I love this experiment! Recommended essay: George Orwells “Politics and the English Language.” Poem: “When You Are Old” William Butler Yates. Short Story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” by F Scott Fitzgerald.
Thanks for your recommendations Anne! And I'll let you know in 992 days what the end result is :)). A slower burn than the NyQuil Chicken challenge (I laughed so hard reading about that).
Love it. Oleg, I think I have to get into Alexander Pope, but go with ideas about or from people who passed through places like Bell Labs, a mix of past and the future. Looking forward to what you're going to read. I'm with you about "second brain" stuff, I'm still struggling with first brain, and that's plenty.
I actually bought Forte's Second Brain book a while ago, flipped through it but didn't find it too compelling. It's probably a good system for writing a thesis or a book, but not necessarily the cure-it-all as it's advertised.
Your challenge is impressive in size and scope! There are relatively modern essays from writers like David Foster Wallace and Margaret Atwood to consider, as a suggestion.
Hi, for short stories please check out maestra Lucia Berlin. She's one of my absolute favorites, and I had adapted a few of them for a feature scripts before I learned Pedro Almodovar is doing it.
Nice Oleg! I've been working through some epic poetry by Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E Howard. Along with some science fiction/fantasy stories from Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont nightly. Good luck with the challenge and have fun.
Good luck with the challenge! I've been trying to engage into it as well but failed a few times, but I'll try again. Can we be accountability buddies? :D
Google Sheet / Notion Page is a good idea, I tried to just keep track of it in a text file but it didn't work for me - becomes messy after just a few days.
As for recommendations
- Stories: I'll personally go for Chekhov first (until I finish the collection I have on my desk now + I'll find some stuff to translate). Saki has a great collection of short stories, it's on my list as well. And there's new short story collection by Alan Moore coming out this autumn, which I'm excited about. Also, Dubliners, because I like Joyce. If you are into some good short stories in Russian (maybe some of them are translated), I know some good collections - ping me in Discord.
- Essays on the "read soon" list: Brodsky (poems as well), Borges, Woolf, Eisenstein, Sokolov.
- I'm a complete rookie in English poetry, but many people recommended to me T.S. Elliot. Some non-English poets on my list are Lorca and Cavafy. And most likely there will be some Russians on my list as well.
Thanks for adding so much to this! And I can definitely be your accountability buddy :)
My recommendations for you:
- Stories: Anything by Dovlatov. He was a super interesting writer, and he had different periods (as a journalist in Tallinn, a prison warden in some lite version of the GULAG, and then an emigre in New York). His short stories are funny, memorable and very very human.
- Essays: Hitchens is a huge inspiration for me when it comes to the written word.
- Poetry: Lioha Nikonov (lead singer of Последние Танки в Париже). He had like 5 poetry books out, all can be found online.
Thanks for being a guest on my newsletter, Oleg! I'm slowly exploring the idea of listening to symphonies as I job hunt!
May the job hunt be as epic as the symphonies you choose Nikhil!
I love this experiment! Recommended essay: George Orwells “Politics and the English Language.” Poem: “When You Are Old” William Butler Yates. Short Story “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” by F Scott Fitzgerald.
I wonder if you will just end up with a head full of stuff or something bigger than the sum of its parts?
Thanks for your recommendations Anne! And I'll let you know in 992 days what the end result is :)). A slower burn than the NyQuil Chicken challenge (I laughed so hard reading about that).
Love it. Oleg, I think I have to get into Alexander Pope, but go with ideas about or from people who passed through places like Bell Labs, a mix of past and the future. Looking forward to what you're going to read. I'm with you about "second brain" stuff, I'm still struggling with first brain, and that's plenty.
I actually bought Forte's Second Brain book a while ago, flipped through it but didn't find it too compelling. It's probably a good system for writing a thesis or a book, but not necessarily the cure-it-all as it's advertised.
Your challenge is impressive in size and scope! There are relatively modern essays from writers like David Foster Wallace and Margaret Atwood to consider, as a suggestion.
I'll definitely add some Margaret Atwood to the mix, thanks. I really enjoyed Cat's Eye (although I don't think I actually finished it).
Hi, for short stories please check out maestra Lucia Berlin. She's one of my absolute favorites, and I had adapted a few of them for a feature scripts before I learned Pedro Almodovar is doing it.
Thanks DB, just read one of her stories and I must say I'm hooked.
Oo, which one?
Carpe Diem.
Nice Oleg! I've been working through some epic poetry by Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E Howard. Along with some science fiction/fantasy stories from Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont nightly. Good luck with the challenge and have fun.
Thanks Frank, adding these to the growing to-read list!
Good luck with the challenge! I've been trying to engage into it as well but failed a few times, but I'll try again. Can we be accountability buddies? :D
Google Sheet / Notion Page is a good idea, I tried to just keep track of it in a text file but it didn't work for me - becomes messy after just a few days.
As for recommendations
- Stories: I'll personally go for Chekhov first (until I finish the collection I have on my desk now + I'll find some stuff to translate). Saki has a great collection of short stories, it's on my list as well. And there's new short story collection by Alan Moore coming out this autumn, which I'm excited about. Also, Dubliners, because I like Joyce. If you are into some good short stories in Russian (maybe some of them are translated), I know some good collections - ping me in Discord.
- Essays on the "read soon" list: Brodsky (poems as well), Borges, Woolf, Eisenstein, Sokolov.
- I'm a complete rookie in English poetry, but many people recommended to me T.S. Elliot. Some non-English poets on my list are Lorca and Cavafy. And most likely there will be some Russians on my list as well.
I'll make sure I share more stuff later!
Thanks for adding so much to this! And I can definitely be your accountability buddy :)
My recommendations for you:
- Stories: Anything by Dovlatov. He was a super interesting writer, and he had different periods (as a journalist in Tallinn, a prison warden in some lite version of the GULAG, and then an emigre in New York). His short stories are funny, memorable and very very human.
- Essays: Hitchens is a huge inspiration for me when it comes to the written word.
- Poetry: Lioha Nikonov (lead singer of Последние Танки в Париже). He had like 5 poetry books out, all can be found online.
This is great, thank you
Such a lovely read Oleg! I already look forward to your updates and reading suggestions from the challenge 😊
Thanks Sinù! And let me know if you have something good to recommend! I'm open to all topics :)
Excellent idea, Oleg. Mind if I swipe it?
Ideas are there to be swiped!