What could be more appropriate for the end of
the year 2020 than this quote: ‘Exit, pursued by a
bear.’ Hurrah for the bear! And remember, in 2021: ‘It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.’
Hurrah for us! Happy New Year!
And
now, a promo for the book Shakespeare calling – the book. Indie
authors like myself need support more than ever when we cannot arrange book
signings and lectures. Therefore, sales are down drastically. I do so hope
you will help me by ordering the book online. Thank you.
The book is available
for those of you in Great Britain and parts of 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
http://www.bokus.com/bok/9789163782626/shakespeare-calling-the-book/
or
Adlibris. Or contact the publisher info@vulkan.se
Shakespeare sightings:
- In the novel Echo Boy by Matt Haig young Audrey and her boyfriend discuss whether or not a virtual reality visit with Shakespeare would entail a real conversation with him or not.
- In the novel Before I Die by Jenny Downham teen-aged Tessa is dying of cancer. One of the things she wants to do before she dies is become famous. Her dad asks her to define fame and she thinks of Shakespeare, still famous after 400 years. Her favourite play is Macbeth because when he kills a king nature goes wild. And one of her instructions for her funeral that Sonnet 12 will be read. In case you had to Google it I’ll tell you (I Googled it) it’s the one that starts, ‘When I do count the clock that tells the time…’ Good choice.
- Jack Robbins in Graham Swift’s Here We Are starts out as a vaudeville host and rises to Shakespeare roles.
- V.E. Schwab refers to Shakespeare several times in her novel The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue:
- During her long 300-year life Addie ‘has read the Bible, the Upanishads, the Quran, after a spiritual bender of sorts a century ago. She passes Shakespeare, too, a religion all his own.’
- Henry’s friend Robbie performs in a play ‘loosely based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream….’
- One of Addie’s lovers, Remy, in the 18th century, cannot image a world without Shakespeare.
- Just before the French Revolution, Addie’s nemesis Luc appears and quotes The Tempest: ‘Our revels now are ended…’
- In the novel The Nothing Man Catherine Ryan Howard twelve-year old Eve wants to experience the grand passionate love of Romeo and Juliet. I’ll never understand why so many people long for that. They both die in the end, for heaven’s sake!
Films with a Shakespeare connection seen this month - see reviews on https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/
- The Avengers – Whedon has
directed Much Ado about Nothing. Downey is in Richard III. Hiddleston is Henry
V. Gregg is in the aforementioned Much Ado. Skarsgård has been a Swedish
Hamlet. Paltrow is in Shakespeare in Love.
- Love and Friendship - Beckinsale is in Much
Ado about Nothing. Fry is in Twelfth Night. Edwards and Fleet are in
The Hollow Crown.
- Doctor Zhivago - Christie does
perhaps the best Gertrude ever in Branagh’s Hamlet. Chaplin is in The
Hollow Crown. Richardson in in Olivier’s Richard III.
- Die Hard – Rickman is in Romeo
and Juliet.
- Moulin Rouge - Luhrman directed Romeo & Juliet. Broadbent is in Richard III. Leguizamo is in Cymbeline and Romeo & Juliet.
- The Party - Scott Thomas is in
Richard III. Spall is in Love’s Labour’s Lost and Hamlet. Mortimer
is in Love’s Labour’s Lost.
- Die Hard with a
Vengeance –
Jeremy Irons is in The Hollow Crown and The Merchant of Venice.
- The 33 – Gabriel Byrne is in The Prince of Jutland
Further since last
time:
- Nothing really.
- 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:
