For once, I can say I read the five of them. Excellent selection, with a wide range of themes. Though, the English version of Kafka is much "softer" than the German one. I fancy this is what happens with an original vs a translated version.
The same happened when I compared British English vs American English Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, and J K Rowling book versions.
Great suggestions. I've read some, but not all of them. I am currently living in La Paz, Mexico, and just wrote a Substack post about the fascinating history of the pearl industry here. Part way through my research, I remembered John Steinbeck's novella, The Pearl, and looked it up. Sure enough, it was written after his visit to La Paz. I haven't read it since high school, but want to revisit it.
Great piece, I would also add Notes from Underground here!
Abolition of Man!
Agreed. Masterpiece.
Det bästa som jag hittat från nu…man får en upprymd känsla av glädje, som tar bort varje tillstymmelse av dåliga humörsvängningar 👍🎶🤓
I’d add Chronicle of a Death Foretold by García Márquez, everyone in town knows the murder is coming and nobody stops it. Perfect single-sitting read.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach is an interesting novella about nonconformity and breaking through limiting self-belief.
Thank you for the list. I loved Old Man & the Sea. Heartbreaking.
For once, I can say I read the five of them. Excellent selection, with a wide range of themes. Though, the English version of Kafka is much "softer" than the German one. I fancy this is what happens with an original vs a translated version.
The same happened when I compared British English vs American English Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle, and J K Rowling book versions.
Great list! Also: Animal Farm by Orwell
Bartleby the Scrivener
Meditations
Any Shakespeare play
Great suggestions. I've read some, but not all of them. I am currently living in La Paz, Mexico, and just wrote a Substack post about the fascinating history of the pearl industry here. Part way through my research, I remembered John Steinbeck's novella, The Pearl, and looked it up. Sure enough, it was written after his visit to La Paz. I haven't read it since high school, but want to revisit it.
Oh! How interesting!
I like:
Fup, by Jim Crace;
Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades;
The Jew’s Beech, by Annette von Droste-Hulshof;
An Aspidistra in Babylon and Death of a Huntsman, both by H.E. Bates;
Up at the Villa, by W. Somerset Maughm;
The Fall, by Albert Camus.
I'd add "The Man Who Was Thursday" by GK Chesterton!
https://danielmurphykennedy.substack.com/p/literary-excellence
I love this list. :) thank you!
Great list! I’ve read them all.