Title: Hamlet
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: Bantam Books, Reissue Edition, 1988
Started: 2/9/15
Finished: 2/11/15
As an English teacher I haven't actually read a lot of Shakespeare. My list of Shakespeare experience before reading Hamlet was Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, and Othello. I taught Romeo and Juliet and the other two were ones I read in school. I missed out on taking the Shakespeare class at UNI, so I took Chaucer instead, but never really took reading Shakespeare into my own hands. Shakespeare is intimidating and difficult to read for many reasons, but I think it really goes back to the fact that Shakespeare was not meant to be read, it is meant to be performed and/or viewed. Reading Hamlet was great, but anytime I read any play I always want more.
My mind, whilst reading Hamlet, kept jumping to The Lion King (which happens to be the Disney version on the play). I knew The Lion King was loosely based on Hamlet, and when I say loosely I mean it. Hamlet is rather depressing, The Lion King has it's moments of sadness, but I would never label it as depressing. I didn't find myself liking Hamlet (the character) and maybe that's ok. In fact I didn't much really care for any of the characters in the play, but maybe I read it wrong (although I don't believe in such a thing). I don't know if you are supposed to like any of the characters in the play though. It's a tragedy, a lot of people die in the final scene, and in the play in general. These people die for a reason, and within that reason lies a lesson.
I compare it Romeo and Juliet as I am most familiar with it having read and taught it multiple times. None of the characters are very likable, though I argue for Mercutio. Many of the characters have big flaws which ultimately lead to their deaths. I think that is human nature, though. The characters within these great plays are meant to reflect humanity and people are not perfect. Though death is a bit extreme when it comes to the characters' downfall, it speaks to human nature in a beautiful way. We root for Hamlet, then hate him, then root for him, we feel bad for him, then we shake our heads in disgust, and then as we write a blog post about him we realize he was only human, and humans have their flaws. Hamlet has some great insight though, throughout the play, but it is overshadowed by his revenge. I don't think this is new information, by any means, but it is just so profound. When many people read something, they expect to like at least one of characters (the hero), who may have flaws, but is able to overcome them. Shakespeare reminds us that this idea has it's own flaws when it comes to real people. It's not to say that we cannot overcome our flaws, but many people don't, or before they do it happens to be too late.
I like Shakespeare, he makes me think, and I think Hamlet is a great play worthy of revisiting in the future. Shakespeare is not for everybody, as far as reading goes, but his tales have lived through centuries and hold major themes that make their way into stories today. It's impossible to deny the influence Shakespeare has had on modern story telling, and that is why, I think I like Shakespeare so much. He can be considered a source of much of what we see and read today and I think that is amazing.
Title: The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High AdventureAuthor: William GoldmanPublished: The Ballantine Publishing Group, 1998 (Originally Published by Harcourt Brace in 1973)Started: 1/30/15Finished: 2/9/15
To write a short blog post about the greatness of The Princess Bride is tough. To begin I will talk about why I read this book. I picked up this book last year and started reading, and through lack of motivation and fear of an overdue fee I stopped reading the book. This year I picked up Carey Elwes' book, As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride. The blog I wrote about the book explains my love for the story. I then watched the movie (again), and decided I needed to read the original masterpiece by Goldman himself, thus completing the requirement for "A book I started but never finished." For the sake of eliminating criticism, I started from page 1 and completed the entire book (I didn't just start where I left off about a year ago), as this reading challenge is about reading 52 books in their entirety.
It's hard to explain The Princess Bride from a writing standpoint, but I will do my best. Goldman wrote the book as if he is only abridging an earlier book written by the fictional S. Morgenstern. Morgenstern (as already stated) is fictional and Goldman claims he is abridging Morgenstern's work to only include the good parts. Apparently Morgenstern was very detailed and wordy in many chapters. This style adds an element of humor, as Goldman inserts himself into the text to explain certain parts and their meaning to the text as a whole. Goldman explains that this is his favorite book because his father once read it to him when he was sick. Obviously that is not true, as the entire writing was done by Goldman.
Unless you live under a rock, you should know the story of The Princess Bride. It is a "classic" tale of romance, violence, action, adventure, comedy, fantasy, and fairy tale. The story follows Buttercup and Westley, a couple destined to be together and the trials and tribulations they must get through to finally be together. There is sword fighting, swashbuckling, kissing, death, battles of wit, stealing, etc. There is a giant, there are snakes, and ROUS. It is an interesting and fantastic tale. This is a book to read to your kids, but also to read as an adult for the humor and satire. It is an excellent read and I now feel complete having viewed the movie, and read Elwes' account of making the movie from the book.
Now the major question: Is the movie like the book? In a sense yes, in a sense no. There are a lot of differences, but the general story line and characters are the same. In fact, much of the dialogue is spot on (even the speech impediment by the priest is written into the book). You have to know though, that Goldman did not only write the book, he also wrote the screenplay for the movie. Knowing that, I think it is ok that the movie leaves out some parts, because Goldman wrote it that way.
I recommend this book to anyone that truly loves the story, and enjoys stories of action, adventure, love, fantasy, and fairy tale. You are bound to enjoy one of the things so pick it up and read it, if you wish.
Title: The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success
Author: Megan McArdle
Published: Viking Penguin, 2014
Started: 1/21/15
Finished: 1/30/15
There is so much to say about The Up Side of Down, but I will keep it short. Failure plays a role in success. It's a truth we all know, but are afraid to admit. It's a lost art in schools and it's why we have this new form of parenting taking over to ensure kids won't fail. Now, not a lot of people like failure, but is important in the learning process. Megan McArdle cites research studies done on students of all ages, businesses, law firms, colleges, etc. and the truth is incredible. Most successful businesses are successful through failures.
It boils down to risk taking. Many people are afraid to take risks, because taking a risk could end up in failure. The problem is risk taking is valued in society. When we don't take risks, we never fail, and without failure or mistakes we never learn from them. It's the reason the light bulb was invented, the automobile, the most recent iPhone. This books ties directly in with Mindsets by Carol Dweck PhD. It's a great read for parents, educators, and business people. We need to instill the idea of failure as an event and not a label into the generation we are raising. We need to embrace the role failure has on success, and teach people how to recover from it.
I recommend this read to a lot of people who are interested in failure and success. I have recommended it to a lot of people so far. Some chapters get pretty dry depending on who is reading it (an English teacher reading about stocks is tough). The one thing I will warn about is the amount of typos within the text. Hopefully this gets fixed in the next publication. At least every 3 pages there is some sort of error and it gets kind of annoying. The content is great though.
Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel
Author: Ransom Riggs and Cassandra Jean
Published: Yen Press, 2013
Started: 1/20/15
Finished: 1/20/15
I picked up the novel Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children last year about this time at Target, and whizzed through it. It is an easy read, and a lot different than much of the young adult literature hitting the scene lately. The novel version tells the story of an kid who is exposed to these radical stories about his grandfathers past through these strange photographs, and eventually finds out that these "fictitious" accounts are actually true. Ransom Riggs does a great job telling the story and puts a new twist by embedding these antique photographs that match up perfectly with the story (the photographs are allegedly real). Alas, I did not read the novel for my reading challenge, I read the graphic novel.
Graphic novels are becoming more and more popular, especially when they take an already famous work and adapt it to pictures and dialogue. The graphic novel was a great interpretation and the best part...it didn't leave anything out, or at least that I noticed. I read the Percy Jackson graphic novel and it doesn't do the series justice. Many classic works have been adapted into graphic novels and every one I have read leaves out a lot. I understand leaving out things when adapting to screen, but when you are adapting to a different style of text, I don't understand the reasoning. Miss Peregrine was a different story though. Cassandra Jean left in many for the original photographs and used those as a basis for the illustrations.
I recommend this book to anyone (both the original and graphic novel). It is an odd story and I think the adaptation to graphic novel makes sense. It's already a very visual book filled with great images. I'm a fan of imagination which is why I recommend reading the original first, but the graphic novel (in my opinion) is spot on.
