I haven’t read Shakespeare since high school. I don’t know any quotes from him, and I’m unfamiliar with most of his works. And I’m an English Literature major. When the book challenge that Josh and I are a part of listed Shakespeare as a category to read from, we were excited to dip our toes in. We decided to read “King Lear” (which I had read in high school), based off of my vague memories that it was an interesting play. Ahem. I had had no recollection that it was a trajedy, and a somewhat graphic one at that. But we enjoyed it. And no, I still don’t have any Shakespearean quotes to throw at you, but we’re thinking of trying out another one.
Here are my three recommendations if you too want to dip into Shakespeare:
- Listen to it on audio. Seeing that most of the play is dialogue, the character’s voice/dialect adds so much life and passion to the story.
- Follow along in a hard copy. It will be that much easier to know who is speaking and what they’re saying.
- Get a book that has a short summary of each act. We read the summary first and then listened to/read the actual act. It gave us a much better idea of what was happening in the play.
BONUS TIP: read it while being extra comfy; perhaps in bed with pillows propped up behind you.
Life at Walnut Grove 