Saturday, March 21, 2026

Dunlop, trans, A Late Chrysanthemum: Twenty-One Stories from the Japanese (1986)

A Late Chrysanthemum: Twenty-One Stories from the Japanese.
Translated by Lane Dunlop.
Etchings by Tanaka Ryohei.
San Francisco: North Point Press, 1986.

Book Information : Archive.org; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

Another edition of this book was published by Tuttle in 1988.
[Google Books with Preview; Amazon.com.]

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Translator Information : Lane Dunlop
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Some More Recently Published (and currently in-print) Anthologies of Japanese Short Stories:
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Wikipedia Articles : Japanese Literature
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Contents of A Late Chrysanthemum: Twenty-One Stories from the Japanese:
  1. Shiga Naoya, 志賀直哉 (1883–1971).
    1. Infatuation.
    2. A Gray Moon [灰色の月 (1946)].
    3. At Kinosaki [城の崎にて (1917)].
    4. The Razor [Kamisori (1910)].
    ~~~~~ Shiga Naoya, short story collections and other works in English ~~~~~
  2. Ozaki Shiro, 尾崎 士郎 (1898–1964).
    1. The Wagtail's Nest.
    2. River Deer.
  3. Kawabata Yasunari, 川端 康成 (1899–1972).
    1. The Grasshopper and the Bell Cricket (1924); also appears in Palm-of-the-Hand Stories (2006).
    2. The Silverberry Thief (1925); also appears in Palm-of-the-Hand Stories (2006).
    3. The Young Lady of Suruga (1927); also appears in Palm-of-the-Hand Stories (2006).
    ~~~~~ Kawabata Yasunari, short story collections in English ~~~~~
    • Kawabata Yasunari. Palm-of-the-Hand Stories. Translated by Lane Dunlop and J. Martin Holman. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1988; New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Macmillan), 2006.
      [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
    • Kawabata Yasunari. The Dancing Girl of Izu and Other Stories. Translated by J. Martin Holman. Berkeley, California: Counterpoint Press, 1997.
      [Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
    • The short story "The Dancing Girl of Izu" [伊豆の踊子 (1926)] appears in The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories (1997, 2010) as "The Izu Dancer".
    • The short story "The Silver Fifty-Sen Pieces" (1946) appears in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories (2018) and Palm-of-the-Hand Stories (2006).
  4. Shimaki Kensaku, 島木 健作 (1903–1945).
    1. The Red Frog (1946).
    2. The Centipede.
    3. The Black Cat (1945).
    4. The Wasps.
  5. Hayashi Fumiko, 林 芙美子 (1903–1951).
    1. A Late Chrysanthemum [晩菊 (1948)].
    ~~~~~ Hayashi Fumiko, other works in English ~~~~~
  6. Dazai Osamu, 太宰 治 (1909–1948).
    1. Memories (1940).
    2. A Golden Picture.
    3. The Garden Lantern.
    4. Chiyojo [千代女 (1941)]; also in No One Knows (2025).
    ~~~~~ Dazai Osamu, some recent short story collections in English ~~~~~
  7. Abe Kōbō, 安部 公房 (1924–1993).
    1. The Red Cocoon [赤い繭 (1951)].
    2. The Flood [洪水 (1951)].
    3. The Stick [ (1955)].
    ~~~~~ Abe Kōbō, short story collections in English ~~~~~
    • The short story "The Bet" (1960) appears in The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories (1997, 2010).
    • Abe Kōbō. Beyond the Curve. Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter. Kodansha International, 1991.
      [Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]

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Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Weir, Project Hail Mary (2021)

Andy Weir.
Project Hail Mary.
New York: Ballantine Books (Penguin Random House), 2021.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Author Information : Andy Weir
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Friday, March 13, 2026

Austen; Spacks, ed., Sense and Sensibility: An Annotated Edition (1811, 1813; 2013)

Jane Austen.
Sense and Sensibility: An Annotated Edition.
Edited by Patricia Meyer Spacks.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2013.
(Sense and Sensibility was first published in 1811; a modestly revised second edition was published in 1813; this book uses the text of the 1813 edition.)

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Editor: Patricia Meyer Spacks
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Wikipedia Articles: Author, Book, English Literature, British History
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Discussions of Sense and Sensibility :
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Some other editions of Sense and Sensibility :
  • Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility, Third Edition. Edited by Claudia L. Johnson. Norton Critical Editions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
  • Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility. Edited by Ros Ballaster. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 2003.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
  • Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility, Third Edition. Edited by John Mullan. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

I read a different edition Sense and Sensibility in 2023. My 2023 blog post is here.

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Tuesday, February 03, 2026

Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

William Shakespeare.
Much Ado About Nothing.
Edited by Sheldon P. Zitner.
Book Series: The Oxford Shakespeare.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993, 2008.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Note :

I previously read Much Ado About Nothing in 2023. See my 2023 blog post for more information about Other Recent Editions, the editor Sheldon P. Zitner, links to more Wikipedia Articles, and more.

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Saturday, January 31, 2026

Carr, A Month in the Country (1980; 2000; 2016)

J. L. Carr.
A Month in the Country.
Book Series: Penguin Modern Classics.
London: Penguin Books, 2000, 2016.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

Current USA Edition:

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Wikipedia Articles :
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Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well (1993)

William Shakespeare.
All's Well That Ends Well.
Edited by Susan Snyder.
Book Series: The Oxford Shakespeare.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993, 2008.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books 1998 with preview; Google Books 2008 no preview; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

Book Series: The Oxford Shakespeare; Oxford World's Classics.

Some other recent editions of All's Well That Ends Well :
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Editor: Susan Snyder Literary Analysis by Susan Snyder :
  • Susan Snyder. Shakespeare: A Wayward Journey [collected essays]. Forward by Meredith Skura. Newark: University of Deleware Press (Associated University Presses), 2002.
    [Google Books; Amazon.com.]
    (Meredith Skura's Forward has reminiscences and further information about Susan Snyder.)
  • Susan Snyder. The Comic Matrix of Shakespeare's Tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979, 2019.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
  • Susan Snyder. Pastoral Process: Spenser, Marvell, Milton. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
  • Susan Snyder. The Paradox of Despair: Studies of the Despair Theme in Medieval and Renaissance Literature [PhD thesis]. Columbia University, 1963.
    [Google Books.]
  • Susan Snyder, editor. Othello: Critical Essays. Garland, 1988; London: Routledge, 2016.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
Some Other Plays Edited by Susan Snyder :
  • William Shakespeare. The Winter's Tale. Edited by Susan Snyder and Deborah T. Curren-Aquino. The New Cambridge Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
    [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]

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Wikipedia Articles:

Shakespeare and All's Well That Ends Well : English Renaissance Literature, Drama : England during Shakespeare's Time :
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Saturday, January 24, 2026

Moore, The God of the Woods (2024)

Liz Moore.
The God of the Woods.
New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House), 2024.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Author Information : Liz Moore
  • Liz Moore (b. 1983), Wikipedia.
  • Liz Moore, Professor and Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts, Temple University, Philadelphia.

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Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Collins, The Moonstone (1868; 1998)

Wilkie Collins.
The Moonstone.
Edited by Sandra Kemp.
Book Series: Penguin Classics.
London: Penguin Books, 1998.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Editor : Sandra Kemp
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Some Other Recent Editions of The Moonstone :
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Wikipedia Articles :
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The Victorian Web :
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Sunday, January 11, 2026

Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1892; 2022)

Thomas Hardy.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles.
Edited by Karen Swallow Prior.
Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Publishing, 2022.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Wikipedia Articles :
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Some Other Recent Editions of Tess of the d'Urbervilles :
  • Thomas Hardy. Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Second Edition. Edited by Phillip Mallett and Jane Thomas. Norton Critical Editions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2024.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
    (A previous Norton Critical Edition edited by Scott Elledge, last published in its third edition in 1990, also exists [Amazon.com].)
  • Thomas Hardy. Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Edited by Juliet Grindle and Simon Gatrell. Introduction by Penny Boumelha. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
  • Thomas Hardy. Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Edited by Tim Dolin. Introduction by Margaret Randolph Higonnet. Penguin Classics. London and New York: Penguin Books, 1998, updated 2003.
    [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

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Editor : Karen Swallow Prior
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Comments :
  • Karen Swallow Prior's edition is very thorough in identifying references to Classical, Biblical, and Contemporary (19th century) literature; the "Reflection Questions" after each major section ("Phases" in Hardy's terminology) are also helpful. Readers interested in more detailed literary analysis should also consider the Norton Critical Editions versions.

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Internet Discussions of Tess of the d'Urbervilles :
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Friday, January 02, 2026

Ogawa, The Diving Pool (1990; 2008, 2025)

Yōko Ogawa.
The Diving Pool.
Translated by Stephen Snyder.
New York: Picador (Macmillan), 2008, 2025.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Author Information : Yōko Ogawa
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Translator Information : Stephen Snyder
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Wikipedia Articles :
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Internet Discussions of Yōko Ogawa and The Diving Pool :
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