Spring Awakening

Man this play was controversial. It wasn't performed for years after it was written in the late 1800's. It concerns teenagers and involves abortion, suicide, and rape. I thought it was good but it was not an easy read. If anything this play really promotes the need for sexual education. Some of the characters are hurt by their ignorance. For example the girl doesn't understand why she became pregnant. I really read this because the writer's Lulu plays inspired Pandora's Box, one of the all time great silent movies. This was later made into a musical but to be honest I've had enough.

Mrs. Dalloway

This is my first introduction to Virginia Woolf. It was ok but it was hard to follow. It was inspired by James Joyce's Ulysses by its stream of consciousness. It took me a while to figure out just what was going on. It's about a middle aged woman thinking of her past loves and homosexuality. It also concerns a suicidal veteran suffering from trauma. I'll eventually read another book by Woolf but so far I think the legend is more interesting than the works.

Fuente Ovejuna

I've never heard of the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. I read this play from the 1600's completely on a whim and I liked it. It's supposedly based on a true story. It's about a town Fuente Ovejuna where there's a vile commandeer. The town rebels and kills him each taking an oath with each other that the town committed the murder and not just an individual. This is even when they get tortured. They stick by it each other. It was interesting. I will read other plays by this author. There are so many classic plays from the past that I have yet to read.

The Gammage Cup

This was a good children's book that became a Newberry medal book. The plot concerns a group of people called the Minnipins. Despite being kicked out of their land everuone unites to fight off the bad guys the Mushrooms. The book deals with themes like conformity. There was a lawsuit later on against Harry Potter and another author over the name Muggles. But this book preceded them all with that name. The author of this book Carol Kendall didn't care that they stole Muggles which I think it is funny. It was probably just a coincidence anyway. Carol Kendall didn't write that many books for children which I thought was disappointing. I'll interlibrary the sequel sometime. It was a cute book and it was imaginative.

Murphy

I didn't care for the play Happy Days but I decided not to give up on Samuel Beckett. I decided to look into his prose. I enjoyed this early cynical work of his. At the time it barely made any sales. It's about a man who spends his days naked in his rocking chair who works at a mental hospital. There is a patient he plays chess with at the hospital. Murphy also has a love interest with a prostitute. Samuel Beckett wasn't one to write conventional fare, always experimenting. The good thing is that this is a short work so if you don't like it then not much is lost. It's worth at least trying.

Writers

This was an ok book on short biographies of writers. There's the usual like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Virginia Woolf. There were some I didn't know though like Hwang Sok-yong. I was annoyed that Jean Paul-Sartre was mentioned not to say he's not a good writer but DK already mentioned him in their philosopher book, give another person their due. It seemed like the end of the book was mostly dedicated to Nobel Prize winning authors. I wish they got more clever. It was weird seeing major writers like Sylvia Plath and J.D. Salinger just being given a paragraph. Still I liked it. It was a quick read. Don't buy the Kindle version. There's problems with it. It's a ripoff.

Come back Little Sheba

This was William Inge's first play. It was much better than his later play A Loss of Roses. It's about a chiropractor who used to be an alcoholic. He wishes that he had made more of his life. They have a female college boarder. She represents the child his wife and him couldn't have. He has unrealistic expectations of this girl which is one of the reasons he goes off the wagon. He is one mean drunk and kind of psychotic. Little Sheba refers to their dog that ran away. I need to watch the movie again. I imagine that Burt Lancaster did a good job but Shirley Booth was the one who won all of the awards, the Tony and the Oscar. 3/4