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A Day of Small Things
United Kingdom
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 31 ต.ค. 2021
Hi it's Nicole. I talk about books on my channel, especially English classics. I post once a week - reading journals, character studies, book reviews, secondhand book shopping vlogs and monthly wrap ups. Thanks for stopping by and nice meeting you!
Hedda Gabler by Ibsen // A Tragedy of Sublime Beauty
Here are some of my thoughts on a play Hedda Gabler by 19th century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, about a woman who’s dissatisfied with her life, takes hold of an opportunity to achieve some meaning for her life, but ends with a fatal consequence. Ibsen is one of the founders of modernism in theatre, often referred to as "the father of realism".
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Books and dramas to read and watch before the end of 2024
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It’s the middle of August, we only have four and a bit months left till the end of the year. How are you doing with your reading and life in general? I made a planning video at the beginning of the year, sharing my four big categories that I’d like to focus on for the year; I also did a midyear review a few weeks ago. So here are the titles I’d like to get to in the next few months. I’m keeping...
Secondhand Haul of Scholarly Books // York Summer 2024
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You might have watched my vlog recently. These are all the books I bought in York. They're secondhand, heavy and academic. And they're all in really good condition, as good as new!
Join us for Shaketember 2024 // Six plays, which one's for you?
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Shaketember is coming! Every year in September we spend the month having fun reading, watching and talking about Shakespeare and his works. Whether you participated in Shaketember before, I look forward to having you this year. I’m hosting it the second time with Jason from Old Blue’s Chapter and Verse, and Kelly from Books I’m Not Reading. Thanks very much Jason and Kelly for inviting me again...
Books I read in July 2024
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I read four titles this month, an essay from the early 19th century, A Dissertation upon Roast Pig; two memoirs, one from 20th century Cider with Rosie, the other from 21st century called Wild; and a speculative fiction published in the last couple of years, Babel. 00:00 Intro 00:31 R. F. Kuang 08:33 Laurie Lee 19:40 Charles Lamb 26:11 Cheryl Strayed 28:49 Outro
A Play That Influenced Sense & Sensibility // Jane Austen July 2024
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I read The Rivals (1775) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan for this year's Jane Austen July and learnt about the influence of theatre on Jane Austen's writing, especially on her novel Sense and Sensibility. In this video, I introduce Sheridan, The Rivals and pick out a couple of similarities between the two works. Enjoy! A few videos mentioned: Jane Austen July wrap up from 2023, mentioning The Hist...
Book shopping in York! // Holiday vlog July 2024
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I had a little trip so York recently. I visited five new and secondhand bookshops and wandered around the beautiful old city in the drizzling rain. Hope you enjoy seeing the place as much as I did!
2024 Mid Year Review & A Favourite so far
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This is the annual Midyear review. As usual I’d like to look back at the first half of the year and see how I’ve been doing with my goals, and share a favourite book from 2024 so far. Here are all the titles and videos I mentioned: 2024 Planning & TBR th-cam.com/video/aFn4jjFZhcA/w-d-xo.html 1606 the Year of Lear th-cam.com/video/7CueK6NbB48/w-d-xo.html The Canterbury Tales th-cam.com/video/So9...
Books I read in May & early June 2024
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Here are all the books I read in May and early June. I won't repeat the titles that I've talked about in stand alone videos already. Enjoy! 2:08 James Shapiro 7:40 Andrew Peterson 13:13 Emily St John Mandel
Love's Labour's Lost by Shakespeare // Campus Rom-Com!
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Today we're looking at an early comedy by Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost! 0:00 Intro 1:51 Act 1 14:31 Act 2 10:00 The rest
Aemilia Lanyer // Defending Eve // Introducing lesser-known English poets
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I’d like to introduce the 17th Century feminist poet Aemilia Lanyer to you. Lanyer was born five years after Shakespeare and died at the age of 76. She was the first Englishwoman to publish a substantial volume of original poems and to attract patronage. We're looking at a small section of her feminist poetry collection Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum today. 0:00 Her Person 4:12 Her Poetry Collection ...
3 Brand New Biographies of 17th Century Women Writers
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Let me introduce you to three brand new biographies of a few little known but fascinating 17th Century women writers! 0:00 Intro 1:17 The Scandal of the Century 4:35 Shakespeare’s Sisters 6:34 Pure Wit
If you like Frankenstein, try Poor Things!
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Poor Things is a wonderful and wacky 1992 novel by Alastair Gray that's like a twin story or a sequel to Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Would you like to give it a try?
My 5 Favourite Novels of the 21st Century so far
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Today I share with you five of my favourite fictional works that are published since 2000. Enjoy! 0:00 Intro 3:23 Never Let Me Go 12:39 The Three Body Problem 22:32 Wolf Hall 28:18 Station Eleven 37:27 Transcendent Kingdom
Books I read in April 2024 // Poor Things, The Canterbury Tales, Richard II
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In April I read Poor Things by Alasdair Gray, Mariana by Monica Dickens, The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer and Richard II by Shakespeare. 0:00 Intro 0:56 Monica Dickens 6:04 Alastair Gray 11:08 Chaucer 15:28 May planning
Richard II by Shakespeare ep.2 // What makes a king?
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Richard II by Shakespeare ep.2 // What makes a king?
Richard II by Shakespeare ep.1 // The Fall of King and the Rise of Poet
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Richard II by Shakespeare ep.1 // The Fall of King and the Rise of Poet
My Persephone Collection // UK indie publisher Persephone Books
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My Persephone Collection // UK indie publisher Persephone Books
Books I read in March 2024 // John Webster, Shakespeare, English classics
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Books I read in March 2024 // John Webster, Shakespeare, English classics
Introducing Shakespeare's Contemporaries // The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
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Introducing Shakespeare's Contemporaries // The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster
Books I read in February 2024 // Shakespeare, Victorian fantasy, Elizabethan poetry
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Books I read in February 2024 // Shakespeare, Victorian fantasy, Elizabethan poetry
Reading your responses! // 100th Video & 2K Subscriber Celebration
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Reading your responses! // 100th Video & 2K Subscriber Celebration
Sir Thomas Wyatt // Introducing lesser-known English poets // He brought Sonnet into English
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Sir Thomas Wyatt // Introducing lesser-known English poets // He brought Sonnet into English
Twelfth Night by Shakespeare // Twins and the Duality of Words
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Twelfth Night by Shakespeare // Twins and the Duality of Words
Books I read in December 2023 & January 2024
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Books I read in December 2023 & January 2024
John Clare the “peasant poet” // Introducing lesser-known English poets
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John Clare the “peasant poet” // Introducing lesser-known English poets
I have questions for you! // Announcement for 100th Video & 2K Subscribers Celebration
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I have questions for you! // Announcement for 100th Video & 2K Subscribers Celebration
Mrs Dalloway & Virginia Woolf's letters and diary entries about the novel
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Mrs Dalloway & Virginia Woolf's letters and diary entries about the novel
My 2024 reading plans // key authors and titles I want to read in 2024
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My 2024 reading plans // key authors and titles I want to read in 2024
Shakespeare is fun for me too (not homework). I look forward to participating. Of the plays you and your co-hosts have chosen, there’s only one I have not yet seen performed-Cymbeline-although I did participate in a readalong of the play a few years ago. I’m excited that I will see Cymbeline performed in Stratford Ontario in September. The week that I am at the festival, I will also see Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night. The Twelfth Night production will have a gender-swapped Malvolio, which was also a choice made by the director in a Twelfth Night show that I attended in Vancouver earlier this month. I saw a horror clown rendition of Titus Andronicus a few years ago. Polythene sheets were laid over the laps of people in the front row to protect them from the gore. And a memorable performance of The Tempest at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton was created with one third of the cast being Deaf and using sign language. I wanted to see it a second time but all of the shows were sold out. Thanks for co-hosting this event!
I love this bookshop! When I lived near Edinburgh I used to visit regularly, the staff are so friendly :)
Yay Shaketamber! And very excited to hear that you’re heading to the Sam Wanamaker playhouse soon-it’s the most magical venue!
This is really helpful. Thanks!
Thank you. 🎉 Can you also talk about "To All The Virtuous Ladies in General"😊
What a brilliant review… so touching. I feel a lot of sympathy for Hedda, she is horrid, but also she feels so lost. I know she has it in her to be better but she just feels caught up in a world that gives her no way to find her soul. I think the play is incredible and one I think about often.
Yes I completely agree. She feels lost and has no way to find her soul - precisely! Glad to hear you enjoyed it too.
I must read and then watch immediately!
Haha, hope you like it - let me know!
Hi Nicole. A very relevant and deep analysis of Hedda Gabler. A job well done, Applause, Applause! We read this play at Ben’s Hardcore Literature Book Club last year. What can I say Nicole. You are getting better and better at your analysis. Indeed, you are gifted. Best wishes🌹🌹🌹
Thank you for the encouragement - So kind of you :) I didn’t realise you’d read world classics too - but yes of course. Glad to hear it’s in Ben’s curriculum!
Thanks for this, very enjoyable, I love Elizabethan poetry - all those perfectly wrought urns so rich in literary/classical allusion & discursive/imagist language. Really appreciated your spotlight on one of my favourites.
Really glad to hear you love Elizabethan poetry! They’re definitely rich in language. I have so much more to learn. Thank you - glad you liked the video :)
Really looking forward to this spotlight on wonderment. Thanks for hosting.
Thank you and pleasure!
A very thoughtful analysis, as usual! I hadn't considered that Aunt Julia serves as a contrast to Hedda in embodying the theme of beauty in the context of death ... but you're right, she is a more direct foil than Thea in that sense. As to Tesman, in the production I saw, the actor made an interesting choice to play Tesman as more clued-in than he seems in the text. At certain moments he clearly saw her true nature and how things stood between her and Judge Brack, yet willfully turned a blind eye (as you said), either because he was too intimidated by her or just wanted to cling to his fantasy of her. I actually *do* find Hedda likable. She's neither kind nor totally stable, but I sympathize with her feeling of being trapped. She is so afraid of scandal and desperate for respectability, and somehow those forces are just strong enough inside (and outside) of her to suppress her desire for beauty and power and meaning -- until the moment when she sees no way to achieve either of those ends. Plus, she's just ... fun. What did you think of the part when she burns Lovborg's and Thea's "idea baby"? That part gave me chills. In a lecture I attended, one professor pointed out that, to a writer, burning a manuscript is not a trivial plot device. We should view it as carrying enormous significance for her characterization, which I thought was a great point.
Oooh interesting if Tesman knows and willfully turns a blind eye. Yes burning the manuscript - I wasn’t sure so didn’t mention it. I think she feels empowered to have the manuscript in her control. She burns it to make sure there’s no getting back together for Lovborg and Thea; and Lovborg will always love her best. So it’s ironic when Tesman is committed to making another book (making a new baby) with Thea, as the result of Hedda burning the first ‘baby’. She can foresee when Tesman and Thea work together every evening in Aunt Juliana’s house, they’d fall in love (like Lovborg did with Thea) and Tesman would stop loving her best. And it’s all because she burnt the first book! She not only lost Lovborg, she’d lose Tesman too. Maybe killing the ‘idea baby’ foreshadows her killing herself and the baby inside her too? Just my very scattered thought! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! It’s wonderful to be able to discuss this.
@@adayofsmallthings Yes! I think you are absolutely onto what this action represents: the futility of Hedda's attempts to direct her fate and that of the people around her. And I hadn't connected the death of the manuscript to her own death - that was a revelation! Thanks again for discussing with me, Nicole.
Hedda is Iago's Scandinavian cousin!
Oooooh interesting - why? Because she’s deceitful?
@@adayofsmallthings Not only deceitful, but that she, like Iago, revels in evil. Hedda urges the man to kill himself beautifully. Hedda is not Nora from The Dolls House, she is no one I'd want mad at me.
I really enjoyed your July wrap up, I did have a little chuckle when you mentioned who wrote A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig!! I would definitely like to read Cider with Rosie, I've been wanting too for a while!! Thank you for a lovely video and a lovely wrap up!! Have a great weekend!!xx
Thank you! Are you a fan of Charles Lamb at all? Cider with Rosie is lovely - hope you enjoy it too :)
@@adayofsmallthings I hadn't heard of him until your video, the book does sound interesting though!! Cider With Rosie is definitely going to be added to books I want to read!!
Thank you once again Nivole, the only thing I have read from Ibsen is the Doll’s house, which I found extremely good, movingly disturbing, with the theme of woman’s freedom and happiness in this world so brillantly dealt with. I am going to read Hedda Gabler❤
I’m definitely interested in reading more Ibsen. Will keep the Doll’s House in mind - thanks for sharing! Hope you like Hedda Gabler - let me know! Thank you :)
This looks great. A bit spoiled for choice. Leah is in my opinion the greatest play. Have seen in 4 times (including at Stratford). Tempted by Cymbeline -a play I don’t know Saw the tempest in July Twelfth night is a favoirite I’m tempted by
Sounds like you watched quite a lot of Shakespeare! Hope you get to read (or re-read) some in September!
Ibsen is fantastic!
Yes I enjoyed Hedda Gabler! Any recommendations what next?
Hi.. how was the stephanie mccarter's translation? Were you able to complete it? Because I'm just interested in buying that book very soon...
@@anbuchelvan hello! The translation is fine. But I haven’t completed it. I think it’s more to do with the book rather than the translation. I find the stories within stories hard to keep track of. Hope you get on with it better than I do!
@@adayofsmallthings ok....thanks for the reply, good day!! 😅😊
This will be my first ever Shaketember...I'm thinking MacBeth, as I already own it and Twelfth Night 😊 looking forward to this!!
@@sjmsutherland so glad you’re joining us! I hope you enjoy them!
Ooohhhhhhh how exciting all this is. I am super interested in the Jonathon Bate books you mention and might have to read those too. I really want to read Faust too… so much to read!! I am reading the Faerie Queene right now. I read one canto each evening and listen to the audible read by David Timson. He is excellent reading it and I follow along in my book. Like you I don’t like the cover at it could have been much more inventive. Some of the book is a bit tedious but then some is really very very excellent. I am currently much enjoying book three and have half an hour of laughing every evening.. it can be very funny. I liked the first half of the Aeneid and found it tailed off at the half way point and LOVED the Oresteia and Hedda Gabler..these are all fairly recent reads so I think we are similar reading trajectories… I am also on a Keats journey and loving that. He was much influenced by Edmund Spenser and Shakespeare Ps hamlet is at the RSC in the new year
Agree - so much to read! Oh how interesting we ARE reading a lot of the same titles! So glad to hear you find Faerie Queen funny too - I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be! I just finished Hedda Gabler and loved it too. I just made a video about it. Would love to hear your thoughts. I don't know anything about Keats - will bear it in mind!
I am hoping to start The Faerie Queene soon as well and wanted to mention a book I have found: The Faerie Queene: A Reader's Guide by Elizabeth Heale. I have a used copy on order. It looks like it will be very helpful in reading the book.
@@elizabethjonczyk6818 oh great we can swap opinions on the Faeries Queene! Thanks for sharing the Readers Guide. Will keep it in mind! Hope you enjoy the read!
I'm reading Hedda Gabler now after seeing an adaptation at the Stratford Festival in Canada. Hedda is a fascinating character. I'd love to hear your thoughts! I've also been trying to catch up on Greek drama, so you are motivating me to go back to Sophocles and Aeschylus. You can definitely trace the influence on Shakespeare and early modern drama.
@@christinakaras6452 She is! Very glad to hear you’re reading it too and are interested in discussing it. I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested. I’m excited to find out more about Greek drama and their influence on Shakespeare and others!
Early Ibsen is fun, try Brand which is a meditation on true faith and what it can lead to. Ibsen became a realist and then became Ibsen. And he started by writing plays about Vikings, popular at the time in Norway. I'd love to see one!
@@donaldkelly3983 oooh interesting. Will try that one soonish. Thanks for recommending! Vikings! I need to find out more about him!
So many interesting works you mention - I need to get started on Shakespeare but following up Arthurian legend sounds exciting for later in the autumn
Thank you! Hope you enjoy them when you get there :)
Why a French author wrote about the Arthurian legends? England has had a notable French cultural influence vis-a-vis the Normans since 1066 (French Vikings) For a long time, the lingua franca at the court was French. Hope this helps🧐
For propaganda purposes.
@@joelharris4399 🤔 very intriguing. Thanks for explaining for me! 🙂
@@adayofsmallthings Merci madame!
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Shakespeare’s contemporaries. I’ve been meaning to try Marlowe for ages, but never got around to it.
@@genteelblackhole thank you :) will do my best!
I'm planning to start The Faerie Queene this autumn too and go into 2025. I'm looking forward to King Lear and Cymbeline in September!
Elizabeth! I hope to start the Faerie Queene this fall too!
@@elizabethbrink3761 yay, let me know what you think! Hope you enjoy the plays :)
@@elizabethjonczyk6818 Libby! That's so exciting to hear! We'll have to chat about it as we read!
The Oresteia is wonderful, it deals with many interesting themes, such as justice, revenge, law etc. Paradise Lost is one of my favourite poems and I also loved the first part of Faust, but the second part I absolutely didn't understand at all, even after a reread. I'd recommend The Doll House by Henrik Ibsen. Hope you enjoy all the books you chose! 😊
I’m slightly intimidated by the Oresteia, as well as Faust, to be honest! Thanks for recommending The Doll House - I’m just wondering where to go next. I’ve finished Hedda Gabler. Thank you!
Sorry Nicole, you will forgive my spelling mistake: I meant PORE over😮not POUR.....milk or tea... or any of my erratic spelling!😅
Haha not at all not at all :)
Thank you for this video! And once again, I do love all the books from Jonathan bate, so...I am going to pour over the book you mentioned! 😊
Pleasure! He’s great isn’t he. Hope you enjoy the book!
Such a great video!
Thank you! It was fun :)
Two years ago I participated in Shaketember by reading, listening to an audio and watching an online production of Much Ado About Nothing. I remember it being harder than the average read, but worth the effort when I finally ‘got it’! Hope to take part again this year … will have to decide which play to focus on 😎
That was the first year I participated too! Much Ado became a favourite as a result. Yes totally agree. It’s worthwhile! Glad to hear you’re interested to take part this year :)
I studied The Go Between for English Literature. Thoroughly enjoyed it then. Feel called to revisit it now. Thanks for the On Chesil Beach recommendation.
Glad to hear you enjoyed The Go Between even when you had to study it! Pleasure :)
Enjoyed the book haul!! According to my college professor, C.S. Lewis is one of the Big Kahunas of medieval and Renaissance literature studies. The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature and Allegory of Love are his major tomes. My Cymbelne is the RSC edition, edited by Bate. Looks like it will be fun. Read your Chesterton! Over here in America, Penguin reprinted a cool looking edition of The Man Who Was Thursday, my favorite of his novels. Chesterton's study of Dickens is worth your time.
Yes I'm vaguely aware that C. S. Lewis is an expert in those areas - there are so many more books to read and learn! I hope you enjoy Cymbeline and Bate's essays! Glad to hear he's still well in print in America too. Thanks for the recommendations!
What a great haul! I was going back and forth between the video, Goodreads, and my library's website. I've never read anything by Jonathan Bate. I saw on his Goodreads profile that he's married to Paula Byrne. I've read her biographies of Jane Austen and Barbara Pym and enjoyed them both. That's intriguing that you loved Napoleon of Notting Hill! I have a goal to read more Chesterton.
So glad you find it interesting! Yes he is! I only found out recently too. The couple wrote so many amazing books. Have you read Napoleon? I love his essays too.
@@adayofsmallthings I haven't read Napoleon yet, but I also love his essays. He's so pithy!
@@elizabethbrink3761 Yes he is!
Jonathan Bate’s mad about Shakespeare is just fantastic ! Read it! It a deeply personal and so deeply moving, sometimes funny journey into Shakespeare ’s world. My book cover is different from yours though. Thank you for😊 your videos, they are always so inspiring.
Yes it is! It’s a wonderful book. So glad you love it too. Thank you :)
Hello, Nicole ✌️ 😀 I just discovered your channel through Kelly and Jason. Shaketember is gonna be a fun time! I myself am gonna read The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth 🧙♀️🧙♀️🧙♀️👑🏴
Thanks for stopping by. Nice meeting you! Great choices. I haven’t read The Taming of the Shrew. Really glad you can join us!
All that info is so interesting to me. Thank you for sharing those books and your thoughts with us. I’ll be on the lookout for the CS Lewis one especially. I’m finding it hard to wait until September to start Shaketember but trying to be patient. 😊
Glad you find it interesting and hope you find the book ok :) Aww that’s so lovely to hear!
Great! I have 1606 but have not read it yet. I know 4 of the plays but not Cymbeline or Titus ! So must join you on these.
Glad to hear you’re joining us! 1606 is great 👍
Am looking forward to hear your non fiction recs! I have been digging all the nonfiction books about Shakespeare like Jonathan Bate's books and 1599!
Cool thanks for letting me know. I wasn’t sure if I should do a recommendation this year. I love both of those!
I might try some Shakespeare audiobook versions this year. Would be great to revisit Titus Andronicus as we did it as a school play. Cymbeline is one that I haven't properly encountered yet.
Wow doing Titus Andronicus in school is intense! Hope you enjoy whichever you choose to read!
@@adayofsmallthings It was! Think it helped that we didn't quite get the full horror but just loved the gory drama of it all.
@@tillysshelf sounds great!
Yes! ❤❤❤ Persephone. Just makes me happy to hold them and read them. Have not been disappointed with a title yet.
@@annemariepedersen5616 they’re wonderful aren’t they :)
Did you see that Kenneth Branaugh is doing a production of King Lear on Broadway starting in October? I sure wish I didn’t live in Texas! I loved his other Shakespeare productions, especially Hamlet. I’ve wanted to read this for a long time, so I’m most looking forward to it. Thanks for leading this one. Picked up my Folger’s edition today.
@@belindaguerette4249 Hello! I heard about it and watched an interview with him and his ‘daughters’. But don’t think I’ll be able to watch it. I actually haven’t watched any Kenneth Branagh though I heard so much about him. Glad to hear you’ll be joining us!
This will be my first time participating in Shaketember, and I can't wait! I've been reading Shakespeare regularly this year and it's been wonderful. Great choices for plays from all the hosts! I've only read Twelfth Night of all the plays and that was several years ago.
@@elizabethbrink3761 Hello! Thanks for joining us! So glad to hear you’ve been enjoying Shakespeare this year :)
Cymbeline is such an underrated play! Looking forward to your videos! 👍
Thank you!
Not familiar with "Wild" but the other books I have read and while as a vegetarian I skipped through a lot of Lamb's book I love his "Elia" essays and regularly reread. "Cider with Rosie" is a gem. "Babel" was a major disappointment. From the outset I sensed an agenda of issues that for me became a Hyde Park soapbox that constantly interrupted and could not be ignored. I too rarely read modern novels and I could not ignore all the press as she has become massively popular with modern readers who must be fed an anti-colonial stance at every turn. She is a good writer but her promulgation of her various causes get in the way. I was hoping for another "Dr. Norrell"....alas!! Nice work!!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Babel! It’s a shame - definitely not Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell!
@@adayofsmallthings I’d forgotten Lambs essay on on Pork was an essay in Elia (part 1 if I recall) not published elsewhere . Memory is not great ! Yes I wish there was a sequel to Strange and company !
I saw this video after viewing a live performance of a Shakespeare play! I love the idea of Shaketember! I think I’d like to join with a reread of King Lear and some of the sonnets! I’d like to save Macbeth for October!
Oh nice which live performance did you watch? Was it good? Glad to hear you’re thinking of joining us for King Lear! Sonnets sound good too. Macbeth for October because of the atmosphere?
@@adayofsmallthings I saw The Winter's Tale. It was good! The bear (actors with bear masks and amplified growling noises) was excellent. I am looking forward to King Lear and hopefully the sonnets. Yes, I think Macbeth will be just the thing for spooky season (although it is also a good choice year-round). I do hope you'll find the famous version with Judi Dench!
@@aquaviolin07 sound fun! Hope you get to read all the ones you want to. Thank you!
I might be inclined to revisit King Lear this year. I could also do with a rewatch of Ran. Love what you all are doing for ShakeTember this year. 😋
Hello! Lovely hearing from you. I just searched Ran - looks fascinating. Thanks for the encouragement!
Hey Nicole, I was very happy when I heard you say King Lear! It's on my reading list for this year and I was about to start it soon. This is a great motivation now. I had originally intended to read it in parallel with Moby Dick (on the recommendation of Benjamin .:), I finished MD without the Shakespeare insights however. So looking forward to it. Btw how does it work exactly when you are hosting? Do we just all read it and you discuss it in your video in September?
Great to hear you’re reading King Lear - lovely coincidence! Is this Ben McEvoy? Is Moby Dick related to King Lear? I had no idea. Yes, that’s it basically. Nothing very formal. I’ll discuss only Act 1 on Saturday 14th September and avoid spoilers; and two weeks later (Saturday 28th September) I’ll focus on the themes and characters etc. If you finish it by 28th, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Hope that makes sense :)
@@adayofsmallthings Yes it was from Ben McEvoy's channel. Melville was heavily influenced by Shakespeare when writing his book and it's particularly noticeable in Ahab's soliloquies for example. And King Lear is especially relevant in this case. So that's the reason. If you haven't read Moby Dick yet, I can recommend it. And thanks for the explanation, I'll start the play next week..😊
@@patrickrutledge8347 ah nice, Ben is great with books. That's interesting to learn - thanks for sharing! Will keep it in mind. Have fun with Shakespeare!
Last year was my first Shaketember and I finished all three plays. I absolutely loved the experience of reading those with all of you. I'm definitely not going to manage 6 plays, so I decided to choose those I haven't read so far, which are Cymbeline and Titus Andronicus. I also plan to read 1599. Of the plays Shakespeare wrote in that year, I only read Julius Caesar. I might pick up As You Like It as my third play in September. Not sure if I'll be able to finish all these, since I'll be very busy in September, but I'll be happy if I manage two. Looking forward to Shaketember and hope to participate in it every year.🎉😊😊
Wow you finished all three plays last year - you’re a star! Glad you enjoyed it! Look forward to hearing your thoughts on Cymbeline and Titus Andronicus! 1599 is great, I hope you like it. Hope you manage to read all the ones you want. Thanks so much for the enthusiasm - such an encouragement for me :)
The selections are good! I wanted to just read Titus Androlicus and Cymbelne because I have not read them. Then I decided "Just read them all!" And I will. There's never enough Shakespeare.
Wow!! All of them! You’re a star! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
@@adayofsmallthings Thank you, but I have read all the other entries already, so it's not a big deal.
@@donaldkelly3983still! 👍