Category Archives: Literary

THe 50 in 52 Project Quote of the Day

The 50 in 52 Project Quote of the Day!

“How is it that from beauty I have derived a type of unlovliness?—from the covenant of peace, a simile of sorrow?”
from “Berenice” by Edgar Allan Poe

What is the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge?

I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) to raise money for RAINN.org (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network).

I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. You choose the amount. You don’t have to pay until after 6/1/19. To sponsor me & make a pledge, click HERE.

For more info, see the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

Click HERE for links to all the 50 in 52 posts on this blog.

Thank you!

#50-in-52

#RAINN

 

 

The 50 in 52 Project continues…I finished Wuthering Heights…Edgar Allan Poe is next!

I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year as part of a fundraiser for www.RAINN.org.

I’ve just finished the 4th book, Wuthering Heights…only 46 more to go!

Next up is….25 Selected Short Stories (1832-1849) by Edgar Allan Poe

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues! (scroll down for more info)

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston in 1809 and died in Baltimore in 1849, but Philadelphia (here comes a swell of hometown pride) is home to the Poe House. Poe sold his work to magazines, such as the Saturday Evening Post and Godey’s Lady’s Book. Poe only published one novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, although he did release a collection of poetry and one of short stories during his lifetime. As this is a list of fiction, I’ll be focusing on his short stories. To get the full flavor and range, I started to put together a list of “greatest hits,” per se, and Edward Pettit of the Rosenbach Museum helped me finish it. Often labeled the master of the macabre, he is so much more than that. One book, Papers on Poe: Essays in Honor of John Ward Ostrom, puts forth arguments for him as being either an existentialist or a transcendentalist (or even better, a psycho-transcendentalist). Poe’s influence on popular culture continues to be felt and even his name conjures images of the gothic. *You can find a list of the 25 stories are posted at the bottom of this post.

The 50 in 52 Project is a fundraiser for RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19). To sponsor me, click HERE.

For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the top posting on the on the 50 in 52 Facebook page.

Click HERE for links to every 50 in 52 post on this blog.

 

List of Poe stories (in chronological order):

“Metzengerstein”

“Ms. Found in a Bottle”

“Berenice”

“Morella”

“Ligeia”

“The Man that Was Used Up”

“The Fall of the House of Usher”

“William Wilson”

“The Man of the Crowd”

“The Murders in the Rue Morgue”

“A Descent into the Maelström”

“The Oval Portrait”

“The Masque of the Red Death”

“The Mystery of Marie Roget”

“The Pit and the Pendulum”

“The Tell-Tale Heart”

“The Gold-Bug”

“The Black Cat”

“The Premature Burial”

“The Purloined Letter”

“The Imp of the Perverse”

“The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether”

“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”

“The Cask of Amontillado”

“Hop-Frog”

 

 

 

The 50 in 52 Project Quote of the Day

The 50 in 52 Project Quote of the Day

“Well, if I cannot keep Heathcliff for my friend – if Edgar will be mean and jealous, I’ll try to break their hearts by breaking my own.”

Cathy in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

What is the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge?

I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) to raise money for RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network).

I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. You choose the amount. You don’t have to pay until after 6/1/19. To sponsor me & make a pledge, click HERE.

For more info, see the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.  or see the first 50 in 52 blog post. Click HERE for links to all the 50 in 52 blog posts.

Thank you!

PS The picture is a rendering of Emily Brontë.

#50-in-52
#RAINN

 

 

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues!…I’ve finished Jane Eyre, and it’s time for Wuthering Heights

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge continues…
I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year as part of a fundraiser for www.RAINN.org.

I’ve finished the 3rd book, Jane Eyre…only 47 more to go!

Next up is….Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847),

(Scroll to the bottom for more info on the fundraiser.)

Emily was born in 1818 in Northern England. Her sisters are the now-famous authors Charlotte (Jane Eyre) and Anne (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall). Emily is considered to be one of the giants of Victorian era literature, even though she only published one novel, Wuthering Heights, which came out a year before she died of tuberculosis. She was 30-years-old. Like her sisters, Emily used a pseudonym, Ellis Bell. The novel polarized critics at the time, as its depictions of class struggle, gender inequality, and religious sanctimony flew in the face of Victorian conventions and ideals. In the book, Emily questioned the very definition(s) of morality. The character, Heathcliff, always fascinated me. His transformation from a dark romantic figure into a vengeful ghost of a man is mesmerizing—and more complicated than it sounds. SIDE NOTE: Kate Bush’s wonderful 1st single was “Wuthering Heights.” I’ve posted the video below the book cover photo.

The 50 in 52 Project is a fundraiser for RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19). I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. Sponsors don’t have to pay anything until after the Challenge finishes (6/1/19). To sponsor me, click HERE. For more info and a list of the 50 books, go to the top posting on the official 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

Click HERE for a complete list of 50 in 52 Project blog posts!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW3gKKiTvjs

 

50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge – reading list substitution

To my 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge sponsors (and to those thinking about sponsoring me)…

I would like to make a substitution on my list of 50 books. When I decided to start this fundraiser for www.RAINN.org, I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 – 6/1/19). Making the list took forever. Eventually I had to make rules: just modern works of fiction, from the year 1800-present, and only books that were written in English. (I’d never be able to narrow down the list if I included translated literature! Maybe for the next Reading Challenge!)

I wanted my list to include various forms of fiction. Although most of the list is made up of novels & novellas, I also included uncollected short stories (Poe), a short story collection (Carver), 2 plays, and 1 graphic novel. But there was one form I ignored: screenplays. I tried to include one, but at the time it just didn’t seem to fit. Having written a screenplay, it bugged me that I didn’t have at least one on the list. So what I would like to do is take off Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and add Shakespeare in Love: A Screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard. I’m sad to lose Ishiguro, but the list feels more complete with Shakespeare in Love.

If any of my sponsors object to my substitution, please let me know!

Michael-Patrick Harrington

 

To sponsor me, go HERE.

For more info, please visit the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.

Click HERE for a list of links of to every 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge blog posts.

#50-in-52
#RAINN

 

 

 

The 50 in 52 Project Quote of the Day

The 50 in 52 Project Quote of the Day!
 
“Abbot, I think, gave me credit for being a sort of infantine Guy Hawkes.”
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
 
I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) to raise money for RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network).
 
I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book I read. You choose the amount. You don’t have to pay until after 6/1/19. To sponsor me & make a pledge, click HERE.
 
For more info, see the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page.
To read all the 50 in 52 Project posts on this blog, click HERE.
Thank you!
 

The 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge Fundraiser for RAINN – I finished Frankenstein…bring on Jane Eyre!

I’ve finished the second book, Frankenstein…48 more to go!

 

(scroll to the bottom for more info)
 

So next up is….Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847)

 

Charlotte Brontë was one of the three Brontë sisters that survived into adulthood. All three wrote classics of English literature (e.g., Emily wrote Wuthering Heights, her only novel, and Anne wrote The Tenant of Wildfel Hall.)
 
Jane Eyre is a bildingsroman, a German word that in literary criticism has come to mean a “coming of age story.” Two of the major struggles in this novel involve romantic love vs. individualism and autonomy…and tending to one’s spirit (through religion) vs. being aware of bodily pleasures and the practical consequences of the tenants of her faith.
 
The edition I am reading (from Bantam Classics) has an introduction by Joyce Carol Oates!
 
I challenged myself to read 50 books in one year (6/1/18 – 6/1/19) as a fundraiser to benefit www.RAINN.org, the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network.
 
I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book read. You can pledge $1, $2, any amount you like, and you won’t need to pay until after 6/1/19, when you’ll receive an invoice based on the number of books I’ve read. To sponsor me & pledge, click HERE.
For more info & yo see the complete list of 50 books, go to the post pinned to the top of the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page or follow this blog. Click HERE for links of the allof the 0 in 52 Project blog posts.
Thank you!

The 50 in 52 Project Quote of the Day

The 50 in 52 Project Quote of the Day

“If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free; but now we are moved by every wind that blows and a chance word or scene that that word may convey us.”

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1818)

I NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE!
I challenged myself to read 50 books in 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) as part of the 50 in 52 Project Reading challenge fundraiser to benefit RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network).

I’m asking folks to sponsor me & pledge a $ amount per book read (any amount). You’ll receive an invoice after 6/1/19 based on the number of books I read. To sponsor me, click HERE.

Please visit the 50 in 52 Facebook page (www.facebook.com/50.in.52.Project) and click LIKE.
The post pinned to to the top of the page has tons of info, as well as the list of my 50 books.

Click HERE for links to all of the 50 in 52 Project blog posts.

#50-in52-Project

#RAINN

 

The 50 in 52 Project fundraiser: I finished Pride and Prejudice…bring on Frankenstein

I’ve finished the first book, Pride and Prejudice…49 more to go!
THE 50 IN 52 PROJECT READING CHALLENGE FUNDRAISER CONTINUES!
(scroll to the bottom for more info)
 
Before I switch to the next work, one final Jane Austen quote:
“…a good memory is unpardonable.”
Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice
 
So next up is….Frankenstein;, or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly (1818)
 
With a foot in the Gothic and Romantic movements, it is hard to believe she started writing the novella when she was 18. (It was published when she was 20.) The circumstances of its birth are generally well-known, but just in case…Mary Wollstonecraft Goodwin, her beau, the mighty poet Percy Bysshe Shelly, and another great poet, Lord Byron, found themselves deep in conversation about the occult, and Bryon made a challenge: “We will each write a ghost story.” Mary was the only one to finish. Fans of Milton will enjoy the analogy between the Frankenstein’s monster and Lucifer in Paradise Lost.
 
Final note: The monster is not called Frankenstein. That somehow became his name by the time of Universal’s 5th Frankenstein film, Frankenstein vs. the Wolfman. In Shelley’s work, the creature is “it” and “the monster.” I think he’s even called “the devil” and “the abortion.” (It’s been a while since I read it.) A few years ago, my friend Margaux Kent‘s first son, Søren, really got into monsters, and I told him that the creature is not called Frankenstein; better to call him Frankenstein’s monster. A year or two later, I heard Søren correct his younger brother, Silas. “No, it’s Frankenstein’s monster!”
 
THE 50 IN 52 PROJECT – Reading Challenge Fundraiser!
I challenged myself to read 50 books in one year (6/1/18 – 6/1/19) as a fundraiser to benefit RAINN, the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network.
 
I’m asking folks to sponsor me by pledging a $ amount per book read. You can pledge $1, $2, any amount you like, and you won’t need to pay until after 6/1/19, when you’ll receive an invoice based on the number of books I’ve read. To sponsor me & pledge, click HERE.
 
To see the complete list of 50 books or get more info, go to the 50 in 52 Project Facebook page or on this blog. Click HERE for a complete list of all the 50 in 52 blog posts.
Thank you!
 
#50-in-52-Project
#RAINN
 
www.facebook.com/50.in.52.Project
 
 

The 50 in 52 Project Quote of the Day

The 50 in 52 Project Quote of the Day!

“You shall not, for the sake of one individual, change the meaning of principle and integrity, nor endeavour to persuade yourself or me, that selfishness is prudence, and insensibility of danger, security for happiness.”

Elizabeth Bennet
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813)

I NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE!
I challenged myself to read 50 books in on 1 year (6/1/18 to 6/1/19) as part of the 50 in 52 Project Reading challenge fundraiser to benefit RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network)..

I’m asking folks to sponsor me & pledge a $ per book read (any amount. You’ll receive an invoice after 6/1/19 based on the number of books I read. To sponsor me, click HERE.

Please visit the 50 in 52 Facebook page and click LIKE. The post pinned to to the top of the page has tons of info and the list of my 50 books:.

Thank you!

PS After the Jane Austen picture, there is a link to all the 50 in 52 Project blog posts!

#50-in52-Project

#RAINN

Links to all of the 50 in 52 Project Reading Challenge 2018-2019 blog posts