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Book Club Housekeeping & Live Reading Group Schedule Information (Patreon)

Published:
2021-07-24 08:57:47
Imported:
2026-06
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Dear Book Club Readers ---

I hope you're enjoying your journey through the Great Books!

Here's a little bit of Book Club housekeeping/admin for the remainder of July.

1) A very warm HLBC welcome to new patrons

Welcome to the club, and thank you so much for joining!

Let us know which book(s) you're enjoying at the moment and what life is looking like for you.

2) Shakespeare Tier Live Reading Group

We're having our live reading group on the customary last weekend of the month. Do let me know if you are able to make it.

  • Date: 31st July 4:30 GMT+1
  • RSVP: Shakespeare/Homer patrons, let me know at your leisure, and I'll send you the group link across.
  • Agenda: All of the Big Reads thus far are ripe for discussion, but with a particular focus on the opening of Hesse's Siddharta, with a discussion on the hero's journey. We'll also share whichever part of Proust has most affected us to date. In the last group, the discussion into Proust and Austen was so rich we didn't come to discuss Chekhov's 'The Lady with the Dog' - we'll try to rectify that this time around.
  • Assignments: Your optional "extra-credit" ambitious reading assignment is to peruse Robert Browning's 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came' as a poetic primer for Cervantes' Don Quixote.
  • Bring: Your favourite drink, a passage from Proust, and your lovely selves.

3) Upcoming and Recent Content

More Proust is always on the way, and more Siddharta over the next few days. 

We're also due a new Shakespeare sonnet (the fourth one), so you may wish to read over that one in anticipation for the deep analysis video.

Shakespeare, incidentally, won the kindred spirit poll by a slim margin (with Tolstoy and Austen as close runners-up), so we'll have a video on the Bard coming out soon.

Recent videos:

We have a Short Story Masterclass series on the horizon called 'The Art of the Modern Short Story', with writers like Bradbury, Dahl, D.H. Lawrence, Shirley Jackson, and more lined-up (more information on that coming very soon).

As for poetry, we will soon be sampling some haiku, and I will provide a document with a platter of them up for discussion.

4) Exciting news - next year's schedule

I've spent a long time formulating the reading schedule for next year, and I must say I am incredibly excited to share it with you.

I consider it the perfect reading schedule. If you thought you became more well-read this year, just wait until you see the schedule for next year. 

There will be something exciting for everyone.

The schedule will be announced formally very soon.

5) Coffee with Hardcore Literature

Do you have any questions about reading the Great Books? Or, indeed, anything else?

If so, please do let me know either here or PM me and I would love to sit down with a coffee and record my answers.

I loved the most recent episode of 'Coffee' and am keen to make another one.

I'll also be reading more of the insightful comments left on the lecture videos.,

And that's all for now, folks!

Happy reading!

Files

Previews only

Comments

Elizabeth Madden
>>64512670

I have read How To Read and Why and agree, it is an excellent book. However, I find myself arguing quite a bit with some of Bloom's opinions on Shakespeare and, of course with his views about Joyce, especially as regards Finnegans Wake. But it's always interesting to find a critic with whom one can agree, and sometimes also disagree.

Michael Kwong

Hi Benjamin! Recently I have been trying to collect those epic poems. Would love to know your general thoughts on those big one and the edition you recommend. Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Paradise Lost, Divine Comedy, etc :) I have bought the Everyman’s edition of Milton’s complete work already, and planning to buy the penguin deluxe box set of Iliad Odyssey and Aeneid (very thrilled to buy this! it’s fairly inexpensive), but not too sure for the edition of Divine Comedy~ Thanks and cheers!

hardcoreliterature
>>64369926

Hi Michael! What a tremendous question. Thank you for this :) I'll go in-depth on this one. It will be a lot of fun to talk about. And quite necessary because, without giving too much away at this early stage, next year's schedule is going to have quite a few classical writers so those lovely volumes you have your eye on will come in handy. I'll dive into my answer very soon :)

Fiona Wang

Can't wait to see next year's schedule! In fact, this relates to a little dilemma I have, so I thought I would pose that as a question for your next Coffee episode. How do you decide which books to keep and which to give away? How often do you clean out your bookshelves? My 5-tier bookshelf was already full before joining this book club and I've had to store all the books we've read so far on a coffee table. An additional bookshelf is undoubtedly necessary, but I would like to remove the non-essentials from my current stash as well. As to which books are the non-essentials? That's a bit less clear. In preparation for next year's schedule and in consideration of the books currently without a roof over their heads, I am inclined to sort this problem out as soon as possible. Look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Len Larsson

Thanks Ben. Can't wait to hear about whats on the horizon for next year. When will you be announcing the Dickens? On the theme of bookshelves, mine now have quite a few Everyman, lots of Short Stories, Poetry and a few Norton Anthologies. I was wondering if you could mention at some stage about Anthologies, various ones and what their goal is, and if they are worth investing in, or do we have enough to do already? I've also bought a few Ishiguru and Murakami which I cant wait to get my teeth into. I have 3 Shakespeare sonnets to memory, and have Hamlet staring at me everyday, which I am avoiding - I'm intimidated I think. Love your work Ben.

Michael Kwong
>>64384263

After joining the book club, I became more selective on the new books I buy, and the books I keep (haven't find the time to un-haul though haha). The new criteria for me now is: Will I be happy to reread this book in a year, 5 years, 10 years. Is this a book that I would like to keep for my whole life.

Paul Bernal

Benjamin, my 14yr old niece read the Harry Potter Series but then I think she digressed by reading the Hunger Games series. I was thinking of getting her a gorgeous edition of Pullman's Dark Materials as a way of pointing (as opposed to pushing) her back in the right direction. I haven't read it but if you have do you think it is at least as good as Potter or maybe even better? Or worse? Maybe the Hobbit & Lord of Rings would be better. She said she wanted to read Pet Semetary so I'll send her that for sure. I also plan on giving her my Folio Society edition of Anna Karenina but will wait until I see her in person (we don't live in the same state) so that way I'm not giving her such a heavy book without any guidance on how to approach it. Let me know what you think of His Dark Materials. Thanks! You know what, I'm going to get her a gift edition of True Grit. Perfect for a 14yr old girl.

Anna Breslavskaya

Hello Benjamin, I can't wait to hear about the reading plan for the next year. At the moment I'm trying to align this club's book schedule with the one I'm following. So I have to make some hard choices on what should stay and what should be put on the backburner. In HLBC I'm particularly excited about Shakespeare's sonnets project. I adore the sound of Shakespeare's language, and I do like learning poems by heart. Now with your guidance, it promises to be a lovely journey. I'm also happy to see Hero's Journey lectures. It's been a while since I wanted to read this book, it's been on my shelf for an unforgivable amount of time. What I'm reading now is Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. Trying to get accustomed to his circuitous style and learn a bit about India's history.

Anna Breslavskaya
>>64468223

Hello Paul, in my opinion His Dark Materials is a great choice. I've read it aloud to my 12-year-old daughters and they enjoyed it immensely. And not just the fantasy part, but also the questions the books pose. They started speculating about the relativity of good and evil, and we had interesting discussions about the role of religion.

hardcoreliterature
>>64394888

Thank you, Len. I really appreciate that. I had thought of announcing Dickens come autumn time, but I find it very difficult to hold onto this sort of thing so I'm sure I'll let the cat out of the bag. I can definitely talk about anthologies - what a great topic to go into :) Great coincidence that you mentioned Hamlet. I've been rereading the play endlessly the last few days in preparation for a lecture that will fit in with the new schedule, so you'll be able to read that one along with me if you like. I understand the intimidation, but once you're into the world of the play it is incredibly rewarding :)

hardcoreliterature
>>64475531

Thank you, Anna :) I'm so excited to announce it. I think you'll really like the schedule as Shakespeare will be a strong focus, with guided readings of the plays. I applaud you for learning the sonnets by heart. It's one of my favourite things to do. Midnight's Children has one of the most striking openings in Modern Literature, in my opinion :)

Paul Bernal

Well, I did it. I bought a collection of Harold Bloom’s literary essays. Never expected in my life to lend the man an ear. Had no interest in what he had to say. He took too many shots at my guy, King. But since you, Benjamin, disagree with his take on reading Stephen King and still call him your literary hero, I’ve decided to sit down and have a conversation with the man and hear him out. Though he may not understand the art of King, he may understand other things. This is the edition I picked up: The American Canon: Literary Genius from Emerson to Pynchon.

Caroline P
>>64512670

Paul, I have done the same. I watched some YouTube interviews with him and was completely and utterly sold. How come I knew almost nothing about him. He is brilliant ! I am just reading the prologue of ‘how to read and why’ and wow! Thank you Ben. This makes me happier than ever that I found this group.

hardcoreliterature
>>64512670

Oh very nice :) This makes me so happy to hear. He definitely did take a few shots to King, and I remember that it was his attitude to some popular culture that initially made me resistant to listening to him. But once I did, I realised how much of a master he is in his field of Shakespeare and high literature. 'How to Read and Why', as Caroline mentions, is tremendous. It's one of the best primers, alongside Mortimer Adler's 'How to Read a Book', for anyone wanting to get into these highly esteemed works.