The Bibliophile's Compass

This short story is a delightful treat about a philosopher who makes the ultimate blunder by trying to sell his soul to the Devil—talk about a bad deal! I mean, who knew you could trade your soul like a bonbon for a sweet tooth?  I remember reading this gem ages ago and cringing through the first few paragraphs. Seriously, it felt like Edgar Allan Poe was pulling some French language stunt to show off his fancy vocabulary again. But it turned out to be not as French as I thought, and I found myself laughing over my favorite character type: a genius philosopher with a penchant for books and a talent for being, well, a bit of a jerk. And, plot twist: he’s also a star restaurateur. Also, what’s up with Poe’s obsession with omelettes? He either names his characters Omelette or includes omelettes for breakfast. Did he have a bad experience with a breakfast order gone wrong?  I would give this confection of a story 4 stars for its humor, parody, and enough satire to make even the gr...

1749 1st edition of Henry Fielding's novel "Tom Jones" published 1893 Stephen Crane's first novel "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets" is published under the pseudonym "Johnston Smith" 1940 Richard Wright's "Native Son" published 2023 Elizabeth Gonzalez James’s Five Conversations About Peter Sellers: Hybrid Play/Essay published

1693 The first women's magazine "Ladies' Mercury", is published in London 1907 Psychiatrists Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud meet for the first time in Vienna 1922 George Bernard Shaw's largest-scale play "Back to Methusaleh" premieres at Garrick Theatre in NYC 1933 Jean Genet's play "Intermezzo" premieres in Paris 1991 Ben Elton's "Silly Cow" premieres in London

I usually avoid stories heavily focused on romance—especially those that make you want to roll your eyes so hard they might get stuck. Imagine this: our damsel in distress falls head over heels for the very villain who destroyed her family. And here's the plot twist: he's not exactly bringing roses and chocolates to the family dinner table! Despite her attempts to join a convent and forget all worldly concerns, she finds herself making excuses to get closer to her family's arch-nemesis. To add to the absurdity, she consults a saint for advice—yes, a saint! Because when you're developing feelings for the guy who brought ruin to your family, what better decision-making tool could you find than divine approval? Spoiler alert: the saint gives her the green light, and suddenly, love conquers all—guilt, shame, and a dash of questionable morality are all forgotten! This isn't quite my style, but if you enjoy the idea of mixing love and tragedy like it's a cocktail gone...

1891 Henrik Ibsen's play "Hedda Gabler" premieres in Oslo, Norway 1956 Writers and poets Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes meet at a party in Cambridge 1962 Arthur Kopit's play "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad" premieres in NYC 1978 Ira Levin's "Deathtrap" premieres in NYC 1984 Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Penn Warren is named the 1st US poet laureate

1830 Victor Hugo's play "Hernani" premieres in Paris 1892 J. M. Barrie's stage play "Walker London" premieres in London 1904 J M Synge's "Riders to the Sea" opens at Irish National Theater Society 1907 George Bernard Shaw's play "The Philanderer" premieres in London 1960 Lillian Hellman's "Toys in the Attic" premieres in NYC 2020 Hannah Richell’s The River Home published

Oh, dear Edgar Allan Poe, why are you strutting around like a raven in a French café, sipping espresso while reciting German horror tales? I understand that Germans have a flair for the macabre, but come on, let’s leave some originality for the rest of us, shall we? "Metzengerstein" is a bizarre story of vicious cycle of revenge, driven by an unquenchable obsession with horses. Seriously, I get it; they’re noble creatures, but were they really necessary for this ghostly duel? Picture this: two families are so consumed by their grudges that they’d probably swat flies with a crossbow if it meant getting even. This isn’t a love story like Romeo and Juliet; in fact, there are no female characters at all. Neither family is willing to play nice, even in the afterlife! What’s more Gothic than hunting down your nemesis while transformed into a horse? It’s like a gruesome version of “Last Horse Standing.” The last representatives of these feuding clans are doing their best to impress...

1804 London's Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute 1876 Henrik Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt" premieres in Oslo 1914 Frank Craven's "Too Many Cooks" premieres in NYC

Once upon a time in Boston, a young man named Robin set out on a quest to find his elusive kinsman, a British Colonial Government official. Spoiler alert: he asked everyone in town for help, and his efforts yielded about as much assistance as one might expect from a group of colonial townsfolk debating whether to pay the tea tax. Hawthorne takes this straightforward premise and transforms it into something intriguing. You might think you’re reading a supernatural tale with the Devil lurking about, but surprise! There’s no devil—just ordinary people in colonial America teaching lessons to British officers. Robin’s reaction at the end is priceless. When he finally spots his kinsman, he behaves as if he’s just encountered an old acquaintance he is trying to avoid, saying, “Who, me? Never seen him before!” So that’s the story—no major twists, just a simple narrative that cleverly explores Americans and their relationship with British colonial government.

1455 Johannes Gutenberg prints his first Bible (estimated date) 1898 Emile Zola is imprisoned in France for writing his "J'accuse" letter which accused the government of anti-Semitism and of wrongly jailing Alfred Dreyfus 1910 George Bernard Shaw's play "Misalliance" premieres in London 1967 John Herbert's "Fortune & Men's Eyes" premieres in NYC 1967 Noam Chomsky's anti-Vietnam war essay "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" is published by the New York Review of Books 2010 Danielle Steel’s novel “Big Girl” is published

  1 |   3 weeks on the list ONYX STORM  by Rebecca Yarros | Red Tower The third book in the Empyrean series. As enemies gain traction, Violet Sorrengail goes beyond the Aretian wards in search of allies. 2 |  new this week DEEP END   by Ali Hazelwood |  Berkley As the pressure leading up to the Olympics builds so do the feelings Lukas and Scarlett have for each other. 3 |  new this week BONDED IN DEATH   by J.D. Robb |  St. Martin's  (TBR) The 60th book of the In Death series. Eve Dallas investigates the mysterious death of someone who was in a secret organization. 4 | 81  weeks on the list FOURTH WING  by Rebecca Yarros |  Red Tower Violet Sorrengail is urged by the commanding general, who also is her mother, to become a candidate for the elite dragon riders. 5 |  2 weeks on the list THE CRASH   by Freida McFadden |  Poisoned Pen  (TBR) A pregnant woman, who suffers an injury during a blizzard, i...

1858  Dion Boucicault's play "Jessie Brown" premieres in NYC

1764 English House of Commons tries John Wilkes in absentia and finds him guilty of publishing a seditious libel for his "Essay on Women," an obscene parody of Alexander Pope’s "Essay on Man" 1909 John Galsworthy's "Strife" premieres in London 1910 John Galsworthy's "Justice" premieres in London 1930 Marc Connelly's play "Green Pastures" premieres in NYC 1961 Friedrich Durrenmatt's "Die Physiker" premieres in Zurich 1972 Michael Weller's "Moonchildren" premieres in NYC 2023 Julia Bartz’s The Writing Retreat published

1892 Comedy "Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman" by Oscar Wilde premieres at St James Theatre, London 1922 Marc Connelly and George Kaufman's play "To the Ladies" premieres in NYC 1933 Sidney Howard's "Alien Corn" premieres in NYC 1950 Dylan Thomas arrives in NYC for his 1st US poetry reading tour

Let me tell you, without Wikipedia, I would have thought I had accidentally picked up a menu from a French bistro instead of an Edgar Allan Poe short story! Seriously, what was Poe thinking? A story that’s half in French? Am I supposed to be reading literature or planning my next trip to Paris? I tackled those French portions as if I were deciphering ancient hieroglyphs, and all I got was a headache and a feeling of insecurity. Congratulations, Poe! You’ve officially crushed my self-esteem and my hopes of being an elite reader. If this tale had been written in just one language, I might have laughed and enjoyed it. But no! Instead, I finished it feeling like I had just survived a mental obstacle course, only to cross the finish line and ask myself, “What on Earth did I just read?”

1923 Philip Barry's play "You & I" premieres in NYC 1932 William Faulkner completes his novel "Light in August" 1935 Clifford Odets' "Awake & Sing" premieres in NYC 1949 1st Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Ezra Pound 1953 William Inge's "Picnic" premieres in NYC 1963 "The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan, widely credited as the start of second-wave feminism, is published 1963 Robert Frost wins Bollingen Prize 1995 Kenneth Koch wins Bollingen Prize for One Train (1994) and On The Great Atlantic Rainway: Selected Poems 1950-1988 (1994)

1678 John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is published in London, by Nathaniel Ponder 1884 Russian police seize all copies of Leo Tolstoy's book "What I Believe In" 1885 Mark Twain publishes the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in the US 2009 English fantasy author Terry Pratchett receives a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace 2025 C. L. Miller’s The Antique Hunter's Death on the Red Sea published (expected)

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Roger Malvin's Burial" is an intriguing tale that balances moments of tension with mundane reality. At its surface, one could summarize the lesson as "don't trust your future son-in-law," a sentiment that might resonate during family Thanksgiving. However, the deeper message revolves around the importance of keeping promises—especially those made to a future father-in-law who is literally dying for a proper burial.  This story doesn't feature ghosts or goblins; instead, it focuses on two characters escaping the battlefield after sustaining fatal injuries while trying to return home. The older chap, Roger, pulls a classic "you go on without me" move, then whips out a guilt trip to end all guilt trips, insisting the younger fellow promises to come back and either save him or, at the very least, dig a hole. No pressure, right? The younger man makes the promise, but when it comes time to act, he finds that playing the her...

1776 1st volume of Edward Gibbon's seminal work "The Decline and Fall of Roman Empire" published 1936 S. N. Behrman's play "End of Summer" premieres in NYC 1970 Robert Marasco's "Child's Play" premieres in NYC

1741 Benjamin Franklin begins publishing "The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the British Plantations in America" 1896 First US newspaper comic strip, Richard Felton Outcault's "The Yellow Kid," is published in William Randolph Hearst’s "New York Journal" 1937 Jean Anouilh's "Le Voyageur Sans Baggage" premieres in Paris 1963 Philosopher Hannah Arendt's controversial account of the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann is first published in "The New Yorker"

399 BC Philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death by the city of Athens for corrupting the minds of the youth of the city and for impiety 1932 John Van Druten's play "There's Always Juliet" premieres in NYC 1939 Lillian Hellman's play "The Little Foxes" premieres in New York City 2011 US President Barack Obama awards writer and activist Maya Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom

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