Yoshimoto, Kitchen (1988; 1993)

Banana Yoshimoto.
Kitchen.
Translated by Megan Backus.
New York: Grove Press (Grove Atlantic), 1993.
Originally published as: キッチン ['Kitchen'], Fukutake Shoten Co., 1988.

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

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Author Information : Banana Yoshimoto

• Banana Yoshimoto (b. 1964), Wikipedia English.
• 吉本ばなな (1964 –), Wikipedia Japan.
• Banana Yoshimoto, GoodReads.com.
• Banana Yoshimoto, Official Siite, yoshimotobanana.com/.
• 吉本ばなな, @y_banana, Twitter / X.
• Yoshimoto Banana , @bananayoshimoto2017, Instagram.
• Banana Yoshimoto, Grove Atlantic (publishing company).

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Wikipedia Articles :

• The book Kitchen contains two novellas:
  • Kitchen (novel) (1988)
    キッチン (小説)
  • Moonlight Shadow (novella) (1986)
    ムーンライト・シャドウ (吉本ばなな)
• Japanese literature: Postwar literature (1945–onwards), Wikipedia English.
• 昭和時代末期の文学 [History of modern Japanese literature: Literature from the end of the Showa period], Wikipedia Japan.

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Murakami, End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland (1985; 2024)

Haruki Murakami.
End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland.
Translated by Jay Rubin.
Book Series: Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics Series, Number 420.
New York: Everyman's Library / Alfred A. Knopf / Penguin Random House, 2024.
Originally published as: 世界の終わりとハードボイルド・ワンダーランド, Sekai no owari to Hādoboirudo Wandārando, Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1985, 1991.

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

Note : The 2024 English translation by Jay Rubin is a new and complete translation of the novel. When the book was first translated into English in 1991 the publisher thought that the then-new (in English) author Murakami would be more accessible to readers if this work were heavily edited. Now that Murakami is well established and highly regarded it is thought that readers will have the patience to read a translation more representative of the original work. Nevertheless, the 1991 translation remains in-print (and may be preferred by some readers). Note also that the 1991 translation title had the two parts reversed and the 2024 translation restores the original title order. (All of this is explained in the "Translator's Afterward" to the 2024 edition.)

• Haruki Murakami. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Translated by Alfred Birnbaum. Kodansha International, 1991. New York: Vintage Books (Penguin Random House), 1993.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]

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Author Information :

• Haruki Murakami (b. 1949), Wikipedia English.
• 村上 春樹 (1949 –), Wikipedia Japan.
• Haruki Murakami, GoodReads.com.
• Haruki Murakami, Penguin Random House.
• Haruki Murakami, harukimurakami.com, Penguin Random House.
  This website has links to music playlists and reading group guides to accompany several of his works, and merch (t-shirts).

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Translator Information :

• Jay Rubin (b. 1941), Wikipedia.
• Jay Rubin, "The Other World of Murakami Haruki," Japan Quarterly, volume 39, number 4, 1991.
• Jay Rubin. Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words. London: Random House UK, 2002; Vintage UK, 2005.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; Amazon.com.]

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985), Wikipedia English.
• 世界の終りとハードボイルド・ワンダーランド [The End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland] (1985), Wikipedia Japan.
• End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland was awarded the Tanizaki Prize in 1985.
• 街と、その不確かな壁 [The city and its uncertain walls], a 1980 novella that provided the basis for the "End of the World" component of the 1985 novel End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland. Although printed in a literary magazine in 1980 it has not been reprinted in any short story collection or collected works editions.
  That short story was also Murakami's starting point for his most recently published novel, 街とその不確かな壁 (2023), English translation The City and Its Uncertain Walls (2024).
  • Haruki Murakami. The City and Its Uncertain Walls. Translated by Philip Gabriel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf (Penguin Random House), 2024.
    [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
• Japanese literature: Postwar literature (1945–onwards), Wikipedia English.
• 日本の近現代文学史 [History of modern Japanese literature], Wikipedia Japan.

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Comments :

• Many of the websites I linked to above refer to the earlier 1991 translation by Alfred Birnbaum, especially noticeable in GoodReads.com and English Wikipedia. There are many differences in details between that older translation and the newer 2024 Jay Rubin translation that are especially noticeable in translation terminology changes. For example: (1) the name of the INKlings (1991) becomes Murks (2024); (2) the Professor/Old Scientist (1991) becomes the Doctor (2024); (3) the speaking style of the Doctor (2024) is more straightforward while in the older version he is represented as using archaic phrasing and expressions (this may have been the style in the original Japanese version of the novel but the 1991 attempt to provide a corresponding English language version was considered awkward and unsuccessful so Jay Rubin dropped that for the 2024 translation).
• To be honest, my opinions about this book lean more towards the views represented in the One Star reviews on GoodReads.com (ignoring the accusations of sexism and misogyny) while I think the Four and Five Star reviewers sound like Murakami cultists who can see no wrong in his work; the Four and Five Star reviews do a good job explaining the work but I'm dubious about its profundity and quality as a work of art. I enjoyed the two short story collections by Murakami that I have read so far (The Elephant Vanishes and after the quake). Elsewhere I have noticed that commentators on Murakami tend to say that certain of his novels are better starting points for initial encounters with Murakami and other novels are worse; perhaps End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland is not a good starting point for long-form Murakami fiction.

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Machado de Assis, The Looking-Glass: Essential Stories (2022)

Machado de Assis.
The Looking-Glass: Essential Stories.
Translated by Daniel Hahn.
London: Pushkin Press, 2022.

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

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Author Information :

• Machado de Assis (1839 – 1908), Wikipedia.
• Machado de Assis, GoodReads.com.
• Brazilian literature: Realism, Wikipedia.

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Contents of The Looking-Glass: Essential Stories :

1. The Fortune-Teller [A Cartomante], 1884.
2. The Posthumous Portrait Gallery [Galeria Postuma], 1884.
3. The Loan [O Emprestimo], 1881.
4. The Tale of the Cabriolet [Anedota do Cabriolet], 1905.
5. The Stick [O Casa da Vara], 1891.
6. The Secret Case [A Causa Secreta], 1885.
7. The Canon, or Metaphysics of Style [O Conego ou Metafisica do Estilo], 1885.
8. The Alienist [O Alienista], 1881-1882.
9. The Looking-Glass [O Espelho], 1882.
10. Midnight Man [Missa do Galo], 1893.

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Other recent editions of Machado de Assis's stories in English translation :

• Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. The Alienist and Other Stories of Nineteenth-Century Brazil. Translated by John Charles Chasteen. Hackett Classics. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2013.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com]
• Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. Stories. Translated by Rhett McNeil. Dallas: Dalkey Archive Press, 2014.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com]
• Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. The Collected Stories of Machado de Assis. Translated by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson. New York: Liveright (W. W. Norton & Company), 2018.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com]
• Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. Machado de Assis: 26 Stories. Translated by Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson. New York: Liveright (W. W. Norton & Company), 2019.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com]

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Shakespeare, Othello (2006)

William Shakespeare.
Othello, the Moor of Venice.
Edited by Michael Neill.
Book Series: The Oxford Shakespeare.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

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

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

Some other recent editions of Othello :

• William Shakespeare. Othello, Revised Edition. Edited by E.A.J. Honigmann. The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• William Shakespeare. Othello. Edited by Edward Pechter. Norton Critical Editions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2017.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• William Shakespeare. Othello, Third Edition. Edited by Norman Sanders. The New Cambridge Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

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Editor: Michael Neill

• Michael Neill, Emeritus Professor, English and Drama, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
• Michael Neill was also Professor of Early Modern Literature at the University of Kent.
• Michael Neill (b. 1942), OCLC WorldCat Entities.
• Neill, Michael, 1942-, The Library of Congress, LC Name Authority File (LCNAF).
• Sam Neill (b. 1947), Wikipedia; actor; brother of Michael Neill.

Literary Analysis by Michael Neill:

• Michael Neill, editor. John Ford: Critical Re-Visions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988, 2010.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Michael Neill. Issues of Death: Mortality and Identity in English Renaissance Tragedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Michael Neill. Putting History to the Question: Power, Politics, and Society in English Renaissance Drama. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
  (A collection of Neill's scholarly articles, at least three of which address Othello.)
• Michael Neill and David Schalkwyk, editors. The Oxford Handbook of Shakespearean Tragedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

Some Other Plays Edited by Michael Neill:

• John Marston. The Selected Plays of John Marston. Edited by MacDonald P. Jackson and Michael Neill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• William Shakespeare. Anthony and Cleopatra. Edited by Michael Neill. The Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994, 2008.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Philip Massinger. The Renegado. Edited by Michael Neill. Arden Early Modern Drama. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• Thomas Kyd. The Spanish Tragedy. Edited by Michael Neill. Norton Critical Editions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• John Webster. The Duchess of Malfi. Edited by Michael Neill. Norton Critical Editions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2015.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]
• George Etherege. The Man of Mode. Edited by Michael Neill. Methuen Drama. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.
  [Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com.]

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Wikipedia Articles:

Shakespeare and Othello :

• William Shakespeare (1564–1616).
• Othello, written sometime during the period 1602–1604; first documented performance 1604; first printed in 1622 (Quarto); also printed 1623 (First Folio).
• Chronology of Shakespeare's plays: Othello (1603–1604).
• Shakespearean tragedy.

Venice versus Ottoman Conflict :

The narrative frame of Othello involves a Sixteenth Century military leader in the service of the Republic of Venice going on an expedition against an Ottoman naval fleet in the area of Cyprus. While these large scale historical events provide a background for the events of the play, of course, they have little to do with the play's action and themes which focus on the personal machinations of the character Iago against his commander Othello. Nevertheless, here are some articles that explain the historical Sixteenth Century conflict between Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Presumably the original audiences of Othello, during the decade of the 1600s, had some historical awareness of the events of the 1570s. Indeed, editor Michael Neill writing in Appendix A "The Date of the Play" mentions (pages 399-400) that the new king James I was an avid student of the wars against the Turks having published in 1591 a poem about the Battle of Lepanto. And an important piece of evidence used in the dating of the composition of Othello is the 1603 publication of Richard Knolles' Generall Historie of the Turkes. So I think this history should not be ignored.
• Republic of Venice, 697–1797.
• Republic of Venice: 16th century: League of Cambrai, the loss of Cyprus, and Battle of Lepanto.
• Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573).
• Battle of Lepanto, 1571.
~~~~~~~~~~
• Ottoman wars in Europe: 1522–1573: Rhodes, Malta and the Holy League.
• Ottoman wars in Europe: 1570–1571: Conquest of Cyprus.
• Ottoman–Habsburg wars: War in the Mediterranean.
~~~~~~~~~~
• Ottoman Empire: Expansion and peak (1453–1566).
• Classical Age of the Ottoman Empire, 1453–1566.
• Ottoman Empire: Stagnation and reform (1566–1827).
• Transformation of the Ottoman Empire, Era of Transformation, c. 1550 to c. 1700.

English Renaissance Literature, Drama :

• English Renaissance, 16th - 17th Centuries.
• English literature: English Renaissance (1500–1660).
• Elizabethan literature.
• English literature: Jacobean period (1603–1625).
• English Renaissance theatre.

England during Shakespeare's Time :

• Tudor period, 1485–1603.
• Elizabethan era, 1558–1603.
• Elizabethan government.
• Elizabethan Religious Settlement.
• English society: Tudor society.
• Elizabeth I (1533–1603); Queen of England and Ireland 1558–1603.
• Elizabeth I: Later years.
• Stuart period, 1603–1714.
• Jacobean era, 1603–1625.
• James VI and I (1566–1625); King of Scotland as James VI 1567–1625; King of England and Ireland as James I 1603–1625.
• Early modern Britain, 16th – 18th Centuries.

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Coelho, The Alchemist (1988; 1993; 2014)

Paulo Coelho.
The Alchemist.
Translated by Alan R. Clarke.
New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993, 2014.
Originally published as: O Alquimista, Rio de Janiero: Editora Rocca Ltd, 1988.

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

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Author Information and Wikipedia Articles :

• Paulo Coelho (b. 1947), Wikipedia.
• Paulo Coelho, GoodReads.com.
• The Alchemist (1988), Wikipedia.
• Brazilian literature: Contemporary, Wikipedia.

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Johnson, Train Dreams (2002; 2011)

Denis Johnson.
Train Dreams.
New York: Picador (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers), 2011, 2012.
Originally published in The Paris Review, Summer 2002.

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

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Author Information and Wikipedia Articles :

• Denis Johnson, Macmillan Publishers.
• Denis Johnson (1949 – 2017), Wikipedia.
• Train Dreams (2002; 2011), Wikipedia.
• American literature: Contemporary fiction, Wikipedia.

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FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1859; 2009)

Edward FitzGerald.
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, the Astronomer-Poet of Persia.
Edited by Daniel Karlin.
Book Series: Oxford World's Classics.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009, 2010.

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

Book Series: Oxford World's Classics.

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Editor: Daniel Karlin

• Danny Karlin, Emeritus Professor of English Literature, Department of English, University of Bristol.
• Daniel Karlin (b. 1953), Wikipedia.

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Wikipedia Articles:

• Edward FitzGerald (1809 – 1883).
• Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1859).
• British literature: Victorian poetry.
• English poetry: Victorian poetry.
• Omar Khayyam (1048 - 1131).
• Persian literature.
• Persian literature in Western culture.
• Jessie Cadell (1844 – 1884).
  Cadell's 1879 review "The True Omar Khayyam" from Frazier's Magazine is included in Appendix I, "Critical Responses to the Rubáiyát in FitzGerald's Lifetime", of the Oxford World's Classics edition. Her review was the first to discuss the multi-author nature of the more than 1,000 quatrain source materials accumulated over the centuries under the name Khayyam and documented FitzGerald's manipulation of those materials.
  (That is, FitzGerald's work is a fine piece of 19th Century English poetry; it is not the work of a 12th Century Persian poet.)

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Some Other Translations :

• The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam. Translated by Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs. London: Allen Lane, 1979; London: Penguin Classics, 1981; corrected edition 2004.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
• The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam: A New Translation from the Persian. Translated by Juan Cole. London: I.B. Tauris (Bloomsbury Publishing), 2020.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]

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Toomer, Cane (1923; 2011)

Jean Toomer.
Cane.
In Harlem Renaissance: Five Novels of the 1920s.
Edited by Rafia Zafar.
Book Series: Library of America, number 217.
New York: The Library of America, 2011.

Book Information : Publisher, Harlem Renaissance box set; Publisher, Harlem Renaissance: Five Novels of the 1920s; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com: Harlem Renaissance box set; GoodReads.com: Harlem Renaissance: Five Novels of the 1920s; GoodReads.com: Cane only; Amazon.com: Harlem Renaissance box set; Amazon.com: Harlem Renaissance: Five Novels of the 1920s; Amazon.com: Cane (Penguin Classics); Amazon.com: Cane (Norton Critical Edition).

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Author and Editor Information :

• Jean Toomer (1894 – 1967).
• Jean Toomer GoodReads.com.
• Rafia Zafar, Department of English, Washington University in St. Louis.
• Rafia Zafar, Department of African & African American Studies, Washington University in St. Louis.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Cane (1923).
• African-American literature.
• Harlem Renaissance, 1920s and 1930s.
• Waldo Frank (1889 – 1967), edited Toomer's Cane; and Margaret Naumburg (1890 – 1983), wife of Waldo Frank from 1917 to 1924.

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Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954; 2016)

William Golding.
Lord of the Flies: Casebook Edition: Text, Notes & Criticism.
Edited by James R. Baker and Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr.
New York: Penguin Books (Penguin Random House), 2016.
Lord of the Flies was originally published: London: Faber and Faber, 1954.
This Casebook Edition compilation was first published in 1964.

Book Information : Publisher, Casebook Edition; Publisher, Penguin Deluxe Classics Edition; Publisher, Mass Market Paperback; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com, Mass Market Paperback; Amazon.com, Penguin Deluxe Classics Edition; Amazon.com, Casebook Edition.

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Author Information :

• William Golding (1911–1993), Wikipedia.
• 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded to William Golding, Wikipedia.
• William Golding, Nobel Prize in Literature 1983, The Nobel Prize.
• William Golding, Nobel Prize lecture, The Nobel Prize, 7 December 1983.
• William Golding, Penguin Random House.
• William Golding, GoodReads.com.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Lord of the Flies (1954).
• Euripides (c.480 – c.406 BC), The Bacchae (405 BC).
• R. M. Ballantyne (1825 – 1894), The Coral Island (1857).
• Robinsonade, "a literary genre of fiction wherein the protagonist is suddenly separated from civilization".
• British literature: Late modernism: 1946–2000.
• Fable.
• Parable.
• Allegory.

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Notes :

• The Introduction by James R. Baker has a very clear explanation of the archetypal characters, symbolism, and mythological sources of the story. I recommend this Casebook Edition also for the additional 100 pages of interviews and essays that provide further details on the topics raised in Baker's Introduction.

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Smith, White Teeth (2000; 2025)

Zadie Smith.
White Teeth.
New York: Vintage International (Penguin Random House), 2025.
Originally published: London: Hamish Hamilton, 2000.

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

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Author Information :

• Zadie Smith (b. 1975), Wikipedia.
• Zadie Smith, Penguin Random House.
• Zadie Smith, GoodReads.com.
• Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• White Teeth (2000).
• British literature: 21st-century literature.

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Orwell, Animal Farm (1945)

George Orwell.
Animal Farm.
New York: Signet Classic, no date.
New York: Everyman's Library (Penguin Random House), 1993.
Originally published: London: Secker & Warburg, 1945.

Book Information : Publisher, Everyman's; Publisher, Everyman's UK; Publisher, USA paperback, 3 variants; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com, Everyman's; Amazon.com, Signet paperback.

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Wikipedia Articles and Other Items :

• George Orwell (1903–1950).
• Animal Farm (1945).
• Melvyn Bragg, Steven Connor, Mary Vincent, Robert Colls, "Animal Farm," In Our Time, BBC Radio 4, 29 September 2016.

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Notes :

• I previously read Animal Farm in November 2012. My blog post from that time is here (some links no longer work).
• My re-read of Animal Farm was prompted by the discussion of the book on the America This Week podcast by Walter Kirn and Matt Taibbi during late October / early November 2025.
  Some episodes:
  • Oct 27
  • Oct 31
  • Nov 3
  • Nov 6
  (This is probably not a complete list of episodes in which the book was discussed. This list also does not include subscriber-only material.)

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Shakespeare Update

A list of my posts on the plays of William Shakespeare, with post dates.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

English History Plays :

• King John, 23 July 2019.
• King Edward III, 22 February 2020.
• Richard II, 22 July 2021.
• Henry IV, Part 1, 27 February 2023.
• Henry IV, Part 2, 26 March 2023.
• Henry V, 15 April 2023.
• Henry VI, Part One, 22 September 2022.
• Henry VI, Part Two, 12 October 2022.
• Henry VI, Part Three, 27 November 2022.
• Richard III, 25 December 2022.
• Henry VIII, ### not read.
• Sir Thomas More, 11 April 2024.

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Comedy and Romance Plays :

• The Two Gentlemen of Verona, 28 August 2021.
• The Comedy of Errors, 08 September 2021.
• The Taming of the Shrew, 14 December 2021.
• A Midsummer Night's Dream, 26 December 2021.
• Love's Labour's Lost, 28 August 2022.
• The Merchant of Venice, 06 September 2022.
• The Merry Wives of Windsor, 14 May 2023.
• Much Ado About Nothing, 11 July 2023.
• As You Like It, 20 September 2023.
• Twelfth Night, 19 February 2024.
• Measure for Measure, 06 June 2024.
• All's Well That Ends Well, ### not read.
• Pericles, Prince of Tyre, ### not read.
• The Winter's Tale, ### not read.
• Cymbeline, ### not read.
• The Tempest, ### not read.
• Double Falsehood, ### not read.
• The Two Noble Kinsmen, ### not read.

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Tragedy Plays :

• Titus Andronicus, 17 January 2022.
• Romeo and Juliet, 15 July 2022.
• Julius Caesar, 15 July 2022.
• Hamlet, 31 December 2023.
• Troilus and Cressida, 15 March 2025.
• Othello, 19 December 2025.
• King Lear, ### not read.
• Timon of Athens, ### not read.
• Macbeth, ### not read.
• Antony and Cleopatra, ### not read.
• Coriolanus, ### not read.

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