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Post by mikef6 on Apr 23, 2021 1:36:54 GMT
I have recently finished reading three very different novels each of which are inspired by Shakespeare. Here they are in order of how I liked them:
My #1 of the books is Hamnet: A Novel Of The Plague by Maggie O’Farrell. Alfred A. Knopf, 2020. The main character is Agnes, an independently minded woman of 26-years who lives with her brothers and controlling step-mother near the village of Shottery, England just west of Stratford-Upon-Avon in the late 17th century. When she meets an 18-year-old Latin tutor she sees her chance, balls him in a barn, and then marries him after she turns up pregnant. He doesn’t mind a bit. They have three children, a daughter Susanna and twins Judith and Hamnet. Her husband (who is never named) goes off to London supposedly to expand his father’s glove making business but becomes involved in the new theatre scene, becoming quite wealthy by hometown standards. But the plague sweeps through Stratford taking the only son, Hamnet. The core of the novel is Agnes’ deep grief. The final page of the story packs a huge emotional wallop. Excellent. Loved it.
#2 is Hag-Seed: William Shakespeare's The Tempest Retold: A Novel by Margaret Atwood. Hogarth, 2016. In 2012 Hogarth commissioned some well-known novelists to write a novel that retells and reimagines a Shakespeare play. Atwood was one of the authors who accepted the commission. In “Hag-Seed” the artistic director of a well-known Shakespeare festival gets ousted out of his position by a ruthless underling over an outlandish production of “The Tempest” that he had planned. Much later, disgraced and living in a remote area, he takes the job of directing Shakespeare at a nearby maximum security prison. When he learns he can get revenge through this job, he mounts another staging of “The Tempest.” I have read three other Atwood novels including “The Handmaid’s Tale.” All three are more complex, more “literary,” than “Hag-Seed” which for the most part is a pretty straightforward tale. Very enjoyable.
#3 is Much Ado About Murder by Elizabeth J. Duncan. Crooked Lane Books, 2017. A small regional professional theater company in the Catskills puts on a Shakespeare play every season where, every year, there is a murder. Sure, this is one of a cozy series and I usually don’t read them but all the intrigues, jealousies, and resentments that can be found in Minor League professional theater are all on display for our enjoyment. In this entry in the series, the play will be “Much Ado About Nothing” and the company has landed a coup. An aging and fading but once greatly admired English actress has agreed to come and play Beatrice. Some of the company are delighted, others not so much. Breezy fun.
Please review and recommend others.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 23, 2021 13:35:24 GMT
Comic books, not novels, but I have to recommend Neil Gaiman’s two Shakespeare-related Sandman tales. In “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the real Oberon, Titania, and Puck come to see the play. Topsy-turveyness, unsurprisingly, ensues. “The Tempest” is the last Sandman story and should be read last, but it’s about the conclusion of a bargain Morpheus has with Will. (An earlier story, “Men of Good Fortune,” deals with the beginning of the bargain, though its main focus isn’t Shakespeare.) |
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Post by mikef6 on Apr 23, 2021 14:52:10 GMT
Comic books, not novels, but I have to recommend Neil Gaiman’s two Shakespeare-related Sandman tales. In “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the real Oberon, Titania, and Puck come to see the play. Topsy-turveyness, unsurprisingly, ensues. “The Tempest” is the last Sandman story and should be read last, but it’s about the conclusion of a bargain Morpheus has with Will. (An earlier story, “Men of Good Fortune,” deals with the beginning of the bargain, though its main focus isn’t Shakespeare.) Ken Ludwig’s play “Shakespeare In Hollywood” (which My Lovely Wife and I saw locally a few years ago) has a similar set-up to the Gaiman graphic novel. It is a farce set in Hollywood in 1935 during the filming of the Max Reinhardt production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” As filming begins, actor Victor Jory who was cast as Oberon, King of the Fairies suddenly drops out and Mickey Rooney as Puck breaks his leg in a skiing accident. By a happy coincidence and a magic spell gone wrong, the real Oberon and Puck from Fairy Land in the forest outside ancient Athens appear on the set. Chaos ensues, especially after Puck goes wild with the flower whose drop in the eyes will make that person fall madly in love with the first living creature he/she sees. We also meet Max Reinhardt himself along with Jack Warner, Louella Parsons, Will Hays, Dick Powell, James Cagney, and Joe E. Brown who says, “Why am I in this movie? I can barely speak regular English.” A funny afternoon or evening at the theater.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 23, 2021 15:29:38 GMT
Ken Ludwig’s play “Shakespeare In Hollywood” (which My Lovely Wife and I saw locally a few years ago) has a similar set-up to the Gaiman graphic novel. It is a farce set in Hollywood in 1935 during the filming of the Max Reinhardt production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” As filming begins, actor Victor Jory who was cast as Oberon, King of the Fairies suddenly drops out and Mickey Rooney as Puck breaks his leg in a skiing accident. By a happy coincidence and a magic spell gone wrong, the real Oberon and Puck from Fairy Land in the forest outside ancient Athens appear on the set. Chaos ensues, especially after Puck goes wild with the flower whose drop in the eyes will make that person fall madly in love with the first living creature he/she sees. We also meet Max Reinhardt himself along with Jack Warner, Louella Parsons, Will Hays, Dick Powell, James Cagney, and Joe E. Brown who says, “Why am I in this movie? I can barely speak regular English.” A funny afternoon or evening at the theater. Huh, I’d never heard of that. Sounds like a lot of fun!
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Post by theravenking on Apr 24, 2021 15:19:16 GMT
Light Thickens the last novel by Ngaio Marsh revolves around a stage production of Macbeth. I know some consider Marsh an acquired taste and I wouldn't necessarily call myself a fan of her work, but I suprisingly I enjoyed this one.
The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett is a fun antiquarian mystery about lost Shakespeare manuscripts.
No Bed For Bacon by Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simon was the basis for the movie Shakespeare In Love. I didn't like it as much as most readers seemed to, but it's an amusing tale.
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Post by mikef6 on Apr 24, 2021 21:57:45 GMT
Light Thickens the last novel by Ngaio Marsh revolves around a stage production of Macbeth. I know some consider Marsh an acquired taste and I wouldn't necessarily call myself a fan of her work, but I suprisingly I enjoyed this one.
The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett is a fun antiquarian mystery about lost Shakespeare manuscripts. No Bed For Bacon by Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simon was the basis for the movie Shakespeare In Love. I didn't like it as much as most readers seemed to, but it's an amusing tale. The Bookman's Tale is available at my local public library but checked out. I am going to put it on hold. Thanks.
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Post by moviebuffbrad on Apr 28, 2021 5:06:33 GMT
I haven't read them so I can't really recommend them, but there are novelizations of the Star Wars trilogy written as if they were Shakespeare plays I've always been interested in reading.
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mmexis
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Post by mmexis on May 4, 2021 2:27:23 GMT
I haven't read them so I can't really recommend them, but there are novelizations of the Star Wars trilogy written as if they were Shakespeare plays I've always been interested in reading. They are actually not too badly done. I bought them for my high school library when I was the head librarian there.
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Post by moviebuffbrad on May 7, 2021 1:20:10 GMT
I haven't read them so I can't really recommend them, but there are novelizations of the Star Wars trilogy written as if they were Shakespeare plays I've always been interested in reading. They are actually not too badly done. I bought them for my high school library when I was the head librarian there. I've actually been listening to the audiobooks for them since making that post. They're more parodic than I was expecting, but they're pretty fun. They have soundalikes voicing all of the characters which really sells it (though Han sounds more like Patrick Warburton than Harrison Ford, but I digress). |
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Post by mikef6 on May 10, 2021 14:38:06 GMT
Light Thickens the last novel by Ngaio Marsh revolves around a stage production of Macbeth. I know some consider Marsh an acquired taste and I wouldn't necessarily call myself a fan of her work, but I suprisingly I enjoyed this one.
The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett is a fun antiquarian mystery about lost Shakespeare manuscripts. No Bed For Bacon by Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simon was the basis for the movie Shakespeare In Love. I didn't like it as much as most readers seemed to, but it's an amusing tale. Just finished The Bookman’s Tale and liked it very, very much. It satisfied me as an amateur Shakespearean, a mystery reader, and a die-hard believer in William Shakespeare as the author of the plays and poems (but not discounting collaboration with other writers on some plays). The documentary evidence should convince anyone. I love how Lovett rewrote history to embarrass ardent anti-Stratfordians. Thanks again for the recommendation.
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Post by mikef6 on Nov 30, 2021 15:29:29 GMT
All’s Well by Mona Awad. Simon and Schuster, 2021. Since actor Miranda Fitch’s fall from a stage many years ago, she has been in constant excruciating pain. She spends many hours a day in her office at the impoverished private college where she is the entire theatre department lying on her back on the floor with her legs on the seat of a chair. Her life is lived in a haze due to popping so many pain pills – sometimes not even knowing which she is taking, just swallowing a handful – and alcohol consumption. Further, she is faced with a student rebellion after deciding not to stage Macbeth for their annual Shakespeare production but instead to present the little seen play, “All’ Well That Ends Well.” She had been performing the lead female character, Helen, when she fell. The book is entirely her interior monologue as she describes all the uncaring doctors who don’t seem to believe her pain and the “sadistic therapists” who torture her. In her favorite bar one night, she meets three mysterious men who seem to know all about her and make both vague threats and vague promises to help her. A little later, in a rehearsal dispute with her prima donna leading lady, she grabs the girl’s wrist. After that, her pain begins to go away as the college girl steadily becomes ill with her same symptoms. Are the three men really Macbeth’s witches? Can she trust them? A brilliant book about Shakespeare as therapy, living with physical anguish, and doctors’ inability to connect with (or believe in) female pain.
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Post by mikef6 on Dec 4, 2021 19:16:50 GMT
Fools And Mortals by Bernard Cornwell. Harper Collins, 2017. Shakespeare’s brother Richard, 9-years Will’s junior, is the sibling we know the least about. He was christened and buried in Stratford. That’s it. Those two dates. Since his whole life is a blank page to write on, he is the perfect main character for Cornwell’s novel. As he is entering adulthood, Richard decides to go to London and get work in the theater like his big brother – except his brother is not excited to see him. He gets a job with the theatre company though and makes friends, finds romance, and witnesses the creation and first performance at the court of Elizabeth I of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He also uncovers a dastardly plot by a rival theatre group to steal material from and ruin his brother’s Lord Chamberlain’s Men company.
Cornwell is a well-know writer of historical fiction, including The Sharp Series (e.g. “Sharp’s Tiger”), so we know he does his research and can vividly describe the reality of everyday life and work in the past. Indeed, “Fools and Mortals” is a perfect example of his bringing an era to life.
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