Eggplant.place

Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles is serialized in expurgated form in the weekly illustrated newspaper The Graphic (London); in November the first (unexpurgated) book edition is published in London.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/110

#books #literature

Tess d'Urbervilles : a pure woman.

Faithfully presented by Thomas Hardy. - London : James R. Osgood : McIlvaine and Co., 1891. - 263 p. . Frontespizio

Hardy, Thomas - Available in the BEIC digital library and uploaded in partnership with BEIC Foundation.

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"He jumped up from his seat... and went quickly toward the desire of his eyes." 1891 illustration by Joseph Syddall.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Illustration for The Graphic, 5 September 1891. 1891 illustration by Joseph Syddall for Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

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351d

Halloween Stories

Why are Victorians the default haunted house, what do ghosts have to do with the imagination, and why do we like to be scared?

By The Editors

https://daily.jstor.org/editors-picks-halloween/?utm_source=mcae&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jstordaily_10302025

Halloween at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=halloween

#books #literature

A Thrilling Hallowe'en." (Three black cats flying through the air with Jack-o-lanterns.

It depicts three black cats are shown flying through the air, their fur bristling and tails arched as if caught mid-leap or magically soaring. Each cat is accompanied by or carrying a glowing Jack-o’-lantern, the carved pumpkins casting a warm, orange light that contrasts with the dark background.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22A_Thrilling_Hallowe%27en.%22_(Three_black_cats_flying_through_the_air_with_Jack-o-lanterns).jpg

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351d

Bite or Flight: Ranking Classic Vampire Strengths and Weaknesses

Different vampires have different rules — how do your favorites measure up?

By Rachel Ayers

https://reactormag.com/bite-or-flight-ranking-classic-vampire-strengths-and-weaknesses/?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-99fqCNMVtcqKqAkA1ONHzCKSXZ5VFE-zyuzhkXiiLOrSszvIwpWINCTJ8BBH22k4EUayigArmR-mY2uet0UDTIvpoLYw&_hsmi=387512835&utm_content=387512835&utm_source=hs_email

The Vampyre by Polidori at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6087

#books #literature

The Vampyre by John William Polidori - Il vampiro sorte dal nulla.

The engraving depicts a dramatic nocturnal scene set in a graveyard:

On the left, a vampire figure rises from a tomb, holding a torch. His expression is intense and predatory, suggesting he has emerged from the grave to prey upon the living.

To the right, a bearded man in flowing robes gestures toward him, possibly representing a holy or moral authority attempting to repel or banish the creature.

In the foreground, a young woman lies unconscious or asleep, her pale face and limp posture indicating vulnerability—she is likely the vampire’s intended victim.

Surrounding them are tombs and weeping willows, contributing to the eerie, gothic atmosphere.

The Italian caption below translates roughly to:
“The vampire, driven by the fever of the grave, rises above the sleeping Miss Aubrey... but he does not reach her; a celestial power drives away the shadow of this infernal being, compelling him to abandon his prey.”

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:The_Vampyre_(Polidori)#/media/File:The_Vampyre_by_John_William_Polidori_-_Il_vampiro_sorte_dal_nulla.jpg

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311d

Joking is serious business... 😁

@reading @bookstodon @books @humor @humor@lemmy.world @aiop

#Interpretation #Author
#ReadingMemes #Memes #ReadAllTheBooks #Humor #Humour #Comedy
#Reading #Readers #ReadersOfMastodon #ReadingCommunity
#Book #Books #Novel #Novels #Fiction
#Bookwyrm #Bookworm #Bookstodon #BookLove

Post by prokopetz

Death of the author: Treating the author's stated
interpretation of their own work as merely one opinion
among many, rather than the authoritative Word of God.
Disappearance of the author: Treating the context and
circumstances of the work's authorship as entirely
irrelevant with respect to its interpretation, as though
the work had popped into existence fully formed just
moments ago.

Taxidermy of the author: Working backwards from a
particular interpretation of the work to draw
conclusions about what the context and circumstances
of its authorship must have been.

Undeath of the author: Holding the author personally
responsible for every possible reading of their work,
even ones they could not reasonably have anticipated
at the time of its authorship.

Frankenstein's Monster of the author: Drawing
conclusions about authorial intent based on elements
that are present only in subsequent adaptations by
other authors.

Weekend at Bernie's of the author: Insisting that the
author would personally endorse your interpretation of
the work if they happened to be present.

Reply by bugbastard

| thought this was going to be a joke, but these are all
very real things you see people do.

Reply by prokopetz

I'm never more serious than when I'm joking.

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2y

#OTD in 1947. The Diary of a Young Girl is published.

The book was written while Anne Frank was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944, & Anne died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. Anne's diaries were retrieved by Miep Gies & Bep Voskuijl. Miep gave them to Anne's father, Otto, the family's only survivor, just after the World War II was over.

https://www.annefrank.ch/en/diary

#books #literature

Frank in May 1942, two months before she and her family went into hiding.

Unknown photographer - Anne Frank, 1942

The last known photograph of Anne taken in May 1942, taken at a passport photo shoot. (Photo collection Anne Frank House, Amsterdam. Public Domain Work)]

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351d

Look who has come knocking for Halloween...

Fascinating and most informative, this detailed and deeply researched biography draws on previously unavailable correspondence to present a fuller picture of the life of Edgar Allan Poe.

https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2025/10/31/book-review-edgar-allan-poe-a-life/

#Books #BookReview #Bookstodon #EdgarAllanPoe #EAPoe #Biography #Literature #Goth #Gothic #Horror #Halloween @bookstodon

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351d

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” Read by Christopher Walken, Christopher Lee & Vincent Price

https://www.openculture.com/2025/10/edgar-allan-poes-the-raven-read-by-christopher-walken-christopher-lee-vincent-price.html

The Raven at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17192

#books #literature

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350d

New #BookReview on my #blog: "The Secret History of Bigfoot."
https://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2025/10/book-review-secret-history-of-bigfoot.html

Author seeks to answer why Bigfoot and the lore and legends about it remain so appealing.

#books #reading #ItinerantLibrarian #review #Bigfoot
💙📚

@bookstodon
@bookstodon@fedigroups.social

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284d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/TheNextHorizon

Amelia and The Book of Newts are in conflict. She wants to explore her feelings. It wants to explore space, taking back the gift for mathematics and piloting it gave her. She’s left unable to plot a direct course home. She’s desperate to see the man she loves, lest she lose him forever and The Book is in her way…

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of The Next Horizon, by Owen Tyme.

The black silhouette of a man and woman hugging and kissing. The woman has lifted one leg, while the man leans toward her. They stand atop the dark side of a planet or moon in space, which has a slim crescent along the right side. The background in the stars of space, but some have been highlighted with a heat shape that surrounds the kissing couple. Everything is in shades of blue.

(Right) Deep space, displaying the edge of an orange and blue gaseous cloud from a nebula, while most of the stars appear golden in color. Floating in space is a square, red leather book with the image of a newt stamped on the cover. Over the top of everything is the following text:

“You can back down and cooperate, right now, or Marta will hit you so hard, you should reach a tenth the speed of light…”

“No one will ever find you again, but even if someone does, there’s no way they’ll have the capacity to safely slow you down, before you’re gone to them!”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/TheNextHorizon

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2y

In July 1816.

Lord Byron, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Percy Bysshe Shelley & John Polidori, who have gathered at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva in a rainy Switzerland in this 'Year Without a Summer', tell each other tales. This spawns two classic Gothic narratives, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Polidori's The Vampyre. Byron also writes the poem Darkness.

Frankenstein
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/41445

The Vampyre
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/6087

Darkness
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20158

#books #literature #poetry

Title page of first edition of Frankenstein, Volume I.
Author Mary Shelley; publisher Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones

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Title page for The Vampyre; A Tale (London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1819) by John William Polidori, 1795-1821. EC8.P7598.819va (A), Houghton Library, Harvard University

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"Darkness:, an 1816 poem by Lord Byron, first published in the 1816 The Prisoner of Chillon and Other Poems collection, page 27, published in London in 1816 by John Murray.

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310d

📚 Service by: John Tottenham

What's this book about? Is there a restroom? Do you have gluten-free bagels? Do you work here? Do you have a restroom? Do I buy books or rent books or what?

Still a bookseller in his late forties, Sean knows that the worst thing about a bookshop is the customers. Then there's the gift-wrapping, the invoicing, the Yelp reviews. The overwhelming ...

https://bookblabla.com/book/service

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #general

What's this book about? Is there a restroom? Do you have gluten-free bagels? Do you work here? Do you have a restroom? Do I buy books or rent books or what?

Still a bookseller in his late forties, Sean knows that the worst thing about a bookshop is the customers. Then there's the gift-wrapping, the invoicing, the Yelp reviews. The overwhelming sense of self-loathing after another day of not writing a novel yourself.

While Sean's book remains unfinished, his city has changed around him. As have friends and acquaintances, at least the ones who keep in touch. The service industry is different, too. But what, or whom, is he serving anyway? Biting, hilarious and self-aware, John Tottenham's debut novel is a razor-sharp dissection of gentrification, friendship, jealousy and the role of literature in a digital age.

'Highly accomplished, deeply satisfying ... I marked up almost every page' TLS

'Laugh-out-loud funny' DAILY MAIL

'My favourite nihilistic romantic' RACHEL KUSHNER

'A brutally honest, insightful, intelligent and absolutely hilarious novel' MICHAEL IMPERIOLI

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2y

#OTD in 1923.

A riot breaks out at the re-staging of Tristan Tzara's Dadaist play The Gas Heart at the Théâtre Michel, Paris, between those aligned with André Breton and those aligned with Tzara. The conflict leads to a permanent split in the Dada movement and the founding of Surrealism as an alternative.

Francis Picabia at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/49071

Tristan Tzara at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/48499

André Breton at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=andr%C3%A9+breton&submit_search=Go%21

#books #literature

Dada artists, group photograph, 1920, Paris. From left to right, Back row: Louis Aragon, Theodore Fraenkel, Paul Eluard, Clément Pansaers, Emmanuel Fay (cut off). Second row: Paul Dermée, Philippe Soupault, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes. Front row: Tristan Tzara (with monocle), Celine Arnauld, Francis Picabia, André Breton.

The Dada group poses facing the camera, in various attitudes, most of them smiling. They are dressed in dark jackets and white shirts, the men wearing ties.

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349d

Famous Medieval Words and Their Surprising Origins

Words like castles, Vikings, and even medieval itself instantly evoke the Middle Ages. Some of these terms were used by people of the time, while others were coined centuries later to describe their world. Each carries traces of history, revealing how language has preserved — and reimagined — the medieval past.

https://www.medievalists.net/2025/10/medieval-words-origins/

Medieval words at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=medieval+words

#books #literature

The Squire in the Ellesmere manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

The image shows a finely dressed young man riding a prancing horse. The rider, The Squire, is adorned in elegant, elaborately patterned garments wears a blue hat with white decorations, a dark, elaborately embroidered tunic, and white hose. His short blond hair curls outward under his hat, reflecting the fashionable style of the late 14th century. A richly patterned cloak drapes over his shoulders, flowing behind him as the horse rears gracefully.

The horse is light brown with a well-groomed mane and tail, decorated with red and white harness straps in an ornamental pattern.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Squire_-_Ellesmere_Chaucer.jpg

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345d

📚 Convenience Store Woman by: Sayaka Murata

Keiko Furukura is a 36-year-old woman who has been working part-time at a convenience store, or konbini, for the last 18 years. She has known since childhood that she is "different" and that expressing her own views and actions is inexplicable and distressing to others, and causes problems.

The h...

https://bookblabla.com/book/convenience-store-woman

@bookstodon

#books #reading #libraries #fiction #literaryfiction #citylife

Keiko Furukura is a 36-year-old woman who has been working part-time at a convenience store, or konbini, for the last 18 years. She has known since childhood that she is "different" and that expressing her own views and actions is inexplicable and distressing to others, and causes problems.

The highly regulated world of the konbini, where each action is prescribed by the corporate manual, allows her to maintain an identity acceptable to those around her and a sense of purpose. She models her behaviour, dress style, and even speech patterns on those of her coworkers. Keiko maintains some friendships and a relationship with her sister, but finds it increasingly difficult to explain why, after 18 years, she is still single and working as a temp in a convenience store.

That is, until Keiko meets Shiraha. A man who cannot hold a steady job and lives on the fringes of society since he doesn't conform to "normal" expectations...

A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche and a world hidden from view, Convenience Store Woman is an ironic and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures to conform, as well as a charming and completely fresh portrait of an unforgettable heroine.

Shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award
Longlisted for the Believer Book Award
Longlisted for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation
A Los Angeles Times Bestseller

The English-language debut of an exciting young voice in international fiction, selling 660,000 copie

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2y

In July 1866.

Anthony Trollope's novel Nina Balatka: The Story of a Maiden of Prague is initially published anonymously (serialisation in Blackwood's Magazine July 1866–January 1867). Trollope is interested in discovering whether his books sell on their own merits or as a consequence of the author's name and reputation.

Nina Balakta at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8897

#books #literature

First edition title page of Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope.

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2y

"Our deeds are like children that are born to us; they live and act apart from our own will."

In July 1862.

George Eliot's historical novel Romola begins serialization in Cornhill Magazine, the first time she has published a full-length book in this format. George Murray Smith of the publishers Smith, Elder & Co. has agreed a £7,000 advance for it. It was first published as a book, in three volumes, by Smith, Elder & Co. in 1863.

Romola at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/24020

#books #literature

First edition of Romola bye George Sand.

The novel first appeared in fourteen parts published in Cornhill Magazine from July 1862 (vol. 6, no. 31) to August 1863 (vol. 8, no. 44), and was first published as a book, in three volumes, by Smith, Elder & Co. in 1863.

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2y

"Empires dissolve and peoples disappear,
Song passes not away."

English poet William Watson died #OTD in 1935.

Watson's early work, like Wordsworth's Grave (1890), demonstrated his deep admiration for the Romantic poets and established him as a significant literary figure. Despite his popularity and influence during his lifetime, his work fell out of favor in the years following his death, and he is less well-known today.

William Watson at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/4885

#books #literature

Sir William Watson, English poet.
Elliot & Fry, Ltd. - World's Library of Best Books Part 20

The image typically would depict Watson in a formal pose, characteristic of late 19th and early 20th-century portraiture. He might be dressed in traditional attire, possibly a dark suit with a high-collared shirt, and perhaps looking directly at the camera or slightly off to the side, creating a dignified and thoughtful expression.

The background would likely be plain or subtly textured to keep the focus on Watson's features. The photograph would have been reproduced in "World's Library of Best Books," Part 20, emphasizing its importance as a part of literary history.

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348d

Some #PeerTube video accounts you might want to follow about #Books #Writing & #Authors :

➡️ @kerry_ferrand - In-depth book reviews and book hauls

➡️ @faereviews - Brief reviews & shorts about romantic fantasy books

➡️ @weirdwriter - Blind author posting videos on writing, accessibility, gaming etc

➡️ @mcoorlim - Steampunk novelist, retro game fan

➡️ @athenaproductions - Irreverent sweary videos about history, philosophy, literature

➡️ @audiobooks - Well-performed public domain audiobooks

Edited 348d ago

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347d

In Praise of Librarians in Dangerous Times

Sarah Weinman on the Awesome Responsibility of the Seekers and Keepers of Truth

https://lithub.com/in-praise-of-librarians-in-dangerous-times/

Librarians at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=librarians

#books #literature

Librarians classifying books at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LOC)

The Library of Congress from Washington, DC, United States

The image shows a number of librarians actively engaged in processing library material in a space within the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The room appears to be a large, well-lit working area. Long tables, shelving units and stacks of books and bound volumes are visible.

The librarians seem to be engaged in classification, cataloguing and shelving tasks — handling books, perhaps checking index cards or labels, and placing the volumes in their correct place.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Librarians#/media/File:(Librarians_classifying_books_at_the_Library_of_Congress,_Washington,_D.C.)_(LOC)_-_Flickr_-_The_Library_of_Congress.jpg

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347d

Plato and the Poets

The centuries-old debate should be settled: an intellectual world bereft of poetry is a damaged one.

by Elaine Scarry

https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/plato-and-the-poets/

Plato at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/93

#books #literature #philosophy

Parts of P.Oxy. LII 3679, 3rd century, containing fragments of Plato's Republic.

The visible portion of the papyrus displays Greek text in several lines of uncial script, with some variation in the size of the letters and some spacing between columns or lines.

There are holes, tears, frayed edges and missing sections. Some of the text is missing or worn away, and there are irregular boundaries where pieces have broken off.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato#/media/File:P._Oxy._LII_3679.jpg

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348d

This week's #NewBooks at the library:
- I adopted a damaged copy of David Farrier's Nature's Genius: Evolution's Lessons for a Changing Planet, published by @canongatebooks.

The other two are cases of the more I read, the more I go down rabbit holes.
- After reviewing Mysteries of the Deep, I bought an ex-library copy of the classic 1995 Paleoclimate and Evolution, with Emphasis on Human Origins, published by Yale University Press, to read more on the work of Elisabeth Vrba and colleagues (this one came from the holdings of the University Library of Durham)

- After reviewing Every Living Thing, I wanted to know more about Cuvier and tracked down an ex-library copy of the classic 1987 The Cuvier-Geoffroy Debate: French Biology in the Decades Before Darwin, published by Oxford University Press (this one came from the holdings of the University of Saint Katherine Library)

#ClimateChange #Evolution #Palaeoclimate #HumanEvolution #HistoryOfScience #ScienceHistory #HistSci #Books #Scicomm #Bookstodon @bookstodon