William Shakespeare Fun Facts

Hello again!

 Today I wanted to keep the fun facts about different authors going, and decided to go with William Shakespeare. Yes I am aware he technically didn't write books, but he is known for some of the best plays that we have in existence, and he is considered an author, well a playwright. Let's get started on learning more about Shakespeare.

• Shakespeare is widely considered the world’s greatest dramatist
• He wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets
• He married Anne Hathaway when he was only 18 years old
• He acted in many of his plays performances
• His acting company, The Lord Chamberlain's Men, built the Globe theater for their performances in 1599
• Before Shakespeare, the English language was much less codified with no official dictionary and many variations on spelling
• Shakespeare has given many memorable phrases to the English language, such as “wild goose chase”, “foregone conclusion” “in a pickle"
• Macbeth was often unpopular for its reference to witches which created fear in the middle ages. There remains a long theater superstition of saying aloud the name ‘Macbeth’
• When he died he only left his wife Anne a bed
• There is a belief that a curse lays on Shakespeare's grave for anyone who moves his bones
• Shakespeare introduced almost 3,000 words to the English
• He references suicide 13 times in his plays, mainly by characters dying by their own hand
• Nobody can for certain tell when exactly his birthday is
• They never did figure out what caused him to die
• He disappeared from the history books between 1585 and 1592. No one can find any trace of what he was doing during this time
• Shakespeare had seven siblings

I hope you learned something new about William Shakespeare that you didn't know before fellow readers!

Facts found at the following websites:

https://www.biographyonline.net/poets/facts-shakespeare.html

https://www.williamshakespeare.net/facts.jsp

The Juliet Club Review

Hello!

 We have reached the middle of the week, and I wanted to share one of my favorite YA books with you. The Juliet Club by Suzanne Harper, takes the reader one a wild journey full of love and laughter. It is set in Verona, Italy and is a summer camp for Shakespeare lovers.

The description was taken from the Goodreads website:

 "Kate Sanderson inherited her good sense from her mother, a disciplined law professor, and her admiration for the Bard from her father, a passionate Shakespeare scholar. When she gets dumped, out of the blue, for the Practically Perfect Ashley Lawson, she vows never to fall in love again. From now on she will control her own destiny, and every decision she makes will be highly reasoned and rational. She thinks Shakespeare would have approved.

So when she is accepted to a summer Shakespeare symposium in Verona, Italy, Kate sees it as the ideal way to get over her heartbreak once and for all. She'll lose herself in her studies, explore ancient architecture, and eat plenty of pasta and gelato. (Plus, she'll be getting college credit for it—another goal accomplished!) But can even completely logical Kate resist the romance of living in a beautiful villa in the city where those star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet met and died for each other? Especially when the other Shakespeare Scholars—in particular Giacomo, with his tousled brown hair, expressive dark eyes, and charming ways—try hard to break her protective shell?

"In fair Verona, where we lay our scene . . . ""

Kate Sanderson is your average American teen, who knows Shakespeare like the back of her hand due to her father. When her boyfriend dumps her for another girl, her heart is broken and she decides never to fall in love again. When she gets accepted to go to Verona, Italy she decides that she will get lost in the world of Shakespeare and forget all about her troubles. However when she gets there she finds that the students want to play a trick on her and Giacomo. So they decide to turn the tables on the students, and go along with their plan. However along the way Kate discovers things about herself, learns to let go, and wonders if you can truly escape from love.

This is one story that will make the reader dive into the Shakespeare world with Kate. You will laugh, get angry, and root for her to figure out just exactly what she wants. You can also relate to Kate's character, especially if you have ever been dumped in High School for another girl. This is one adventure that Shakespeare would be proud of, and any lover of Shakespeare needs to read. Don't let this amazing story pass you by.

Go on an adventure in Verona and find yourself lost in the story readers!



Image taken from the Goodreads website.

Juliet: A Review

Happy Wednesday!

 My favorite play by William Shakespeare has and always will be Romeo and Juliet. So today, I am going to be reviewing Juliet by Anne Fortier. I remember the day I picked up this book, I was walking around the bookstore looking for my next adventure when the title jumped out at me. I flipped the book around and the second I read the description, I knew that I had to have this book. It has now became one of my favorites that I have read over and over!

The description comes from the Goodreads website:

 "When Julie Jacobs inherits a key to a safety-deposit box in Siena, Italy, she is told that it will lead her to an old family treasure. Soon she is launched on a winding and perilous journey into the history of her ancestor Giulietta, whose legendary love for a young man named Romeo rocked the foundations of medieval Siena. As Julie crosses paths with the descendants of the families immortalized in Shakespeare’s unforgettable blood feud, she begins to realize that the notorious curse—“A plague on both your houses!”—is still at work, and that she is the next target. It seems that the only one who can save Julie from her fate is Romeo—but where is he?"

Julie's orderly world is turned upside down when her aunt passes away, and she is left with a huge mystery on her hands. She decides to travel to Siena, Italy to figure out what her mother left for her in a safety-deposit box, what she doesn't expect is to be thrown into a historical rabbit hole, where the story she grew to love is actually a reality. Along the way she meets characters, who have a huge part to play in the outcome, and that will help her get down to the truth of the story of the real Romeo and Juliet. Along the way she will have to learn to leave her comfort zone, and do things that she normally wouldn't do. Will she be able to find Romeo to save her or is he just a fictional character?

I absolutely loved the way Anne brings the reader into both the past and the present by telling the story from Julie's and Giulietta's points of view. Her take on Romeo and Juliet is so beautiful and gives Shakespeare's characters a new way to live in the modern world. Anne captures the essence of Shakespeare's writing while at the same time putting a new and interesting twist on the tale that we have all come to know. You will see characters and scenes in this book that give a whole new meaning to the scenes from the play. This is a must read for fans of William Shakespeare, and who love the story of the star crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet.

Fall in love with a pair of star crossed lovers all over again!



Image taken from the Goodreads website.