Oxford Shakespeare Illustrated Dictionary (Oxford University Press)

I like to convince myself that I am a fan of Shakespeare. I've read Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Othello, Hamlet, and The Tempest. I've seen plays, seen movies, have kid-friendly Shakespeare books, and even have a DVD Catholic Course on Shakespeare. In reality, I don't understand as much of The Bard as I would like to. When I do read his works, some of the phrases confuse me and unless there are footnotes explaining what confuses me, I am stumped! Luckily, Oxford University Press knows there's people like me an has produced an Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary.

The book is divided out like a normal dictionary with alphabetical sections. There are then 4000+ entries of different Shakespearean words, their meanings, and a quote and reference on what play the particular entry can be found in. There are also numerous notes sprinkled throughout the pages, which talk about history, society, and insight on how Shakespeare used the language. The bulk of the illustrations are in the middle of the book and are broken out by topics like armour, weapons, clothing, animals, colours, etc.

What I found most helpful is that common words, you already associate with one definition have a warning, so that you don't just assume you know a word and skip over it. For example, scorch has nothing to do with burning something, but instead slicing it. The only drawback to this book is that it is not comprehensive, but instead covers Shakespeare's twelve most popular books. If I'm being realistic though, that is just not possible, because it would be too massive. Overall, this is a useful book for high school students, college students, teachers, and fans of Shakespeare, who wish they knew more.

This book was provided to me for free by Oxford University Press in exchange for an honest review.

Leon Garfield's Shakespeare Stories (New York Review Books)

The first time I read anything by William Shakespeare was 9th grade. I didn't understand it. I don't think my teacher understood. And it didn't ignite a spark in me to read more of his works. I would like to say as my high school years passed I got progressively better, but it wasn't until I read Hamlet that I developed a true interest in Shakespeare. As I have grown older, I have read many different works on Shakespeare, including Catholic interpretations of his works and children's books that make his works more accessible and approachable to a younger audience. Today, I would like to tell you about Leon Garfield's Shakespeare Stories.

The book has twenty-one of Shakespeare's works including Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and Julius Caesar to name a few. Each work is approximately 20-30 pages long and is told in prose, not poetry. However, the actual lines from Shakespeare's plays are quoted. The language is simple and straightforward without sacrificing the beauty of the Bard. The book itself is a sturdy hardcover, which is much appreciated, and of a manageable size. The only elements I feel are missing from this book is an introduction, more illustrations, and I would have liked for each story to be broken into acts, like the actual plays were. Overall, I found this book to be the perfect introduction to Shakespeare for children in middle school or perhaps younger, if they are avid readers. In fact, I used the book as jumping off point for some of Shakespeare's plays that I have never read before, so there is a usefulness in this book for adults as well. I would much rather read this work and then the actual play, as opposed to Cliff's Notes. So if you are looking for a book to get your child, tween, or teen with Shakespeare, I can recommend no better book than this one.

This book was provided to me for free by New York Review Books in exchange for an honest review.

Shakespeare for Children (Tantor Media)

Shakespeare for Children was composed by Charles and Mary Lamb (siblings not spouses) in 1807 as what was originally intended as an introduction to Shakespeare. In this work, they took ten of Shakespeare's plays and made them more kid-friendly by mixing their words with his words. The ten plays in this work, a mix of comedies and tragedies, are as follows:

1. The Tempest
2. A Midsummer Night's Dream
3. Much Ado About Nothing
4. King Lear
5. Macbeth
6. The Taming of the Shrew
7. Twelfth Night
8. Romeo and Juliet
9. Hamlet
10. Othello

It's hard enough to understand Shakespeare when you are in high school, so it seems counter-intuitive to try and present it to children. However, the Lamb siblings manage to make the material approachable without dumbing it down. I applaud that, because I think children respect that. For the most part, children want to be treated with respect and not talked down to. It's no wonder that this is a homeschooling favorite, and it should be a classroom favorite as well! The audio version of these stories range from approximately 25 minutes to 45 minutes. The narrators, Josephine Bailey and Simon Vance, prove to be very regal and match the beauty that is Shakespeare. When buying direct from Tantor Media, you receive a PDF of the book so you can follow along while listening. At $4.99 for an MP3 download, I consider this a steal. If you have young kids looking for something "new" to read, get them this and listen along with them!

This book was provided to me for free by Tantor Media in exchange for an honest review.

Twenty Shakespeare Children's Stories (Sweet Cherry Publishing)

The first time I was exposed to Shakespeare was freshman year of high school. Sure, I had heard the name before, but I had never read any of his words. We were forced to read Romeo and Juliet, and yes I mean it when I say forced. His words were an English that I did not understand, and the references he made went over my head nine times out of ten. We slogged through this play, without me getting much out of it. Sure, there were copious amounts of footnotes, but when the footnotes nearly equal the length of the play, it's hard to hold my interest. This happened for the next three years with Julius Caesar, Othello, and finally Hamlet. My understanding did increase marginally from year to year, but I always regretted not appreciating the Bard as much as I could and should have. I don't want my children to have these same regrets, so I am going to expose them to Shakespeare earlier than I did. One way I am going to do that is with Twenty Shakespeare Children's Stories. Included in this collection are the following plays:

1. A Winter's Tale
2. All's Well That Ends Well
3. Antony and Cleopatra
4. As You Like It
5. The Comedy of Errors
6. Cymbeline, King of Britain
7. Julius Caesar
8. King Lear
9. A Midsummer Night's Dream
10. Much Ado about Nothing
11. Othello
12. Romeo and Juliet
13. The Merchant of Venice
14. Macbeth
15. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
16. Timon of Athens
17. Twelfth Night
18. Hamlet
19. The Tempest
20. The Taming of the Shrew

Each story is 64 pages long with illustrations on almost every page. The beginning of each book starts with a one page introduction on who Shakespeare was. It then gives a cast of characters for each play. Unfortunately, in these character descriptions there is a bit of plot given away that while it wouldn't surprise an adult, could potentially spoil the play for your child. For example from Julius Caesar, "Brutus is one of the conspirators. He is a high-ranking nobleman and easily influenced. He conspired to kill Julius because Julius was getting too powerful and posed a threat to the republic." And from Othello we read about him that, "He wins the heart of Desdemona because of his virtues. But later in the play, he kills her because of his insecurities based on racial and cultural differences." Knowing people are going to die in the play takes a bite out of the play.

Each book took me approximately ten minutes to read, and that was reading it a slow deliberate pace. Your child could read it in about that same time, maybe twenty minutes at most. The books read a bit like Cliff Notes, and I don't mean that in a bad way. There is no rhyme, no iambic pentameter, and no five acts. It is written in easily understood prose with a large font that will make your child proud when they have finished a book! If you are a teacher, a librarian, or a homeschooling parent, this collection belongs on your shelf. I know we will be reading and re-reading this series for many years to come!

This collection was provided to me for free by Sweet Cherry Publishing in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

The Science of Shakespeare (Thomas Dunne Books)

Shakespeare and his works have been analyzed for centuries. With so much mystery surrounding the man, and such controversy surrounding his works and authorship, we dissect his works and pick a key theme to analyze. Some people argue about which play is best. Others look for themes of religion and politics in them and how they played a role in his life. Others analyze his individual characters and how they reflect his view of mankind. Author Dan Falk is no different in picking an element to explore, except the element he's chosen is science. In his book, The Science of Shakespeare, the author looks at the Bard and his writings through the lens of the scientific revolution that followed the Renaissance.

The first thing one notices when reading this book is that the title is misleading. Instead of focusing on various fields of science, Falk focuses primarily on astronomy and the change from a geocentric worldview to a heliocentric world view. In fact the first hundred or so pages barely mention Shakespeare, if at all. Instead we learn about different astronomers, scientific theories, and speculations that Shakespeare could have met them or read their writings. These were interesting chapters that made you at least pause and think. After this, there is a chapter on medicine and a chapter on magic. It would have been great if there had been more devoted to other sciences.

The last chapter of the book provided the most trouble for me. In this chapter, Falk made the mistake that many people make and equated science with atheism. He tries and in my opinion fails to make a case that Shakespeare was an atheist. It's a shame the book took this route, especially given the fact that he discouraged people from buying into fringe theories, and it seems he did just that. It is widely accepted the Shakespeare was Christian, and perhaps even a secret Catholic (secret because Catholics were persecuted in England during this time). Overall, I wasn't too impressed with this book. It felt like Falk tried really hard to make his theories fit to suit his book. It also was a 300+ page book that could have been condensed to 100 pages. I'd give this book 2.5 stars.

This book was provided to me for free by Macmillan Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Shakespeare's Catholicism (Catholic Courses)

William Shakespeare is considered history's greatest playwright for many reasons. His way with words has yet to be matched and the stories he told still capture the attention of audiences today. Hollywood, in fact, still likes to bring his plays to life on the big screen, as can be seen in the many adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Othello to name a few. Today, I have the privilege of reviewing another wonderful study program from Catholic Courses entitled Shakespeare's Catholicism by Joseph Pearce.

Mr. Pearce begins by discussing how to read and how to think. In both cases, he states that there is an objective way to read/think and a subjective way to read/think. The best way to read literature in his opinion is to read it through the eyes of the author. Why is all of this important? It is important because both lectures on Disc 1 are biographical in content. Mr. Pearce believes if you want to truly understand the plays of Shakespeare and their Catholicity then you have to understand the following:

1. Who was Shakespeare?
2. What do we know about his life?
3. What were his beliefs?
4. How do these beliefs inform his works, and do we see those beliefs in his works?

If you don't understand these things about Shakespeare, then your own subjective biases will creep in and color the way you read the plays. T.S. Eliot felt this way about Dante as well, and expressed it in the quote, "You cannot afford to ignore Dante's philosophical and theological beliefs, or to skip the passages which express them most clearly...You are not called upon to believe what Dante believed." Therefore, you don't have to be Catholic to see the Catholicism in Shakespeare's work; you just have to see the evidence for Shakespeare's Catholicism and expect to see the Catholicism reflected in the work. You also don't have to agree with it.

The remaining 3 discs (6 lectures) focus on the following Shakespeare plays:

• Romeo and Juliet (2 lectures)
• The Merchant of Venice
• Hamlet
• Macbeth
• King Lear

I have recently read Joseph Pearce's book on Romeo and Juliet, so Disc 2 (Lectures 3 and 4) was a bit of a re-hash for me, but if you have not had the time to read this book, it will be fresh information to you. The most interesting lecture to me was on Hamlet, as this was my favorite play I read in high school. If you went to a secular high school like I did, you will notice a vast difference between your English teacher's interpretation and Mr. Pearce's. I vastly prefer Mr. Pearce's, but others may not. Having studied this Catholic Course, I have a new desire to re-read Hamlet or even tackle Macbeth since I never had the opportunity to study it previously. If you are a lover of Shakespeare, literature, and/or Catholicism, you will want to pick up a copy of Shakespeare's Catholicism. For a brief preview, check out the video below:

I received this course for free from Catholic Courses in exchange for an honest review.

Ignatius Press: Shakespeare on Love

If you're like me, you read Shakespeare in high school or college, and don't remember much of it. Sure, you can rattle off a few famous lines like Hamlet's "To be, or not to be," or Romeo's "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks," but do you really remember much else about the plays? In fact, would you go so far as to say that you even understood them back then? Or was it just funny-sounding English with a lot of references that your teacher explained to you for you to believe because you didn't know any better? That's how I always felt, but when I saw Shakespeare on Love released from Ignatius Press, I figured I would give it a shot.

True love and tragic love are the recurring themes that youth are taught when reading Romeo and Juliet in high school or college. Joseph Pearce would beg to differ though. In his book Shakespeare on Love, Mr. Pearce looks to debunk these misconceptions on the "love" that teachers and students interpret in Romeo and Juliet by looking at the play from a Catholic perspective. "Why from a Catholic perspective?" you might be asking. According to Mr. Pearce, it is because Shakespeare was Catholic, as he demonstrated in his previous two works The Quest for Shakespeare and Through Shakespeare's Eyes.

The book starts off explaining the three ways one can read Romeo and Juliet. The first way is from a fatalistic perspective, in which fate kills Romeo and Juliet. The second way to read the book is from a romantic perspective, in which it is the feuding families are ultimately responsible for the young lovers' demise. The last way, and the way which Mr. Pearce says you should read it, is from a moral perspective, where the star-crossed lovers' choices lead to their death and the deaths of many others. The book then embarks on a critical examination of Romeo, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and some of the key scenes in the play, i.e. the balcony scene.

Each chapter was fascinating, and they provided me with key insights I did not receive in high school. At times, I was even asking myself, "Is this the same play I read in high school?" For example, I completely missed that Juliet was ONLY thirteen and Romeo was twentysomething. The most fascinating chapter to me, though, was entitled "Venus and the Virgin." In it, Mr. Pearce says that Romeo is a follower of Venus, and therefore Romeo's love is impure. He is more concerned with erotic love than true love. He therefore quickly recovers from being scorned by chaste Rosaline, and is able to find an easier target in Juliet, whom he corrupts and steals her innocence.

Overall, I found Shakespeare on Love to be a truly fascinating book that is worthy of a 5 star rating. It opened my eyes to sections I never understood, and it made me rethink everything I learned about Romeo and Juliet. If you have a teenager or twentysomething reading this play, I recommend you pick up a copy for them. Not only will they look more intelligent in the classroom setting by presenting the Catholic perspective on this play, they will also not be brainwashed by teachers who gloss over this play and try to boil the whole story down to true but tragic love and one of the greatest love stories ever told. Adult Shakespeare lovers will find this book fascinating as well. In a nutshell, buy this book!

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