New Tour: Land of the Rising Sun Meiji-era Literature
Posted by admin in Newsletter on September 25, 2010
The Classics Circuit is back from vacation! We’re doing a tour next month, and we’d love for you to join in.
The Land of the Rising Sun Meiji-era Tour focuses on literature by Japanese writers that wrote between 1868 and 1912. We have an extensive list of some of those authors on the site. Read some gothic stories by Izumi Kyōka or Natsume Soseki’s psychological novels.
Come read about the era and some of the authors that wrote in Meiji Japan. I hope you decide to sign up for the tour too.
The tour will run from October 25 until November 5.
The Land of the Rising Sun: Meiji Japanese Classics
Posted by admin in Intro and Sign Up on September 25, 2010
The Classics Circuit is pleased to announce an upcoming tour! In the Land of the Rising Sun tour, we will be exploring Meiji-era Japanese Classics.
As the Western novel writing influences entered Japan after 1868, literature became a blend of western and classics Asian styles. Themes in Meiji literature were the relationship between westernization and the Japanese cultural tradition and the structural poverty of the general public.
The tour will be shorter this time around, as we both anticipate a smaller tour and we will be changing the tours to be a little more cohesive. The Land of the Rising Sun tour will begin on October 25 and run until November 5.
Although we highlight some Meiji authors below, for this tour, you can read anything written between 1868 and 1912 in Japan, or anything by an author indicated below. You’ll note that Natsume Soseki was the most prolific author in this group. If you have trouble finding the others in your library or bookstore, Soseki might be the choice for you.
About the Classics Circuit. The Classics Circuit: Land of the Rising Sun Meiji Tour is a blog tour of Meiji era authors. Participants select a work to read and let us know of the selection. Via email, we will assign participants a day to post about the work. Participants find their own copy of the work and read it. On the assigned days, participants post about the work on their blogs. Participants write in their own style, for whatever length of post they’d like. After the tour is over, we will post on our site a list of permalinks to all those who participated in the tour. Note you must have a blog to participate.
Sign up is currently closed. If you are coming here late and would still like to join, please send an email to rebecca[at]rebeccareid[dot]com . The Tour will run for five days, from November 1 until November 5. Please only sign up if you intend to read and then post about your selected work.
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The Classics Circuit Appreciates YOU
Posted by admin in General Information on September 13, 2010
Although The Classics Circuit is on an extended vacation right now, I want to put a shout out to all past participants of the Classics Circuit tours. It’s Book Blogger Appreciation Week and I certainly appreciate all you.
It was during BBAW last year that I mentioned on my blog the crazy brilliant idea of sponsoring classic authors through a “blog tour,” and from those discussions, The Classics Circuit was born. I have loved visiting your blogs through the past year as we’ve highlighted everything from Wilkie Collins to Emile Zola and Georgette Heyer.
Here’s to you: thank you for your participation and support!
You are appreciated!
From Rebecca
White Nights on the Neva: Imperial Russian Literature Tour in Retrospect
Posted by admin in Tour in Retrospect on July 19, 2010
The White Nights on the Neva: Imperial Russian Literature Tour has been a great success! Did you miss any posts the first time around? Below are the participants and their posts.
Monday, June 21 Only Words To Play With Nikolai Gogol’s Dead Souls and it’s anit-hero Chichikov
Monday, June 21 So Many Books Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
Tuesday, June 22 Sasha & The Silverfish Leo Tolstoy’s essay What is Art?
Tuesday, June 22 The Researcher’s Tale A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov
Wednesday, June 23 Time Enough At Last Dead Souls by Gogol
Wednesday, June 23 Notes from the North Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Thursday, June 24 Pining for the West Liza by Turgenev
Friday, June 25 A Literary Odyssey Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
Saturday, June 26 Books and Chocolate A Night at the Cemetery and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov
Sunday, June 27 The Reading Life Diary of A Superflous Man by Ivan Turgenev
Sunday, June 27 November’s Autumn Rudin by Ivan Turgenev
Monday, June 28 Shelf Love The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
Tuesday, June 29 Becky’s Book Reviews Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
Tuesday, June 29 Tell Me A Story The Steppe and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov
Wednesday, June 30 Wuthering Expectations A Russian Gentleman and A Russian Childhood by Sergei Aksakov
Thursday, July 1 Readthisbook.us Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Dostoevsky
Thursday, July 1 Life is a Patchwork Quilt The Russian poets of the Imperial Age (i.e. Pushkin, Lermertov)
Saturday, July 3 Stiletto Storytime The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Monday, July 5 BookNAround Eugene Onegin by Pushkin
Monday, July 5 Lizzy’s Literary Life The Eternal Husband by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Tuesday, July 6 A Common Reader Hadji Murad by Leo Tolstoy
Thursday, July 8 First Impressions: A Tale of Less Pride and Prejudice Ward No. 6 and Other Stories by Anton Checkhov
Thursday, July 8 Sparks’ Notes Anna Karenina (Part 1) by Tolstoy
Thursday, July 8 things mean a lot Short stories by Anton Chekhov
Friday, July 9 eclectic / eccentric House of the Dead by Dostoyevsky
Saturday, July 10 my books. my life. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
Sunday, July 11 Ardent Reader Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Monday, July 12 Bibliolatry Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
Tuesday, July 13 Bookie Mee Ivan the Fool by Leo Tolstoy
Tuesday, July 13 In Spring it is the Dawn Short stories from The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol
Wednesday, July 14 Sophisticated Dorkiness Short stories by Anton Chekhov
Wednesday, July 14 Paperback Reader A Russian Affair by Anton Chekhov
Thursday, July 15 Adventures of an Intrepid Reader War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Thursday, July 15 The Blog Jar Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevksy
Friday, July 16 Rebecca Reads Selections from the Portable Nineteenth-Century Russian Reader
Friday, July 16 The Zen Leaf Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Friday, July 16 A Book Lover The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Thanks for your eager participation! The Classics Circuit is on vacation for the next few weeks. Subscribe to the feed to make sure you don’t miss when we do plan the next tour.
In the mean time, I’ve started an experiment. To strengthen the community of those who read classics, I’ve started a “Web Ring” for classics readers. If the format doesn’t work, we’ll tweak it; for now, read more information about it here.
Russian Imperial Literature Half-way Point
Posted by admin in Schedules and Updates on July 3, 2010
We are now halfway through the White Nights on the Neva: Russian Imperial Literature tour, and I’m sure enjoying all the posts about the classics Russians! I hope you keep following the tour for the next two weeks as well: there is much still to come!
One note: We’ve noticed that there have been a few “no shows’ in which people missed their scheduled day to post. We don’t want to miss your posts if you do post late, and we’d love to know ahead of time if you can’t make your scheduled day. Just send me an email at rebecca [at] rebeccareid [dot] com and I’ll reschedule you later in the tour. Thanks!
Imperial Russian Literature Tour Begins Tomorrow
Posted by admin in Schedules and Updates on June 20, 2010
I thank all of you for your feedback. It looks like we’ll hold off on the Meiji-era Japanese tour until the fall so those who are tied up in August will still be able to participate.
In the meantime, however, we still have the White Nights on the Neva: Imperial Russian Literature tour beginning tomorrow! To try to simplify things, we will not be having weekly “This week in the tour” posts. I’ll make the main schedule for the Russian tour as a sticky post so if you you check this blog every day, you’ll be able to see the entire tour schedule and find the blogs that the tour is visiting. Also, see the button on the right side — that will also get you to the main schedule.
Happy Russian reading! I’m really looking forward to this great tour.
Poll: August Japanese Classic Tour Participation
In the Northern Hemisphere, at least, it is summer and sunshine may be beckoning us away from the computer. Besides that, it seems many are becoming increasingly busy with Book Blogger Appreciation Week responsibilities and festivities and other online responsibilities. For these reasons, I’m pondering letting The Classics Circuit take a break until late September or October.
I had intended to open sign up this week for the Land of the Rising Sun: Meiji-era Japanese Literature tour. This tour leaves the West, where we have been, and gives us a glimpse of some classic Eastern literature, particularly that of 1868-1920 Japan. It include the classic and prolific novelist Natsume Soseki (of Kusamakura and I Am A Cat fame), poets like Masaoka Shiki, and short story writers like Naoya Shiga and Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
However, if this time of year is bad for you, then I’m happy to postpone the tour until a different time of the year, when more might be able to join in. Please take the one question survey below. If people seem interested, we’ll go ahead with the sign up later this week (probably Wednesday). If not, we’ll let The Classics Circuit have a little summer break.
(Note that after you answer the question, the survey asks for your name and email. This is a function of the survey plugin, and I do not know how to turn it off. Please do not fell any obligation to add your name to your answer; it does not matter to me!)
Survey ended
The Golden Age of Detective Fiction in Retrospect
Posted by admin in Tour in Retrospect on June 12, 2010
Thanks so much to everyone who participated in our Golden Age of Detective Fiction tour! Here’s a list of all the stops, so you can check out anything you missed:
May 17, 2010
Rebecca Reads Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie and Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reviews by Lola Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Joyfully Retired Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
May 20, 2010
Staircase Wit The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham
Tales of a Capricious Reader Death in the Air by Agatha Christie
May 21, 2010
Tell Me A Story Ngaio Marsh – Her Life in Crime by Joanne Drayton and Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh
May 22, 2010
Bibliosue The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
May 23, 2010
A Few More Pages The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
May 24, 2010
BookLust A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh
piningforthewest Death at the President’s Lodging by Michael Innes
The Blog Jar Black Plumes by Margery Allingham
May 26, 2010
52 Annual Book Reviews Lament for a Maker by Michael Innes
Fleur Fisher Reads The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley
Brown Paper The Case of William Smith by Patricia Wentworth
May 28, 2010
A Work in Progress The Mystery of Hunting’s End by Mignon Eberhart
May 29, 2010
Life is a Patchwork Quilt Come Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie (autobiography)
May 30, 2010
book-a-rama Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie
May 31, 2010
Sparks’ Notes Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton
things mean a lot The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
June 1, 2010
Notes from the North The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
an adventure in reading Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh
June 2, 2010
Reading Through Life Reflections on whether it’s appropriate to teach an Agatha Christie novel (And Then There Were None) to inner-city high school students
June 3, 2010
The Zen Leaf And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
June 4, 2010
So Many Books The Ampersand Papers by Michael Innes
Time Enough at Last Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
June 5, 2010
Lizzy’s Literary Life The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
Badgerish.net Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
June 6, 2010
Musings A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey
June 7, 2010
Stiletto Storytime The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
In Spring it is the Dawn The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
June 8, 2010
Classic Mysteries Evidence of Things Seen by Elizabeth Daly
June 9, 2010
My Friend Amy The Innocence of Father Brown by GK Chesterton
Books and Chocolate Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout
June 10, 2010
Bibliolatry The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
Shelf Love Before the Fact by Francis Iles
June 11, 2010
justaddbooks Whose Body by Dorothy L. Sayers
Linus’s Blanket Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie
This Week in the Circuit
Posted by admin in Schedules and Updates, Tours on June 7, 2010
It’s the last week of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction tour. Here are the final stops for the tour. Thanks to everyone who participated, and we hope you’ve all enjoyed following the tour!
June 7, 2010 Stiletto Storytime The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
June 7, 2010 In Spring it is the Dawn The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
June 8, 2010 A Book Lover Whose Body and/or The Whimsical Christian by Dorothy L. Sayers
June 8, 2010 Classic Mysteries Evidence of Things Seen by Elizabeth Daly
June 9, 2010 My Friend Amy The Innocence of Father Brown by GK Chesterton
June 9, 2010 Books and Chocolate The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr
June 10, 2010 Bibliolatry The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
June 10, 2010 Shelf Love Before the Fact by Francis Iles
June 11, 2010 justaddbooks Whose Body by Dorothy L. Sayers
June 11, 2010 Linus’s Blanket Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie
This Week in the Circuit
Posted by admin in Schedules and Updates, Tours on May 31, 2010
It’s the third week of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction tour. Check out these stops to learn more about the great mysteries of the 20s and 30s.
May 31, 2010 Sparks’ Notes Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton
May 31, 2010 things mean a lot The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey
June 1, 2010 Notes from the North The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
June 1, 2010 an adventure in reading Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh
June 2, 2010 Reading Through Life Reflections on teaching an Agatha Christie novel (And Then There Were None) to inner-city high school students
June 2, 2010 Good Books and Good Wine The Documents In The Case by Dorothy L. Sayers with Robert Eustace
June 3, 2010 The Zen Leaf And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
June 3, 2010 A Striped Armchair The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey
June 4, 2010 So Many Books The Ampersand Papers by Michael Innes
June 4, 2010 Time Enough at Last Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
June 5, 2010 Lizzy’s Literary Life The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
June 5, 2010 Badgerish.net Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
June 6, 2010 Musings A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey
June 6, 2010 Literary Lolita And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
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