As I write this, snowflakes – not many, but nevertheless – are swirling round
the darling buds of May. It’s been an upside-down spring. Hot in April. Cold in
May. ‘I, that did never weep, now melt with woe that winter should cut off our spring-time
so.’ Well, I don’t
suppose I need to be quite as gloomy as poor old Henry VI, but it’s been a
rough spring in many ways and a little sunshine and warmth might cheer us up
and give us the energy to get back to reading Shakespeare. We can hope!
Meanwhile, here are some questions for you:
· Have you bought Shakespeare calling – the book? I would
be so happy if the answer were yes.
· Have you asked your
local library to buy it? Ditto.
· Have you told your
friends about it? Ditto.
· Have you promoted it
on Facebook and all the others? Ditto.
· Have you put the book
on your want-to-read list on Good Reads? Ditto.
· Have you read it,
rated it, even reviewed it on the sites available, Good Reads, your library,
Amazon etc? Ditto.
In other words, I really need your help in promoting the book, and
keeping the project alive. It’s a very large book jungle out there and even
Shakespeare’s voice can disappear in the din without your help.
Thank you!
The book is available for those of you in
Great Britain and Europe on this site:
Also
available on http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Calling-book-Ruby-Jand/dp/9163782626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1436073737&sr=1-1&keywords=Ruby+Jand+shakespeare+calling
Or
in Sweden
or
Adlibris. Or contact the publisher info@vulkan.se
Shakespeare sightings:
- In Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm, a dystopian novel about cloning, young Mark, newly in love, plans on quoting Shakespeare to his beloved.
- The Duelling Neurosurgeons by Sam Kean refers
to Yorrick and the skull, Hamlet’s father and the poison in the ear and
Jacques’s ‘All the world’s a stage’ monolog.
- Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll mentions
Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes in Luhrman’s Romeo and Juliet.
- In the novel The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven, narrator Izzy includes on her list of overrated things: ‘Shakespeare. I personally find it unreasonable that he has the monopoly on inventing words.’ That’s OK, Izzy. When I was your age (18) I would have agreed with you. Later she calls one of her teacher’s speech about the trauma of losing one’s parents ‘Shakespearean’. I don’t think she meant it as a compliment to Shakespeare.
- In the film Before Midnight one of the minor characters has played Perdita in A Winter’s Tale.
- It’s a rather overused Shakespeare reference to write that in somebody’s library (usually someone old and scholarly) there are volumes of Shakespeare and other classics. Realistic, I’m sure but rather ho-hum. This was the case in an otherwise well-written novel by Georgina Harding, Land of the Living.
- No doubt followers of this blog have noted the many Shakespeare sightings in novels in which students are performing or have performed in Shakespeare plays in their schools. Indeed, it has become rather tedious and all too predictable, something that journalist Martin Hellström pointed out in his article ‘Shakespeare, Shakespeare and more Shakespeare’ in Dagens Nyheter yesterday.
Further since last time:
- Ordered and received but not yet played: the game Shakespeare Trivial Pursuit.
Posted this month
- This report
Shakespeare Calling – the book is promoted by
Read
more about my alter ego’s books, in one of which Shakespeare appears live and
in person, on:
- https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/shakespeare-calling-the-book/
- https://themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com/ruby-and-shakespeare/spoiler-merlin-and-shakespeare/
