Book 50: Richard II

So when I read Richard III last week, I was really supposed to be reading Richard II. Oops.



I'm reading these plays because the Hollow Crown series (Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V) will air on PBS in September. It won a number of awards in England, so I'm pretty excited about it.

Richard II is a complex play. I wasn't sure whose side I wanted to be on, unlike Richard III, which has a definite villain.

Book 49: Richard III

I'm slowly working my way through five dramas this year, as part of my 5/5 goal. I haven't read Shakespeare since college, which was actually last century.



Richard III was great. The history (the succession to the throne, the wars and assassinations) was new to me, so a Wikipedia primer was very helpful.

Why haven't I read Shakespeare in so long, I don't know. I'm now going backward in time and reading Richard II so I can get a feel for more of the histories. There are lots of the comedies that I have never read, either.

Book 43: The Book of Mormon Girl

Hey, look, another religious book!



This one was great, though sometimes a little disconcerting. Joanna Brooks is just a few years older than I am, and attended BYU just before I did. True to my usual obliviousness, I was not all that aware of some of what went on during the early and mid '90s at BYU regarding feminists in the English department.

Anyway, Joanna's experiences are both similar to and different from mine. My upbringing does not seem to have been that much that of other Mormon girls who lived in the Mountain West. I suppose growing up in central Canada will do that for you. But I remember having many of the same questions and thoughts.

Book 42: The Five Books of Jesus

I don't normally read religious books of any kind other than the standard works, but this year, I challenged myself to read five in my 5/5 challenge. This is my first.



I found it surprisingly compelling. It's a retelling of the Gospels as they might have happened. I really enjoyed the imagined perspective of those who began to follow Jesus. To see them as real people, with feelings and dreams and worries, even if those traits were only imagined by the author, made the familiar story very thought-provoking.

Book 34: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

I think I've probably started reading this at various other times in my life, but never finished it. But this time, I had a great Audible recording of it to listen to while digging in the community garden and then driving across the country.



The recording was lovely, and some parts were interesting (the sermon on Hell accompanied my digging in the garden), but a lot of it was kind of dull. Sorry, James. Maybe sometime I'll try Dubliners, but I'm not going to rush out and get a copy tonight.

Book 33: Moll Flanders

I needed a classic fix this week. Moll Flanders was on my phone, so I gave it a listen. It was a pleasure to listen to.



Oooh la la, that cover is a bit racy, no? Yep, the story was a bit racy, too--for 1722.

The improbability of all these things happening to one person was pretty funny. When my husband asked what I was reading/listening to and I told him, it really sounded a bit like a soap opera.

The genre of the novel has really changed, though, and its place in literature is solidified in a way that it was not in the early 18th century. It's a good reminder even something that seems as basic and timeless as the novel has not always existed in its current form.

Book 25: A Man for All Seasons

Having read the first two books of Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy, I knew I had to read this, to get another (fictionalized) view of Sir Thomas More.

 

I liked it a lot. Sir Thomas More gives some stirring speeches about conscience, and the Common Man has some interesting scenes, too. The stage directions were so detailed that I could picture quite clearly what the staging looks like. Now I just need to see it staged. The film was released in 1966 and won an Academy Award. It's on my Netflix queue now--we shall see if it lives up to my expectations!

Book 17: Three Sisters

One of my 5/5 challenges this year is to read five dramas. Since I hadn't started a single one and it's mid-March, it was time to get going.



I'm sure I've actually read this before. And I really do love Chekhov. But I was often so confused. Why is Olga suddenly crying? I thought Masha left--why is she still here?

I looked to see if there was a production of it I could watch, since that's the way it's supposed to be enjoyed. I found a couple from the 70s and they got terrible reviews because "nothing happens." Well, yes, that's pretty much the point of the play, my friends.

So maybe I'll stick with Chekhov short stories. And plays in which something happens? Like Shakespeare, perhaps? We'll see.

Book 15: Tom Jones

I have finally finished this behemoth!



It was a bit of a slog for a long while, but toward the end I was more interested, because I began to see how it might all turn out. Some of it was quite funny--I think most of it was supposed to be funny, actually.

Book 13: Unbroken

I liked this, a lot. It's such an amazing story.



Yes, it was sometimes pretty disturbing to listen to, but there was always an element of hope throughout the whole book. Your clue to that would be the subtitle of the book, which contains the words "resilience" and "redemption". A similar book that I listened to last year (Coming Out of the Ice; also about a prisoner in brutal conditions) seemed much more distressing.

Book 11: Teacher Man

I am so glad I gave this a try. I read Angela's Ashes and 'Tis many years ago and while I appreciated Angela's Ashes, I think I was too young and ignorant to really understand 'Tis. I'm inspired to give it another try later on.



Teacher Man is about Frank McCourt's years of experience teaching (mostly) high school English. I think much of the reason I appreciated it was from my own goofy teaching experiences.

Book 7: Moby Dick

The last chapter of Moby Dick was posted today for the Moby Dick Big Read.



I started listening on September 16 of last year, and now 135 days later, it's over. I loved it. There were several chapters that I listened to more than once because they were so good.