# Reading > Forum Book Club >  December '11 / Bildungsroman Reading Poll

## Scheherazade

*Please nominate the Bildungsroman novel you would like to read in December by November 1st.*

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## Scheherazade

I will nominate _The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao_ by Junot Díaz.

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## Charles Darnay

Hmm....Wao does sound good.

But for the sake of this is an poll - I will throw 

"The Glass Bead Game" by Hesse into the mix if I may.

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## Stewed

Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. Can't go wrong with Goethe.

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## Dark Muse

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

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## Scheherazade

Nominations so far:

1. _The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao_ by Junot Díaz

2. _The Glass Bead Game_ by Hesse 

3. _Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship_ by Goethe

4. _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ by John Irving

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## OrphanPip

It can only loosely be described as a bildungsroman, but I'm going to nominate anyway.

Orlando: a Biography by Virginia Woolf.

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## Mutatis-Mutandis

What the hell does "bildungsroman" mean?

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## Dark Muse

> What the hell does "bildungsroman" mean?


It is basically a coming of age novel 

You can read the details about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bildungsroman

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## Charles Darnay

Literally, it's an "education novel" - tracking a youth for ignorance to maturity via some form of education. Of course since its development (popularized by Goethe I believe) it has taken on some variations.

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## Abookinthebath

> What the hell does "bildungsroman" mean?


Glad someone asked that!

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## Paulclem

I had to look it up too. 

I've got Hesse's The Glass Bead Game, and I've wanted to read it for a while. I think I'll nominate Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go.

My daughter is in Japan at this moment on a school exchange. (Lucky devil - I went to Northumberland with the school. Not that there's anything wrong with Northumberland - it's very underrated, but it's not apan.) So I'll go with the Japanese flow.

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## TurquoiseSunset

Even though it's considered a children's book, I would like to nominate _Anne of Green Gables_ by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

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## Abookinthebath

> My daughter is in Japan at this moment on a school exchange. (Lucky devil - I went to Northumberland with the school. Not that there's anything wrong with Northumberland - it's very underrated, but it's not apan.) So I'll go with the Japanese flow.



WOW! That sounds amazing!! I think I only got as far as Granada Studios tour!

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## Mutatis-Mutandis

Would _On the Road_ by Jack Kerouac count as being bildungsroman?

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## Scheherazade

Nominations so far:

1. _The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao_ by Junot Díaz

2. _The Glass Bead Game_ by Hesse 

3. _Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship_ by Goethe

4. _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ by John Irving

5. _Orlando: a Biography_ by Virginia Woolf 

6. _Never Let Me_ Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

7. _Anne of Green Gables_ by Lucy Maud Montgomery 

8. _On the Road_ by Jack Kerouac


Last two nominations up for grabs!

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## Calidore

How about _Musashi_ by Eiji Yoshikawa? It's a fictionalized biography of legendary Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. It's like a Japanese Dumas novel in tone (and like most of his novels, it was first published as a newspaper serial).

Amazon summary:

Miyamoto Musashi was the child of an era when Japan was emerging from decades of civil strife. Lured to the great Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 by the hope of becoming a samurai-without really knowing what it meant-he regains consciousness after the battle to find himself lying defeated, dazed and wounded among thousands of the dead and dying. On his way home, he commits a rash act, becomes a fugitive and brings life in his own village to a standstill-until he is captured by a weaponless Zen monk.

The lovely Otsu, seeing in Musashi her ideal of manliness, frees him from his tortuous punishment, but he is recaptured and imprisoned. During three years of solitary confinement, he delves into the classics of Japan and China. When he is set free again, he rejects the position of samurai and for the next several years pursues his goal relentlessly, looking neither to left nor to right.

Ever so slowly it dawns on him that following the Way of the Sword is not simply a matter of finding a target for his brute strength. Continually striving to perfect his technique, which leads him to a unique style of fighting with two swords simultaneously, he travels far and wide, challenging fighters of many disciplines, taking nature to be his ultimate and severest teacher and undergoing the rigorous training of those who follow the Way. He is supremely successful in his encounters, but in the Art of War he perceives the way of peaceful and prosperous governance and disciplines himself to be a real human being.

He becomes a reluctant hero to a host of people whose lives he has touched and been touched by. And, inevitably, he has to pit his skill against the naked blade of his greatest rival.

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## Stewed

On the Road's a picaresque. Similar but not the same.

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## Mutatis-Mutandis

It can't be both?

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## Charles Darnay

> It can't be both?


I'd call it both. Although Sal is not a youth - a defining feature in most bildungsroman - his journey is still from point A to maturity via some form of "education" - the education that many at the time idealized, the one on the road.

So yes.

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## TheFifthElement

Whilst there's still a nomination up for grabs can I nominate Black Swan Green by David Mitchell?

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## Scheherazade

Nominations for December:

1. _The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao_ by Junot Díaz

2. _The Glass Bead Game_ by Hesse 

3. _Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship_ by Goethe

4. _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ by John Irving

5. _Orlando: a Biography_ by Virginia Woolf 

6. _Never Let Me_ Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

7. _Anne of Green Gables_ by Lucy Maud Montgomery 

8. _On the Road_ by Jack Kerouac

9. _Musashi_ by Eiji Yoshikawa 

10. _Black Swan Green_ by David Mitchell

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## Paulclem

> WOW! That sounds amazing!! I think I only got as far as Granada Studios tour!


Yeah- how things change. She's at a language specialist school though, so she's lucky.

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## qimissung

I would be interested in Orlando, Never Let Me Go, or Black Swan Green. I hesitate to vote, because I have a horrendous track record for following through with these book clubs, although I like the idea of them. But I'll be watching the outcome of this one.

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## Scheherazade

No clears winner emerging as yet... We need more votes!

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## TheMadStork

:Lurk5: 

Can't vote yet (seeing as this is my first post), but I'll be participating regardless of the outcome. I can attest that Musashi, Oscar Wao, and OWEN MEANY are all great books.

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## TurquoiseSunset

Blech. I can't read 'The Glass Bead Game' again. I hated it the first time around, so if it wins I will just read 'Anne of Green Gables' anyway  :Biggrin:

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## Paulclem

Don't punish yourself so. I've got the Glass Bead Game poised and ready to read should it come up trumps...or beads...or counters

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## Paulclem

4-3 to On The Road - and I'd jumped the gun and begun The Glass Bead Game. I liked On The Road, but I haven't read the Hesse.

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## BlackCat

anything BUT Black Swan Green  :Ack2:  :Ack2:  :Ack2:

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## TurquoiseSunset

> 4-3 to On The Road - and I'd jumped the gun and begun The Glass Bead Game. I liked On The Road, but I haven't read the Hesse.


So, how's the reading going? Do you like it? I had also decided to just go ahead and read 'Anne' once I'm done with my current read.

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## Paulclem

> So, how's the reading going? Do you like it? I had also decided to just go ahead and read 'Anne' once I'm done with my current read.


Only just started it. Currently reading The Deerslayer by J Fenimore Cooper. Want to finish that too. I like Hesse's style though. I enjoyed Steppenwolf, and the discussion we had afterwards was very enjoyable and illuminating.

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## Mutatis-Mutandis

Well, I've started _On The Road._ Has anyone else?

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## Charles Darnay

'bout halfway through. I figured it was time for a re-read of this - been a few years.

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