Mary Margaret McBride book. I'm willing to give it a try if the group chooses it. I'm not generally a big fan of biographies, but I know that you love them and it's much easier for me to get through one with your help. I'm not unwilling to read about Kate Chopin (as long as you are willing to help explain why she was significant), but neither of these books are in our library. I'm willing to try to get one through ILL, though, if chosen by the rest of the group. I haven't read the Truman book yet, and would love to do it with the group.

#6 I like your suggestions about a Mark Twain semi-autobiographic book instead of the big autobiography, and about 3 strikes and you're out!

Okay, I went through the list & all of your comments above. Here's what I came up with:

1. Let's keep the Mary Margaret McBride book (I own a copy--I think I found it in Joplin one year!). We'll see what happens when/if it gets picked. Donna, the only books I could find by Mary Margaret McBride were cookbooks. I don't mind reading a cookbook, but if you have the names of some other books, let me know. Maybe we read something by her before we read her biography?

2. I hate to remove something just because someone has read it. Some of these books I wouldn't read except for this group, and if something is kicked out because someone else has read it, then I'll be sad.

3. Let's leave Truman. I may not read it again if it's chosen, but I'll certainly participate in the discussion.

4. The only two that seem to be nearly unanimous are Twain's autobiography & Ron Powers. I'll take those two off the list. And I won't be very sad about it at all.

5. We should probably also remove From the Heavens to Hell and Back and Drag the Darkness Down since they are so hard to find and don't even have touchstones. But I'd recommend the first if you can find it--I got a Kindle edition and I really liked it.

5. Shall I add Roughing It and Life on the Mississippi by Twain? I do plan to read Life on the Mississippi in July for Mark's American Author Challenge, Donna. Maybe we can slot it in this summer and kill two birds with one stone!

6. We had said once before Three Strikes and You're Out, but ran into the issue of certain books that always came in second place because something unanimous took first, and I hated to remove them. Let's do this--Three Strikes and We Vote on Whether You're Out or Not. But I'll erase the strikes from before and we'll start over.

Much as I like to pretend, I am not The Queen of the Universe, so I'm wide open to other thoughts & suggestions. Bring 'em on!

And thanks to all of you for participating in this group! I enjoy it immensely!

I'm counting 4 different books to be removed from the list, according to your suggestions, right? That sounds like a reasonable place to begin. Maybe we should do this exercise again next year.

Go ahead and add the MT books - if no one wants one when it comes up, it won't be chosen.

Three strikes and you're out - wasn't that from before we started taking the top 2 choices - back when we voted 6 times a year? Yes, erase the strikes from before and start over. If we do this house cleaning regularly, we'll have an opportunity to remove them later.

Thanks for keeping us moving, Your Highness!

Newbie question - how do books get added to the list? I'm very interested in a book called Stoner by John Wiliams, and wonder if this group might not be interested? I came across mention of it in someone's 'books of the year' list and saw it was written some 50 years ago by a Missourian, and recently has had a quiet resurrection. It is a NYReview of Books classic, and has won awards in Britain, and there was a Time magazine article back in 2010 where Tom Hanks chimed in it was one of the most fascinating books he'd ever read.

Is this the kind of book the group might be interested in? Fiction, story is simply about a Mizzoui professor, but all the rave reviews have me wanting to read it.

Hi and welcome, Becky. We read Stoner in November, 2012. I liked the book enough to give it 4 stars and think it's definitely worth your time. Be forewarned though, it is melancholy.
Please feel free to suggest books anytime you come across one you think might interest the group.

I agree with Brenda. You should read it, and then check out our discussion thread on it. As I recall, we liked it, and I was glad we read it.

We're always looking for books to add to our list (aren't we?), so sing out if you've got a good one, or even just one you want to read!