Blowouts and nail-biters—in Round 3 there was no in between.
Blowouts: The Brothers Karamazov sailed past Moby-Dick, The Lord of the Rings not-so-humbly beat Pride and Prejudice, and Pilgrim’s Progress swept away Charlotte’s Web—each by a margin of 2 to 1.
One Hundred Years Of Solitude was alone in losing 3 to 1 against Brideshead Revisited.
But the biggest margin of the round—6 to 1—belonged to The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, which sunk the underdog Hunt for Red October’s chances of being a spoiler.
Nail-biters: The Scarlett Letter calmly slipped past The Sound and the Fury by a mere 32 votes. The same 32 vote margin separated David Copperfield from Wise Blood. And in the closest match of the round, To Kill A Mockingbird fluttered past 1984 to win by 9 votes.
With only powerhouse novels remaining, who will make it into the Final Four?
Your vote will decide the outcome, so choose your favorites now.
March 30th, 2010 | 9:21 am
[...] I thought! A Commenter tells me that they’ve been doing a round a day and are already up to the fourth round. Categories: [...]
March 30th, 2010 | 9:37 am
It has finally become impossible to cast any further vote.
March 30th, 2010 | 9:54 am
Yes, the choices are impossible. But the juxtapositions have forced me to see these novels in some interesting ways. “The Scarlet Letter” and “Pilgrim’s Progress” are about inward journeys. “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “David Copperfield” are powerful social documents.
My choices in this round ended up being pretty arbitrary.
March 30th, 2010 | 12:36 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Paul Krog. Paul Krog said: Go vote for David Copperfield and Brideshead: http://tiny.cc/azl54 (sorry, American lit). [...]
March 30th, 2010 | 1:15 pm
“To Kill A Mockingbird fluttered past 1984 to win by 9 votes.”
To Kill a Mockingbird over 1984!?!?
You have got to be kidding!
Or as St. Paul would say, “Mae Genoito!”
March 30th, 2010 | 1:34 pm
I am mortified that George Eliot’s “Middlemarch” is not even mentioned! Usually considered the greatest novel in the English language.
I’m tempted to stop following you on Twitter so I’m shielded from these travesties of injustice :-)
March 30th, 2010 | 2:58 pm
I can’t believe Flannery O’Connor is not on the list! I guess people just don’t appreciate the irony anymore.
March 30th, 2010 | 4:12 pm
Emina, I don’t know if you saw the earlier brackets, but the real irony is that Miss O’Connor’s Wise Blood was defeated by David Copperfield, which is currently being defeated by To Kill a Mockingbird, which Miss O’Connor considered a children’s book.
AMDG,
Janet
March 31st, 2010 | 12:45 am
And she was absolutely right about that, Janet.
March 31st, 2010 | 8:28 am
I love Flannery O’Connor, too. But remember, the choice was O’Connor or Dickens.
Here’s my bet at this point: It’s going to come down to Dostoevsky and Twain, and Dostoevsky will be voted first.
March 31st, 2010 | 9:02 am
Well, so much for my predictions. Good thing I’m not a bookie.
Links
Blogs
Find Us
Contact