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.

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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, currently reading.
• King Lear, ### not read.
• Timon of Athens, ### not read.
• Macbeth, ### not read.
• Antony and Cleopatra, ### not read.
• Coriolanus, ### not read.

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Le Guin, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Book of Cats (2025)

Ursula K. Le Guin.
Ursula K. Le Guin’s Book of Cats.
New York: Library of America, 2025.

Book Information : Publisher; Author's Website; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Author Information :

• Ursula K. Le Guin, official website.
• Ursula K. Le Guin's Blog.
• Ursula K. Le Guin (1929 – 2018), Wikipedia.

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Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937; 2006)

Zora Neale Hurston.
Their Eyes Were Watching God.
New York: Amistad (HarperCollins Publishers), 2006.
Originally published: Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1937.

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

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960).
• Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937).
• Eatonville, Florida.
• Belle Glade, Florida.
• 1928 Okeechobee hurricane.
• African-American literature.
• Harlem Renaissance, 1920s and 1930s.

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Penelope, The Monsters We Defy (2022)

Leslye Penelope.
The Monsters We Defy.
New York: Redhook (Hachette Book Group), 2022.

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

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Author Information :

• L. Penelope, author website.
• L. Penelope, My Imaginary Friends podcast.
  Also available at YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts.
• Leslye Penelope, YouTube channel.
  Has more than just her My Imaginary Friends podcast.
• Leslye Penelope, Instagram.
• L. Penelope, GoodReads.
• leslyepenelope, X / Twitter.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Aspects of The Monsters We Defy :
  • Fantasy.
  • Historical fantasy.
  • Supernatural fiction.
  • Paranormal fiction.
  • Hoodoo.
  • Audie Award for Fantasy: 2020s; The Monsters We Defy won this award for 2023.
• Historical People and Events mentioned in The Monsters We Defy :
  • Red Summer, 1919.
  • Washington race riot of 1919.
  • Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932), The Conjure Woman (1899).
  • W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963), The Souls of Black Folk (1903).
  • Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950), founder of The Journal of Negro History.
  • Jean Toomer (1894–1967), Cane (1923).
  • The New Negro (1925), edited by Alain Locke (1885–1954).
  • Langston Hughes (1901–1967).
  • John Whitelaw Lewis (1867–19##); Industrial Savings Bank founded 1913; Whitelaw Hotel built 1919.
• General Cultural History and Background :
  • African-American literature.
  • Black Renaissance in D.C., 1919 to late 1920s.
  • Harlem Renaissance, 1920s and 1930s.

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Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential (2000; 2007)

Anthony Bourdain.
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Updated Edition.
New York: Ecco (HarperCollins Publishers), 2007.
First published: New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2000.

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

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Anthony Bourdain (1956 – 2018).
• Kitchen Confidential (2000).

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Krakauer, Into the Wild (1996; 2015)

Jon Krakauer.
Into the Wild.
New York: Vintage Books (Penguin Random House), 2015.
First published: New York: Villard Books (Random House), 1996.

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

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Jon Krakauer (b. 1954).
• Into the Wild (1996).
• Chris McCandless (1968 – 1992).
• Chris McCandless Reading List:
  • Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862).
  • Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), War and Peace (1869).
  • Jack London (1876–1916).
  • Boris Pasternak (1890–1960), Doctor Zhivago (1957).
• Everett Ruess (1914–c.1934), another young man who enjoyed solo wilderness expeditions.
• Human condition.

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O'Brien, The Things They Carried (1990)

Tim O'Brien.
The Things They Carried.
New York: Mariner Books (HarperCollins Publishers), 2009.
First published: New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1990.

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

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Tim O'Brien (b. 1946).
• The Things They Carried (1990).
• American literature: Post-World War II fiction.
• American literature: Contemporary fiction.
• Vietnam War, 1955 – 1975.
• Quảng Ngãi province.

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Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (2020)

Olga Tokarczuk.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead.
Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.
New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House), 2019, 2020.
Originally published as: Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych, Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2009.
First English language edition: London: Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2018.

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

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Olga Tokarczuk (b. 1962).
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, 2009, English translation first published 2018.
• Antonia Lloyd-Jones (b. 1962), translator.
• International Booker Prize: 2019; Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead was on the Shortlist.
• 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded to Olga Tokarczuk.
• Polish literature.
• William Blake (1757–1827).
  • Proverbs of Hell.
  • Auguries of Innocence.
  • The Mental Traveller.

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Miscellaneous Book Reviews :

• Sarah Perry, "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk – the entire cosmic catastrophe," The Guardian, 21 Sept 2018.
• Stephanie Sy-Quia, "Meat Is Murder: On Olga Tokarczuk's Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead," Los Angeles Review of Books, 15 November 2019.

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Other Articles by and about Olga Tokarczuk :

• Olga Tokarczuk, "[Musings] How Translators Are Saving the World," Korean Literature Now, 29 June 2019.
• Ruth Franklin, "Olga Tokarczuk’s Novels Against Nationalism," The New Yorker, 29 July 2019.
• Olga Tokarczuk, "The Tender Narrator," Nobel Prize lecture, 7 December 2019.
• Jennifer Croft, "Fulfilling the Mission: A Conversation with Olga Tokarczuk’s Translators," Los Angeles Review of Books, 7 December 2020.
• Marek Makowski, "Reading “The Books of Jacob” with — and Against — the Riverhead Reader’s Guide: A Reader’s Guide," Los Angeles Review of Books, 1 March 2022.

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King, The Long Walk (2025)

Stephen King.
The Long Walk.
New York: Scribner (Simon & Schuster), 2025.
(Originally published in 1979 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.)

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

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Stephen King (b. 1947).
• The Long Walk (1979), originally published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.
• Richard Bachman, pseudonym of Stephen King.
• Death drive, suggested by a character as a motivating factor for participation in the Long Walk.
• Young adult literature.

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McBride, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (2023)

James McBride.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House), 2023.

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

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Wikipedia Articles :

• James McBride (b. 1957).
• James McBride, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (2023).
• James McBride, The Good Lord Bird (2013) won the National Book Award for Fiction.
• James McBride, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother (1995).

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Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions (2011)

Kurt Vonnegut.
Breakfast of Champions.
In Novels & Stories 1963–1973.
Edited by Sidney Offit.
Book Series: Library of America, number 216.
New York: The Library of America, 2011.

Book Information : Publisher; Publisher, slipcase edition; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com: Novels & Stories 1963–1973; GoodReads.com: Breakfast of Champions only; Amazon.com: Novels & Stories 1963–1973; Amazon.com: Breakfast of Champions only.

Novels & Stories 1963–1973 also contains three short stories:

• "Welcome to the Monkey House," 1968
• "Fortitude," 1968 [actually a play / screenplay]
• "The Big Space Fuck," 1972

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007).
• Breakfast of Champions (1973).
• "Welcome to the Monkey House" (1968).
• Fortitude (1968).
• Sidney Offit (b. 1928).

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Tokarczuk, Flights (2019)

Olga Tokarczuk.
Flights.
Translated by Jennifer Croft.
New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House), 2019.
Originally published as: Bieguni, Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2007.
First English language edition: London: Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2017.

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

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Olga Tokarczuk (b. 1962).
• Flights, 2007, English translation first published 2017.
• From the Wikipedia article Flights : "The original Polish title [Bieguni] refers to runaways (runners, bieguni), a sect of Old Believers [Russian Orthodox Church], who believe that being in constant motion is a trick to avoid evil."
• Flights is described as a fragmentary novel; this article list several well known novels that are examples of that style.
  [Personally I think it's better described as a collection of short stories.]
• International Booker Prize: 2018 awarded to Flights.
• 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Olga Tokarczuk.
• Jennifer Croft (b. 1981 or 1982), translator.

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Miscellaneous Book Reviews :

• anonymous, "Flights," Kirkus Reviews, 14 May 2018.
• Kapka Kassabova, "Flights by Olga Tokarczuk review – the ways of wanderers," The Guardian, 3 June 2017.
• James Wood, "'Flights,' a Novel That Never Settles Down, The New Yorker, 24 September 2018.
• Adam Mars-Jones, "Constellationality," London Review of Books, 5 October 2017.
• Eileen Battersby, "Complex Harmonies: On Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights," Los Angeles Review of Books, 11 April 2018.
• Shazia Hafiz Ramji, "A Soaring Novel in 116 'Flights', Chicago Review of Books, 31 August 2018.
• Anna Badkhen, "The View from 35,000 Feet," New York Review of Books, 4 December 2018.

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