This year, I decided to start what I call the "Shakespeare Challenge". Basically - and how its name says -, I'm going to read all of Shakespeare's works and try to review all of them. Neither of those objectives is easy, though the first one gets easier the further I get in the challenge - I mean, because I got used to his language and writing.
The second task is even harder because his works have been studied for such a long time that I have almost nothing to say. Thus, my reviews are not going to be analysis on his works - they will merely my opinion on them. I will review Shakespeare's works the same way I do with all books.
Why did I decide to do this?
Everyone knows Shakespeare, and also, many books I love contain references to his works. This latter point was crucial. Why? Because it's one thing to read a quote from book A in book A, and it's another to read a quote from book A in book B. I don't know if I'm making sense, but reading a book in its original glory and then reading another book in which book A is referenced feels GLORIOUS - like, it's one of the best feels in the world.
How far am I at this point?
This is the list of Shakespeare's works I've read so far:
Maybe it's not clear in the picture, but I've read 60% of his works. I started with the most popular ones and now I'm reading the ones not everyone has heard of. I've read all the poems and sonnets - I still have to finish with the plays.
Am I going to continue?
Why, yes, of course! I'm not lying to you when I say that I turned into a fangirl after I read Hamlet. I had read The Merchant of Venice at school, but if I'm honest with you, I didn't appreciate it back then (mainly because I was forced to read it); so I decided to start from the beginnig with Hamlet, and guess what? I loved it!
After that, I fell in love with Shakespeare's writing style an I just kept on reading them for pure pleasure. His language gave me many prosegasms.
(Er, did I really say that?)
Where am I posting my reviews?
I will post them on this blog. They ones I wrote before this are on Goodreads, and I will try to bring them here soon, but the ones to follow are going to be here as well as in Goodreads and Leafmarks.
................................
Whew, I still have lots of plays to go. I'm 60% done with the challenge, but with college and everything, I barely have time to read, so I'm a bit afraid I'm not going to be able to finish my challenge. I hope I do, though, because when I'm finally done, I will be really proud and happy.
What are your challenges?
Are you going to follow up with some Shakespeare retelling? Or some stories based on the "after" of any of the stories?
ReplyDeleteI don't think so. I want to read just Shakespeare's works. If one of those interests me, I might try it, but in the meanwhile, I will stick to this.
Delete