Thoughts on “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf (Audiobook)

Last week, I realized I was way ahead of where I was supposed to be with The Odyssey readalong, so I switched over and listened to To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf instead. I’ve only read Mrs. Dalloway by Woolf so far, and I’ve always meant to get to some of her others. About the …

The Odyssey: Books 7-12

We’re halfway through The Odyssey for Trish’s readalong. I’ve been listening to Ian McKellen read the epic to me on audio and using the Fagles translation in print as a supplement. This week, we read Books 7-12. If you’d like to read other participants’ thoughts, head over to Trish’s Week 2 post to see who’s …

The Odyssey: Books 1-6

I’m a bit late with my first post about The Odyssey for Trish’s readalong. I’ve been listening to Ian McKellen read the epic to me on audio, which is fantastic. The problem came when I sat down to write my summary of books 1 through 6 and couldn’t work out the exact play-by-play. I’ve been …

Halloween for the Faint of Heart: Dueling Monsters

Today I’ll be looking at the two classic novels I read for the second Dueling Monsters readalong: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (which I read) and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (which I listened to). I had originally signed up to read The Picture of Dorian Gray but added the other so that I could more fairly proclaim a winner. Neither, thankfully, was the sort of scary I try to avoid, and I would recommend either for some good Halloween reading.

Halloween for the Faint of Heart: “The Metamorphosis”

Halloween isn’t just about the scare factor, at least in my opinion. It’s also about the bizarre. I recently read a few of Franz Kafka’s short stories that I think would make for some nice, brief Halloween reading.

Depending on who you ask, The Metamorphosis is either a short story or a novella. Published first in 1915, it is probably one of Kafka’s best known works. It’s the one that begins with the rather famous first sentence (translations vary a little, but the gist is the same):

“When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect.”