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william-shakespeare-official · 1 year

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Here's THE masterpost of free and full adaptations, by which I mean that it's a post made by the master.

Anthony and Cleopatra: here's the BBC version, here's a 2017 version.

As you like it: you'll find here an outdoor stage adaptation and here the BBC version. Here's Kenneth Brannagh's 2006 one.

Coriolanus: Here's a college play, here's the 1984 telefilm, here's the 2014 one with tom hiddleston. Here's the Ralph Fiennes 2011 one.

Cymbelline: Here's the 2014 one.

Hamlet: the 1948 Laurence Olivier one is here. The 1964 russian version is here and the 1964 american version is here. The 1964 Broadway production is here, the 1969 Williamson-Parfitt-Hopkins one is there, and the 1980 version is here. Here are part 1 and 2 of the 1990 BBC adaptation, the Kenneth Branagh 1996 Hamlet is here, the 2000 Ethan Hawke one is here. 2009 Tennant's here. And have the 2018 Almeida version here. On a sidenote, here's A Midwinter's Tale, about a man trying to make Hamlet. Andrew Scott's Hamlet is here.

Henry IV: part 1 and part 2 of the BBC 1989 version. And here's part 1 of a corwall school version.

Henry V: Laurence Olivier (who would have guessed) 1944 version. The 1989 Branagh version here. The BBC version is here.

Julius Caesar: here's the 1979 BBC adaptation, here the 1970 John Gielgud one. A theater Live from the late 2010's here.

King Lear: Laurence Olivier once again plays in here. And Gregory Kozintsev, who was I think in charge of the russian hamlet, has a king lear here. The 1975 BBC version is here. The Royal Shakespeare Compagny's 2008 version is here. The 1974 version with James Earl Jones is here. The 1953 Orson Wells one is here.

Macbeth: Here's the 1948 one, there the 1955 Joe McBeth. Here's the 1961 one with Sean Connery, and the 1966 BBC version is here. The 1969 radio one with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench is here, here's the 1971 by Roman Polanski, with spanish subtitles. The 1988 BBC one with portugese subtitles, and here the 2001 one). Here's Scotland, PA, the 2001 modern retelling. Rave Macbeth for anyone interested is here. And 2017 brings you this.

Measure for Measure: BBC version here. Hugo Weaving here.

The Merchant of Venice: here's a stage version, here's the 1980 movie, here the 1973 Lawrence Olivier movie, here's the 2004 movie with Al Pacino. The 2001 movie is here.

The Merry Wives of Windsor: the Royal Shakespeare Compagny gives you this movie.

A Midsummer Night's Dream: have this sponsored by the City of Columbia, and here the BBC version. Have the 1986 Duncan-Jennings version here. 2019 Live Theater version? Have it here!

Much Ado About Nothing: Here is the kenneth branagh version and here the Tennant and Tate 2011 version. Here's the 1984 version.

Othello: A Massachussets Performance here, the 2001 movie her is the Orson Wells movie with portuguese subtitles theree, and a fifteen minutes long lego adaptation here. THen if you want more good ole reliable you've got the BBC version here and there.

Richard II: here is the BBC version. If you want a more meta approach, here's the commentary for the Tennant version. 1997 one here.

Richard III: here's the 1955 one with Laurence Olivier. The 1995 one with Ian McKellen is no longer available at the previous link but I found it HERE.

Romeo and Juliet: here's the 1988 BBC version. Here's a stage production. 1954 brings you this. The french musical with english subtitles is here!

The Taming of the Shrew: the 1980 BBC version here and the 1988 one is here, sorry for the prior confusion. The 1929 version here, some Ontario stuff here, and here is the 1967 one with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. This one is the Shakespeare Retold modern retelling.

The Tempest: the 1979 one is here, the 2010 is here. Here is the 1988 one. Theater Live did a show of it in the late 2010's too.

Timon of Athens: here is the 1981 movie with Jonathan Pryce,

Troilus and Cressida can be found here

Titus Andronicus: the 1999 movie with Anthony Hopkins here

Twelfth night: here for the BBC, here for the 1970 version with Alec Guinness, Joan Plowright and Ralph Richardson.

Two Gentlemen of Verona: have the 2018 one here. The BBC version is here.

The Winter's Tale: the BBC version is here

Please do contribute if you find more. This is far from exhaustive.

(also look up the original post from time to time for more plays)

#adaptations #macbeth #hamlet #king lear #twelfth night #much ado about nothing #henry iv #henry v #richard iii #julius caesar #timon of athens #troilus and cressida

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chthonic-cassandra · 4 months

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Top Reading Experiences, 2023

In a few categories, because lists are satisfying.

Series - Anne Rice, The Vampire Chronicles - I reread almost the entirety of the series (I skipped Memnoch), and read the weird ones that I had skipped the first time. Fascinating, wild reading experience to do it all together. Chronicled here, though it subsequently turned into my general VC tag. - C. J. Cherryh, Alliance-Union series - I reread Cyteen and then read Regenesis and 40,000 in Gehenna for the first time. While Cyteen is unmatched, I loved reading the others as well, and am looking forward to reading the rest of them slowly, gradually, and lovingly. Immensely satisfying experience of science fiction. - Tanith Lee, Tales from the Flat Earth - reread the first three, read Night's Daughter and Night's Sorceries for the first time. More to come on these. I haven't yet gotten a hold of the remaining few stories in the series, which were recently published for the first time. - Tanith Lee, Unicorn series - I started 2023 with these. Just a delight. - Pat Barker, Regeneration - reread for the first time in many years. Still so good, though the first is notably the tightest. Its reflection on moral injury felt very grounding right now.

Other notable rereads - Henry James, The Golden Bowl - Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre - Annie G. Rogers, The Unsayable - Caitlin Sweet, The Pattern Scars - Susanna Clarke, Piranesi - Elizabeth E. Wein, The Lion Hunter and The Empty Kingdom - Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children

Fiction, read for the first time - Wole Soyinka, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth - A. S. Byatt, Medusa's Ankles: Selected Stories - Dion Fortune, The Demon Lover - Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, Of One Blood - Maureen McHugh, China Mountain Zhang - Werner Herzog, The Twilight World - Vanessa Hua, Forbidden City - Marina Dyachenko, Assassin of Reality - Magda Szabo, The Fawn - Shehan Karunatilaka, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida - Selby Wynn Schwartz, After Sappho - Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait - Vajra Chandrasekera, The Saint of Bright Doors

Non-fiction, read for the first time - Artemis Leontis, Eva Sikelianos Palmer: A Life in Ruins - Shane McRae, Pulling the Chariot of the Sun: A Memoir of a Kidnapping - Claire Mac Cumhaill & Rachel Weisman, Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life - Simon Palfrey & Tiffany Stern, Shakespeare in Parts - Nayan Shah, Refusal to Eat: A Century of Prison Hunger Strikes - Hugh Ryan, The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison - Ron E. Hassner, Anatomy of Torture - Judith Herman, Truth and Repair - Julie Phillips, The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem - Nanno Marinatos, Minoan Religion

#books

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denimbex1986 · 2 months

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'With three years of theatre in Dublin under his belt, the actor Paul Mescal only came to mainstream attention in April 2020 when he made his television debut in the hit Lenny Abrahamson-directed adaptation of Normal People, the best-selling novel by Sally Rooney. It was the most-streamed series on the BBC that year and made Mescal a household name – his role as awkward, school-age Connell earned him an Emmy nomination and a Bafta for best leading actor. In the four years since, a series of impressive parts has followed: his first feature, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s critically acclaimed directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, premiered in 2021. The next spring, he was in Cannes promoting two lead roles: in Anna Rose Holmer and Saela Davis’s indie flick God’s Creatures, set in a bleak oyster-fishing town in rural Ireland, and Charlotte Wells’s devastating Aftersun. A beautifully constructed tale of a loving but stricken young father, the latter underscored Mescal as a powerful talent with the ability to both charm and break the hearts of viewers with one downward glance – the film also earned him a nomination for an Academy Award. In 2022 he returned to theatre for the Almeida’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire, going on to win an Olivier last year for his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski.

More recently, two new films have been released: Garth Davis’s Foe, a sci-fi romance in which Mescal performs opposite Saoirse Ronan, and the gut-punching All of Us Strangers. Directed by Andrew Haigh, All of Us Strangers tells the story of Adam (played by Andrew Scott) who, upon falling for Mescal’s Harry, begins to explore a tragedy that has cast a long shadow over his life. A dizzying dance ensues between the imaginary and the corporeal, as Adam flits between dreamlike visits to his dead parents and the very visceral beginnings of a new sexual relationship – viewers leave haunted and moved.

The British filmmaker Haigh is known for his works’ intimate scale and emotional heft. There’s Weekend, which dug at real and tender spots in gay male sex and relationships; 45 Years, starring Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling, who depict a couple on their sapphire wedding anniversary processing an earth-shattering secret; and Lean on Pete, a coming-of-age tale of a motherless runaway boy with Chloë Sevigny and Steve Buscemi. In each quietly vigorous work, Haigh’s incredible casting and spare dialogue enable truly believable characters to wrestle with past trauma, belonging and love.

On set for his latest lead, in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, Mescal Zooms from a candelabra-filled room in a sandstone palace in Malta with Haigh, who’s at home in London. Here, the pair discuss the radical tenderness of their new film and what it takes to express inner conflict with the delicate restraint they are both known for. It’s the first time the collaborators have had the chance to talk together in public about the award-winning film.

Paul Mescal: I was just hanging out with the Searchlight crew in LA and they were saying that you were taking two weeks’ respite, having gone to every state in the US for this film.

Andrew Haigh: Yes, but I have to remind myself that sometimes you make a film and nobody is very interested at all. When people do care enough to want to talk about it, then you can’t be too grumpy. It’s why we made the film in the first place, to connect with people.

PM: But it’s that weird transition, isn’t it? I imagine there are many transitions for you – the writing process into the shooting, which feels like a private experience, but then you’re making this for an audience, so once you finish filming it, it’s for public consumption. Which is the most frightening part of it. But yes, when something feels like it registers with an audience, you’ve got to run with it because it doesn’t happen all the time.

AH: It’s definitely frightening releasing the film into the world. I try very hard during the actual making of the film to forget about all the stuff that comes afterwards. It’s almost too much pressure, isn’t it? I’m sure it’s the same for actors.

PM: You almost do forget. You get into a shooting rhythm but then the hardest bit for an actor is once you’ve handed it over. I kept bumping into you in Soho during the editing and I felt like I’d given you a version of my own child and you would be like, “Yes, that was really good.” The number one rule is try to avoid your director while they’re in the edit because they’re never going to give you any information that’s going to satiate you at all.

AH: Sorry about that. [Laughs.] In truth, it’s because I’m always so nervous about what an actor is going to think of the film.

PM: Did you feel nervous with All of Us Strangers? Because from a performance side of things, I feel like it’s really strong across the four of us [including Claire Foy and Jamie Bell, who play Adam’s parents].

AH: I was never worried about the quality of the performances. You are all incredible. It’s just when you’ve made something together, trusted each other and worked so hard on something I don’t want you to be disappointed. It matters to me that you like the film. You get offered lots of roles and I always want an actor to feel like they’ve made the right choice. How did you know you wanted to do this and not do something else?

PM: Because it was the best script. It sounds basic but it goes a long way – it was the best thing I’d read in the longest time. And that’s both a testament to your talent as a screenwriter but it’s also that it just becomes immovable in my brain. Something else can come in and it might be stretching a different muscle, or it might pay more money, or it might be to work with a director I like. But this had all those things. Ultimately it was the story, and the character felt both in my wheelhouse and a perfect stretch at the same time.

AH: When I knew that you were interested in the role of Harry, I was a little bit flabbergasted.

PM: I’ve heard you say this in interviews and I’m so curious as to why because I don’t know any actor worth their salt who wouldn’t be – I’d love to know how many actors you sent it to who didn’t respond to it.

AH: Only a few. And they said no.

PM: They said no?

AH: [Laughs.] I’m not going to name any names.

PM: Did you get a flavour of why they said no?

PM: That’s why I love that part so much – because ultimately it’s a supporting part in terms of the script and what the central story is, but he’s also a supporting human being to Adam. It’s like his whole function is to put the scaffolding up around Adam to protect him.

AH: That’s a beautiful way to put it – putting up the scaffolding to help him rebuild.

PM: And then you give such amazing clues into Harry’s own world – just drip-feeding them in tiny moments. You really see that there’s almost another film to be written about Harry that mirrors Adam’s, but you have the restraint to give enough of that without taking the focus off Adam.

In general you write such actor-friendly scripts, which is why if there were a part that size in another screenwriter or director’s hands, I probably wouldn’t take it. But there was nothing about that part that felt small to me. That character has had the same impact on me as other leading roles I’ve played. That’s about the imaginative space that you allow the actor to create – it allows the audience to project.

AH: And he is so important – he’s fundamental to Adam’s change. Still, in the hands of an actor who can’t embody that character, truly understand it, then none of it works. You have this amazing ability to deepen characters – to allow us to understand that a backstory might exist, even if we don’t know what that backstory is. The minute we see you at Adam’s door I can understand the pain, the longing, the need that Harry has, all lurking between your words and gestures. That’s a rare skill. I’m not entirely sure how you do it, honestly.

PM: Andrew, it’s all there in the script. I didn’t invent anything other than the normal actor work – you gave me all the tools I needed and with such economy. Can I say that that scene is one of my favourite scenes that I’ve ever got to play in my entire life. I remember reading it and thinking that you could spend a week on that scene – there are endless alleys it could go down. And I’m so happy with how it felt – it’s the perfect blend of dangerous and sexy and sad, but it’s unclear which part of the Venn diagram it’s sitting in.

AH: And it’s such an important scene too. The film does not work without that scene landing. Although you could say that about so many of the scenes in the film. Every scene asked us all to go to some emotional places. Every scene had its challenges. Some for personal reasons and others in terms of story. When you’re working as a director, a writer or an actor, you are emotionally exposed sometimes.

I struggled a lot with that – even in the writing – how much do I reveal and how much do I hold back? There’s this Nina Simone song, Who Knows Where the Time Goes – she talks at the beginning about a quote by Faye Dunaway, who said she tried to give the audience what they wanted [in Bonnie and Clyde]. And Nina Simone says, that’s a mistake because “you use up everything you’ve got, trying to give everybody what they want”. And I think it is about trying to find that balance, isn’t it? Of, “OK, I’m prepared to give this, but I don’t want to give this.”

PM: I would forget sometimes that you conjured up these people and it is scary, in the most exciting way, to be in your company and thinking, “I know he’s hiding stuff.” Through the writing process, the shoot, the edit, were you thinking about what your lines in the sand were when it came to talking about the movie? Or is that something that came in the weeks before the press run?

AH: Yes, I tried not to think about it too much while I was doing it because it’s really dangerous when you’re making the film to think too much about how the world is going to take it and what people are going to end up asking, because I think I would close up and become afraid. But one of the things I’ve tried to understand is why do I even want to make films?

PM: Why do you want to make films?

AH: I don’t know. Most of the time it’s so painful – the stress and anxiety. But I think for anybody that works in film, there’s part of you that is probably doing it because you just want to be loved by the world. [Laughs.] And the problem is it’s an appalling industry to work in if that’s what you’re wanting.

PM: Yes, because you’ll get it one second and then you’ll lose it.

AH: I always find that fascinating because sometimes things go well and sometimes they don’t and you often can’t even understand why.

PM: What scenes did you find particularly difficult to film? One that jumps to my mind is the scene in Harry’s …

AH: ... apartment.

PM: Yes, that was one that took us ... We had to climb a couple of steps to get there. I had performance anxiety – I’d seen how beautiful your work with Andrew had been and I was like, “We’re entering the final couple of minutes of the film and if I fuck it up, it’s my fucking fault.” But it’s one of those few moments when Harry does become the focus of the film for a second.

AH: You certainly hid that anxiety well. And you nailed the scene. It’s heartbreaking. I also adore the scene between you and Andrew in the bed halfway through the film. I can’t tell you how beautiful you both are in that scene. I feel like I’ve tried to capture intimacy a lot, but there is something special going on here, the way we see you opening up to each other. It is so delicate and tender, the way you hide and reveal.

PM: But that’s what I love about the writing as well. You’ve seen versions of those scenes in films where you see a character repress or hide what he’s feeling through a smile. But the thing that is different about this scene is that there’s somebody on the other side of the bed who loves him and tells him that it’s not OK to do that. And the thing I find so upsetting about that scene is that Harry says, “I’m marginalised by my family et cetera ... but it’s fine.” And the line that devastates me is when Adam says, “But why is that OK?” It’s such a simple line.

AH: Agreed. It’s about knowing that someone cares enough about you to push a little deeper. There’s an exhalation you do in response to that question, a giggle, a gesture and then you stretch. It’s one of my favourite moments in the film. We’re so close to your face, close enough to see Harry’s mind working, asking himself if he can fall deeper into this relationship. It’s those moments I am obsessed with trying to capture. Do you plan for those moments?

PM: That’s not something I think you can prepare for as an actor. You can’t go home and do your homework and be like, “And when he says this, I’m going to stretch and make a little noise.” You just can’t.

AH: One thing that always surprises me is how you can find and sustain that feeling of intimacy with all the trappings of a film set around you. Men in shorts. Cameras in your face. I’m always amazed when actors can ignore what is going on around them.

PM: It’s because we want to be adored. [Laughs.]

AH: That’s what it is.

PM: I feel like sometimes, though, it’s blind panic. Because I think acting has the capacity to be the most embarrassing thing that any of us ever do. And it can be in an instant. I’ve seen actors that I really admire do bad, embarrassing things. When you’re in a scene where that’s heightened – say, if your body is on show or there’s an emotional weight to a scene – weirdly, if you’re working with good actors, you can just throw a bubble around yourselves and white-knuckle it. Andrew Scott is just outrageously good.

AH: And you are outrageously good together. We see you fall in love on screen. We believe every moment of it. It feels so genuine.

PM: When you feel close with an actor like that, like with Andrew, it allows a real-life intimacy and a trust that I’ve only had a couple of times – obviously with Daisy [Edgar-Jones] in Normal People, and Andrew, and Saoirse in Foe. It has nothing to do with talent. Saoirse and Andrew are actually quite similar. They’ve got this well of emotionality where all you have to do when you’re in scenes with them is sit there and listen to what they’re saying. Normally they’ll find a way to unlock you.

It sounds reductive but you don’t have to do anything when you’re working with brilliant actors like that. I would say the size of the performance in Foe is much more robust than Strangers, which is big but it’s also restrained and subdued. In Foe, me and Saoirse just had to plant our feet and really go from the gut.

AH: That’s the skill of it, isn’t it? Because you have to understand what the film needs.

PM: I’d say that there’s a similar performance style across all of your films – and that’s the one thing I love about my job, that you get to go into different jobs with different actors, like Saoirse and Andrew, and you put on different hats and you figure it out. Would you say there’s a performance style that you’re interested in generally?

AH: I’d say there is a tone to my films to which a performance style is integral. Although I’m not very good at being able to articulate what that style is. I guess actors will have watched my films before they want to work with me, so instinctually understand the timbre of the performance I like. We usually don’t need to talk about it.

PM: We never actually spoke about it.

AH: But I think that’s the joy of when you’ve made a few films. You can have a reference of what you like. That’s why our choices are important. The choices we make define the kind of person we are. That’s why I wanted to work with you so much. The projects you choose are always interesting. And you’ve had a crazy few years. How does that feel?

PM: It’s a hard question ... Because I never expected this to happen. I had ambitions, of course, but I could never have expected that this would be where I was going to land. Being in drama school, I remember teachers telling me the statistic was something like “only 16 to 20 per cent of you will ever work as an actor”. So I remember getting my first job in theatre and thinking, “That’s it. Somebody has decided to pay me to do the thing that I love.” And then fast forward five years – it’s the thing that I love most in the world and I’m getting to do it with directors that I admire greatly.

I’m learning, though, that there’s only so long I can continue going at this rate before it starts to take away from my life – but right now is the time to put the foot down and really work hard.

AH: And now you’re doing your first huge movie.

PM: Gladiator comes across your desk and there’s no way you say no to it. But with this scale of film, and to work with Ridley Scott, it’s a no-brainer. Up until this point there have been very few larger films that remotely interested me.

AH: But this is Gladiator. This is not your average blockbuster.

PM: It feels really right. And also there’s the capacity to learn. It’s the first time that I’ve felt a pressure of, “God, I’m worried about box office receipts.” It’s a different metric. But Ridley shoots at a very different rhythm – he’s quick and it’s kinetic and wonderful. He knows exactly what he wants. It honestly reminds me of sport in a way that is really satisfying.

AH: Plus you get to dress up as a gladiator.

PM: We left that point out. That’s the best bit.

AH: You’re going to make a lot of people very happy!'

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decayffeinated · 1 year

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8 Brazilian Books translated to English

Here's some suggestions of Brazilian classics, short stories and a queer ya novel to expand your reading. All the Classics are of public domain. The titles marked with an asterisk * have a link to read online.

Classics

Senhora (Profile of a woman) * by José de Alencar: Heroine uses newly inherited wealth to "buy back" greedy fiancé who had left her for a woman with a more enticing dowry.

(Goodreads summary)

Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis: Explores the themes of marriage and adultery, with an unreliable narrator who leaves room for ambiguous readings (my personal fave)

O Ateneu by Raul Pompeia: The traditional boarding school as an opressive setting that reproduces the power structure of the Brazilian society. A semiautobiography about childhood and loss of innocence.

Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (aka Epitaph of a Small Winner) * by Machado de Assis: A pessimistic account of 19th Brazilian society, narrated by a corpse.

(Goodreads summary)

Clara dos Anjos * by Lima Barreto: A story about a black girl pursuing romance in the racist and elitist early 20th Brazilian society. Sad ending. The link also provides a small biography of the author.

Young Adult

Here the whole time by Vitor Martins: m/m romance that deals with body image insecurities and repressed crushes.

Short stories

The Collected Stories of Machado de Assis*: Includes more than 50 stories, including The Fortune-Teller (a tale about fate and forbidden love with an ironic twist)

The Pigs * by Julia Lopes de Almeida: A horror story about the violence young mothers suffer in rural communities. Very sad ending.

I would be grateful if y'all could confirm the links are working. Good reading!

EDIT: Corrected "The Pigs" link

#books #book recs #dark academia #brazilian literature #book recommendations #litblr #studyblr #machado de assis

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lau-and-history · 4 months

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Books of 2023

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie

Die Dorfschullehrerin (Duology) by Eva Völler

Die rätselhaften Honjin-Morde by Seishi Yokomizo

The Man who died Twice by Richard Osman

Die Abenteur des Apollo (Series) by Rick Riordan

The Age of Darkness: Das Ende der Welt by Katy Rose Pool

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Before the Coffee gets Cold. Tales form the Café by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

The Bullet that missed by Richard Osman

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Before your Memory fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan

Victory City by Salman Rushdie

The Penelopiad by Margret Atwood

He who drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan

Audio Books

Der grillende Killer by Chang Kuo-Li

Butter by Asako Yuzuki

Die Tribute von Panem X: Das Lied von Vogel und Schlange by Suzanne Collins

Der Pfirsichgarten by Melissa Fu

Wie viel von diesen Hügeln ist Gold by C Pam Zhang

Die Drei ??? und die rätselhaften Bilder by William Arden

Die Tage in der Buchhandlung Morisaki by Satoshi Yagisawa

Mortal Engines (Quadrology) by Philip Reeve

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

#fyi all book titles are named in the language I consumed them in #Tho the audio books were all in German but some just keep their english title #books of 2023 #studyinglaurel #bookblr

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iishmael · 10 months

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Global Reading Challenge: 109/200

A personal reading project, where I endeavour to read a book from each of the 193 United Nations member states plus 7 extra* ones. My main goal is to have fun and to learn, but I do have rules for myself:

The book should be fiction, and preferably a novel. I allow plays and poetry, but non-fiction only as the very last resort

The author should have the nationality of their country. If they have lived a good portion of their life there and genuinely represent the local culture, then it's ok if they've been born somewhere else

I want to read books that represent the local literary tradition. Preferably a "classic", a book that illustrates the local culture, or a book that is famous within the country. I avoid popular and contemporary fiction, and books that play outside of the country.

*Extra states have been determined based on UNESCO membership and personal interest where I want to read more books from. This is not a political statement.

The List

Afghanistan: Atiq Rahimi - Earth and Ashes

Albania:

Algeria: Albert Camus - The Stranger (FR)

Andorra: Teresa Colom - Mlle Keaton et autres creatures (FR)

Angola: José Eduardo Agualusa - The Book of Chameleons

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina: JL Borges - Fictions

Armenia: Raffi - The Fool

Australia: Doris Pilkington/Nugi Garimara - Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence

Austria

Azerbaijan

Bahamas: Telcine Turner - Woman Take Two

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus: Uladzimir Karatkievich - King Stakh's Wild Hunt

Belgium

Belize: Zee Edgell - Beka Lamb

Benin

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana: Bessie Head - Maru

Brazil: Paulo Coehlo - The Alchimist

Brunei Darussalam: K.H. Lim - Written in Black

Bulgaria: Elias Canetti - Komödie der Eitelkeit (GER)

Burkina Faso: Norbert Zongo - Le parachutage (FR)

Burundi: Samoya Kirura - La femme au regard triste (FR)

Cabo Verde: Germano Almeida - The Last Will & Testament of Senhor da Silva Araújo

Cambodia

Cameroon: Francis Bebey - King Albert

Canada: S. Alice Callahan - Wynema: A Child of the Forest

Central African Republic: Étienne Goyémidé - Le dernier Survivant de la caravane

Chad: Told by Starlight in Chad - Joseph Brahmin Seid

Chile

China

Colombia

Comoros: Ali Zamir - A Girl Called Eel

Congo

Cook Islands*: Kauraka Kauraka- Oral tradition in Manihiki

Costa Rica: Carlos Luis Fallas - Mamita Yunai (Die Grüne Hölle, GER)

Côte D’Ivoire

Croatia

Cuba

Cyprus: Kyriakos Charalambides - Selected Poems

Czech Republic: Jan Neruda - Prague Tales

DPRK (North Korea)

DRC

Denmark

Djibouti

Dominica: Jean Rhys - Wide Sargasso Sea

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador: Horacio Castellanos Moyà - Le bal des vipères (FR)

Equatorial Guinea: Trifonia Melibea Obono - La Bâtarde (FR)

Eritrea: Helen Berhane - Song of the Nightingale

Estonia

Eswatini: Malla Nunn - A Beautiful Place to Die

Ethiopia

Fiji: Rajni Mala Khelawan - Kalyana

Finland

France: Pierre Louys - Aphrodite: Ancient Manners

Gabon: Daniel M Mengara - Mema

Gambia

Georgia

Germany: Thomas Mann - Buddenbrooks

Ghana: Ayi Kwei Armah - The beautiful ones are not yet born

Greece

Greenland*: Knud Rasmussen - Eskimo Folktales

Grenada: Merle Collins - The Colour of Forgetting

Guatemala: Miguel Angel Asturias - Strong Wind

Guinea: Camara Laye - The Radiance of the King

Guinea Bissau: Abdulai Sila - The ultimate tragedy

Guyana Haiti

Honduras: Froylan Turcios - El Vampiro (SPA)

Hungary: Arthur Koestler - Darkness at Noon

Iceland

India: Rabindranath Tangore - The Home and the World

Indonesia

Iran: Sadegh Hedayat - The Blind Owl

Iraq: Andrew George - The epic of Gilgamesh

Ireland: James Joyce - Dubliners

Israel

Italy: Italo Calvino - If on a Winter's Night a Traveller

Jamaica: Andrew Salkey - Hurricane

Japan

Jordan: Amjad Nasser - L'ascension de l'amant (FR)

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kiribati: Teresia Teaiwa & Vilsoni Hereniko - Last Virgin in paradise

Kosovo*

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan: Chingiz Aitmatov - Jamila

Laos: Outhine Bounyavong - Mother's Beloved

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia: Bai T. Moore - Murder in the Cassava Patch

Libya

Liechtenstein

Lithuania: Vingas Kreve - The Herdsman and the Linden Tree

Luxembourg: Norbert Jacques - Dr Mabuse der Spieler (GER)

Madagascar: Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo - Traduit de La nuit (FR)

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives: Abdullah Sadiq - Dhon Hiyala and Ali Fulhu

Mali

Malta

Marshall Islands: Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner - Iep Jaltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter

Mauritania: Moussa Ould Ebnou - L'Amour Impossible (FR)

Mauritius

Mexico: Mario Bellatín - Beauty Salon

Micronesia: Emelihter Klieng - My Urohs

Monaco: Louis Notari - La légende de Sainte Dévote (FR)

Mongolia: Galsan Tschinag - Die Karawane (GER)

Montenegro: Petar II Petrovic Njegos - The Mountain Wreath

Morocco: Abdellatif Laâbi - Le bâpteme chacaliste (FR)

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nauru: Nancy Viviani - Nauru, phosphate and political progress

Nepal

Netherlands

New Zealand: Witi Ihimaera - The Whale Rider

Nicaragua: Rubén Dario - Azul… (SPA/ENG)

Niger

Nigeria: Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart

Niue*: John Puhiatau Pule - The Bond of Time: An Epic Love Poem

North Macedonia

Norway: Henrik Ibsen - A Doll's House

Oman

Pakistan: Jamil Ahmad - The Wandering Falcon

Palau: Hermana Ramarui - The Palauan Perspective: a poetry book

Panama: Ricardo Miró - Las Noches de Babel (SPA)

Palestine*: Ibrahim Nasrallah - Prairies of Fever

Papua New Guinea: Vincent Eri - The Crocodile

Paraguay

Peru: Mario Vargas Llosa - In Praise of the Stepmother

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Qatar

Republic of Korea

Republic of Moldova

Romania

Russian Federation: Leo Tolstoi - The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Rwanda

Saint Kitts and Nevis: Caryl Philips - Cambridge

Saint Lucia: Derek Walcott - Omeros

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Samoa: Albert Wendt - Leaves of the Banyan Tree

San Marino: J. Theodore Bent - A freak of Freedom: or, the Republic of San Marino

Sao Tome and Principe:

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Seychelles: Antoine Abel - Coco Sec (FR)

Sierra Leone

Singapore

Slovakia: Milan Rúfus - Strenges Brot

Slovenia: France Prešeren - Poems

Solomon Islands: John Saunana - Cruising Through the Reverie

Somalia: Hadraawi - The Poet and the Man

South Africa: JM Coetzee - Disgrace

South Sudan: Nyuol Lueth Tong - There is a country

Spain: Miguel de Unamuno - Abel Sanchez and Other Stories

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Suriname

Sweden: August Strindberg - The Red Room

Switzerland

Syrian Arab Republic: Ibn al-Nafis - Theologus Autodidactus

Taiwan*

Tajikistan: Shavkat Niyazi - At the Foot of Blue Mountains: Stories by Tajik Authors

Thailand

Timor-Leste: Xanana Gusmão - Mar Meu

Togo

Tonga: Epeli Hau'ofa - Tales of the Tikongs

Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia: Albert Memmi - The Pillar of Salt

Turkey

Turkmenistan: Magtymguly - Poems from Turkmenistan

Tuvalu: Neil Lifuka - Logs in the current of the sea

Uganda: Okot p'Bitek - Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol

Ukraine: Andrey Kurkov - Death and the Penguin

United Arab Emirates

UK: Virginia Woolf - Mrs Dalloway

United Republic of Tanzania

USA: John Steinbeck - Grapes of Wrath

Uruguay

Uzbekistan: Abdullah Qoqiriy - Bygone Days

Vanuatu: Grace Molisa - Black Stone

Vatican City*: Andrew Graham-Dixon - Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel

Venezuela

Viet Nam

Yemen: Abdul-wali - They die strangers

Zambia

Zimbabwe

#booklr #currently reading #reading challenge #classic literature #literature #books #book recommendations #global reading #Sam reads #PLEASE let me know if the Read More breaks since this is a very longue post #I will link to my book reviews of the books I've read when I post them!!!

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pers-books · 7 months

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Ghosts at Shakespeare’s Globe casting announced including Hattie Morahan & Greg Hicks

Shakespeare’s Globe has revealed casting for its forthcoming revival of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts.

The play will run at their Sam Wanamaker Playhouse from 10 November 2023 to 28 January 2024.

The cast will include Greg Hicks (Oklahoma!) as Engstrand, with Paul Hilton (The Glass Menagerie) as Father Manders, Hattie Morahan (A Doll’s House) as Helene Alving, Sarah Slimani (The Winter’s Tale) as Regine Engstrand, and Stuart Thompson (Spring Awakening) as Osvald Alving.

Ghosts is adapted and directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins (The Tragedy of King Richard the Second – Almeida), and this production marks the first time at Ibsen has been performed at Shakespeare’s Globe.

The creative team also includes Associate Director Lucy Wray, Costume and Set Designer Rosanna Vize, Costume Supervisor Megan Rarity, Globe Associate (Movement) Glynn Macdonald, Head of Voice Tess Dignan, and Intimacy Director Haruka Kuroda.

Director Joe Hill-Gibbins said in a statement: “It’s a privilege to be staging Ibsen at Shakespeare’s Globe for the very first time, and also to be opening the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse’s 10th Anniversary Season. I’m excited to light the candles and see what emerges from Ibsen’s exploration of forbidden desire, and of the social, biological and emotional forces that entrap us.”

Hattie Morahan returns to Ibsen after her Evening Standard Theatre Award and Critics Circle Award-winning performance as Nora in A Doll’s House at the Young Vic, in the West End and in New York.

Greg Hicks was recently starring in the smash-hit West End revival of Oklahoma! at the Young Vic and Wyndham’s Theatre.

Currently playing at Shakespeare’s Globe is Macbeth until 28 October, and As You Like It until 29 October, followed by Hansel And Gretel from 8 December 2023 to 7 January 2024.

Following Ghosts in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse will be Othello fro 16 January to 13 April 2024, and The Duchess Of Malfi from 17 February to 14 April 2024.

Ghosts is playing from 10 November 2023 to 28 January 2024 at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

Book tickets to GHOSTS at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London

Tagging @riversofmars @meluisart and @ceridwen

#Shakespeare's Globe Theatre #Hattie Morahan #Greg Hicks #Play: Ghosts #Playwright: Ibsen

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monthofsick · 1 year

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Nightmare before Halloween

Nov(emeto)ber 2022, Day 11: Unconventional receptacle

OCs: Thien, Tiago, Isaiah, Luka

This was the prompt that made me rack my brain for weeks. I really wanted the receptacle to be unconventional, but no idea seemed good enough - until Halloween came to the rescue. Finally, Thien has the dubious honor to get his own story after only being the designated sympathy puker twice.

TW: Vomit, severe ear infection, side effects of medication

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Thien was determined. Frustrated, unnerved and tired, but still determined to make the most of this evening. He had been looking forward to Tiago’s Halloween party for weeks. His family was out of town, so the friends had an entire house as their private venue. During the spooky season, the cozy Almeida home turned into a dark and twisted witch’s cottage of unspeakable horrors. Painted wooden panels and countless decorations turned the facade into a gingerbread’s house evil twin. Human sized spiders, boiling cauldrons, treacherous witches and an entire army of skillfully crafted jack-o‘-lanterns both attracted and frightened every kid in the neighbourhood.

It didn't stop there – the inside was decked out with fake spider webs, bats hanging from the staircase, a skeleton relaxing in his rocking chair in front of the fireplace. Curtains and carpets were replaced with crimson and black velvet. Red window foil resembling stained glass transformed the living room into a haunting recreation of Prince Prospero's ill-fated costume ball from The Masque of the Red Death. There even was a mannequin dressed in a blood-stained funeral shroud and an ebony clock with an ominous chime.

Honestly, there was no better place to celebrate Halloween. Thien was a connoisseur of classic horror movies and he absolutely adored Vincent Price's performance as the depraved Prospero in the 1964 adaptation of Poe's grim tale. Watching it in a chamber that seemed to have sprung right out of the prince's abbey promised the ultimate immersive experience.

That was until Thien was struck with his very own horror story just a week before the long awaited festivity. He woke up in the middle of the night and scrambled out of bed to take a leak when suddenly, someone drove a power drill straight into his left ear. Thien doubled over, pushing both hands against his head in a desperate attempt to alleviate the sharp pain. When he finally managed to stagger to the bathroom, the floor under his bare feet felt unsteady like soft rubber.

The next morning, Thien woke up in a swimming pool of his own sweat. He wouldn't have believed that it was possible to drown in wet sheets, but his feverish body was determined to prove him otherwise. Freezing and sweating at the same time, Thien got himself some Tylenol and curled up on the couch with a fresh blanket. The fever wasn't impressed by the pill and neither was the stabbing pain in his ear. Thien was grateful that one of his flatmates changed his bedding, he was barely able to muster the strength to even get up again.

Dead tired, yet unable to sleep because of the red hot needle piercing his eardrum, Thien suffered through an unending night. Short fragments of fever dreams were more draining then restful. At dusk, he felt even worse than the evening before. An immense pressure had built up on the left side of his head, contrasted by sudden, intensely painful stings. Thien popped another pill, but it only hurt more and more. Overwhelmed by the certainty that his head was about to explode, Thien pressed his palm over the auricle and buried his face in the pillow. It was like an insane lobotomist hammered an ice pick deep into his ear until the pain reached an agonizing peak – and then, all of a sudden, it stopped.

At first, Thien couldn't help but sigh with relief as the pressure was released. A dull, indifferent earache remained, accompanied by a muffled buzzing. Then, to his dismay, Thien felt some kind of liquid dripping out of his ear canal. Teeth clenched, he struggled out of bed and was instantly hit by vertigo and nausea. Groping along the wall, Thien staggered into the bathroom. When he forced himself to look into the mirror, he saw a yellowish, mucoid substance leaking from his left ear. The sight was enough to make him gag.

It was probably the sign that a visit to the doctor was inevitable.

After shivering in the waiting room for half an hour, Thien was examined by an ENT specialist. She told him that he had a middle ear infection, which was rather uncommon in adults (not helpful) and had caused his eardrum to burst. At least it was a rather small tear that would probably heal up on its own. Thien was prescribed an antibiotic to kill the bacteria responsible for the infection and prevent them from spreading even further.

So it was back to bed with more Tylenol and his new best friend Amoxicillin. Thien had four days until the party to recover and he wanted to make the most of it. Like a model patient, he made sure to drink enough water and tea, took his medication exactly as described in the package leaflet, rested and slept as much as possible and even bribed his flatmates to provide him with healthy meals. The fever did, in fact, go down and after the third day, Thien's temperature was back to normal. A diffuse pain lingered in his ear and sounds were strangely muted on the left side. But overall, he felt a lot better.

Too bad that his stomach didn't like its microbiome-killing visitors. Nausea became Thien's constant companion, but it wasn't so severe that he couldn't keep the pill or his food down. Everything was somewhat tolerable, it just wasn't good. After bemoaning his fate for an hour or two, Thien decided to kick his own butt and went straight into determination mode.

Halloween was his night. So what if things weren't perfect, it wouldn't stop him from having fun. He could rest again the next day.

As impressive as the decoration had been in broad daylight, it paled compared to the spectacle revealed after dark. Flickering candles brought the jack-o'-lanterns to life. Smoke rose from the witch's cauldron and the bubbling brewage emanated an eerie green glow. The giant spiders were looking for their prey with menacing eyes glowing deep red. It was truly a sight to behold and instantly lifted Thien's spirits.

"Damn it, I thought you had to stay in bed", Tiago grinned while he greeted from the doorstep, right next to a large pumpkin with a particularly dreadful grimace. Upon closer inspection, the two of them could very well be brothers.

"Are you scared because I'm bringing the creepy stuff?" Thien raised his bag that was jam-packed with all kinds of horror movies, from cult classics to notorious shockers. "Don't blame me if you wet your sheets!"

"Ugh, leave me alone with your weird fetishes!" Tiago rolled his eyes, then stepped aside to let his friend into the small entrance hall. The lighting was dim and a huge spider web covered the entire coat rack. Thien left his jacket at the tiny bench next to the shoe shelf instead.

The only light source in the adjacent foyer – affectionately known as the batcave – was a blacklight that revealed grisly details hidden in seemingly harmless pantings. Another surprise that had been invisible by day. And then they finally entered the main attraction: the black chamber, formerly known as living room. Everything was draped in black velvet – the couch, the chairs, the table, even the walls. LED torches cast flickering scarlet light through the blood colored windows. The Red Death figure lured in the corner and the sinister ebony clock was about to toll the hour.

It was incredible.

"I… I don't even know what to say except that I ab-so-lute-ly love it!" Thien clasped his hands in excitement. The adrenaline rushing through his veins made him forget about his earache and the queasiness for a minute. "This is just perf-ohmygod!"

Thien jumped as he was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders from behind. Someone let out a distorted scream that turned into laughter just a second later. As Thien whirled around, he looked into the delighted faces of Luka and Isaiah who had been hiding behind one of the velvet tapestries.

"Why are you guys such assholes?", Thien coughed, but couldn't hold back a laughter himself, both as an aftereffect of the scare and relief that he could actually be here. "I'll make you regret this! Especially you, Isa, your stomach is so weak when it comes to gore."

"Hey, I'm not that squeamish… anymore", the redhead objected.

"Well, good luck while you're munching on this." Tiago twisted his lips into a malicious grin and gestured towards the dinner table. It was, quite literally, a feast for the eyes. There was black bean stew with a sour cream spider web drawn on top. Round slices of pimiento-stuffed olives turned deviled eggs into eyeballs. Hot dogs were carved and decorated to look like severed fingers, ketchup blood dripping all over the buns. Cheese bread puffs were wrapped up in strings of dough like mummies and chocolate truffles wore bat wings. Black caipiroska was served in erlenmeyer flasks.

"That is honestly so freaking cute." With glowing eyes, Isaiah grabbed one of the bats.

"No, it's not!" Tiago was visibly shaken by so much ignorance. "It's scary and disgusting! Whatever, dig in. And don't blame me when someone gets poisoned."

The friends loaded their antique plates, then made themselves comfortable in the TV corner. Thien wasn't exactly hungry, but how could he resist such a variety of both mouth-watering and gross looking dishes? At least he wanted to try everything. He had even double checked if alcohol would clash with his antibiotics, which it didn't. However, Thien had no desire to get drunk. It wasn't an enticing prospect when he already felt dizzy and nauseous to begin with.

Just like Thien had hoped, the black room's ghastly atmosphere did wonders for the atrocities on screen. After reveling in the gloomy ambience for a while, Thien brought himself to start eating. He didn't have the strong aversion against food that came with a stomach flu, but his palate was definitely more picky. The bean stew was hearty and flavorful enough to intrigue his tastebuds. The deviled eggs were a bit much though. There was a spicy kick to the yolk paste, probably Tabasco sauce, that irritated Thien's upsets stomach. The small piece of olive was enough to leave a lasting aftertaste that curbed Thien's appetite significantly.

Nothing bad could be said about the mummy bread per se – it was gooey, soft and packed a cheesy punch. Thien couldn't put his finger on what exactly was off-putting about the small round of dough, but it left him with a nagging unease in his belly. Maybe that was the source of his sudden reluctance to try the bloody finger hot dog. The gloriously disgusting design was right up Thien's alley and he wasn't put off by fake blood, no matter if it was in a movie or on a bun. The smell of meat and nitrate, however, didn't exactly appeal to him.

This was perfectly normal food, he told himself. This was food he liked. But the beefy sausage didn't go well with the overly sweet ketchup and even after Thien had swallowed, it left an oily film in his mouth. Thien couldn't bring himself to finish the whole thing. He hoped that the chocolate treat would help him get rid of both taste and mouthfeel, but the gooey fudge mixed with the meat grease in a highly unpleasant way.

At this point, Thien was fed up with anything edible. He placed the plate on the floor next to his chair and sipped on the pitch black cocktail instead. The crisp and tart flavor was enjoyable, until Thien's tastebuds betrayed him again and reported an intrusion of nail polish remover. Thien frowned, put the flask away and hugged his abdomen. His insides felt raw and a burning sensation had taken hold of his stomach. Even focusing on the movie didn't make him feel better anymore. It was like half of the bites he took had been stuck in his throat, pushing against his uvula with every bobbing gulp.

Thien's saliva carried a faint aroma of beans and cheese and chocolatey hot dogs, which would have been repulsive even if the fluid hadn't flooded his mouth like it did. He couldn't help but wonder if his belly was scolding him with angry growls – the TV was loud enough to drown out every other sound, but Thien felt it rumble and churn under his grip. His body was moving towards a direction he didn't like at all and maybe it was already too late to turn back.

"Damn it, I'm about to burst!", Isaiah groaned, taking the words right out of Thien's mouth. "'xcuse me for a minute, I gotta make room for more."

"Open the window when you're done!" Luka demonstratively held his nose. Thien licked his lips nervously. Hopefully, Isaiah wouldn't take too long.

Except that he did. Of course. At least ten minutes passed and Thien's stomach was bubbling like the witch's brew in the garden. He sank deeper into his armchair, only to have the shift in pressure force a burp out of his overboiling gastric kettle. It tasted as bad as it felt, sour and acrid. Thien's sore throat constricted in sync with his contracting abdominal muscles. The abundance of alkaline spit left a bitter taste in his mouth that didn't go away as he swallowed frantically.

Thien had to admit that this wouldn't end well if he stuck to his strategy of watching and waiting.

Careful not to send an unintended evacuation order to his stomach, Thien pushed himself up and left the black room. He teetered through the batcave towards the guest toilet door in the entry hall. It was still locked and Thien heared Isaiah humming inside. He took a deep breath and knocked.

"Aren't you done yet?"

"Uhm… no? I would have left if I was, wouldn't I?" Isaiah wasn't wrong, but that didn't help Thien with his emergency. Hot bile crawled up his throat, burning it like a sandpaper scrub.

"Can you hurry up a bit?", he croaked after forcing the rancid fluid back down. "…please?"

"I can't, especially not if you rush me. Or listen." Isaiah let out an uncomfortable groan. "Privacy, please?"

"Sorry, but I really need to…" Just as Thien was about to explain his dire situation, he was cut off by an unannounced surge of vomit rushing up his esophagus. He tried to swallow it back down, but the stuff just kept on coming. Desperately, Thien clutched his mouth with both hands. There was no way to contain the flood, he needed something to be sick in, and he needed it right now.

The kitchen sink? Too far away, Thien would probably explode on the way and splatter the entire foyer floor with his undigested stomach contents. The umbrella stand? It did look kind of expensive and Thien hadn't forgotten how Tiago had freaked out about Isaiah barfing in his mother's car. Family possessions were serious business to him. In an act of sheer desperation, Thien ripped open the entrance door, fell on his knees and lifted the lid from the big jack-o'-lantern.

Gentle warmth caressed Thien's skin as his face came close to the candle. Then he parted his lips and extinguished the flame with a jet of puke spraying from his very own fire hose. He had not expected the sheer force of the expulsion. Every single muscle from his neck down the chest to his abdomen cramped spasmodically, causing his body to jerk with a violent recoil as more of his dinner gushed from his mouth. Thien caught his glasses just in time before they could fall into the fetid mess bursting out of him. With trembling fingers, Thien put them aside – he had no intention to take a closer look at the cascade of sewage water he spewed into the pumpkin.

The violent heaves made him even more lightheaded, which in turn increased his nausea. One of Thien's hands held on to the jagged edge of the jack-o'-lantern with such strength that his knuckles turned white. The other one pushed against his aching belly that was gripped by a wrenching pain with every single retch. After the first spontaneous projectiles, expelling the remains of his meal became a more arduous task. Each gag pushed the thick mush just a little bit further up his esophagus. The physical strain brought tears to his eyes and pierced his left ear.

Suddenly, Thien felt a hand patting his back.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry!" Isaiah's bad conscience couldn't have been more obvious in his facial expression than it was in his voice. "I should have let you in."

Thien was unable to reply, but the thumps on his back helped his body to push the sick over the threshold. He tensed with another heave before he finally threw up a chunky blend of beans and dough and truffle and sausage bites. It tasted absolutely vile as it pumped up his throat and spurted from his mouth, plopping into the vomit pool below him with moist splats.

"Yeah, get it all out, you got this", Isaiah cheered him on. His closeness and touch did make Thien feel better. He wasn't used to someone taking care of him when he was being sick and he had expected it to only add awkwardness to the physical discomfort. Actually, it helped him to relax a bit and just let things happen. As Thien's body punched itself in the gut again with a vigorous muscle contraction, he leaned into it and bent closer to the jack-o'-lantern. More of the food he had forced down against his better judgment made a noisy return through his gaping mouth.

The messy slop Thien hurled into the pumpkin wasn't the only pattering sound anymore. His vomit had reached the jack-o'-lantern's razor-toothed grin and poured out of the creature's mouth as well. When Thien was finally able to catch his breath, shakily wiping his lips, the ghoulish pumpkin he had infected still kept on barfing down the steps.

"Damn it", Thien croaked. "I didn't think it would be so much."

"It's not your fault." Isaiah still rubbed Thien's back, even though he had stopped puking. "I had no idea you were going to be sick. Sorry I took so long."

"You couldn't have known. Just when I tried to tell you, it all came up." Thien spat out to get rid of the horrible taste sitting comfortable on his tongue. "By the way, did you happen to see cleaning supplies in the bathroom? I'd really like to destroy the evidence before Tiago finds out about this."

"Before I find out about what?"

Both Thien and Isaiah spun around, startled. Tiago was towering over them, arms crossed. Luka peered through the foyer door, curiously watching the scene unfold. Thien sighed in defeat and buried the face in his hands.

"I – I'm so sorry about this", he mumbled against his palms. "It's the antibiotics. My stomach wasn't great the whole week, but I swear this never happened before. Maybe the food was too spicy… or it's getting worse. I just couldn't hold it in."

"So… technically it's Isaiah's fault again because he's the one who was blocking the restroom", Tiago concluded.

"Hey, that's not fair!", Isaiah protested. "Don't make me clean up again."

"Don't blame him, he's not a clairvoyant." With a deep sigh, Thien put his glasses back on and got up from the ground. He was barely standing when a loud scream from the street made him flinch.

A tiny scarecrow pointed at them, then waved at her friends Chucky and Pennywise.

"You gotta check this out!", the little girl squealed. "There's a puking pumpkin!"

"It looks so real!" Pennywise stared at the front door in awe. "Not just dumb seeds and that stringy stuff from inside."

Wide eyed and a bit bashful, the illustrious trio crept closer. Scarecrow raised both her sickle and her tin bucket.

"Trick or treat!", she screeched with a voice resembling nails on a chalkboard. That kid had definitely practiced the grand entrance. While Tiago grabbed the candy bowl that had been strategically placed in the shoe rack, Chucky leaned over to his killer clown friend and whispered:

"It even stinks. This house is the best."

Thien had to bite his lower lip – not because he was embarrassed or nauseous, but to desperately hold back a hysterical giggle. The pint sized horror creatures thanked their chocolate donors with some well-rehearsed poses that were definitely more adorable than scary, then they moved on. As soon as Thien and Isaiah had entered the house and Tiago had closed the door behind them, the friends broke into laughter. Even Tiago couldn't contain himself, although he didn't roll on the ground like Isaiah did.

"That was honestly the funniest shit ever", Luka spluttered, clutching his belly. "Ti, you know that you have to leave the stuff there. They're going to hype up every kid in the neighbourhood."

"Guess there's no need to fear monsters when you have friends like you", Tiago snorted, trying to regain control. "So what. You gotta do anything to one-up your neighbours. Now get your lousy asses back into the living room, we're gonna clean up later."

"We? Did you just say… we?" Thien smiled warily. "So you can be nice if you want to."

"Don't tell anyone or I make you wipe up that barf with your tongue. Understood?" Tiago shoved Thien in the direction of the guest toilet. "Now rinse out that mouth, your breath reeks of puke. And by the way, the only things you get for the rest of the night are tea and saltines."

Thien swallowed down the thank you he had on the tip of his tongue. But the fact that, of all people, Tiago headed to the kitchen to prepare some tea made him feel a little warm and fuzzy. Even though Thien hadn't quite forgiven his body for acting up at the worst time possible, at least it had made this Halloween a night to remember.

#submission #tw vomit #tw emeto #tw medication #tw side effects #tw ear infection #nov(emeto)ber 2022 #novemetober 2022 #2022 day11 #prompt: unconventional receptacle #fandom: original characters #birdnamedenza #thien is so cute oh my gosh #his excitement about the party TT_TT #also i'm not gonna spoil for anyone peeking at tags but the unconventional receptacle... i loveeeee #i think i'm more shook than thien about tiago being nice like who /is/ he #definitely looking forward to seeing more of this gang!!

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