Maureen McGranaghan
@mcgranaghan.bsky.social
Writer, Reader, Teacher, Student
www.maureenmcgranaghan.com
www.maureenmcgranaghan.com
"He should have lived
Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense,
Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge,
By so receiving a dishonored life
With such ransom of shame. Would yet he had lived!"
Angelo feels the blood on his hands. Measure for Measure
#TheBard_ProblemPlays
Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense,
Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge,
By so receiving a dishonored life
With such ransom of shame. Would yet he had lived!"
Angelo feels the blood on his hands. Measure for Measure
#TheBard_ProblemPlays
January 16, 2026 at 2:51 AM
"He should have lived
Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense,
Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge,
By so receiving a dishonored life
With such ransom of shame. Would yet he had lived!"
Angelo feels the blood on his hands. Measure for Measure
#TheBard_ProblemPlays
Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense,
Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge,
By so receiving a dishonored life
With such ransom of shame. Would yet he had lived!"
Angelo feels the blood on his hands. Measure for Measure
#TheBard_ProblemPlays
Ryan returns, etiolated and hobbling, yet enjoying wild worldly success thanks to a smartwatch and a student who knows everything about 15th Cent Venice. #rachelcusktogether
January 15, 2026 at 1:04 PM
Ryan returns, etiolated and hobbling, yet enjoying wild worldly success thanks to a smartwatch and a student who knows everything about 15th Cent Venice. #rachelcusktogether
"Her brother's other friends were unfailingly charming, so that she could not talk to one without instantly afterwards taking out a horse and setting it at a six-foot fence. She had never met a man who could open his mouth without imperiling the life of a horse." #Discuss_DeWitt_2025
January 12, 2026 at 1:30 PM
"Her brother's other friends were unfailingly charming, so that she could not talk to one without instantly afterwards taking out a horse and setting it at a six-foot fence. She had never met a man who could open his mouth without imperiling the life of a horse." #Discuss_DeWitt_2025
"He had not killed to learn those moodless verbs and uninflected nouns, but he had brought a slave into existence for their sake." Ludo, frustrated in his second attempt to find a worthy father figure. #Discuss_DeWitt_2025
January 12, 2026 at 1:28 PM
"He had not killed to learn those moodless verbs and uninflected nouns, but he had brought a slave into existence for their sake." Ludo, frustrated in his second attempt to find a worthy father figure. #Discuss_DeWitt_2025
Abhorson: A bawd, sir? Fie upon him! He will discredit our mystery.
Pompey: ...do you call, sir, your occupation a mystery?
Abhor.: Ay, sir, a mystery.
Abhorson, the executioner... I confess I don't understand the "proof" he gives Pompey, but he does not take his job lightly.
#TheBard_ProblemPlays
Pompey: ...do you call, sir, your occupation a mystery?
Abhor.: Ay, sir, a mystery.
Abhorson, the executioner... I confess I don't understand the "proof" he gives Pompey, but he does not take his job lightly.
#TheBard_ProblemPlays
January 12, 2026 at 1:25 PM
Abhorson: A bawd, sir? Fie upon him! He will discredit our mystery.
Pompey: ...do you call, sir, your occupation a mystery?
Abhor.: Ay, sir, a mystery.
Abhorson, the executioner... I confess I don't understand the "proof" he gives Pompey, but he does not take his job lightly.
#TheBard_ProblemPlays
Pompey: ...do you call, sir, your occupation a mystery?
Abhor.: Ay, sir, a mystery.
Abhorson, the executioner... I confess I don't understand the "proof" he gives Pompey, but he does not take his job lightly.
#TheBard_ProblemPlays
"As far as he knew a problem couldn't be solved simply by infinitely restating it, unless you relied on infinity itself to break certain factors down." Or doing the same thing over and over expecting different results? Insanity, we're told (and yet common). #rachelcusktogether
January 12, 2026 at 3:28 AM
"As far as he knew a problem couldn't be solved simply by infinitely restating it, unless you relied on infinity itself to break certain factors down." Or doing the same thing over and over expecting different results? Insanity, we're told (and yet common). #rachelcusktogether
The first husband's hissing hatred adds yet more poison to this frightful story... The bells erupt! and the rain... "I stood there with the water running down my hair and over my face and my clothes, watching the whole world gradually transfer itself into the mirror at my feet." #rachelcusktogether
January 9, 2026 at 12:59 PM
The first husband's hissing hatred adds yet more poison to this frightful story... The bells erupt! and the rain... "I stood there with the water running down my hair and over my face and my clothes, watching the whole world gradually transfer itself into the mirror at my feet." #rachelcusktogether
"'And I can't get over the feeling,' she said, 'that it was all stolen from me.'" The brutal irony of the interviewer's husband's illness (when she was hoping he would leave her) and her bitter jealousy of her sister combine to make this a particularly troubling story. #rachelcusktogether
January 9, 2026 at 12:50 PM
"'And I can't get over the feeling,' she said, 'that it was all stolen from me.'" The brutal irony of the interviewer's husband's illness (when she was hoping he would leave her) and her bitter jealousy of her sister combine to make this a particularly troubling story. #rachelcusktogether
"Heaven shield my mother played my father fair!
For such a warped slip of wilderness
Ne'er issued from his blood."
A warped slip of wilderness... there's a Shakespearean epithet!
#MeasureforMeasure_2026
For such a warped slip of wilderness
Ne'er issued from his blood."
A warped slip of wilderness... there's a Shakespearean epithet!
#MeasureforMeasure_2026
January 9, 2026 at 2:45 AM
"Heaven shield my mother played my father fair!
For such a warped slip of wilderness
Ne'er issued from his blood."
A warped slip of wilderness... there's a Shakespearean epithet!
#MeasureforMeasure_2026
For such a warped slip of wilderness
Ne'er issued from his blood."
A warped slip of wilderness... there's a Shakespearean epithet!
#MeasureforMeasure_2026
"I was reading Die Zeit and I came across this lovely line, Es regnete ununterbrochen. It rained uninterruptedly... Es regnete ununterbrochen...I shall think of it whenever it rains." A rainy morning here, reading. #Discuss_DeWitt_2025
January 7, 2026 at 1:16 PM
"I was reading Die Zeit and I came across this lovely line, Es regnete ununterbrochen. It rained uninterruptedly... Es regnete ununterbrochen...I shall think of it whenever it rains." A rainy morning here, reading. #Discuss_DeWitt_2025
Act II, Sc. 4: Angelo and Isabella vie rhetorically until Angelo, vested with the power of the state, simply demands, "Redeem thy brother by yielding up thy body to my will..." As for reporting him, "Say what you can, my false o'erweighs your true." !!! #Measureformeasure_2025
January 7, 2026 at 2:35 AM
Act II, Sc. 4: Angelo and Isabella vie rhetorically until Angelo, vested with the power of the state, simply demands, "Redeem thy brother by yielding up thy body to my will..." As for reporting him, "Say what you can, my false o'erweighs your true." !!! #Measureformeasure_2025
The interviewer greets her with striking eloquence about the city's labyrinthine road system: "The giant freeways circled the city without penetrating it...to get anywhere, you had to go everywhere..." It occurs to me that what we have in Cusk is heightened rhetorical reality. #rachelcusktogether
January 4, 2026 at 2:08 PM
The interviewer greets her with striking eloquence about the city's labyrinthine road system: "The giant freeways circled the city without penetrating it...to get anywhere, you had to go everywhere..." It occurs to me that what we have in Cusk is heightened rhetorical reality. #rachelcusktogether
Isabella's exhortation scene is fantastic, with Lucio goading and commenting on her passion and rhetoric throughout. She does warm to her subject. "O it is excellent to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant." Yes. #MeasureforMeasure_2025
January 4, 2026 at 1:43 PM
Isabella's exhortation scene is fantastic, with Lucio goading and commenting on her passion and rhetoric throughout. She does warm to her subject. "O it is excellent to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant." Yes. #MeasureforMeasure_2025
"'The hero is a man actively engaged in becoming himself--never a very reassuring sight. The villain on the other hand has already become something...He has found what is to his advantage and acts accordingly." Donald Richie on Sugata Sanshiro #Discuss_DeWitt_2025
January 2, 2026 at 2:16 PM
"'The hero is a man actively engaged in becoming himself--never a very reassuring sight. The villain on the other hand has already become something...He has found what is to his advantage and acts accordingly." Donald Richie on Sugata Sanshiro #Discuss_DeWitt_2025
Sibylla refuses to reveal who Ludo's father is (a mediocre travel writer) until he is able to discern banality in art-"la formule est banale." Ludo, meanwhile, checks out all the travel narratives he can find and enjoys Darwin but works out it can't be him as he died in 1882. #Discuss_DeWitt_2025
January 2, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Sibylla refuses to reveal who Ludo's father is (a mediocre travel writer) until he is able to discern banality in art-"la formule est banale." Ludo, meanwhile, checks out all the travel narratives he can find and enjoys Darwin but works out it can't be him as he died in 1882. #Discuss_DeWitt_2025
"I hated beating him...I only had to do it two or three times in his life. We both knew he couldn't have been what he was without it." This strikes me as...unhinged? He thinks the dog understands the necessity of these (rare) beatings--they make him all the dog he can be? Hmm. #RachelCuskTogether
December 29, 2025 at 2:45 AM
"I hated beating him...I only had to do it two or three times in his life. We both knew he couldn't have been what he was without it." This strikes me as...unhinged? He thinks the dog understands the necessity of these (rare) beatings--they make him all the dog he can be? Hmm. #RachelCuskTogether
"She couldn't stand the sound of certain words and would scream and put her hands over her ears if anyone said them." I am fascinated by this. What words? Later he gives some sentences that upset her and I wondered what words in them are the triggers. #RachelCuskTogether
December 29, 2025 at 2:40 AM
"She couldn't stand the sound of certain words and would scream and put her hands over her ears if anyone said them." I am fascinated by this. What words? Later he gives some sentences that upset her and I wondered what words in them are the triggers. #RachelCuskTogether
"They stood in a row, their mouths emitting sounds that... merged together in a chorus of protest. The candles flamed around them, streaking them in red and orange light...so that it almost looked as though they were burning." The anguish contained in this fog-bound dinner party. #rachelcusktogether
December 21, 2025 at 12:29 PM
"They stood in a row, their mouths emitting sounds that... merged together in a chorus of protest. The candles flamed around them, streaking them in red and orange light...so that it almost looked as though they were burning." The anguish contained in this fog-bound dinner party. #rachelcusktogether
Also can't get over the guy (a date?) who breaks her window to get his briefcase out of her car when she loses her keys, then leaves her to wait for help with a shrieking alarm. Wow, that's a choice. An illuminating one. Not partner material. #rachelcusktogether
December 17, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Also can't get over the guy (a date?) who breaks her window to get his briefcase out of her car when she loses her keys, then leaves her to wait for help with a shrieking alarm. Wow, that's a choice. An illuminating one. Not partner material. #rachelcusktogether
"St. Francis...lived in a state that other people called innocence but that I viewed as utter nihilism." Radical statement about this iconic spiritual figure. Francis seems more Buddhist than Catholic to me (stigmata aside). Is it his non-attachment she construes as nihilism? #rachelcusktogether
December 17, 2025 at 1:37 PM
"St. Francis...lived in a state that other people called innocence but that I viewed as utter nihilism." Radical statement about this iconic spiritual figure. Francis seems more Buddhist than Catholic to me (stigmata aside). Is it his non-attachment she construes as nihilism? #rachelcusktogether
John has served his sentence… I wonder if this dark book is Faye’s sentence for the transgression (as she sees it) of oblivious immersion she describes to Paniotis and her “criminal” (in her mind) treatment of Gerard. #rachelcusktogether
December 15, 2025 at 4:17 AM
John has served his sentence… I wonder if this dark book is Faye’s sentence for the transgression (as she sees it) of oblivious immersion she describes to Paniotis and her “criminal” (in her mind) treatment of Gerard. #rachelcusktogether
Ah, Tony, not helping matters. He's sheepish after seeing Paula and confesses to his "strategy." Faye senses he's imposing his interpretation on events he doesn't understand, which suggests to me that Paula controlled the exchange. But it doesn't make me feel better about him. #rachelcusktogether
December 13, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Ah, Tony, not helping matters. He's sheepish after seeing Paula and confesses to his "strategy." Faye senses he's imposing his interpretation on events he doesn't understand, which suggests to me that Paula controlled the exchange. But it doesn't make me feel better about him. #rachelcusktogether
When re-reading, I'm always struck by what has stayed with me from a book--in this case, Pavel's (homesick) fascination with the arrivals gate at Heathrow. #rachelcusktogether
December 11, 2025 at 1:19 PM
When re-reading, I'm always struck by what has stayed with me from a book--in this case, Pavel's (homesick) fascination with the arrivals gate at Heathrow. #rachelcusktogether
At least Paula makes no pretense; her malice is naked. #rachelcusktogether
December 9, 2025 at 2:51 AM
At least Paula makes no pretense; her malice is naked. #rachelcusktogether
"Without children or partner, without meaningful family or a home, a day can last an eternity: a life without those things is a life without a story...no narrative flights, no plot developments, no immersive human dramas-to alleviate the cruelly meticulous passing of time." Yikes #rachelcusktogether
December 6, 2025 at 3:53 AM
"Without children or partner, without meaningful family or a home, a day can last an eternity: a life without those things is a life without a story...no narrative flights, no plot developments, no immersive human dramas-to alleviate the cruelly meticulous passing of time." Yikes #rachelcusktogether