Smashbomb

"A small but epic book. Wills masterfully analyzes the Gettysburg Address in terms of its oratory and historical context. Debunking the notion that the 272-word speech was spontaneous or at least quickly written, he reminds us of how fastidious it was. For Lincoln, a man who frequently quoted Shakespeare and was well read in many areas, this was an opportunity to say a great deal at a crucial time of the Civil War. His brevity — the actual Oration by Edward Everett was at least two hours long — was stunning at the time but clearly no accident. Required reading."

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Jenny Saville recommended Real Presences in Books (curated)

Real Presences

George Steiner | 2021

(0 Ratings)

Book Favorite

"If I were to choose a teacher, it would be George Steiner. As well as reading his books, I watch his interviews on YouTube and his references always lead you somewhere interesting — whether it’s a piece of music, a debate about the human need for tragedy, a passage from Shakespeare or Montaigne. He’s into High Art and couldn’t be described as a trendy theorist. But in this book he pushes you to think about what gives art its fundamental qualities. “Real Presences” is an expanded essay that ask the question: Is making art a wager on the existence of God?"

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Hamlet (2000)

6.8 (5 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

This hip, thoroughly contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare's epic story of passion,...

Hazel (1853 KP) rated Aliens on Holiday in Books

Dec 14, 2018

This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Aliens On Holiday is Gillian Bradshaw’s second novel for children involving extraterrestrial beings. Following on from the first book Alien in the Garden, Alex Marsh is reunited with his celestial friend, Shakespeare. It has been two years since fourteen-year-old Alex found himself involved with aliens, yet he is still glad to see Shakespeare and is determined to help him out with whatever his purpose on planet Earth is. However, this could put both Alex and his family in grave danger.

With the ruse of going on a family holiday to the south of France, Shakespeare tags along with the Marshes in the disguise of Alex’s cousin, whilst he takes part in an undercover operation for the police of the United Worlds. Despite trying not to get Alex too involved with his mission, Alex still ends up in a precarious situation involving both notorious drug dealers as well as treacherous aliens.

Aliens on Holiday is both funny and exciting, as the characters have to deal with communication difficulties whilst trying to save the world. Bradshaw has been very imaginative when creating her aliens and has thought up concepts that are unique and interesting to the child-like minds of the readers.

Although written for younger people, readers need to be mature enough to understand about drugs and drug culture. Despite being written for entertainment purposes, Aliens on Holiday does contain some very serious issues.

To get the most out of this book it would help to have read Alien in the Garden (I had not) as it would create a clearer understanding of Alex and Shakespeare’s relationship. Having said that, Aliens on Holiday contains enough information to comprehend and appreciate the storyline.

Overall, Aliens on Holiday is the perfect work of fiction for the child or young teenager interested in action, science and aliens.

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Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated Shakespeare Saved My Life in Books

Apr 9, 2019

Dr. Laura Bates is an English professor at Indiana State University. She is given to opportunity to teach inmates in Indiana's Correctional System. She decides that she is going to teach them Shakespeare. She was discouraged by others thinking that Shakespeare would be too much for inmates to handle.

Dr. Bates was surprised at how well the inmates were able to, not only understand the material, but also apply it to their own lives. One inmate in particular, Larry Newton, took the material and really changed(saved) his life. Larry was really able to relate to Shakespeare's works, especially MacBeth. He used the material to look back on the choices and decisions he had made and was able to better understand the right choices to make.

When I saw this book as part of the Big Library Read, I was very excited. It seemed like an interesting book that would hold my attention. These days, I tend to do a lot of reading before bed. Even though the chapters were no more than a few pages long, I fell asleep frequently. I thought I would have been able to finish this book in a week because the subject matter was so interesting. But, I felt as though it continued to go over the same thing. I enjoyed the subject matter, but I thought I would be a little more engaged.

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Micky Barnard (542 KP) rated How to Stop Time in Books

Sep 30, 2018

How to Stop Time

Matt Haig | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics

8.0

(21 Ratings)

Book Rating

This is my first read by Matt Haig. HOW TO STOP TIME is unique, deep, sometimes long-winded, sad, desperate and interesting. It has a past-present approach to story telling that worked very well.

The protagonist, Tom doesn’t age, at least not normally. He’s met Shakespeare, he’s loved but he’s lost so deeply and he remembers so much. This is a tale of such longing and of the inertia of existing for so long. It’s tragic, not particularly uplifting or depressing but it left me somewhat sad.

I particularly enjoyed the original storyline but I struggled occasionally with the pacing.

The audio narration, male single POV was very good.