King Lear by Shakespeare

King Lear wound up being the only Shakespeare work I got to in January. It is an incredible work, albeit occasionally hard to follow for me. I remember in high school I had these great versions of Shakespeare that had modern text on the left and the original text on the right. The version I have on my Kindle doesn't even have footnotes so there are a few things that didn't make sense. However, even with certain passages opaque to me, the brilliance is tangible.

King Lear begins with an old king deciding to bequeath his kingdom to his three daughters. The first two essentially suck up to him, telling him about all his admirable qualities, but his youngest, Cordelia, states that she cannot express her love for him. Lear, falsely swayed by his other daughters' flattery, banishes Cordelia, who fortunately manages to catch the King of France as her husband, and gives his kingdom to his other two daughters and their husbands. These daughters then abandon their father, while also getting involved with Edmund, an illegitimate son of the Duke of Gloucester, who has his own underhanded plan of overthrowing the heir and taking over the land for himself. Because it is Shakespeare, there is disguise, putting out of eyes, real madness, false madness, and poisoning followed by suicide. I kept forgetting that it was a tragedy and had the sense that it would all come right in the end... until it didn't. However, it was beautifully written. The thing I love most about Shakespeare these days are his keen observations of human nature -- the way he truly nailed the way we as a species behave on the head. I wonder what it must have been like to live with a person like that.

This review is not really a review at this point but a series of musings on King Lear. But there you have it. One of the more lengthy, complicated Shakespearean plays I've read, but definitely a worthwhile investment of time and mental energy.

4 stars

Warnings: Puns that are beyond my understanding, violence

Mini-Reviews: Classics

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

This was my Classics Spin #2 read, and I loved it. I miss Paris every summer since my study abroad five years ago, and I have been meaning to read A Moveable Feast for  years. It is Hemingway's memoir of his life in Paris. Being Hemingway, he is rather sparse on the details and definitely focuses more on his relationships with people in Paris, rather than the city itself, but I still loved the atmosphere that peeked through Hemingway's experiences, as well as learning how he felt about his writing. Hemingway seems to be a hate-him-or-love-him type of author, and while I didn't enjoy him in high school, I have come to really appreciate his clear, direct style of writing. I tend to associate different writing styles with the way I feel after eating certain types of food (weird, yes?). Hemingway tastes like good steel cut oats with no sugar added but with some good fruit stirred in. Not a ton of flavor, but nourishing and hearty. 

4 stars

Warnings: None

Paradise Lost by John Milton

Paradise Lost is another book I've been meaning to read for years (seems I feel that way about many of the classics). I felt that I should read it because it has influenced so many authors, but I never expected to love it -- I just perceived it as one of those obligatory must-read-to-be-a-literate-book-lover things. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this retelling of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, told in epic poetry style. It definitely took some patience at times, and I didn't get all of the mythological references, having read the cheapy version on my Kindle instead of a footnoted edition, but the beauty of the writing frequently took my breath away. While I don't agree doctrinally with everything in Milton's narrative, I enjoyed the story and was swept away by his fantastic writing.

4 stars

Warnings: Some thematic material but basically clean

Emma by Jane Austen

Emma was a reread for me. I read the book in high school or middle school and was largely unimpressed. At that point I'd read Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice and seen the movies, and I was disappointed in the lack of sweeping romance that I saw in Emma. It was longer than the other Jane Austen novels and the heroine was frequently aggravating. I decided it was just a miss for me and moved on.

However, a few months ago I watched Clueless and loved it even more than I had remembered. I started to wonder how well it followed Emma and decided to attempt a reread. This time, I adored the book. I'm not sure if I understand it better or if my sense of humor has matured, but I found Emma's schemes and character flaws to be endearing. Yes, she was imperfect and nosy and at times judgmental, but she was also genuinely kind, albeit frequently misguided. And the way the romance slowly swelled appeals to me now that I am past my hormonal teenage angst. I loved it.

5 stars

Warnings: None

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream is also a reread for me. I read it for the Once Upon a Time Challenge. I've always loved this story, but I think now that I am older I can really appreciate Shakespeare's writing. Being significantly less eloquent than the Bard, I don't have the most articulate way to pinpoint the quality that I love about his work. It is just good. It's poignant and apt about human nature and I love it. Hooray for Shakespeare!

5 stars

Warnings: Innuendo

The Shakespeare Project

I don't have much in the way of literary training. I write a book blog because I read a lot of books and recommend a lot of books to a lot of people. I dabble in almost every genre, and heavily in the classics. 

However, I feel like to really be considered a connoisseur of the English language, one has to read everything available by William Shakespeare. 

So that is my quest -- read the complete works of Shakespeare by... the time I die. 

I toyed with reading them all in some type of organized fashion, but I think that would burn me out too quickly, so I'm just going to do it haphazardly. As you can tell, this project isn't especially organized. But it should be fun. :)