British Author Challenge June 2026: The Stuarts & Interregnum (1603-1714)

Selected by vote and by luck, we'll be reading works written during the time of the Stuart monarchs and Lords Protector.

Suggested works
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
The Countess of Montgomery's Urania by Mary Wroth
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions by John Donne
New Atlantis by Francis Bacon
Areopagitica by John Milton
Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
The Country Wife by William Wycherley
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
Absalom and Achitophel by John Dryden
Oroonoko by Aphra Behn
The Perjur'd Husband by Susanna Centlivre
The Way of the World by William Congreve

I found a copy of Oroonoko for sale at my local library, so I'll be reading that.

I am likely sitting out this month. I am out of town until the 10th of June and most of those reads look like would take me more time than I have to devote to them. Be back in July though! Happy reading to you all!!

I will try to read Paradise Lost by John Milton. I have had it on my list before but still haven't read it. Now seems like a good time.

>4 Kristelh: Good luck. I read it a few years ago and don't feel a need to revisit it.

>5 amanda4242:, Thanks Amanda, I am hoping it is short. I do have it in audio so if it is awful I can just speed it up.

I think I'm going with Pericles, Prince of Tyre, simply because it's one of the few plays by Shakespeare I haven't read.

I've just "discovered" this "group!" British lit is probably my favorite category of reading. However, I'm on a strict reading "regimen" this year, meaning that I will only read from my shelves, where almost 500 books sit waiting......I've done very good thus far. So if it's ok, I will probably dip in and out depending what is on my shelf.

For this month I would like to read Antony & Cleopatra. (1606-1607) I read it once, maybe 20 years ago, but am attempting a read/re-read of the histories.

I’ll be reading King Learpublished in 1608. There’s a version online with a modern translation next to the original text. Very helpful.

>8 Tess_W: Welcome! Pop in and out as you please, and feel free to read and/or comment on previous months, too. The general thread has a list of this year's selections and links to past months' threads.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/376834#

I've finished Oronooko and, well...let's say I can appreciate its historical significance. Props to Aphra Behn for at least thinking about slavery and also for making a woman the narrator, but dear god is that book tedious.

Well, I did not get to Antony & Cleopatra and probably won't this month. I'm not sure why, but when I went to my bookshelf, I picked up Julius Caesar, thinking I can't wait to get to Antony's funeral speech. Julius Caesar does not technically fall within this period (1599). So, with it being the 26th, I think Antony & Cleopatra will have to wait till later!

ETA...well I just found out I'm taking someone to a colonoscopy--I'm the designated driver! I will have a 2-3 hour wait. Antony & Cleo--here I come!

>12 Tess_W: Well, that's one way to get some reading done!

The July thread is up!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/385160

>13 amanda4242: LOL, well I didn't want to, but her driver came down with the flu. From drop off to exiting the parking lot was 2 1/2 hours. I'm halfway through Antony & Cleopatra!

I completed Antony & Cleopatra by William Shakespeare 1606. My very favorite Shakespeare.