One Drink Minimum Book Club of Princeton

The results are in! The winner of our poll, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, received 53.3% of the first choice votes. Ranked choice voting didn't come into play this month since the winner received a majority of the first choice votes. Thank you to everyone who voted!

If you didn't hear about the poll or otherwise have not been receiving Meetup messages, send an email to one.drink.minimum.book@gmail.com and we'll be happy to help.

Oscar Wilde did not win any awards for The Picture of Dorian Gray; it was actually poorly received by the British public and critics. Initial response to Wilde's novel was negative if not abusive. The St. James Gazette of June 20, 1890, refers to the "garbage of the French Décadents" and the "prosy rigmaroles" of the story. The Daily Chronicle of June 30 calls it a "poisonous book." The Scots Observer of July 5 asks, "Why go grubbing in muck-heaps?" (See full Scots Observer review below)

Oscar Wilde’s only novel is the dreamlike story of a young man who sells his soul for eternal youth and beauty.

In this celebrated work Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde's most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.

The Picture of Dorian Gray was a succès de scandale. Early readers were shocked by its hints at unspeakable sins, and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895.

The results are in! The winner of our poll is Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. Anxious People was in the lead in the first round of voting but only received 35% of the first choice votes, so we implemented ranked choice. Two of the books were tied for last place, so both were eliminated in the first round. When those ballots were redistributed to those people's next highest choice, Anxious People won 60% of the votes in the second round. Thank you to everyone who voted! If you didn't hear about the poll or otherwise have not been receiving Meetup messages, email one.drink.minimum.book@gmail.com and we'll be happy to add you to our mailing list. Your email address will remain private as we send all messages blind cc.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 2020 GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD NOMINEE FOR FICTION • 2020 BOOK OF THE MONTH BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD NOMINEE

A poignant, charming novel about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.

Looking at real estate isn't usually a life-or-death situation, but an apartment open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes a group of strangers hostage. The captives include a recently retired couple who relentlessly hunt down fixer-uppers to avoid the painful truth that they can't fix up their own marriage. There's a wealthy banker who has been too busy making money to care about anyone else and a young couple who are about to have their first child but can't seem to agree on anything, from where they want to live to how they met in the first place. Add to the mix an eighty-seven-year-old woman who has lived long enough not to be afraid of someone waving a gun in her face, a flustered but still-ready-to-make-a-deal real estate agent, and a mystery man who has locked himself in the apartment's only bathroom, and you've got the worst group of hostages in the world.

Each of them carries a lifetime of grievances, hurts, secrets, and passions that are ready to boil over. None of them is entirely who they appear to be. And all of them—the bank robber included—desperately crave some sort of rescue. As the authorities and the media surround the premises, these reluctant allies will reveal surprising truths about themselves and set in a motion a chain of events so unexpected that even they can hardly explain what happens next.

Humorous, compassionate, and wise, Anxious People is an ingeniously constructed story about the enduring power of friendship, forgiveness, and hope—the things that save us, even in the most anxious of times.