To All Theatre And Book Nerds Out There: Who Is Your Favourite Play Writer? (Expect For The Good Old

To all theatre and book nerds out there: Who is your favourite play writer? (Expect for the good old Willy shakes of course) I need more recommendations.

I think Goethe is hugely underrated!

I'm looking for illustrated books or special editions of famous novels. Do you guys have any "beautiful books" recommendations?

10 Classic Book Recommendations

I’ve read a lot of non-English classics over the last couple of years (all translated into English because I am not bilingual) and I thought it’d be fun to share some of my favourites!

This post contains affiliate links and they're marked with an asterisk (*) - you obviously don't need to use them.

---

The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon (1002)

Originally written in Middle Early Japanese (translated by Meredith McKinney)

A collection of essays, anecdotes, poems, observations and musings from Sei Shōnagon’s time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi in Heian Japan

This is one of my favourite classics because found myself relating to a woman who lived over 1,000 years ago and it was wonderful. Some things have obviously changed – we’re from different times and places – but this book reminded me of how similar we are to the people that came before us.

Bookshop.org UK*

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (1873)

Originally written in French (translated by William Butcher)

An adventure novel

There’s something wonderfully superficial about this book. By this, I mean that the book doesn’t look at anything in depth because Fogg is in a race against the clock and has no time to dwell upon things.

Project Gutenberg (tr. G. M. Towle) | Bookshop.org UK*

The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Matsuo Bashō (1702)

Originally written in Early Modern Japanese (translated by Yuasa Nobuyuki)

A travelogue interwoven with poetry

The opening lines are stunning and reading this book made me feel free in a time when everyone was restricted.

Bookshop.org UK*

Notes from a Dead House by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1862)

Originally written in Russian (translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky)

Semi-autobiographical philosophical fiction

Bleak and depressing and so, so interesting. Dostoevsky gives us a real insight into what life was like in exile in Siberia.

This isn’t the translation I read but, apparently, this one is much better and I intend to pick it up myself very soon.

Bookshop.org UK*

The Odyssey by Homer (c. 8th century BCE)

Originally written in Homeric Greek/Ancient Greek (translated by Emily Wilson)

Epic poem

It follows Odysseus, king of Ithaca and Greek hero, and his journey home after the Trojan War.

I have read many a translation of the Odyssey over the years and I love (almost) all iterations of it but Emily Wilson’s translation is beautiful.

Bookshop.org UK*

Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (1320)

Originally written in Italian (translated by C. H. Sisson)

Poetry and religious philosophy

Dante travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise with Virgil and Beatrice as his guides. Inferno will always be my favourite section of the poem but I really love Paradisio too.

Bookshop.org UK*

Poetic Edda (c.985)

Originally written in Old Norse (translated by Carolyne Larrington)

A collection of anonymous Old Norse narrative poems that tell mythological and historical stories.

This is the only translation I’ve read because I wanted something relatively accessible for my first foray into the Poetic Edda but I’ve also heard good things about the Hollander translation.

Bookshop.org UK*

Metamorphoses by Ovid (8 AD)

Originally written in Latin (translated by Rolfe Humphries)

A narrative poem that chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar. It includes various myths, such as Diana and Actaeon, Arachne, and Orpheus and Eurydice.

Although I’ve recommended the Humphries translation, you could pick up any verse translation and still enjoy it. I personally love Arthur Golding’s translation* from 1567 because it was the first direct translation from Latin to English and it’s a reflection of the poetry of its time.

Bookshop.org UK*

The Outsider by Albert Camus (1942)

Originally written in French (translated by Sandra Smith)

Also published as The Stranger in English

A philosophical novel

Camus wrote the best absurdist novels and this one is fantastic. I can’t really describe it but it had a great impact on 18-year-old me and it was my introduction to absurdism and existentialism (but don't tell Camus I described his novel as existentialist).

Bookshop.org UK*

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1921)

Originally written in Russian (translated by Bela Shayevich)

Dystopian novel – inspired Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell’s 1984

The book depicts a world of harmony and conformity within a united totalitarian state. Everyone is a number and the city’s buildings are constructed almost entirely of glass. It’s such an unnerving book.

Bookshop.org UK*

---

If you pick up any of these books based on this post, please let me know what you think!

Support me on Ko-fi

Famous writers and the books they can't live without

All these answers are taken from BBC's Podcast "Desert Island Discs", where famous artists share the one book they would take with them to a deserted island.

Neil Gaiman - The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

Margaret Atwood - Stories from 1001 Arabian Nights

Maggie O'Farrell - Selected Stories by Alice Munro

Colm Toibin - The portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Stephen Fry - Four Quartets by T.S.Eliot

Tennessee Williams - Poetry by Hart Crane

Roald Dahl - The New Oxford Book of English Verse by Helen Gardner

Helen Fielding - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Patricia Highsmith - Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Zadie Smith -  Remembrence of Things past by Marcel Proust

Oscars: Best picture nominations 2022

The nominations for this year's Oscars were released yesterday. What do you think? Any favourites?

The power of the dog

Nightmare Alley

Westside Story

Belfast

King Richard

Licorice Pizza

CODA

Don't look up

Dune

Drive my car

I love that play!

Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand