Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

I'm excited about planning for 2023!
Our new format "Two by Two" deals with two authors that have something in common over the course of two months-which means six sets of authors.
Two of those sets will be Moderators Choice, since my goal is to introduce some lesser known authors or authors we haven't read, or read a few years ago, as a group.

The selection process for the remaining four pairs is straightforward.
Every members gets to vote for one pair and second another.
The top four choices will be read in 2023 and the remaining pairs will be carried over into the following year's list.

Here is our schedule for 2023.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY:
Italy:
Two Italos
Italo Calvinoand Italo Svevo

MARCH/APRIL:
Australia:
Two Aussie female authors with male pen names
Miles Franklinand Henry Handel Richardson

MAY/JUNE:
Iceland:
Nobel Prize
Candidate Gunnar Gunnarsson
Winner Halldór Laxness

JULY/AUGUST:
Scandinavia:
Two Female Nobel Prize Winners
Selma LagerlöfSweden and Sigrid Undset Norway

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER:
Germany:
Two Friedrichs
Friedrich Schiller and Friedrich Nietzsche

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER:
France:
Passionate Love Affairs
Alfred de Musset and Anaïs Nin

Here are some suggestions:

PART A

France:
Two Prize Winning Authors
André Malraux (Prix Goncourt 1933) and François Mauriac(Nobel Prize 1952)*

Germany:
Two Friedrichs
Friedrich Schiller and Friedrich Nietzsche**

Scandinavia:
Two Female Authors who won the Nobel Prize
Selma Lagerlöf(Sweden) and Sigrid Undset(Norway)***

France and Italy:
Two Aviators
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Gabriele D'Annunzio

Spain:
Two playwrights
Pedro Calderón de la Barca and Lope de Vega

Suggested by John:
Iceland
Nobel Prize candidate six times and Nobel Prize Winner
Gunnar Gunnarsson and Halldór Laxness***

Suggested by Penelope:
Australia
Exploration and Colonization
Patrick White (Voss) and Eleanor Dark (The Timeless Land**

Suggested by Lesle and Rosemarie:
Cat Lovers
Colette (France) and Elsa Morante(Italy)*

Suggested by Pam:
Two Authors who suffered from Mental Illness
Osamu Dazai(Japan) and Janet Frame (New Zealand)*

Suggested by Lesle:
Two French authors who had a passionate love affair with another author
Anaïs Nin and Alfred de Musset *

One slight correction. Italo Calvino was born in Cuba. Though, it may be considered an Italian author.

Please feel free to suggest your own pairs.
I will be adding some as I think of them as well.
Diversity is the key!
I look forward to reading your suggestions!

All new suggestions will be added to Message 3 after they have been suggested so that we can keep track of them in one place.

Luís wrote: "One slight correction. Italo Calvino was born in Cuba. Though, it may be considered an Italian author."

He spent most of his life in Italy. I was born in Germany but totally consider myself 100% Canadian!

Miles Franklin wrote My Brilliant Career, which I loved!

My suggestion is Icelandic Nobel Prize in Literature winners/nominees -

Halldór Laxness
Gunnar Gunnarsson

(Laxness won the Nobel Prize in 1955, and Gunnarsson was considered about six times, but never won it).

I'm adding another pair from Spain. Two playwrights-Lope de Vega and Pedro Calderón de la Barca.

It would be wonderful to have a Japanese pair we haven't done before,Sandy.
We've Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata and The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.

John wrote: "My suggestion is Icelandic Nobel Prize in Literature winners/nominees -

Halldór Laxness
Gunnar Gunnarsson

(Laxness won the Nobel Prize in 1955, and Gunnarsson was con..."

Added to the list.

There's no rush, Pamela.
One thing to keep in mind is the availability of the works in English.
Thanks for suggesting the topic.

Exploration in this case Australia but could be other countries' titles:
Voss by Patrick White
and
The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark

Penelope wrote: "Exploration in this case Australia but could be other countries' titles:
Voss by Patrick White
and
The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark"

Added to message 3

Rosemarie here are 4 women authors (not sure which ones to choose from, I will let you decide) all love cats!

Barbara Pym
Colette
Patricia Highsmith
Ursula K. Le Guin

I love cats too! I would love to read Barbara Pym and Ursula K. Le Guin

Barbara Pym is my favorite author.

I'd like to read Barbara Pym.

Piyangie wrote: "I'd like to read Barbara Pym."

I want to read her too.

For this topic, we're looking for authors that aren't British, Canadian or American, since we tend to read these in other threads. To be sure, those are all good authors!
But I do like the connection between them!

The idea is to discover authors not from these three countries since it's possible to read them in other topics. We've already read books by Ursula K. Le Guin and Patricia Highsmith in previous years.

It would be great if someone discovered a pair of New Zealand authors had something in common, other than their nationality.

Colette is a possibility, if you can find an international author that has something in common with her, not necessarily from France, or female either, for that matter.
I'll look into it as well.

I've just done some quick research on authors who like cats and found Elsa Morante, and we haven't read her before.

Piyangie, Luis and Kathy, I can easily set up a Buddy Read for Barbara Pym any time. You don't have to wait until next year either and other members may decide to join you-like me!

I'm interested in read Mulheres Excelentes

Elsa Morante and ??

Anatole France (male) loved cats
Jean Paul Sartre

I have several books by Sartre.

Lesle wrote: "Elsa Morante and ??

Anatole France (male) loved cats
Jean Paul Sartre"

Colette- from your list

Two ladies!

I went to a site called The Great Cat, with a list of 100 authors who loved cats.

Luís wrote: "I have several books by Sartre."

We read Sartre earlier this year, Luis. Please feel free to comment there any time.

I've added the cat lovers to message 3.

Members' suggestions are open until October 10. After that we'll start the selection process.


All the suggestions not selected for 2023 will be kept in reserve for the following year's reads.

I'll suggest Malraux and Mauriac.

Luís wrote: "I'll suggest Malraux and Mauriac."

Two authors who suffered from mental illness:
Osamu Dazai (Japan)
Janet Frame (New Zealand)

Pam wrote: "Two authors who suffered from mental illness:
Osamu Dazai (Japan)
Janet Frame (New Zealand)"

Added to message 3.

I read Janet Frames's autobiographical trilogy and highly recommend it.

Thanks for the pair, Pam.

Anaïs Nin
Alfred de Musset

Both are French but...both were married to another Author!

I don't know if Musset was actually married to George Sand, but they definitely had a very passionate love affair.
I like your suggestion, Lesle.
I'll add it to the list.

Notes on the selection process:

Since we have such a wide variety of pairs to choose from, I've decided to modify the selection process somewhat.

The pairs that have been created up to today are Part A of the list.
Members can start voting for two pairs as of today.

Any further suggestions given after 8:a.m. Eastern Time will be on Part B of the list.
On October 10 members will be given the opportunity to choose two more pairs from both Parts A and B.
This gives each member the opportunity to choose four pairs in total.

Does that make sense?

That all makes sense, Rosemarie.

Could I vote for the following please -

Halldór Laxness and Gunnar Gunnarsson

Friedrich Schiller and Friedrich Nietzsche

I will vote for the Laxness pair and Undset pair

I vote for 1) cat lovers and 2) mental illness.

Rosemarie wrote: "I don't know if Musset was actually married to George Sand, but they definitely had a very passionate love affair.
I like your suggestion, Lesle.
I'll add it to the list."

I like how you did it!

Lesle wrote: "Rosemarie wrote: "I don't know if Musset was actually married to George Sand, but they definitely had a very passionate love affair.
I like your suggestion, Lesle.
I'll add it to the list."

I lik..."

Thanks.

Two Female Authors who won the Nobel Prize
Selma Lagerlöf(Sweden) and Sigrid Undset(Norway)*

and Exploration and Colonization - Patrick White and Eleanor Dark

One of our group members sent me a message saying that Anaïs Nin was married, but not to another author. She was in a close relationship with Henry Miller, but they were never married to each other.
I've changed the heading to reflect that.

I vote for:
Exploration and Colonization
Patrick White (Voss) and Eleanor Dark (The Timeless Land)*

Jimmy Christmas!

You just cannot believe anything you read on the internet!

It also said that Anaïs Nin was such a good liar that she had to keep two books one for each husband she was married to at the same time to keep her untruths straight!

Just makes you wonder.
Sorry Rosemarie for so much confussion.

No worries, Lesle! They're an interesting pair-and so different from each other!

Rosemarie wrote: "Luís wrote: "One slight correction. Italo Calvino was born in Cuba. Though, it may be considered an Italian author."
He spent most of his life in Italy. I was born in Germany but t..."

Ethnicity, residence, citixenship and language all make the nationality of an author an interesting determination; such as the very interesting example of Nabakov. Calvino living in Italy, of Italian ethnicity and writing in Italian easily overcome his birth in Cuba. Other author's nationality can be more complicated.

Such as one of our upcoming authors, Anaïs Nin, who Wikipedia describes as
"Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the daughter of the composer Joaquín Nin and the classically trained singer Rosa Culmell. Nin spent her early years in Spain and Cuba, about sixteen years in Paris (1924–1940), and the remaining half of her life in the United States, where she became an established author." Her parents ethnicity is described as "Joaquín Nin, a Cuban pianist and composer of Catalan descent, and Rosa Culmell, a classically trained Cuban singer of French descent.
So Spain, France, Cuba and America are all involved.

Wikipedia chooses to describe Ms. Nin as "a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica."

Wow, Brian, that is fascinating! I had no idea. That makes me interested in reading Nin.

Brian, thanks. I ditto Melanie's views.

Not knowing myself what country is really "home" for me I am very interested in authors who might share similar thoughts as my own.

I have not been commenting much on this thread, but I have been reading it all the way through. Life has been hectic. It is a great thread!

Sometimes I am able to get books by only one of the two authors. I have decided to read at least the one I can get.