William Shakespeare
April 2021 Reading Recap
First things first: The persistent bug preventing followers / readers to comment on my posts straight off the post (i.e., other than by using the WP Reader) has finally been weeded out, thanks to my hosting service’s IT team … so you can, at last, comment even if you’re not using the WP Reader. (I […]
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William Shakespeare: Richard II & Twelfth Night
I could of course not let April go by without paying my respects to the Sweet Swan of Avon: 2021 isn’t one of the “really big” Shakespeare years (those tend to end in -4 and -6, for the anniversaries of the Bard’s birth and death years); although I have no doubt that if it weren’t […]
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An Alphabet of My Likes and Dislikes: “J”
This is a post belonging to a new blogging project — the title is pretty much self-explanatory, I think; the project’s introductory post can be found HERE. Credit for the idea: BeetleyPete. As always, the only thing linking the two items mentioned in this post in my mind is that they both start with the […]
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2020 in Facts and Figures
I already posted my main 2020 in Review and Looking Ahead to 2021 posts a while ago — only on my new blog (separate post to come) –, but I held back on my 2020 reading statistics until the year was well and truly over. And for all my good intentions when posting my mid-year […]
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Festivus Scale of Strength: Weighty Books
24 Festive Tasks: Door 20 – Festivus, Task 2: The Scale of Strength: Pick 3 of your weightiest tomes and place them on a scale. Tell us the total weight. I used Shakespeare’s Complete Works, my copy of the illustrated guide to Houses of the National Trust, and Eye to Eye, a collection of […]
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Kathryn Harkup: Death by Shakespeare
Hmmm. After having read and liked — though not loved — Harkup’s book on Agatha Christie’s use of poisons in her mysteries (A Is for Arsenic), it took the Shakespeare fan in me about a millisecond to snatch up this third book of hers when I came across it earlier this year … only to […]
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Halloween Bingo 2020: The Second Week (+1 Day)
Posting this on Monday instead of Sunday again … oh well. I guess after a near-phenomenal first bingo week it was only to be expected that the second week would not be quite as fabulous. Mind you, I’m not complaining — my card is coming together nicely, and none of the books I read this […]
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BL-opoly, Pandemic Edition – Sixth Roll
I’ve owned (and wanted to read) this for way too long — time to finally get around to doing just that. Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/2667603/bl-opoly-pandemic-edition-sixth-roll
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Ian Doescher: William Shakespeare’s Star Wars – Verily, a New Hope
Verily, a Great Entertainment “CHORUS: As our scene to space, so deep and dark, O’er your imagination we’ll hold sway. For neither players nor the stage can mark The great and mighty scene they must portray. We ask you, let your keen mind’s eye be chief – Think when we talk of starships, there […]
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BL-opoly, Pandemic Edition – Third Roll
Well, at least I didn’t DNF my last 2 reads (but then, at least with the Christie I didn’t expect that to happen anyway). Still, since I collared another double, let’s play it safe (again) in this round … Original post: ThemisAthena.booklikes.com/post/2626318/bl-opoly-pandemic-edition-third-roll
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Ngaio Marsh: Light Thickens
“Duncan is in his grave; After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well; Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison, Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, Can touch him further. […] Ere the bat hath flown His cloister’d flight, ere to black Hecate’s summons The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums Hath rung night’s yawning […]
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Books Read for School
24 Festive Tasks: Door 9 – World Philosophy Day, Task 4: Did you love or hate the books you had to read for school? Looking back, which ones (good or bad) stand out to you the most? By and large, I think it’s fairest to say “I didn’t mind” the books we read in […]
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An “Out of My Reach” Book Wishlist to St. Nick
24 Festive Tasks: Door 14 – St. Nicholas’ Day / Sinterklaas, Task 1: Write a book wish list to St. Nick / Santa Claus for books that you’ve been eyeing but can’t justify the expense of purchasing. (E.g., art books? Collector’s editions? Boxed sets?) Dear Saint Nick, it would be really nice if one […]
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Royalty Moonlighting as Commoners in Fiction
24 Festive Tasks: Door 10 – Russian Mothers’ Day, Task 2: Towards the end of the 17th century, there was a Russian apprentice carpenter and shipwright going by the name Peter Mikhailov in the Dutch town of Zaandam (and later in Amsterdam), who eventually turned out to be none other than Tsar Peter the Great, […]
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Ross Are Red, Violets Are Blue: Shakespeare, Much Ado
24 Festive Tasks: Door 3 – Melbourne Cup Day, Task 2: Write your own “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue” poem for one of your favorite or most hated books of all time. Roses are red, violets are blue; Shakespeare nailed it without Much Ado. (Well, OK, this is more of a tribute […]
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Terry Pratchett: Wyrd Sisters
Like a fine wine … … the kind of book that only gets better the more often you return to it. I’ve revisited Wyrd Sisters three times in the last two years alone, and every single time I’m savoring every single minute of the experience. Definitely one of my favorite Discworld novels — next to […]
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Halloween Bingo 2019 PreParty — Question for 08/02 (Day 2): Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies or Other?
Witches. One of my very first literary heroine was a little witch who manages to get the better of all the bigger, older witches after having been put down by them — the heroine of Otfried Preußler’s Little Witch. (In fact, I loved that book enough to write my very first fan letter to […]
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Crowdsourced: More Books with a Difference – Fiction
You asked, Moonlight Reader? To quote from one of my additional entries below: “As you wish …” Without any further ado: Hilary Mantel: Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies When Lillelara added A Place of Greater Safety to her list, I could have kicked myself — because Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell books were definitely among […]
Read MoreBooks With a Difference
Responding to Moonlight Reader’s “call for papers (= titles / authors)” — there are quite a number of excellent lists out there already; anyway, here’s my contribution … or a first draft, at least. Links go to my reviews (or status updates / summary blog posts / author pages) to the extent I’ve posted any. […]
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Discworld – Remaining 2019 Group Reads: NEXT ONE (SOURCERY) STARTS JUNE 1
For those who are planning to participate in the next Discworld group reads, these are, for the rest of this year: Sourcery (Rincewind #3) — beginning June 1 (tomorrow) Wyrd Sisters (Witches #2) — beginning August 1 Pyramids (Ancient Civilizations #1) – beginning October 1 — Coinciding with Halloween Bingo. Maybe we’ll find a […]
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