Shakespeare: The Biography

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I call this one the definitive book on Shakespeare. Just a word of warning: this biography is probably best enjoyed by readers (at least) reasonably familiar with Shakespeare's works.




Shutter Island

I watched this one rather than reading it, but the film is a book adaptation so it (sort of) counts. I was just expecting a creepy thriller with a decent cast, and then the plot twist hit me out of nowhere. I'd recommend this one for fans of The Sixth Sense.




Julius Caesar (read in The Norton Shakespeare, third edition)

I also watched this Donmar Warehouse production, which is a powerful reimagining of the play set in a women's prison.




The Cleaner

Expect crime fiction with a twist (with a protagonist who is a crime scene cleaner), a main character to add to your list of favourites, and a plot to keep you reading late into the night.




Three Things About Elsie

The story is every bit as good as the cover.




The Child in Time

Another one I watched rather than reading, although I've read and enjoyed other books by Ian McEwan and was pleased that this production felt true to his style.






King Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 (read in The Norton Shakespeare, third edition)

I also watched these Hollow Crown productions of the plays, starring Jeremy Irons as Henry IV and Tom Hiddleston as Prince Hal/Henry V. I've been really impressed with the Hollow Crown series so far (having only recently discovered it), and the contrast between high and low scenes for which both parts of Henry IV are famous is done well. Hiddleston is captivating as the rather ambiguous figure of Prince Hal.




The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I read this one for Lisbeth Salander (check out my Top 10 Kick-Ass Heroines for more fiesty females), but was pleasantly surprised by how much else this book has going for it. Have added the next in the series to my to-read list, which is why it never goes down!




The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-time

Written from the wonderful and realistic perspective of a fifteen-year-old boy with autism, this is a mystery like no other. I'd recommend it for fans of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep.




Nutshell

I think with such an original concept (its narrator is a nine-month-old fetus), you have to take this one as you find it. The prose is a heady combination of intellect absorbed from podcasts and news broadcasts and the naivety expected of an unborn child, and I found myself reading more slowly so as to take in every word - although I can see why it wouldn't be to everyone's taste.




Different Class

A welcome return to Roy Straitley, an old-fashioned Classics master with a heart of gold, and the dark humour and intricate plotting of Joanne Harris - albeit not one that entirely lived up to Gentlemen and Players (one of my all-time favourites).




Pictures from Hopper

A collection of short stories inspired by Hopper, and offering brief insights into different lives - often dark, frequently moving, and always engaging. Reading this one felt a lot like standing in an art gallery, staring at a painting by Hopper, and trying to imagine the story behind the painting.




Hamlet (read in The Norton Shakespeare)

I also watched this Hollywood-produced adaptation (2000), set in 2002 New York, out of curiosity, to see how they adapted the play. The answer? Badly. This production's obsessive modernising means that, ironically, it feels more dated than the actual text, and its stripping back of the subtleties of the play makes for a Hamlet who feels more haunted by teen angst than by his father's ghost.




Dark in Death

I'm notoriously bad at finishing series I've started reading (hence my recent blog post, 10 Series I Keep Meaning to Finish), with the exception of J.D. Robb's 'In Death' series, of which Dark in Death is the forty-sixth. And they're still going strong.




The Children Act

This is the first Ian McEwan book I ever read, and I loved it, so when I heard that they were making a film adaptation (starring the wonderful Emma Thompson and Stanley Tucci) I couldn't resist watching it. This beautiful film (with a screenplay written by McEwan himself) didn't disappoint.




Still Alice

As informative as it is engaging, this heartwarming and heartbreaking story makes Alice's voice heard as much as it makes the reader's own experiences with Alzheimer's feel understood. As in Inside the O'Briens, this book ostensibly tells the story of one family, one individual, while really telling the story of what it means to be human. I also watched the film adaptation (for which Julianne Moore won an Oscar), which does justice to this story.




A Very English Scandal

Another cheat, since I watched it rather than reading it. I didn't know anything about the fascinating series of real-life events this book is based on until I watched the TV adaptation, which made the watching of it even more surreal and shocking. The story and superb acting are such that I felt like a helpless spectator, and even now am unsure as to where my sympathies ought to lie.




The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes

This fascinating book is as necessary today as it was when it was first written, exploring as it does the problem of biography through the example of the infamous biographical situation of Plath and Hughes. If you enjoyed this, I'd recommend According to Mark.




Henry VI, Part 1

I'm continuing to watch The Hollow Crown TV series and read the corresponding plays (although I've accidentally missed Henry V, which I'll have to come back to), which I'm finding very enjoyable and beneficial. I've just watched this one, so will be reading it soon.




Eighteenth Century Women Poets: An Oxford Anthology

I'm still reading this one (I find poetry a slower read, as I dip in and out of it to avoid becoming desensitised), but have discovered some real gems. One of my favourites thus far is from Mary Chandler, a woman whose deformity ruled out marriage and whose family circumstances obliged her to set up a milliner's shop in Bath, probably by the time she was 20:

And when I will, I ramble, or retire,
To my own room, own bed, my garden, fire;
Take up my book, or trifle with my pen;
And, when I'm weary, lay them down again:
No questions asked; no master in the spleen -
I would not change my state to be a queen.
Your great estate would nothing add to me,
But care, and toil, and loss of liberty.
Your offer does me honour, I confess;
And, in your next, I wish you more success.'

And thus this whole affair begins and ends:
We met as lovers, and we parted friends. (1744)




The Women's History of the World

I've just started this one, so watch this space!