Shakespeare Here!

One polar bear's take on books, movies, current events, and life.

Shakespeare at home

Welcome. I’m Shakespeare.

I live with Wendy, who came into my life a few years ago when she visited her sister Diane in Oregon. Those two went to a fundraiser for Diane’s friend. There Wendy invested $20 in tickets to be drawn for a variety of prizes. She threw $17 worth of them into the bucket assigned to me. After some tense, nail-biting moments, a winning ticket was drawn–Wendy won! That’s how our partnership began. I was a FREE BEAR, except for the $20 in tickets and the $80 spent to ship me from Oregon to North Dakota.

Wendy is a Barnes and Noble bookseller (and a retired English teacher) so we read A LOT. We proudly call ourselves “book snobs.” Follow us here, and you will find reviews of classics, current bestsellers, lucky discoveries, debuts of authors we believe will triumph, and some fluff we fill in to rest our minds.

And occasionally, we see a movie; therefore, watch for an opinion about Elvis or Where the Crawdads Sing (we try to stay current). Speaking of “current,” we also observe and study what’s happening in our world. Our strong belief is that we must stay engaged. Our values and moral principles require engagement.

Until next time–Shakespeare signing off.

Entertaining History Lessons

Shakespeare Here!

David Grann has done it again! Author of the fabulous Killers of the Flower Moon, Grann once more brings history to life, disturbing as history can be.

His new book The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder reads as a thrilling story and teaches a horrific history of the British Admiralty launching a fleet of wooden warships against a Spanish “armada” laden with guns and treasure. The pursuit took the British to Cape Horn, around dangerous rock islands, and through the maze-like Straits of Magellan and Drake Passage. There in the tumultuous seas, the Wager wrecked.

Grann details the sailors’ struggles to survive the freezing stormy weather often with little or no shelter, starvation complicated by scurvy, and men who turned to mutiny and murder.

The Wager brought back images of Lord of the Flies by William Golding; Indianapolis by Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic; and, of course, Killers of the Flower Moon.

Read them–read them all!

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