u/lazylittlelady

You read, you played, you guessed, you found out! Welcome to the result post of semi-annual BBBB challenge to challenge you about everything we read! I guess this was a real brain buster because the best and winning score was about a D average. OOOooops! Was it really that hard??

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What you want to know!

Who won?

1. Winner: u/ChronicallyLatte Congratulations most hearty from the Ministry! You raised the banner with your investigative skills, which are ace! 🏆

2. Second Place: u/fixtheblue Considering you read all the books, we are not surprised here! Well done!! 🥈

3. Joint Third Place: u/toomanytequieros and u/Comprehensive-Fun47 Not at all very far behind Fixy! Not at all bad!! 💐💐

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Hardest/Easiest/Etc Questions?

Everyone got this one! Everyone! "Consider your soul when posing for a friend" -The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

No one got this one! No one... ""Did you know that they are not owned by any country?" -North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Most controversial! Yes, we got a pretty even split on this! Well, the Ministry is tricky! "The main character of this story is a nobody" -The Odyssey by Homer

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What are all the answers?

You want them, you've got them right here.

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What do I get for participating?

A new and fascinating emoji will be displayed besides the top 3! For everyone else, the joy of participation! Say it proudly and brag about it. This was apparently so hard the best in class barely passed. Coming soon!

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Did you enjoy the challenge? What answers are you furious about? Did you like this mix of content, title play and tongue in cheeky clues?

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Thank you for participating and we hope you have a wonderful rest of the day. The Ministry of Merriment will be back for the Winter Challenge so keep your wits about you as you read the rest of the year! We can do better than a D, right?💞🔎?!😇 ✨

Welcome back to The Aeneid! Guess who's back-back again-yes, Dido!

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Housekeeping:

Schedule

Marginalia (combined for Greek and Roman epic poems)

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Book 5 find Aeneas fleeing the scene of his abandonment and the winds take them to visit their fellow refugees in Sicily. They arrive just in time to commemorate Anchises 1 year anniversary of his death with some contests of skill. All fun and games until the Trojan women start burning the ships with a little help from Iris. Oops. The gang splits up. The gods chat.

Book 6 finds Aeneas confused until he meets with Diana and Apollo's Sybil. Offerings, a chat with Apollo and then, off to the underworld! A cute-meet with Achesis and some stuff about the future of Rome but not before seeing some comrades from the war and crying over Dido.

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Next week we read Books 7 & 8 with u/IraelMrad ! See you in the questions.

Welcome back to Poetry Corner this late August day. I'm taking you back into the distant past for this one. Let's start with this introduction, shall we, just to place ourselves historically.

"To be sure, Greece and Rome had been, but they had passed away, or at least their greatness had, gone and apparently left no trace. While these Japanese ladies were writing, Europe was in the full blackness of her darkest ages. Germany was founding the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation," characteristically founding it with the mailed fist; Moorish civilization was at its height in Spain; Robert Capet was king of poor famine-scourged France; Ethelred the Unready was ruling in England and doing his best to keep off the Danes by payment and massacre. Later, while the "Sarashina Diary" was being written, King Canute was sitting in his armchair and giving orders to the sea. Curious, curious world! So far apart from the one of the Diaries. And to think that even five hundred years later Columbus was sending letters into the interior of Cuba, addressed to the Emperor of Japan!" - AMY LOWELL, introduction to "Court of Ladies of Old Japan*"

And what ladies were writing and creating Japanese language and literature in the imperial court! Japan had long looked to China for culture, importing the language for the court and copying it's poetic and literary format. Tang-era China gave Japan knowledge in medicine, Buddhism, art and ties grew from ceremonial to commercial. However, things were changing during the Heian Period (794-1185) and certainly that change was driven by external, such as the An Lushan rebellion in China (please recall Du Fu's Poetry Corner of July 2024)and internal factors, such as moving the capital to Kyoto and the political power of the Fujiwara clan, which reached it's zenith under Fujiwara no Michinaga. And, as always, we cannot discount the power of poetry to shift culture and explain it.

So, let's talk about those ladies at court! They were writing in what was the vernacular Japanese of their era, Kana script while the men continued to write in classical Chinese at court. What I found fascinating is the Kana script was brought by a Buddhist monk, Kūkai, who not only founded the Shingon branch of Buddhism in Japan, but legendarily looked to Sanskrit to modernize Japanese writing, which was taken up by the ladies in the Heian court. The poetry the ladies were writing were in was Waka, a form that preceded the more famous haiku. Japan has severed ties with China, and because of its island isolation, was looking inward for inspiration and talent and creating a hybrid form of poetry with local and Chinese influences.

One of the most famous works in Waka is The Tale of Genji by this month's poet, writer of one of the world's very first novels! Lady Murasaki (973-1014/1025?) was rare among women because her father, Fujiwara no Tametoki, had actually educated her in classical Chinese, the language of court, when she showed an aptitude for it as a young girl. He himself was not only a respected scholar of Chinese classics but also a poet. And it was exceedingly rare for children to be raised in the paternal household, but she and her brother lived with their father. It was expected her brother, Nobunori, would enter government and that's why they began studies early. Her father did remarry and Murasaki had several half-siblings and stepmothers, one of which she was very close to, and which is the subject of today's poet fragments. What was even more unusual is that before her marriage, she travelled with her father to his postings around Japan.

Let's look a bit closer at her name. In that era, women's names were based on the position or rank of male relatives. Murasaki could possibly allude to the violet color of wisteria and Shikibu alludes to her father's position in the Shikibu-shō, the Ministry of Ceremonials. It's possible the Emperor referred to her in a 1007 diary entry as "Fujiwara no Kaoruko (Kyōshi)".

The facts we know are scant. She married in her mid-twenties or early thirties, and had a daughter, Daini no Sanmi, who perhaps collaborated on The Tale of Genji with her. Her daughter would also enter service at court and make her own name in poetry. Lady Murasaki's husband died two years into the marriage (one of many for him) of cholera. And her mourning perhaps led her to literature. It is legend that she was inspired by the August moon while in residence at Ishiyama-dera at Lake Biwa

With her family's reputation for being learned in literature and her Fujiwara family connections, it is no surprise she was invited to serve as a lady-in-waiting for Empress Shōshi at the imperial court, as a companion-tutor. During this period, there were two rival empresses, who lived apart. Each cultivated a salon in court to rival the other, which is where the lady writers came into their own. Other ladies writing during this time were Sei Shōnagon, author of The Pillow Book in Empress Teishi's court, Izumi Shikibu, in Empress Shōshi's court, along with fellow-poet, Akazome Emon and, of course, our poet. While in service, she continued writing. Each chapter would be copied and passed around by friends, which is how she gained her reputation as an author.

In court, life was removed from problems, inured from challenges and refined through extreme aesthetics, from the many-colored layers in a kimono to suit the season and the occasion to beautiful calligraphy and exchanging poetry and lovers. Waka poetry would become the lingua franca of court life, becoming the primary way to communicate between the sexes at court, who were segregated from one another, as well as among themselves. It was a golden age for literature and culture. Please enjoy the fragment I am sharing in this Poetry Corner to give you an idea of how they would communicate.

When the Emperor Ichijō died in 1011, Shōshi retired to one of the Fujiwara mansions on Lake Biwa and Lady Murasaki accompanied her. There is confusion on how long she lived after that, but what we do know is that her name would be immortal, as Shakespeare is to English, so is she to Japanese. She leaves behind not only the classic piece of literature that is Genji but her other poems and her court diary leave us a with an outstanding record of life during this era. Those ladies in court were instrumental in developing written Japanese. Lady Murasaki, in particular, would live on as a paragon of feminine virtue despite her irregular upbringing and is the subject of numerous artworks.

Lady Murasaki, writing in her diary:

"When my brother ... was a young boy learning the Chinese classics, I was in the habit of listening to him and I became unusually proficient at understanding those passages that he found too difficult to understand and memorize. Father, a most learned man, was always regretting the fact: 'Just my luck,' he would say, 'What a pity she was not born a man!" source

Helen McCullough on The Tale of Genji:

"The Tale of Genji "transcends both its genre and age. Its basic subject matter and setting—love at the Heian court—are those of the romance, and its cultural assumptions are those of the mid-Heian period, but Murasaki Shikibu's unique genius has made the work for many a powerful statement of human relationships, the impossibility of permanent happiness in love ... and the vital importance, in a world of sorrows, of sensitivity to the feelings of others." source

Fragments from 'The Diary of Lady Murasaki'

by Lady Murasaki Shikibu

(She (LM) is writing poetry in conversation with one of her stepmothers (SM), who promised to return to court "When the plum-tree blooms I shall come back")

LM: You gave me words of hope, are they not long delayed?

The plum-tree is remembered by the Spring,

Though it seemed dead with frost.

SM: Wait on, never forsake your hope,

For when the plum-tree is in flower

Even the unpromised, the unexpected, will come to you.

LM: Flowers are falling, yet I may see them again

when Spring returns.

But, oh, my longing for the dear person

who has departed from us forever!

SM (LM finds this in book she left behind): When you see the smoke floating up the valley of

Toribe Hill,

Then you will understand me, who

seemed as shadow-like

even while living.

Translation by Annie Shepley Omori and Kochi Doi (1920)

Some things to discuss might be the gentle and allegorical way the two ladies correspond about a mundane question that then becomes one that is more poignant. How does the plum tree communicate the transience of life? Can you get a sense of the role poetry formed in both correspondence and culture? Looking at the art in the Bonus Link #3, can you sense the connection that flower between the written word, the poet and the larger artistic movement and social ripple? Are you familiar with anything about court life during this time in Japanese history or Waka poetry? If you check out the Bonus Poems, which stand out to you?

Bonus Poem(s): Several poems by Lady Murasaki in both English and Japanese Waka

Bonus Link #1: The Genji Album (1510) held at Harvard University.

Bonus Link #2: More about the Heinan period in Japan.

Bonus Link #3: Some more Lady Murasaki art: at the Met, at the Smithsonian, Wiki commons, Art Institute of Chicago, Cleveland Museum of Art...you get the idea!

Bonus Link #4: Read the whole Diary here

If you missed last month's poem, you can find it here

So, here it is, the last book and it promises to be the least sexy one of all considering Circe is here to slay not seduce. She's taken over Dark Olympus and is baying for blood. Most of the home team has fled to the Lower City but are they even safe there?

Still, we have two intrepid and wily, will-they-or -won't- they, partners in conspiracy if not the sheets. Hermes and Atalanta are the only ones left to try and salvage some kind of peace. But will all this politicking keep them from one another? And Stalin Circe is apparently very sexy not just set on a murderous rampage...lovers to enemies to lovers or whatever.

I can't even Muse Watch™ this one...sorry. The city is in upheaval. We are reading this to complete the series and lay it to bed. Seductive Seditious Saturdays in September. NSFW maybe?

For the BINGO: Bonus Book, Female Author, Published in 2020's, LGBTQ+

Marginalia

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Schedule:

September 5: Start to Chapter 8

September 12: Chapter 9 to Chapter 15

September 19: Chapter 16 to Chapter 25

September 26: Chapter 26 to End

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All links will be found on here. See you in the discussions!

Welcome back to a very depressing section of The Mill on the Floss. Everything has gone wrong.

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Housekeeping:

Schedule

Marginalia

Illustrations from my edition : The Franklin Library, illustrated by Herbert Tauss.

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As you discuss, please use spoiler tags if you bring up details not included in the chapters of this book so far. While this is part of the Author Profile, we want to be respectful of those who have not read the full biography, so please be mindful of potential spoilers from the nonfiction reading, as well. You can use the format > !Spoiler text here! < (without any spaces between characters).

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Book 2, Chapter 5- Maggie's Second Visit: Although relation are still cool between Tom and Philip, Maggie's second visit helps to break the ice. Philip has a sweet moment of wishing for a sister like Maggie. The sword comes out as Tom tries to impress Maggie and it lands on Tom's foot.

Chapter 6-A Love-Scene: Philip sensitively divines Tom is worried about being lame and asks the doctor permission to tell him that he will recover. The ice is thawing between the two boys. With Tom in recovery, Maggie spends more time with Philip and they share a sweet moment and a kiss. We learn despite this scene, Tom and Philip do not become friends.

Chapter 7- The Golden Gates Are Passed: Time passes and friendships loosen with social constraint. Mr. Tulliver continues his lawsuit. Tom makes some progress at school and looks forward to finishing when Maggie shows up unexpectedly. She too had been away at school but was called by her father. Maggie brings sad news that not only did their father lose the lawsuit, but everything they have to repay the suit and he's suffered a fall. The Stelling's wish them well as they return home together.

Book 3: The Downfall, Chapter 1- What Had Happened at Home: We go back in time to get the bad news with Mr. Tulliver. He immediately starts planning how to fix the situation and sends a note to Maggie's school to call her back. He doesn't explain his situation or steps to his wife. The second day he gets the news that his leaseholder won't be able to help right before he has a riding accident. By the time Maggie gets home, her father has regained consciousness but can't recognize anyone but Maggie. The effort is too much of a strain and he's out again. The Dodson sisters come out and Maggie and Tom discuss Wakem owning the mortgage.

Chapter 2- Mrs. Tulliver's Teraphim, or Household Gods: The children are now in real time. They arrive home to find their furniture being valued by the bailiff. This hits Tom especially hard. They go to find Mrs. Tulliver, who is in the storeroom of best things, decrying her fate. Her sadness causes Tom to reflect on role of his father in their downfall and how he, Tom, could step up and take responsibility. Maggie, of course, is repelled by her mother's attitude and says so. Tom is aghast at her attitude but they reconcile by Mr. Tulliver's sick bed.

Chapter 3- the Family Council: All the aunts arrive to have a consultation. We learn Mr. Deane is up and coming in the world and can't attend. The sisters argue, discuss everything else and rejoice in slapping down their sister a little. The kids are called in so they can discuss Tom's education and future hardships. The group discusses why they can't give Tom and Maggie their inheritance now. Maggie can't hold back and gives them her whatall before they all agree Maggie is trouble. Mrs. Moss arrives to see her brother. She immediately brings up the three hundred pounds and her situation. The promissory note would implicate the Mosses as well in the bankruptcy case. Tom immediately remembers his father's wishes and there is a ruckus to find the note and destroy it so it's not called in.

Chapter 4- A Vanishing Gleam: They search the chest in Mr. Tulliver's room and accidently wake him up. He asks what is going on and greets his sister, pitties his wife and children and then gets overwrought. Tom knows to destroy the Moss note and find money for Luke, at the mill.

Chapter 5- Tom Applies His Knife to the Oyster: Tom goes to see uncle Deane for advice and employment. He is hopeful that he can change things for the better and takes the example of his uncles once being young and poor as positive reinforcement. He has an awkward run-in with a local on the way. When Tom finally gets an audience with his uncle Deane, it goes pear-shaped and he is berated for knowing Latin and not knowing accounting. Things are gloomy on the walk home and he takes his anger out on Maggie.

Chapter 6- Tending to Refute the Popular Prejudice again the Present of a Pocket-Knife: The household sale takes place which hits Mrs. Tulliver hard. Their maid, Kezia, takes charge. Tom receives a visit from an old friend, who has also changed! It's his old pal, Bob Jakin, who comes to give him help in this calamity. He describes what he is up to now and tries to give them 9 sovereigns. Maggie is horrified her books are gone but the siblings are both touched and unwilling to take Bob's money, vowing friendship with Bob.

Chapter 7- How a Hen Takes to Stratagem: Mrs. Tulliver takes into her head to speak with Wakem herself though her relatives don't agree. More things are put to sale but Mr. Tulliver is not with it enough to follow. Finally, Wakem and Mrs. Tulliver meet and she gives him the idea to buy the mill. Oops! We learn a bit about how he made his way, his feelings toward Tulliver and his reputation of "Wakem was Wakem" and his love of Philip. Mr. Deane's company Guest & Co was going to bid for it but now Wakem has a bee in his bonnet.

Chapter 8- Daylight on the Wreck: Mr. Tulliver feels well enough to go downstairs. In the meantime, Wakem owns the mill and the family agrees that Mr. Tulliver should work for him if he recovers. Maggie tries to get Keiza to distract Mrs. Tulliver while she, Tom and Luke talk to their father. He is distracted and can't keep up with events. Tom reassures his father that everything is settled. Mr.Tulliver is shocked anew by the bankrupcy. Mrs. Tulliver walks in as he looks as the family bible and tells him the truth about Wakem and Mr. Tulliver is resigned to his fate.

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Next week, we read Book 3 Chapter 9-Book 5 Chapter 6 with u/Ser_Erdrick !

For our second Read the World Azerbaijan, Days in the Caucasus by Banine, we ended the book on a cliffhanger >!as she boards the Orient Express for Paris, leaving behind her hated husband, Jamil. !< Banine enchanted us with her humor, warmth, and drama. So, we won't leave it there!

Join u/nicehotcupoftea, u/tomesandtea and me, u/lazylittlelady for the second part, Parisian Days, first published in French in 1947, as she arrives in La Ville de Lumiere as a Bonus Book.

Schedule is coming soon with more details but it will be this September, so grab your copy soon!

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From the blurb:

>!The Orient Express hurtles towards the promised land, and Banine is free for the first time in her life. She has fled her ruined homeland and unhappy forced marriage for a dazzling new future in Paris. Now she cuts her hair, wears short skirts, mingles with Russian émigrés, Spanish artists, writers and bohemians in the 1920’s beau monde – and even contemplates love.!<

>!But soon she finds that freedom brings its own complications. As her family’s money runs out, she becomes a fashion model to survive. And when a glamorous figure from her past returns, life is thrown further into doubt. Banine has always been swept along by the forces of history. Can she keep up with them now?!<

>!Told with vivacious wit and a lust for life, this companion to Days in the Caucasus is a bittersweet portrayal of youthful dreams, and the elusive search for happiness.!<

As soon as we finish our current Mod Pick, No Name, we will dive into Olga Tokarczuk's hefty masterpiece, The Books of Jacob, reading slowly and discovering the plot of this 18th-century-set whirl through Europe in a state of conspiracy, religious mysticism and political unrest. It is a fiction based on the real life, Jacob Joseph Frank. Possibly a very timely read considering the state of the world right now.

Published in Polish in 2014, it immediately garnered the Nike Award, the most prestigious literary prize there. In Tokarczuk's win of the 2018 Noble Prize in Literature, the committee cited this book as impressive, and it certainly figured in her award. It was translated in English by Jennifer Croft, Tokarczuk's long-time collaborative translator, in 2021.

All discussions will be linked here, so save this post for ease!

For the BINGO board, this ticks off several categories: Prize Winner, Historical Fiction, Female Author, Translated Work, Mod Pick!

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Schedule:

1. August 10: Prologue - The Book of Sand Chp.5

2. August 17: The Book of Sand Chp. 6-11

3. August 24: The Book of Sand Chp. 12- The Book of the Road Chp.15

4. August 31: The Book of the Road Chp. 16- 18

5. September 7: The Book of the Comet Chp. 19-Chp. 22

6. September 14: The Book of the Comet Chp. 23- The Book of Metal and Sulfur Chp. 25

7. September 21: The Book of the Distant Country Chp.26- Chp. 27

8. September 28: The Book of the Distant Country Chp. 28-29

9. October 5: The Book of the Distant Country Chp. 30 to End

Marginalia (TBD)

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Join u/fixtheblue, u/Lachesis_Decima77 and I, u/lazylittlelady to read another one of our favorite authors here. It's bound to be an epic saga!! Are you in??

Part two of our Poetry Discovery Read is a throwback from many of our childhoods and a classic for a reason, Where the Sidewalk Ends, by the famous children's author and poet, Shel Silverstein(1930-1999). Still, he was a veritable Renaissance man when it came to the many other contributions he made to literature, journalism, music, art, theatre and entertainment. Read on for more!

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois in an immigrant family who unfortunately turned to opening a bakery during the beginning of the Depression, he vacationed in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which would later turn up in several of his works. He was a quiet child who turned to drawing, inspired by the Li'l Abner cartoons drawn by Al Capp, another self-taught cartoonist and illustrator. Silverstein attended one semester at the University of Illinois before being drafted into the US Army during the Korean War.

While in the military, he was a frequent contributor to cartoons in the Pacific Stars and Stripes, and his first published book was actually a compilation of his work, Take Ten(1955). This was later reprinted in 1965 as Grab Your Socks! Back home in Chicago, he moonlighted as a hot-dog salesman at the ballpark while also working to submit cartoons to magazines such as Sports Illustrated. His next break would come with in 1957, when a little known, new editor, Hugh Hefner, engaged him as the cartoonist for Playboy, a commission that sent him on location everywhere, from a nudist camp to the larger world abroad. This would bring his work into a larger, public eye and he published several compendiums of his work for Playboy over the next two decades.

In 1975, after working with editor Ursula Nordstrom, at Harper & Row, Silverstein turned to children's literature after his great success, The Giving Tree (1973). He took a freewheeling approach to his poetry and illustrations. But don't think that was all he was doing! He also contributed several stories to the crime anthology series that begins with Murder for Love (1996).

Another thread of Silverstein's work is his connection to music. First, the outlaw country music, a subgenre that sought creative license outside of the Nashville-controlled country music scene in America during the 1970's and '80's. He wrote songs for many musicians during this era and came into contact with Loretta Lynn and Johny Cash, who would record with him and invite him on Jonny's show and earn him a Grammy award in 1970, among others. Check out Bonus Link #3 for some examples! Silverstein could play guitar, piano, saxophone and trombone and was on the radio frequently as a guest on radio shows, as well as writing film music and collaborated or releasing several albums. He would win another Grammy for his 1984 recording of "Where the Sidewalk Ends".

When he wasn't doing those things, he was helping to put on Broadway plays, mostly as a playwright, especially focusing on the one-act play, everything from comedy to a reworking of Hamlet for one actor, beginning in 1965 and continuing steadily over the years. He also contributed to screenplays for movies and TV shows, such as "Free to Be...You and Me". His music was also widely used in various films over the years.

Silverstein lived a peripatetic life, moving from the West Coast to the East, with homes on both coasts; he never married. However, he fathered two children with two different women, one of which, Susan T. Hastings, he actually met at the Playboy mansion. Sadly, their daughter, Shoshanna died quite young, at 11 years old, of a cerebral aneurysm in 1982. She had been living with her aunt and uncle after her mother's death. Silverstein dedicated A Light in the Attic(1981) in her memory. His next romantic attachment was Sarah Spencer, who was driving a tourist train in Key West. She would inspire Silverstein to write a song, "The Great Conch Train Robbery" and together they had a son, Matthew, who would go on to work as a songwriter and producer in New York; the apple doesn't fall far!

Shel Silverstein passed away on May 10, 1999, at his home in Key West. He had been suffering from heart problems, and it finally caught up with him at the relatively young age of 68. He was buried closer to his childhood home, in Norridge, Illinois. Posthumously, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022 and was recognized by Chicago in the Literary Hall of Fame in 2014. Silverstein shaped the minds of countless generations of children around the world, for which he will definitely be remembered. I hope I've added a few dimensions to the man and the poet we all know and love.

Silverstein on learning how to draw: "When I was a kid—12 to 14, I'd much rather have been a good baseball player or a hit with the girls, but I couldn't play ball. I couldn't dance. Luckily, the girls didn't want me. Not much I could do about that. So, I started to draw and to write. I was also lucky that I didn't have anybody to copy, be impressed by. I had developed my own style; I was creating before I knew there was a Thurber, a Benchley, a Price and a Steinberg. I never saw their work 'til I was around 30. By the time I got to where I was attracting girls, I was already into work, and it was more important to me. Not that I wouldn't rather make love, but the work has become a habit" Publisher's Weekly (1975)

"The phrase "Renaissance man" tends to get overused these days but apply it to Shel Silverstein and it practically begins to seem inadequate. Not only has he produced with seeming ease country music hits and popular songs, but he's been equally successful at turning his hand to poetry, short stories, plays, and children's books. Moreover, his whimsically hip fables, beloved by readers of all ages, have made him a stalwart of bestseller lists. A Light in the Attic, most remarkably, showed the kind of staying power on the New York Times chart—two years, to be precise—that most of the biggest names (John Grisham, Stephen King and Michael Crichton) have never equaled with their blockbusters. His unmistakable illustrative style is another crucial element to his appeal. Just as no writer sounds like Shel, no other artist's vision is as delightfully, sophisticatingly cockeyed. One can only marvel that he makes the time to respond so kindly to his friends' requests. In the following work, let's be glad he did. Drawing on his characteristic passion for list making, he shows how the deed is not just in the wish but in the sublimation"- Otto Penzler, writer

Openin' Night

By Shel Silverstein

She had the jitters

She had the flu

She showed up late

She missed her cue

She kicked the director

She screamed at the crew

And tripped on a prop

And fell in some goo

And ripped her costume

A place or two

Then she forgot

A line she knew

And went “Meow”

Instead of “Moo”

She heard ‘em giggle

She heard ‘em boo

The programs sailed

The popcorn flew

As she stomped offstage

With a boo-hoo-hoo

The fringe of the curtain

Got caught in her shoe

The set crashed down

The lights did too

Maybe that’s why she didn’t want to do

An interview.

Copyright Credit: Shel Silverstein, "Openin’ Night" from Every Thing on It. Copyright © 2011 by Shel Silverstein. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Source: Every Thing on It (HarperCollins Publishers, 2011)

Some things to discuss might be the light humor and the simple yet effective rhyming scheme that keeps you going until the last line! This is a great one to read out loud, as much of his poetry is. Would you submit to an interview after all that? For readers of our Poetry Discovery, please let us know your thoughts on revisiting Where the Sidewalk Ends. Is there anyone comparable today in children's literature? His work is an easy opening to poetry, making light work of the genre to encourage humor and surprise. Was there something in the complex work of his creative mind that made Silverstein particularly effective in writing for children? What is your favorite Silverstein poem?

Bonus Poem: Dirty Face

Bonus Link #1: His best-known cartoon of the 1950's, "Now, here's my plan...", which he turned into the cover of his 1960 cartoon collection.

Bonus Link #2: Some of Shel Silverstein's Playboy contributions, such as his 1956 visit to the gay enclave, Fire Island and his compilation Playboys Around the World

Bonus Link #3: Shel Silverstein as songwriter and singer! Including Silverstein performing Show It At the Beach (1979), and other artists with these songs: Hey Loretta, Hey Nelly Nelly (1964), A Boy Named Sue and with Silverstein also performing a bonus song (1970) , Once More with Feeling (1970), Cover of the Rolling Stone (1974), Boa Constrictor, The Great Conch Train Robbery.

Bonus Link #4: A video reading with illustrations of The Giving Tree, read by Keith Carradine. This work was Silverstein's first published effort.

Bonus Link #5: A great resource for bringing poetry to children, from Silverstein's own website. As you may know, April is Poetry Month but you don't have to wait for that! And here are book- by- book resources.

If you missed last month's poem, you can find it here

Welcome back to drama of The Brothers Karamazov! We are about halfway and this section had numerous revelations from Aloysha, Grushenka and Dimitri. Ivan is MIA in Moscow. Father Zosima is no longer with us.

Schedule

Marginalia

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We end knowing Dimitri and Grushenka will meet in the next section-this is bound to be explosive! See you next week for Chapters 8.4-9.1

Welcome back dear readers to the last section of Amanda Gorman's collection of poems. We read through some difficult parts of her work but end on a triumphant and hopeful note in this section.

"Riots are red, violence is blue, we're sick of dying, how about you?" - Roses

This seemed particularly pertinent this week, as this viral picture from July 4 attests.
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The section opens with a quote from William Shakespeare's Othello, Act 1, Scene 3:

“My particular grief Is of so flood-gate and o'erbearing nature That it engluts and swallows other sorrows, And it is still itself.”

Elpis: Greek goddess of hope and the last thing left once Pandora opened that box; a rather ambivalent figure compared to her Roman counterpart.

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Schedule

Marginalia

Summer or Winter, many, many books, we read them! If you see anything interesting, join us in the discussion or read at your own pace!

(With permission from the Mods)

[MYSTERY/THRILLER]

###The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

(July 8-July 22)

[GUTENBERG]

###North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

(July 3-July 31)

[READ THE WORLD: POLAND]

###Ferdydurke by Witold Gombrowicz

(June 30-July 21)

[Jul-Aug DISCOVERY READ]

See nomination post 1st July

[RUNNER-UP READ]

###Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

(TBA)

[BONUS READ]

###Blood and Gold by Anne Rice (Book 8)

(July 3-August 21)

[BONUS READ]

###A Blue Ribbon Romance by C.M. Nascosta (Book 1 1/2)

(July 5-July 12)

[BONUS READ]

###The Rose Field by Philip Pullman (Book 3)

(July 30-September 10)

[BONUS READ]

###The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty (Book 2)

(July 10-August 7)

CONTINUING READS

[THE BIG SUMMER READ]

###Devils by Joe Abercrombie

(June 20-July 18)

[AUTHOR PROFILE: GEORGE ELIOT]

###Mill on the Floss by George Eliot + George Eliot: The Last Victorian by Kathryn Hughes

● George Eliot: The Last Victorian by Kathryn Hughes (June 15-July 20)

●The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (July 27-August 31)

[EVERGREEN]

###The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

(June 10-August 19)

[Jun-Jul DISCOVERY READ: POETRY]

###Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman & Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

●Call Us What We Carry (June 29-July 9)

●Where The Sidewalk Ends (July 13-July 16)

[MOD PICK]

###No Name by Wilkie Collins

(June 17-August 5)

[BONUS READ]

###The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (Book 4)

(June 2-July 14)

[BONUS READ]

###Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb (Book 9)

(June 18-July 23)

For a full list of discussions, schedules, additional info and rules, head to the July Menu

Halfway through 2026 already and another great list of books! If you see anything you like on the menu, join us for the discussion or just read along!

(With permission from the Mods)

[LGBTQ2+]

###The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

(June 2- June 30)

[THE BIG SUMMER READ]

###Devils by Joe Abercrombie

(June 20-July 25)

[READ THE WORLD: NORTH MACEDONIA]

###I'm Not Going Anywhere by Rumena Bužarovska

(June 12-June 26)

[AUTHOR PROFILE: GEORGE ELIOT]

###George Eliot: The Last Victorian by Kathryn Hughes + Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

● George Eliot: The Last Victorian by Kathryn Hughes (June 15-July 20)

●Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (July 27-August 31)

[EVERGREEN]

###The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

(June 10-August 19)

[Jun-Jul DISCOVERY READ: POETRY]

(See nomination post 1st June)

[MOD PICK]

###No Name by Wilkie Collins

(June 17- August 15)

[RUNNER-UP READ]

###Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

(TBD)

[BONUS READ]

###A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Book 2)

(May 31-June 28)

[BONUS READ]

###The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (Book 4)

(June 2-July 14)

[BONUS READ]

###The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett (Book 2)

(June 11-June 25)

[BONUS READ]

###Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov

(TBD)

CONTINUING READS

[READ THE WORLD: AZERBAIJAN]

###Days in the Caucasus by Banine

(May 26-June 9)

[May-Jun DISCOVERY READ: Pulitzer Prize Winners]

###Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

(June 2- June 9)

[RUNNER-UP READ]

###The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

(May 13-June 10)

[BONUS BOOK]

###Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert (Book 6)

(May 11-June 8)

[BONUS READ]

###The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

(June 11-June 25)

[BONUS READ]

###The Secret Commonwealth by Phillip Pullman

(May 6-June 17)

[BONUS READ]

###This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman (Book 7)

(May 3-June 21)

For a full list of discussions, schedules, additional info and rules, head to the June Menu

Welcome to the last discussion...from Troy via a very long side trip and now, really back to Ithica, Odysseus has officially returned!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Book XXI: An Archery Contest

Athena prompts Penelope to propose an archery contest with a fabled bow and arrow from the days of Heracles, given to Odysseus by his friend, Iphitus, son of Eurytus. We are told obnoxious Antinous would be the first to feel the other end of the arrow at Odysseus's hands. Telemachus sets up and we watch as one by one the suitors fail to do the task.

Odysseus reveals himself to Eumaeus and the cowherd, Philoetius and they help to "herd" the suitors to their doom and keep the rest of the household away.

The suitors suddenly realize it's Apollo's feast day and they shouldn't be shooting arrows...convenient! They propose sacrificing a goat and trying again in the morning when Odysseus asks to have a turn. Of course, they are derisive and threatening, but Penelope intervenes, reminding them of their duty to the stranger as a guest, xenos. Telemachus sends his mom to her room and difuses the mood so operation revenge can begin.

Eumaeus brings the bow and arrow to Odysseus, who can't help but look like he knows what he's doing with it.

Book XXII: Bloodshed

Odysseus rips off his rags, grabs his arrows, and with Telemachus by his side, opens with a arrow through Antinous's throat. The mood shifts immediately and Eurymachus offers a ransom to repay their costs. But Odysseus spurns his offer and counteroffers with fight or run! Eurymachus is the second to die by arrow. Telemachus protects his father from Amphinomus and runs to get armor and more weapons, leaving his father's side.

Although now, Odysseus is armed, the treacherous goat herd, Melanthius, has also armed the suitors. Eumaeus goes to deal with Melanthius while Odysseus and Telemachus go back to the business on hand and Athena drops in as Mentor, to remind him of what a killer he was nine years ago in Troy and foils the spears of the suitors. Euryades and Emaeus come back to help. Only the poet Phemius and the houseboy, Medon, make it out alive.

Eurycleia, the old nanny, is the first to witness the results. Odysseus asks her about the loyalty of the women of the household and twelve women are called in. They clean up the murder scene and Telemachus hangs them in the courtyard afterwards; Melanthius is hacked apart. Then, the house is rightly fumigated before the loyal women are allowed in, to welcome Odysseus back.

Book XXIII: The Olive Tree Bed

Penelope has slept through the whole thing. Eurycleia comes to wake her and tell her the good news that Odysseus is back and the gorefest that was downstairs, but Penelope is cautiously unbelieving.

Meanwhile, with the young men of Ithica slaughtered, Odysseus needs a plan for the community. They put on a feast with music to disguise the events of the day.

Odysseus gets a bath and a glow up from Athena. Still, Penelope tests him, teasing him about their martial bed. Finally, she accepts him as her lost husband and they reconcile and plan together, telling one another of the missing years. Athena, helpfully, extends the night.

The first thing he does the next day is order Penelope to stay inside as he and the A-team of the household go out.

Book XXIV: Restless Spirits

Hermes leads the spirits of the suitors to the underworld. We get reunion with our favorites from the Iliad and get a surprise in Agamemnon joining them and telling Achilles about his burial. Agamemnon is surprised to see young Amphimedon, who recounts his tale. Agamemnon is jelly over Odysseus having a good wife.

Odysseus goes to visit his father, Laertes, over at his farm. On seeing his old father, Odysseus decides to test him instead of revealing himself, going too far in causing his father grief. They have a meal together with the household of Laertes.

Meanwhile, Rumor has been busy spreading the news of the killed suitors. Their families show up to claim the bodies and demand revenge. Athena sees what is happening and consults with father Zeus.

As the families gather at Laertes' farm for violence, three generations of men stand together and kill a bunch of them until Athena intervenes for peace. As Mentor, oaths for peace are sworn before her.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Marginalia

Schedule

May the books be with you this month. If you see anything you like on the menu, join us for the discussion or just get some inspiration on what to read this month!

(With permission from the Mods)

[SCI-FI]

###2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

(May 15-June 5)

[TRANSLATED NOVEL]

###Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

(May 5-May 19)

[READ THE WORLD: AZERBAIJAN]

###Ali and Nino by Kurban Said + Days in the Caucasus by Banine

● Ali and Nino (May 8-May 22)

● Days in the Caucasus (May 26-June 9)

[QUARTERLY NON-FICTION:BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY]

###The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcom X

(May 1-June 5)

[EVERGREEN]

###Beloved by Toni Morisson

(May 16-June 6)

[May-Jun DISCOVERY READ: PULITZER PRIZE WINNER]

###See nomination post 1st May

(TBD)

[MOD PICK]

###Morning Glory Milking Farm by C.M. Nascosta

(May 18-June 1)

[RUNNER-UP READ]

###The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty

(May 13- June 10)

[BONUS READ]

###The Ice by Ryan Cahill (Book #3.5)

(May 22-May 29)

[BONUS BOOK]

###Chapterhouse:Dune by Frank Herbert (Book 6)

(May 11-June 8)

[BONUS READ]

###The Horse and His Boy + The Magician's Nephew + The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

● The Horse and His Boy (May 7-May 21)

● The Magician's Nephew (May 28-June 4)

● The Last Battle (June 11-June 25)

[BONUS READ]

###The Secret Commonwealth by Phillip Pullman (Book of Dust #2)

(May 6-June 17)

[BONUS READ]

###This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman (Book #7)

(May 3-June 21)

[BONUS READ]

###Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin (Hainish Cycle #7)

(May 17-May 24)

[BONUS READ]

###Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse (The Sixth World #2)

(May 22-June 5)

CONTINUING READS

[EVERGREEN]

###The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #1)

(April 23-May 14)

[Apr-May DISCOVERY READ: Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage]

###Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng

(April 30-May 14)

[MOD PICK]

###Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

(April 20-May 11)

[BONUS READ]

###The Currents of Space by Isaac Asimov

(April 24-May 8)

[BONUS READ]

###The Children of Strife by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Book 4)

(April 19-May 17)

[BONUS READ]

###Leviathan Falls by James S. A. Corey (Book 9) + The Sins of Our Fathers (Short Story)

●Leviathan Falls (April 18-May 23)

●The Sins of Our Fathers (May 30)

[THE BIG SPRING READ - PUBLIC DOMAIN]

###Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery

(March 18-May 20)

For a full list of discussions, schedules, additional info and rules, head to the May Menu