Practical

where to go and how to start · formats that have worked · the places last

Normalize leaving a poetry collection in your car. I'm the designated driver in our family, and end up spending many moments waiting in the car. So easy to spend time on Twitter or Tiktok, but feels much better to pick up a book and read a few poems. Perfect for a few minutes.

@houshuang · 29 August 2024

Read these first, in this order

1. 1How to get startedI pick a few key episodes in history, and get into that moment as richly as I can.
2. 2Just trust that it comes togetherFrom "I can't read plays" to twenty plays in one year. The advice that helped: just trust that it comes together. And a play takes two hours.
3. 3The whole world to HamarFirst symphony concert of my life, at the movie theater in Lillehammer. About KinoScene, why the ticket is a vote.
4. 4It all started with Kirsten FlagstadThe Flagstad festival, a book from the library, a recording from Stockholm on Youtube, and a year later Copenhagen with my son.
5. 5Books that aren't at the front of the shelfOlder children's books, operas, plays and film. All tried out on a ten-year-old. Some have to be ordered through interlibrary loan.

Everything on this

7 more pieces, in the order they belong together

• Try it yourselfTry it yourselfWhere to start: The List, where to go, how to read a play, interlibrary loans, the cinema.
• The Argument · 13 November 2025Where is the knowledge strategy for adults?Why doesn't Teater Innlandet have a little lecture series on theater history? (Why doesn't NRK????)
• The Argument · 7 April 2025Subtitles in the theaterIn Athens all the performances are subtitled in English and Greek. We actually do have more than just waffles to offer!
• In English · 10 January 2025How to read a playFrom «I find it very hard to read and enjoy a play» in April 2024 to twenty plays a year later, and the one piece of advice that helped: be patient, keep reading, it comes together.
• In English · 24 February 2025The language learning holy grailParallel texts, Anki verses, the New Testament in Greek, and a method for reading in another language.
• In English · 6 April 2020Learning effectively with podcastsWalks, a lecture series of 50 episodes, voice notes, and how the notes are processed days later.
• In English · 7 April 2026The anchor strategyCrete, the fog-of-war map, Charlemagne as an anchor, why hooks need a skeleton, and reading by the fireplace. Excerpts about method from a 2026 essay.

Reading list

books, recordings and places · the sentences are mine, from The List, the catalog and what I've written elsewhere

• BokselskapplaceIn Norway bokselskap.no has done a fantastic job, but I think very few people know about them. These can also be downloaded as epub and read on a Kindle etc, which is much easier to read than scanned books on nb.no.
• nb.noplaceThat said, nb.no is totally fantastic. I think it's so much fun to search through old books and newspapers. Not just that it's available, but that it has full-text search!
• Interlibrary loanplaceWe are so incredibly lucky in Norway that we have access to pretty much everything that exists, through free interlibrary loans. You just have to know that it exists.
• Resirkula, HamarplaceI've built up a pretty complete collection of Norwegian classics in just two years, series with everything by Hamsun, Ibsen, Lie, Kielland, etc etc etc.
• Met Opera on DemandplaceA paid service that I pay for with the greatest of pleasure — they have many hundreds of operas available in high quality.
• National Theatre at HomeplaceThis one was fantastic. I highly recommend a subscription to National Theatre at Home.
• OperaVision and Arte ConcertplaceSince then I've seen a lot of opera in recordings, through Arte, Operavision, and Met Opera...
• Hamar Kino: KinoSceneplaceIt means you get "the whole world to Hamar", and you get a completely different experience than at home in the living room.
• The Catherine ProjectplaceThe time zones are unfortunately a bit outrageous, but there's a fair amount that's available from Norway in the evening.
• norsesaga.noplaceA website with a translation of a saga paragraph by paragraph. And it was perfect! And incredibly much more motivating than starting with declension tables for the genitive...
• Adam Walker: Close Reading Poetry, YouTubeplaceThis youtuber (who has a whole course on the Bible and poetry this spring) is totally fantastic. I'm learning so much! And it's fun!
• Lynn: A Handbook for the Study of DramabookThe most important message was to be a little patient. Just trust that it comes together, and keep reading ;)
• Pollestad's Odyssey + Mendelsohn: An OdysseybookA really good combo that I can recommend if you want to introduce friends to this "world"...