Classics and the Western Canon discussion

It’s time to start planning our next group read. Here’s the weekly schedule:

May 8 — Member discussion of next read
May 14 — Next read poll
May 21 — Run-off poll if needed
May 28 — Interim Week 1
June 4 — Interim Week 2
June 11 — Start 3rd. Read of 2025

Your seven choices for the next group read include one popular choice from the last poll (The Bhagavad Gita) and six new choices from the Random Book Generator (RBG) and moderators.

Classic choices range from the philosophic dialog of The Bhagavad Gita to the swordplay of The Three Musketeers to the far-ranging adventures of Moll Flanders. Or would you prefer the social satire and poetry of Eugene Onegin, the poetic myth and transformation of Metamorphoses (a reread for the group), the poetry and summer magic of A Midsummer Night`s Dream or the playful history and humor of Orlando?

Choices include:
The Bhagavad Gita by Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa
Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Metamorphoses by Ovid
Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin
A Midsummer Night`s Dream by William Shakespeare
Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Nice. I am considering reading The Bhagavad Gita, Metamorphoses, and Orlando in the near term and would be happy if one of them were selected.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is great, but alone it feels like more of an interim read. It might be paired with one or more other Renaissance pastoral comedies like As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Galatea and Midas: John Lyly (Galatea), or Aminta: A Pastoral Play.

Just to clarify re: Midsummer Night's Dream— the moderators’ intent in offering this work as a major read was to propose a slower reading, taking the time to spend a week exploring each act of this magical play. The group does often do plays as interim reads, but this is an proposal to try a different approach.

Susan wrote: "Just to clarify — while the group often does plays as interim reads, the intent in offering A Midsummer's Night Dream as a major read was to do a close reading, taking the time to spend a week on each act of the play."

Okay, just a thought.

These all sound good. It's going to be hard to choose.

The poll’s up, and it’s time to cast your vote for our next read. As always, please vote for a book you intend to read and discuss with the group. The poll will be open through May 20 here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...

Correction, FYI: Moll Flanders was accidentally left off the poll choices initially, but she is there now if you want to vote for her and her far-ranging adventures.

There’s still time to vote for our next read: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1... The poll is open through close of day Tuesday, May 20.

The votes are weighed and counted, and The Metamorphoses is the winner with 18 raw votes and 25 weighted votes. The Bhagavad Gita was second with 13 raw votes and 23 weighted votes. The schedule will be posted June 4, and our exploration of myth will begin June 11.

Votes are weighted to promote discussion. A summary of the raw and weighted votes is here in the comments to the poll: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...