topic Re: Greetings! in Book Club

Greetings!

GoneButNotForgotten — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 16:56:42 GMT

My husband gave me an entire set of Shakespear, and each play/book/whatever is in it's own individual volume--so much easier that that cement block of COMPLETE Shakespear he gave me years ago.

I decided it's time to take the plunge so I start with something I'm fairly familiar with--MacBeth. This is my first reading of it; mostly I'm just running my eyes over it to get familiar with the language and so forth.

Next time I'll read it more slowly and get a better understading of it. I plan to do this with as many of his plays as I can.

This has been such a pleasant surprise! I wish I had done this earlier. But I'm stuck at home so I might as well use the time to improve my mind.

Re: Greetings!

beckyb1012 — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 18:22:29 GMT

I never even thought about reading his works again as an adult. We had to read several by William Shakespeare in my senior English class. Believe me I did not at 18 give that man the justice or respect he deserved. Good Luck and thanks for the ideal.

Re: Greetings!

Carmie — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 03:34:51 GMT

I love Shakespeare.

When I was in high school, I studied Shakespeare my junior and senior year. It was the only lit I read for two years. It was actually just Shakespeare and only Shakespeare.

My teacher was excellent. He had a doctorate degree and was a big Shakespeare fan. We learned and he made learning fun.

I do confess to buying and reading cliff notes to help me understand the language.

MacBeth is actually a gross read and very ghoulish. Enjoy.

FYI, Cliff Notes can be read online for free. You can Google Cliff Notes for Macbeth if you want to have a look. I find them extremely helpful.

Re: Greetings!

AuntG — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 22:40:27 GMT

You could become a Jeopardy contestant after finishing. Seems like operas and Shakespeare categories appear every week. I'm not well versed in either!

Re: Greetings!

Lilysmom1 — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 10:03:38 GMT

@GoneButNotForgotten , an ambitious undertaking! Good for you. Come back and tell us your favourite. LM

Re: Greetings!

gardenman — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 12:55:50 GMT

I love Shakespeare. I have one of those enormous "The Complete Works of Williams Shakespeare" books that I pull out from time to time. I've also got a lot of his stuff now on my Kindle which is much easier to handle.

There are a lot of Shakespeare lovers around. An ER nurse I had once was a Shakespeare lover and she was in a local theater company that was about to do Romeo and Juliet. She stood by as the surgeon put a thoracic vent in my chest and when finished he said, "There that wasn't so bad was it?" My reply was "Nay, Tis not so deep as a well, nor wide as a church door, but tis enough, t'will serve." He had no clue where that came from and looked absolutely lost. I had to explain it was a line from Romeo and Juliet. She was laughing at it and asked, "Do you know what the next line is?" I said, "Yeah, but I'm hoping it doesn't apply in this case." He asked what it was and I told him, "I fear if you ask for me tomorrow you will find me a grave man." (As in dead in a grave.) Fortunately, I lived.

It's always fun to pull out a few lines of Shakespeare from time to time when the situation fits. The juggling troupe the Flying Karamazov Brothers did a great version of "The Comedy of Errors" for PBS many years ago that I had on videotape, but alas I wore out that tape. If I ever find it on DVD I'm buying it. It was very well done and quite hilarious.

Re: Greetings!

GoneButNotForgotten — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 22:17:59 GMT

@Lilysmom1 wrote:
@GoneButNotForgotten , an ambitious undertaking! Good for you. Come back and tell us your favourite. LM

If I were really ambitious, I'd finish the Ayn Rand book"Atlas Shrugged". I've tried and tried but I just can't wade through it.