Tag: Hamlet

Top Ten Tuesday: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf

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I am going to rely on the computer to select the ten books for this list, taking out all the physical and human limitations on randomness - the fact that I would be least likely to pick books from low shelves because my knees ache.... I did show my class the other week my Calibre library of ebooks and they estimated how many I had. "Twenty, sir?" "Thirty-five sir?" They seemed flabbergasted - as if they could not believe so many books could exist - when I scrolled to the bottom to show the 3,006th book! Not all read, obviously. A lot of classics. A vast and overwhelming TBR in digital form! Let's see what I thought of this random selection, and whether I remember why I bought it... And why is this strangely nerve wracking?

Top Ten Tuesday: Memorable Things Characters Have Said

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Previous Top Ten Tuesday Topics September 21: Books on my Autumn /… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Memorable Things Characters Have Said

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Reasons Why I Love … Shakespeare

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. PREVIOUS TOP TEN TUESDAY TOPICS: April 7: Books I Bought/Borrowed Because…April 14: Books I… Continue reading Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Reasons Why I Love … Shakespeare

Top Five Saturday: Fake Love Couples

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Top Five Saturday is a meme hosted by Devouring Books to discover and share books that all have a common theme. The list of themes currently runs at 11/9/19 — Books with a Survival Theme11/16/19 — Books by Unread Authors You Want to Read11/23/19 — Books with Fake Love Couples11/30/19 — Books to be read by the… Continue reading Top Five Saturday: Fake Love Couples

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 17!

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I find this a very broad category today; A book with a person's name in the title (real or fictional). I mean in every genre, there are a wealth of books containing (or perhaps consisting of solely) the name of the characters: every one of the Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl series in Young… Continue reading 30 Day Book Challenge: Day 17!

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 11!

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So moving on with this, the challenge has shifted to characters for today rather than novels with the challenge to find  A literary character you want to have dinner (or drinks) with. Can I not just ask for all of them? Not together. Obviously. I don't have enough chairs! It's my blog and my rules,… Continue reading 30 Day Book Challenge: Day 11!

Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood

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Once again, a deliciously striking cover for Margaret Atwood's most recent novel, and the most recent entry into the Hogarth Shakespeare Project... and the first in the project that I've read. Now, I have a confession to make before going much further: I've never really got Margaret Atwood. I've wanted to; I've tried to. I… Continue reading Hag-Seed, Margaret Atwood

Nutshell, Ian McEwan

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Some books need more of an exercise in imagination than others. A bigger suspension of disbelief. An unborn narrator, for example, is one such. And not just unborn in a metaphorical sense but literally foetal. The narrator of McEwan's most recent book - recently serialised on Radio 4 - is a third-trimester Hamlet, set in modern London, recounting… Continue reading Nutshell, Ian McEwan

The Ghost Of Shakespeare

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It's surprising how coincidences happen sometimes. I mean, it's no surprise that there's been a lot of crime and detective fiction in my reading list recently: it's basically research! But there's also been a lot of Shakespeare in it! Ali Shaw's The Trees isn't - I don't think - based on Shakespeare but there are… Continue reading The Ghost Of Shakespeare

Intertextuality in the The Woman in Black

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Intertextuality is a strange idea. It's reasonable and intuitive that texts refer both backwards and forwards within themselves: how many stories and tales begin and end at the same place and setting? Detective fiction is built on the importance of small early details turning into clues to be resolved later. Anton Chekov went so far… Continue reading Intertextuality in the The Woman in Black

The Hypnotist, Lars Kepler

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I worry about Sweden. It keeps me up at night. I wake in cold sweats. I worry about the weather there: the snow and freezing temperatures. I worry about the trolls. I worry about IKEA. And I worry about the people. And families. It must be a terrible place. Every single novel I've read from… Continue reading The Hypnotist, Lars Kepler

Hamlet and Women, discussion

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Hamlet, perhaps the most famous and most argued over play by Shakespeare, was written between the years 1599 and 1601 as Elizabeth I was reaching the end of her reign. The play features two of the most famous women in Shakespeare: Ophelia and Gertrude and Hamlet’s relationships with these women account for a large number… Continue reading Hamlet and Women, discussion