# Vote closed: the L&L Book Club choice for April **URL:** \ **Category:** L&L Book Club\ **Created:** [February 1, 2022, 6:07pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981 "2022-02-01T18:07:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/siren/32/18336_2.png) [@Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Siren)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2022, 6:07pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981/1 "2022-02-01T18:07:32Z")
What should Literature & Latte’s Book Club read next? Please cast your vote in our poll. The result will be announced early in March, to allow everyone time to acquire and read the selected title before discussing it in April. _Poll ([view on site](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981/1))_ You are also invited to make suggestions for other books for us to read together — either reply to this message, or send me a PM. We’ll keep a list, and over the months ahead we’ll consider adding such suggestions to future book-choice polls. When making a book suggestion, please remember that we will be reading books that are in the public domain in the UK and EU, where copyright laws protect work until 70 years after the author’s death. All the best, Astrid ---
**Author:** ![Kazz](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/kazz/32/22527_2.png) [@Kazz](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Kazz)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2022, 10:15am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981/2 "2022-02-03T10:15:12Z")
How about “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” by Thomas Hardy (1891). He died in January 1928 ---
**Author:** ![Orpheus](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/orpheus/32/19753_2.png) [@Orpheus](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Orpheus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 11:03pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981/3 "2022-02-07T23:03:52Z")
**Does it have to be fiction?** Where do fiction writes get their ideas and inspirations? What about texts like _The Gallic Wars_ by Julius Caesar, (or any work by him - he was a great writer). Xenophone’s _Anabasis_, one of those “truth stranger than fiction” stories has been an [inspiration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabasis_(Xenophon)#Literary_influence) to many writers (it would be great if this was turned into a historical movie on its own accord - hint to screen writers out there 😉). Plutarch’s _Parallel Lives_, was one of Shakespeare’s main sources for his historical plays. _Parallel Lives_ (along with _The Gallic Wars_) was also a source for HBO’s _Rome_ TV series, but frankly the writers of that series should have been crucified 👎 for completely misrepresenting the people and the history. (For example Atia, Caesar’s niece, was a kind and virtuous woman, she was the mother-in-law of Anthony not his mistress). _Histories_ of Herodotus influenced - _The English Patient_ and _300_. These and many more classics that have inspired great writers are in the public domain and can be found on project Gutenberg or the internet archives. And, then there is _[The Romance of the Three Kingdoms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms)_ (80% historical) a few chapters of which was the basis for John Woo’s movie [_Red Cliff_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd0bqLQrtdE). It has the same influence in the far east as Shakespeare has in the English language. It was written almost 1000 years ago and in the public domain. Here is an Chinese/English edition done by the [Chinese text project](https://ctext.org/sanguo-yanyi). Here is an [edition](https://archive.org/details/romanceofthreeki0001luog/page/n5/mode/2up) that was originally published in 1929 so also in the public domain. Then there is the _Mahabharata_ which is one of the two great epics of India. The much acclaimed _Bhagavad-gita_ is a small section of this massive work. This work has influenced all of South Asia and the far East, and the whole world through the _Bhagavad-gita._ A faithful public domain translation of the Mahabharata is available [here](https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/maha/index.htm). If you are just interested in the _Bhagavad-gita_ then click [here](https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/). One of the main plot devices of the _Matrix trilogy_ is based on the teaching of the _Gita_ that you are not the body, but an atma (soul) caught up in the temporary illusory world (virtual reality) of Maya (the Matrix). Subsequent movies based on the idea of virtual realities, reincarnation and karma such as _Cloud Atlas_ and _Vanilla Sky_ have this as a philosophical underpinning. ---
**Author:** ![Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/siren/32/18336_2.png) [@Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Siren)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 10:03am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981/4 "2022-02-08T10:03:49Z")
Thank you for the feedback and suggestions, Orpheus. We’re starting with long-form fiction to see how it goes. If the [Book Club](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/c/literaturewriting/lnl-book-club/67) proves popular, we hope to expand it in other directions later, with additional reading projects running in parallel – non-fiction is certainly a good candidate for this. I’ll update the [FAQ](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/faq-for-the-l-l-book-club-monthly-choice/125979/3) now, to clarify this. All the best, Astrid ---
**Author:** ![Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/siren/32/18336_2.png) [@Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Siren)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 10:13am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981/5 "2022-02-08T10:13:42Z")
Thank you, Kazz. _Tess_ is now on the list of books that we’ll try to include in future polls. Indeed, as the first suggestion received, _Tess_ is at the top of that list! We’re trying to achieve a diverse selection of types of novel, country of origin, and period of writing, so that the options in any month’s poll will be quite varied. All the best, Astrid ---
**Author:** ![Jaysen](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/jaysen/32/16_2.png) [@Jaysen](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Jaysen)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 1:15pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981/6 "2022-02-08T13:15:52Z")
Martin Eden by Jack London Some may be surprised that I found this one transformational in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/siren/32/18336_2.png) [@Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Siren)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 1:21pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981/7 "2022-02-08T13:21:11Z")
> Martin Eden by Jack London I haven’t heard of that one before, but it looks interesting, Jaysen. Thank you for the suggestion. All the best, Astrid ---
**Author:** ![Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/siren/32/18336_2.png) [@Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Siren)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981/8 "2022-02-25T15:11:31Z")
If you haven’t yet [voted](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/cast-your-vote-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981) for the book that [Literature & Latte’s Book Club](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/welcome-to-the-l-l-book-club/124882) will read in April, you still have a few days left in which to do so. From a fairly equal field in the early days of polling, _[Mrs Dalloway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Dalloway)_ has pulled into the lead, with _[The Scarlet Letter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter)_ and _[A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Connecticut_Yankee_in_King_Arthur%27s_Court)_ somewhere in the middle, and _[Quo Vadis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quo_Vadis_(novel))_ trailing behind. We’ll close the April poll at the end of this month, when we announce the final result. But the voting fun won’t stop there! 😉 Next week, we’ll open our next poll, to choose May’s book — and, of course, to invite any further suggestions that you may wish to make. Discussion of our first book choice, [Arthur Conan Doyle’s _The Sign of the Four_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sign_of_the_Four), will start [on Tuesday](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/the-sign-of-the-four-by-arthur-conan-doyle-l-l-book-club-march-22/125980). I hope you’ll join us. All the best, Astrid ---
**Author:** ![Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/siren/32/18336_2.png) [@Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Siren)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 8:07am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981/9 "2022-03-01T08:07:11Z")
---
**Author:** ![Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/siren/32/18336_2.png) [@Siren](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Siren)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 8:11am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/vote-closed-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-april/125981/10 "2022-03-01T08:11:08Z")
This poll is now closed, and the results are in! Literature & Latte’s Book Club selection for [discussion in April](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/mrs-dalloway-by-virginia-woolf-l-l-book-club-april-22/126611) will be _[Mrs Dalloway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Dalloway)_, by Virginia Woolf (1925). Thank you to everyone who voted. We are opening a new poll to invite your input for our [May book selection](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/cast-your-vote-the-l-l-book-club-choice-for-may/126610) (and beyond). All the best, Astrid