On The Same Page discussion

Plays:
A Doll's House (Norwegian) Completed 24 February 4 stars

Lysistrata (Greek) Completed 26 April 4 stars

The Road to Mecca(South African) Completed 29 October 4 stars

Short Stories/Essays:
1816: The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffmann (German)

1827: On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts by Thomas De Quincey(English)

1836: Three Hundred Years Hence by Mary Griffith (American)

1840: The Murders in the Rue Morgue - a C. Auguste Dupin Short Story (American)

1853: Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville (American)

1861: The Snow Man and The Ice-Maiden and Other Tales (Contains The Ice Maiden, Butterfyl, Psyche and The Snail and the Rose Tree) by Hans Christian Andersen (Danish)
1865: How I Built Myself a House by Thomas Hardy (English)

1871: Twin-Love by Bayard Taylor https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...
1872: A Ride Across Palestine by Anthony Trollope (English)
1872: Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (Irish)
1876: Danilo Stackpole: The Fool Who Outwitted the Devil by Ion Creangă (Romanian)

1886: How Much Land Does a Man Need? by Leo Tolstoy(Russian)

1891: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce
(American)

1905: Sultana's Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (modern Bangladesh)

1917: The Mark on the Wall by Virginia Woolf (English)

1919: England to America by Margaret Prescott Montague (Inaugural winner of the O. Henry Prize) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...

1921: A Haunted House, Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf (English)

1922: Before the Party by W. Somerset Maugham (English)

1932: Sarkiss: A true story by Panaït Istrati (Romanian)

1936: Bookshop Memories by George Orwell (English)

1937: The Kimono by H.E. Bates (English)

1941: The Library of Babel (Argentinian)
1941: A Worn Path by Eudora Welty (American) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...

1946: how the poor die by George Orwell (English)

1949: The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (American)

1950: Home is the Spaceman https://www.gutenberg.org/files/68533...

1960: My grandfather's ghost by RP Lister (American) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...

1965: Computers don't argue by Gordon R. Dickson (American) https://vdocuments.mx/reader/full/com...

1973: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin (American)

1983: From the poets in the kitchen by Paule Marshall (American) https://idoc.pub/documents/from-the-p...

1997: Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx (American)

1998: Yonder: Essays by Siri Hustvedt (American)

2008: Stand by me by Wendell Berry (American) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...

2011: Sold by Wendell Berry (American) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...

2012: Monstro by Junot Díaz (Dominica) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...

2016: Goldfish and Concrete by Maartje Wortel (Dutch)
The Great Silence by Ted Chiang https://electricliterature.com/the-gr...

2017: The Drone King by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (American) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...

2022: A Substitution Said Sayrafiezadeh https://www.theatlantic.com/books/arc...


Epistolary Books:
The Diary of Lady Murasaki (Japanese) Completed 24 January 4 stars

Evidence of the Affair (American) Completed 4 February 4 stars

Lady Susan (English) Completed 12 February 3.5 stars

Dear Hugo (English) Completed 27 March 4 stars

The Diary of a Bookseller (Scottish) Completed 18 November 3 stars

The Dangerous Age (Danish) Completed 5 August 4 stars

Poetry:
Poems To Fall In Love With Completed 21 January 5 stars

I could be a whale shark by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
https://poets.org/poem/i-could-be-wha...

The Mississippi River empties into the Gulf by Lucille Clifton
https://www.americanpoems.com/poets/l...

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...

The More Loving One by W.H Auden
https://poets.org/poem/more-loving-one

The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot

Black Flamingo by Jonathan Teklit https://www.theatlantic.com/books/arc...

In the Lane by Celia Thaxter https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...

https://johannesburgreviewofbooks.com...

Having a coke with you by Frank O'Hara
https://poets.org/poem/having-coke-you

The writer by Richard Wilbur https://poets.org/poem/writer

Thomas Hardy - Tess's Lament, Channel Firing, The Man he killed.

Graphic novels:

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 2: Generation Why 3 stars

Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony 5 stars

Good luck, Carolien! 🐾

Thanks!

Looking forward to seeing what you pick, Carolien.

This is probably it for January in message 1.

Because it is me, the "list your short stories" part of the process is now a "let's see if we can read a short story published in every decade for a long time" challenge. So far I have stories from the 1860s, 1870's, 1930's and 1960's and 2010's. Standouts are Carmilla, one of the very earliest vampire tales. Very Victorian and the two Romanian short stories. And I really liked Computers don't argue.

Epistolary was The Diary of Lady Murasaki, published in 1010. Very interesting descriptions of the Japanese court life.

My youngest daughter is responsible for the poetry volume by Poems to Fall in Love With which she recommended. A very wide variety of poets - Sappho to Neil Gaiman via Shakespeare and Christina Rossetti scope. Great illustrations as expected.

Carolien wrote: "This is probably it for January in message 1.

Because it is me, the "list your short stories" part of the process is now a "let's see if we can read a short story published in every decade for a l..."

Your daughter being your influencer is really neat, Carolien. :0)

Some additions in February. The first play for the year namely A Doll's House which I found very modern for a 150-year old work. Highly recommend this for a short read.

I read The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot. Fairly bleak with lots of classic imagery. An interesting read.

I added Lady Susan to the list of epistolary books for the year. Would have been interesting to see the completed version of this one as Lady Susan is a very devious woman.

I listened to Evidence of the Affair and it was absolutely fantastic. A great example of a good book being enhanced by the narration. Highly recommend this especially if you can find the audio.

I liked Prufrock better than Wasteland, I recall, but all of this was high-school and college-era reading and I don't remember either very well.

If you like epistolary historical novels, you could try Evelina (read about Frances Burney, too, apparently she was a companion to the British royal family) or Les Liaisons dangereuses, both of which are wonderful reads.

Very interesting looking selections so far. I've read some Eliot, but never The Wasteland... I'll keep checking in.

Jennifer wrote: "I liked Prufrock better than Wasteland, I recall, but all of this was high-school and college-era reading and I don't remember either very well.

If you like epistolary historical novels, you coul..."

Both of these have been on the TBR for a while. Now to actually read them!

March saw me adding some short stories to the list. Bartleby the Scrivener was my first attempt at reading Herman Melville, I may one day tackle the whale.

I enjoyed The Kimono which is an ironic look at consequences of choices made in moments of passion. And Goldfish and Concrete was interesting.

My favourite was Dear Hugo which is written as a collection of letters. Set in a small Scottish village, Sara Monteith moves in and starts meeting her neighbours. Loved the gentle tone. I'm definitely reading more by Molly Clavering.

Anybody has a bright idea for a short story published in the 1830s?

I'm making some decent progress with the short stories and have read quite a variety of authors in the process.

Added Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony to the list of graphic novels. These are just the absolute best.

Carolien wrote: "I'm making some decent progress with the short stories and have read quite a variety of authors in the process.

Added Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony to the list of graphic no..."

I may have to check these out.

Bill wrote: "I may have to check these out.

You have to! They are so clever and the illustrations are brilliant!

This was probably my favourite challenge of the year as it allowed me to read stuff that doesn't normally make it on a challenge list somewhere.

I'm happy to report that I managed to read a short story published in each decade since the 1810's including authors from about 10 countries in the process. I find short stories a good way to get an idea if I'd like an author and along the way I read works from some of the great writers of their times.

I look forward to this one next year!

Way to go, Carolien!

Congrats, Carolien! That does sound like a fun way to read around the world.