Perchance to Dream

Provided by Traveling ARC Tours
Bertie sets out to rescue Nate, who was captured by the sea goddess in the first book, Eyes Like Stars.  But she meets with a whole lot of trouble and some very interesting characters during her travels.  Meanwhile,  visions and dreams of Nate spur her on even as Ariel gets closer to Bertie.

Carrying it gingerly outside, she sat the stairs and braced the hatbox against her knees, sawing away at the cardboard until a scalloped proscenium archway emerged somewhat crooked for her haste to finish and set the knife down before a wayward tug caused her to pull an inadvertent Juliet.  p.93-94 ARC

There is something so odd about these books.  I enjoy them but sometimes I can't wrap my head around why certain things need to happen to move the plot forward.  But then at the end, I can see, ah, that's why.  I like Bertie and the message that the author was trying to convey was important though it felt heavy handed in a couple of places.  It didn't help that my head was in a different world than the one that this book occupies.  I was thinking it was the modern day world, but it's not and once I realized that it made more sense to me.  So that was reader fail, not writer fail.

I like Bertie and her two guys and that whole love triangle is very interesting since it is easy to see they both care for her and she for them.  I still like one better than the other for her though.  The fairies are hilarious as usual and I like the additional sneak-thief character and the circus made for a good visual in my head.  Perchance to Dream was definitely a strong book in this series and didn't suffer from "middle book syndrome" like some books.

Hogwarts: A History of Magic
Young Adult

Eyes Like Stars (The Théâtre Illuminata: Act 1)

Jacket:
All her world's a stage.
Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.
She is not an orphan, but she has no parents.
She knows every part, but has no lines of her own.
Until now.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every place ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

First up, let me say that I love the concept.  An abandoned girl grows in a magical theater where the characters in the play are not actors, they are actually the characters is so cool.  And I liked Bertie too.  She was feisty and conniving and, dare I say, a little sexy.  It was nice to see a strong female protagonist who isn't afraid to push down the boys and make them cry if she needs to.  And I loved the little fairies who followed her around like a little demon posse.  They were so cute. 


It was interesting to see Shakespeare's, and other, famous characters brought to life in a different way.  So while they all retain their personalities as written, it's fun to see them outside of their own plays although this is mostly with Ophelia and Ariel.  I wasn't very fond of the love triangle between Nate and Ariel and Bertie though.  While Ariel might be charismatic, Nate is obviously the best choice.  Anyway, I'm curious for the sequel now especially with the great surprise at the end.

The Wednesday Wars (audio)

Holling Hoodhood can't win.  He's the only kid in class who doesn't have to go to either Hebrew school or Catechism thus making him spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker who makes him read Shakespeare.  This one fact leads to him performing in a play as a fairy, getting the girl, letting lose the class rats among other things all well learning some valuable lessons and suffering many death threats.

I really enjoyed this book.  The reader, Joel Johnstone, did an excellent job bringing Holling to life.  I loved how Holling related the events in his life to the Shakespeare plays he was reading.  I felt sorry for how certain people in his life treated him (his dad mostly) and how he could never seem to get a break.  At first I was sure about Mrs. Baker but she proved to be the most reliable and honest adult in the book.  I guess because it was set in 1967 it was a different me then but I was bothered by Holling's father.  But Holling is a good kid and he tries very hard.

I also loved Holling's interpretations of Shakespeare's plays and his attitudes about Romeo and Juliet, and Hero and Claudio among others were very funny.  This is a nice little introduction to Shakespeare for kids and might get them interested in reading some of the plays plus there is some history on the Vietnam War.

The Wednesday Wars is a 2008 Newbery Honor book.  Recommended by Jill at The O.W.L.

Something Wicked: A Horotio Wilkes Mystery

"How are you, Horatio?" he asked.
"Swell.  If things get any better I'm going to have to hire someone to help me enjoy it." p.102

"No, I forget -- your parents read you bedtime stories from Raymond Chandler."  p.222

After reading Something Rotten, I just had to read the next book, Something Wicked.  I really love Horatio Wilkes.  And Something Wicked really stood up to Something Rotten and solidified the character.  Horatio is very funny and sarcastic, friendly and loyal.  And he is a great detective.

Wicked is, of course, based on Macbeth, a play that I'm not terribly familiar with.  I'm mean I know the basic plot but I've never actually read it or saw the play or anything.  But even give that, it wasn't really necessary to know Macbeth to understand this book.  I really enjoyed this book though I probably missed some inside jokes.  It reads just like a regular murder mystery but, if you are familiar with Macbeth, then you know who did it.  There are no major plot changes here, but the dialogue just crackles.  It is a fun retelling of the Macbeth story.  This would be a great way of introducing teens to Shakespeare and maybe get them to read the original afterward (as pointed out as well at What Was I Reading).  My only complaint is that there aren't currently any more Horatio Wilkes books out.  I can't wait for the next one.

Something Rotten: A Horotio Wilkes Mystery

Horatio Wilkes is spending a few weeks at his friend Hamilton Prince's house.  Hamilton's father died recently and, with his mother marrying his uncle right after the funeral, Hamilton isn't doing too well.  But when a mysterious message from Hamilton's father arrives claiming to have been murdered, it's up to Horatio to solve the mystery and save Hamilton.  But whodunit? Was it Rex Prince's younger brother or his wife, Trudy, or Hamilton's ex-girlfriend, Olivia, who was after the elder Prince to clean up the family's paper factory?  Or was it Ford N. Branff, the multi-millionaire trying to take over Elsinore Paper?  All Horatio knows is that there is something rotten in Denmark, Tennessee and he's going to get to the bottom of it.

I knew the Princes were rich, but until it was staring me in the face I didn't realize they were super-villain rich. p.18

I wasn't too sure about this book before I started.  The premise was cool, a modern day take on Hamlet with Horatio as the detective.  Horatio was always one of my favorite Shakespearean characters.  He is so loyal and good, albeit a bit of an enabler for Hamlet (less so in this book).  But I have to say that I really enjoyed it.  I mean, the murderer was a bit of a no brainer if you've ever read Hamlet or seen the play, but the fun part was seeing how the characters are transformed to modern day characters.  With players named Hamilton Prince(Hamlet, Prince of Denmark), Rex Prince, Olivia Mendelsohn (Ophelia), and my favorites Ford N. Branff (Fortinbras), Roscoe Grant (Rosencrantz ), and Gilbert Stern (Guildenstern ), I knew this was going to be fun.  It read like a young adult version of a hard boiled detective novel and has some really great lines.  The dialogue was spot-on for that genre and it even had a touch of romance.  And, of course, a much happier ending than the real thing.

Ophelia

In Hamlet, Ophelia is a strange creature.  Seemingly in love with Hamlet and driven to madness by the death of her father at Hamlet's hands, she is suddenly gone from the story.  But what is the true story of Ophelia's madness and how deep did her feeling for Lord Hamlet go?  Ophelia explores her background and the true story of Ophelia's love affair with the Danish prince.



Ophelia is one of my favorite Shakespearean characters.  I've always been fascinated by her.  When I was in 12th grade and we read Hamlet and had to do a project, I made a chart of her flowers and their meanings.  It was her character that got me interested in flower language.  But it was always a mystery of her real relationship to Hamlet.  It seems like they were in love or, at least courting, but you never get the full background on the situation.  In Ophelia, Klein gives a full back story to Ophelia and her relationship with Hamlet.  Ophelia's story starts when she was 12 and her family moves to the castle and she first sees the little Prince Hamlet.  And it shows their developing relationship and her part in his play on madness and revenge scheme after the death of his father.  I liked the idea that Ophelia both understood and didn't understand what was going on with Hamlet.  And that she tried to help at first, but his madness made her question everything.  I thought the ending was really good.  Although the book was slow in parts, it was well written using the language style of the play without being too hard to read.  The only complaint may be, if you haven't read the play, then parts of this might be hard to understand as somethings are glossed over.

*highlight for spoilers*

I liked the idea that Ophelia doesn't actually die, but fakes her death à la Juliet and lives on in a convent.  So she actually does get herself to a nunnery.  And she gives birth to Hamlet's son which is so wonderful and that Horatio finds her and probably marries her since it was obvious he loved her all along.  I'm not too sure how I feel about her and Hamlet marrying secretly, but it moves parts of the story along.

*end spoilers*

The Taming of the Shrew / 10 Things I Hate about You

Did I know this was a play within a play?  I'm not sure.  But let me tell you that I am slightly appalled by the content.  I guess back in the day, it was ok to basically torture your wife into submission, but that is decidedly not ok now.

So Katherina is a big witch, a shrew if you will, who is mean to everyone and has a sharp wit.  Her younger sister, Bianca, cannot get married until Katherina is married first.  Along comes Petruchio who decides that Katherina should be his wife as she has a lot of money.  He decides to tame her with starvation and sleep deprivation, all in the name of love, till she submits to him.

There is also Bianca's subplot about two men who want to marry her  Hortensio and Lucentio pretend to be tutors to get close to her.  Through a slightly complicated plot, Lucentio wins her hand and they are married.  In the end, Petruchio proves that he has the most obedient wife.

So I think it can be said that this is not one of  my favorite plays although I think Katherina and Petruchio deserve each other.  Katherina is a b***h to everyone without actually meeting them and she is very mean to her sister and Petruchio is fairly insane just in general.  One day she is going to slit his throat while he sleeps.  I have no doubt.

Since I listened to the play, I thought it would be fun to watch one of the all time greatest movies.  I speak, of course, of 10 Things I Hate about You, the masterpiece starring Heath Leger and Julia Stiles.  I forgot how funny this movie is.  It's more "based on" and is definitely not an straight adaption, which is good because it would be ridiculous if it was.  The characters are very similar, Katerina is straight-up mean (with reason we find out), Patrick is a thug (with a heart of gold-ish), but Bianca is much more annoying and is really more horrible to her sister than her sister is to her.  I would  have been mean to her to if I was Kat.  The character of Hortensio is transformed into arrogant model Joey Donner and Lucentio into sweetie Cameron.

In this version, Patrick is paid to take out Katerina so that Bianca can date.  She is out right mean to him and softens up later.  But after he refuses to kiss her (and rightly so, she is threw up early) she gets mad and Patrick sings "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" to win her back and then she flashes her teacher to get him out of detention.  So he really tries to win her with kindness and she is angry later when she finds out about him being paid (and rightly so).  Thus the titular poem "10 Things I Hate about You" is written

Julia Stiles and Heath Ledge are so good and so beautiful in this movie.  I especially thought the scene where Cameron and his friend decide if Patrick is a "pretty" guy or not was funny.  And I love the ending and the fact that they both gave as good as they got.  The music is fantastic.

Much Ado about Shakespeare Challenge - Completed Lists

Please post your completed list here. Name and url of completed list, please.

Glad you joined and I hope you had fun!

Much Ado about Shakespeare Challenge - Reviews Here

Thanks for joining the Much Ado about Shakespeare Challenge! If you haven't sign up, you can do that here. This post will be for your reviews.

Please post your reviews on Mister Linky. If it's not working, add your information into the comments section. Please put the title of the book and the url. Thanks and have fun!

Much Ado about Shakespeare Challenge - My list - COMPLETE

For my part in my Much Ado about Shakespeare Challenge, I've put together a list of mostly adaptions or alternate points of view books.

1. Ophelia (Lisa M. Klein)
2. Something Rotten (Alan M. Gratz)
3.The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate about You (1999)
4. Something Wicked (Alan M. Gratz)
5. The Wednesday Wars (Gary D. Schmidt)
6. Eyes Like Stars (Lisa Matchev)

Much Ado about Shakespeare Challenge

I've been inspired by Saving Juliet and Much Ado about Nothing (the movie). I thought it would be fun to do a Shakespeare Challenge.

The challenge runs from September 1, 2009 - April 26, 2009 (Shakespeare's Birthday). Read 6 of any Shakespeare's works or any book inspired by a Shakespeare play. You can also watch any movie from or inspired by a Shakespeare play. ETA: You can also review plays that you see in a theater as well.

Feel free to take the logo here. If you twitter, please use the hashtag #muchado.

Need some suggestions, check here or here for movies and books check here or here. These lists are intended as inspiration and are by no means comprehensive.


Sign up here with Mr. Linky below. Please post a link to your challenge post. I will have a separate post for reviews starting in September.  The post for reviews is here.




If Mr. Linky is not working, respond in the comments with your information.

Saving Juliet

This one I'm reading for the Take a Chance Challenge. The challenge is to pick out a book based SOLELY on the cover. First, write about what you expect the book to be about based on the cover art. Then read the book and write about how the book was different from and/or similar to what the cover art led you to expect.

I'm writing the summary before I read the book but I'm posting this after I've read it.
So I picked Saving Juliet by Suzanne Selfors. I liked the cover since it reminded me of Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty and The Luxe by Anna Godberson. Covers like this, with half the girl's face cut off and just a torso or upper body shot are popular for some reason right now. But I like the old fashioned dress. Only since the girl is blowing a bubble with her gum and has sunglasses hanging from her dress, I'm guessing this just isn't a period piece, maybe some kind of time travel is involved or a play (most likely Shakespearean) and the girl is the lead character.

Mimi is playing Juliet at her family's renowned theater, The Wallingford Theatre though she is suffering from stage fright. She's been acting ever since she was 3 so this sudden onset of stage fright is causing her big problems. Also causing her problems is her mother who wants to control Mimi's life and dictate where Mimi should go to college. On the night of the final performance of Romeo & Juliet, Mimi is magically transported, with her gorgeous co-star Troy Summers, to Verona, Italy and into the story of Romeo & Juliet. But her presence is changing the story and she doesn't know how to get back to her life. Can Mimi save Juliet and save herself?

So I was right about my guess based on the cover. Only I said time travel or a play and I got both. It was a very cute book, a little contrived, but cute nonetheless. It didn't take much time to read. I understood Mimi's problems and her mother was so overbearing that it was ridiculous. Lady Capulet was the same way. The author tried very hard to parallel Mimi's problems with Juliet's, but sometimes it was a little forced. And I wasn't really crazy about Troy. He just bothered me. It was cute how Mimi changed the story of Romeo & Juliet and it all ended up alright. It was fun seeing the characters of the classic play reacting to life outside of that story. All in all, it was a cute, fun book.