Harking Back...Part III: University (Year 2)

Shakespeare

We read 12 plays (tragedies & comedies).  Having only my high school Shakespeare experience to go on, I did not know what to expect from this course. Almost everyone I knew majoring in English took this course for 1 of 2 required early lit credits! We used all Folger editions, which are very well developed and offer side-by-side page views of the translated play version and the language translation with key words in bold to correspond. This made it much easier to follow the play seamlessly without having to change pages to read the translation!

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Hamlet

Yup, we read this again. It was an even richer reading experience, knowing many of the themes & great characters.

Rank:  (A+)- A must-read




Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Othello

Surprisingly, I didn’t read this in high school, even though it is highly appropriate for the age group. A controversial romance to be sure (see also A Taste of Honey) between the moor Othello and the tragic Desdemona. Iago is considered Shakespeare’s most evil villain, though I thought King Lear’s Goneril & Regan were pretty despicable.

Rank:  (A)- Highly recommend



Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

My favourite (so far) of the comedies. I thought it was so whimsical with dreamlike imagery and enchanting descriptions of the setting, and the humour, like Oscar Wilde, is still quite funny.  There is a lot to visualize, which allows flexibility in how people perceive the world these characters live in.  The movie version from 1999 is decent but the set design is just like I thought of it--so luscious.

Rank:  (A+)- Excellent (the best Shakespeare comedy I've read)




Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Measure for Measure
I had to look up what this play was about, so it likely wasn’t that memorable and is one of the least known Shakespeare plays. It’s technically a comedy, though has some light tragic elements and is a testament to sexual politics before the term was even coined.
Rank:  N/A (can't really rank something that I don't remember!)

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Henry V
A historical play that I didn’t expect to enjoy, but did.  Best line:  “Once more unto the breach, dear friends…”  Best Folger cover: this one.  They use rich colours and blends, but this one is the most striking.
Rank:  (A)- Highly recommend



Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters



Richard III

We started the course reading this play. It is full of memorable lines: “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.” “Now is the winter of our discontent.”
Rank:  (A)- Highly recommend



Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters



Antony & Cleopatra
Wasn’t too fond of this one, as I recall. Historical plays are hit-and-miss for me.
Rank:  (C)- Just okay












Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters


Titus Andronicus
I hadn’t heard of this one before and it turns out that Anthony Hopkins starred in a film adaptation of it. A rather sinister ending that questions the quality and definition of justice.  It's the most violent written work I've ever read.
Rank:  (B)- Recommend

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

King Lear

Sadly, I can’t remember much about my reading experience with this one. I do think it exudes sympathy for Lear and his relationship with daughter Cordelia is rather emotional. I will have to reread this…ack, more TBR material :oD
Rank:  (A)- Highly recommend



Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Cymbeline

Like Measure for Measure, I hadn’t heard of this play before taking the course. It has similar themes to most of Shakespeare’s tragedies and comes across like a combination of Twelfth Night (female-male cross dressing) and Othello (claiming a false affair & plotting to kill for revenge).
Rank:  (B)- Recommend



Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters


The Tempest

I enjoyed this one and thought the use of magic was a new idea that hadn’t been explored in as much detail in Shakespeare’s other plays, drawing some ideas from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I remember watching the BBC version of this play and we all thought the actor playing Caliban was completely off the wall!
Rank:  (A)- Highly recommend

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Twelfth Night

I had already read this in high school & was excited to read it again.  It is a very sweet, likeable play that is the best Shakespeare play to start reading as its language isn't too difficult to grasp.
Rank:  (A)- Highly recommend

Studies in American Literature
Theme: hard-boiled detective fiction!  This was a fun theme to study and turned out to be a more complex genre than I thought it would be.

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

The Big Sleep- Raymond Chandler
Chandler is best known for writing the character of Sam Spade, brought to life on the screen by Humphrey Bogart. I would have preferred to read The Maltese Falcon, which we watched scenes of in the Bogart movie (one of my favourites). The novel’s ending was confusing and I remember having to reread at least 1-2 times to have some idea of what happened. The movie with Bogart and Bacall was pretty dull. I preferred To Have & Have Not, though that one is also not as good as Maltese Falcon.
Rank:  (C)- Just okay

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

The Thin Man- Dashiell Hammett

Nick & Nora Charles are classic characters, played by the often-paired William Powell & Myrna Loy in 6 films, though there was only 1 novel. Hammett mixes humour with hard-boiled mystery, making women more prominent characters in the stories, instead of reducing them to femme fatales, like other such writers (i.e. Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Mickey Spillane). Again, I found some parts confusing to follow, but overall it was a more enjoyable read than Chandler.  Haven't seen the movies yet but they are supposed to be even better.
Rank:  (B)- Recommend

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Fearless Jones- Walter Mosley
Mosley is best known for his series starring Easy Rawlins, a black PI, played by Denzel Washington in Devil in a Blue Dress (though Don Cheadle stole the movie in one of his earliest roles) the only film adaptation of Mosley’s books so far. Fearless Jones is the first of a separate, smaller series. His style of writing urbanizes the hard-boiled genre, which made the story more relatable and more contemporary. It made me think of how Sam Spade could be written as a black character…Forgot how great this cover is, resembling the pulp fiction serials of the hard-boiled mystery genre.
Rank:  (A)- Highly recommend

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

Motherless Brooklyn- Jonathan Lethem
This novel features most unique mystery character ever: Lionel Essrog, a detective with Tourette’s syndrome, who adds self-deprecating humour that goes deeper than but is nonetheless inspired by Hammett. Actor Edward Norton has spent several years trying to bring this story to the screen and is set to adapt, star & direct the film version. I think he is just the right guy to do it.  I enjoyed the characters more than the story.  The mystery is not very complex, lending more space to Lionel & his quirks, such as a love of Prince, whose music he equates with his tics so much he once thought Prince had TS as well!
Rank:  (A+)- Excellent

Purchase:  Amazon | Chapters

A is For Alibi- Sue Grafton
The first in her Kinsey Millhone series. I enjoyed it thoroughly and liked having a female detective written in a grittier, contemporary style that puts forth women as more than the femme fatale or the helpless victim. The ending was sudden & heart-stopping. The first of her anticipated 26-book series for each letter of the alphabet (she’s up to U is for Undertow, and has the title set for the last novel (Z is for Zero) is a twisty, observable novel that puts to rest any notions of “girls playing detective” to give Kinsey a strong hold on a male-dominated role. The series is on my TBR list.
Rank:  (A+)- Excellent

Coming soon...Year 3.