Reading with Style discussion

Read a title that is both a book and a play. The original could have been either and then the alternate form follows. You may read either form. When claiming points for this task, please provide a link to both the play and the book. (See help thread for more information/ideas).

Please post questions about task 20.3 in this thread.

I am interested in potentially reading Corelli's Mandolin for this task. However, I can't find a link on GR regarding it's adaptation to a play. I can find this: http://www.captaincorellismandolin.co... since it is apparently touring this year.

That's a good enough reference.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "That's a good enough reference."

Oh ok! Thank you!

This season's tasks were inspired by Iris Murdoch, who was born 100 years ago this coming July. She herself adapted her novels into plays: A Severed Head of this task, The Italian Girl, and The Black Prince.

Wikipedia has two good lists that might help with this task, but you are certainly not limited to the titles in those lists.

Plays based on novels

Novels adapted into plays

Please approve or not - the Wikipedia list says Babel-17 was combined with another of Delany's works in play form in 2014 but that play is not on Goodreads.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babel-17

Beth wrote: "Please approve or not - the Wikipedia list says Babel-17 was combined with another of Delany's works in play form in 2014 but that play is not on Goodreads.
https://en.m.wikipedia.or..."

Yes, I can confirm it has been performed. I don't know if it was ever published in play form. Will you be reading Babel-17 or The Motion Of Light In Water: Sex And Science Fiction Writing In The East Village? It doesn't matter, I'm just curious. Please remind me when you post.

Thank you. I will be reading Babel-17 as it is something I already own from my Hugo/Nebula stack I am working my way through.

So Miss Marple is on the 2nd list under British novels adapted to plays... but of course, Miss Marple is a character developed over several novels. Will all of them work or none of them?

By “plays” do you mean just stage plays - or do Television or film playscripts count?

Ed wrote: "So Miss Marple is on the 2nd list under British novels adapted to plays... but of course, Miss Marple is a character developed over several novels. Will all of them work or none of them?"

For this one, we'd prefer a specific reference. Wikipedia sometimes has different criteria, and whoever added that to the list may have been thinking about TV. But I know Christie wrote at least 3 plays that were adapted into novels. See Charles Osborne if those might be of interest.

Mary wrote: "By “plays” do you mean just stage plays - or do Television or film playscripts count?"

These should be stage plays, although those may also have been adapted to the screen.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Mary wrote: "By “plays” do you mean just stage plays - or do Television or film playscripts count?"

These should be stage plays, although those may also have been adapted to the screen."

Thanks. Another question, do the play and book need to be the same title or do retellings/modern update with diiferent titles and sometimes different character names work.

For example. Twelfth Night and The Madness of Love by Katharine Davies

See this list:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/2...

Mary wrote: "Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Mary wrote: "By “plays” do you mean just stage plays - or do Television or film playscripts count?"

These should be stage plays, although those may also have been adapte..."

The title may be different, but the characters and setting should be the same. The work should be a direct adaptation of the original. Retellings will not work for this task.

I suggest Flowers for Algernon for anyone who has not read it. It began as a short story, was then expended into a novel and was also a play titled "Flowers for Algernon" by David Rogers.

Of course another choice would be The Diary of Anne Frank: And Related Readings and The Diary of a Young Girl.

I thought this would be hard to locate, but there are really a large number of choices.

I am thinking about Dandelion Wine (lexile 880) by Ray Bradbury which was a stage play by the same name. It has been sitting on my physical shelf for over two years now.

Ed wrote: "So Miss Marple is on the 2nd list under British novels adapted to plays... but of course, Miss Marple is a character developed over several novels. Will all of them work or none of them?"

If you click through to the Miss Marple page, there is a Stage section which says that Murder at the Vicarage and A Murder Is Announced have been made into plays.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Ma...

Rosemary wrote: "Ed wrote: "So Miss Marple is on the 2nd list under British novels adapted to plays... but of course, Miss Marple is a character developed over several novels. Will all of them work or none of them?..."

Thanks Rosemary

I am not sure whether these qualify

Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus is clearly a play

It influenced Prometheus Unbound by Percy Bysshe Shelley which is described as both a poem and a play in the goodreads entry. Will it count as a “book”

Thanks for the help

Mary wrote: "I am not sure whether these qualify

Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus is clearly a play

It influenced Prometheus Unbound by Percy Bysshe Shelley..."

These don't work. This task calls for a book/play adaptation, rather than an influenced by or retelling.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Mary wrote: "I am not sure whether these qualify

Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus is clearly a play

It influenced Prometheus Unbound by [author:Percy Bysshe S..."

Thanks!

Can I verify that The Pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck works here?

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pas...
informs us:

"A stage adaptation of The Pastures of Heaven done as a collaboration between the California Shakespeare Theater and Word for Word Performing Art Company (a company that stages short stories literally word for word) premiered in Orinda, California, in June 2010. The script was by Octavio Solis, and it was directed by California Shakespeare Theater's artistic director Jonathan Moscone."

Ed wrote: "Can I verify that The Pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck works here?

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pas...
informs us:

"A stage adaptation of..."

Yes - nice find! And interconnected stories, too. Excellent!

(So much of Steinbeck is on the BPL YA list, that I already checked for you and you're good to go on that front, too.)

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Ed wrote: "Can I verify that The Pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck works here?

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pas...
informs us:

"A stage ad..."

thanks Elizabeth!

Does this Agatha Christie work here?
Black Coffee
Black Coffee: A Mystery Play in Three Acts

It was a bit confusing, but I think the BPL link shows both a play and novel:
http://catalog.brooklynpubliclibrary....

Karen Michele wrote: "Does this Agatha Christie work here?
Black Coffee
Black Coffee: A Mystery Play in Three Acts

It was a bit confusing, but I think the BPL link shows both a play and novel..."

Yes, it does. I know there are at least 3 of her plays that Osborne had adapted into novels. And remember you can read either the play or the novel for this task.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Karen Michele wrote: "Does this Agatha Christie work here?
Black Coffee
Black Coffee: A Mystery Play in Three Acts

It was a bit confusing, but I think the BPL link shows..."

Excellent!

Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs was adapted (by Christie herself) into a play Go Back for Murder, but the Wikipedia page suggests there were some significant changes (Poirot doesn't appear in the play, although he is the main character in the book). Would this count for this task?

Rachel wrote: "Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs was adapted (by Christie herself) into a play Go Back for Murder, but the Wikipedia page suggests there were some significant change..."

Yes, only because the adaptation was by Christie herself. This is about as far as we might stretch for this task.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs was adapted (by Christie herself) into a play Go Back for Murder, but the Wikipedia page suggests there were some sig..."

Thanks! (although it's just for combo points, as I already have something lined up for this slot.)

Ok this one is a little weird. I began reading William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future! for the apostrophe task and then wondered of it would fit this task also because there is a book of the movie Back to the Future and what I am reading is most definitely a play of the movie - just in Shakespearean English. It is fine if it does not fit. The book and play are not based on each other after all. I am just curious....

Beth wrote: "Ok this one is a little weird. I began reading William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future! for the apostrophe task and then wondered of it would fit this task also because th..."

I admit my first reaction was that it doesn't fit. But, though it's a mite of a stretch, yes, I think it does.

Still trying to find just the right fit . . .

Would these work?

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

And

Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda

Don’t know if a musical, opera etc counts as a play?

Mary wrote: "Still trying to find just the right fit . . .

Would these work?

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

And

Hamilton: The Revolution by [author:Lin-Manuel..."

Yes, that definitely works. In fact, that is the very book that made this task "a book" rather than "a novel"!

Somehow this didnt even occur to me.... Now I need to rethink my plans for where I am logging Alexander Hamilton...

Want to be sure I track this properly

I am going to read the Pulitzer prize winning play The Old Maid by Zoë Akins

Goodreads has this listed as the play based on The Mother's Recompense by Edith Wharton

I think it should be based on The Old Maid: The 'Fifties by Edith Wharton

How should I treat this?

See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_N... and https://www.samuelfrench.com/a/1086/z...

Mary wrote: "Want to be sure I track this properly

I am going to read the Pulitzer prize winning play The Old Maid by Zoë Akins

Goodreads has this listed as the play based on ..."

You are right that the GR description was incorrect. I have fixed it. While the novella is usually part of Wharton's Old New York: Four Novellas, you may use the play for this task.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_New...

Can I verify that The War of the Worlds can fit this task? I have two ways it might qualify, but I'm still unsure.

* The first option: there's one reference on Wikipedia to a 2004-2005 "site specific theatre adaptation by Canadian playwright Ian Case," though I can't really find much other information about it.

* The second option: there's a musical version, where the novel was adapted into an album, and the album was later turned into a stage production. That feels like an extra step from novel to play, so I wanted to double-check if it does actually work for the task.

Megan wrote: "Can I verify that The War of the Worlds can fit this task? I have two ways it might qualify, but I'm still unsure.

* The first option: there's one reference on Wikipedia to a 2004-2005..."

I found a reference that an adaptation was performed live at Dragon Con in 2013 for the 75th Anniversary of the Orson Welles broadcast.

Yes, you may read this for this task. Please remind us of this approval when you post.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "I found a reference that an adaptation was performed live at Dragon Con in 2013 for the 75th Anniversary of the Orson Welles broadcast.

Yes, you may read this for this task. Please remind us of this approval when you post."

Thanks, and I will.

I am reading New Boy which is a revisioning of Shakespeare's Othello. Beyond the 20.7 task, will this task fit for either of these as I score them?

Gabriel wrote: "I am reading New Boy which is a revisioning of Shakespeare's Othello. Beyond the 20.7 task, will this task fit for either of these as I score them?"

Hi Gabe - that book was claimed earliler this season and qualifies for 10.8, 20.6, 20.7, and 20.10. Revisions/retellings do not work for 20.3.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Gabriel wrote: "I am reading New Boy which is a revisioning of Shakespeare's Othello. Beyond the 20.7 task, will this task fit for either of these as I score them?"

Hi Gabe - that ..."

Thanks...I 'think' Ive got the gist of this task now.

Gabriel wrote: "Thanks...I 'think' Ive got the gist of this task now. "

Feel free to ask about others!

Wikipedia says that Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies is a parody of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Will the book work as a 20.3 combo for the Shakespearean play?

Owlette wrote: "Wikipedia says that Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies is a parody of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Will the book work as a 20.3 combo for the Shakespearean play?"

No, sorry.

Found this by coincidence....

"On Monday night in front of an audience, John Lithgow, Annette Bening, Kevin Kline, Kyra Sedgwick, Alyssa Milano, Michael Shannon, Alfre Woodard, Joel Grey and more took the stage at New York’s Riverside Church for a live reading of “The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts.”"

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment...

Looks like there is a live play version of The Mueller Report by Robert S. Mueller III

Who'd have guessed! Will this qualify for 20.3 Severed Head?

No, it will not qualify for that task.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "No, it will not qualify for that task."

Thanks -- figured it might be a stretch!

The Voyage to the Island was "dramatized" in 1991 according the website about the author Raija Nieminen: http://www.kuurojenmuseo.fi/?p=509&am...

I could not find any other information about the dramatization. Don't know if this source is good enough for 20.3 combo points.
Thanks.

Owlette wrote: "The Voyage to the Island was "dramatized" in 1991 according the website about the author Raija Nieminen: http://www.kuurojenmuseo.fi/?p=509&am...

I could not find..."

I don't know what that means in the context. As there is no other information about it's being actually produced, I'm afraid we'll not allow it for the combo.