William Shakespeare

The State of the Reader: 2/27/19

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<–The State of the Reader: 2/13/19         The State of the Reader: 3/13/19–>

A weekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Obtained: 0

Books Finished: 1

Title: Antony and Cleopatra
Author: William Shakespeare
Date Added: January 16, 2019
Date Started: January 17, 2019
Date Finished: February 18, 2019

Antony and Cleopatra coverMedia: eBook/Kindle

I enjoyed this much better than All’s Well That Ends Well and did absorb most of the major points of it.  I checked Wikipedia afterwards for a summary/synopsis, and while I missed a few things (e.g. Lepidus being one of the triumvirates along with Caesar and Antony, and Caesar imprisoning him after they betray Pompey), I did pick up the potential that Cleopatra might have betrayed Antony, though that seems to be more of an implication as opposed to a matter of fact.  It could go either way, and I wonder if Shakes meant to do that.  This is considered one of his problem plays.  I do like that it’s a direct sequel to Julius Caesar, which I plan to reread in this Bard project of mine.

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The State of the Reader: 2/13/19

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<–The State of the Reader: 1/30/19          The State of the Reader: 2/27/19–>

A weekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Obtained: 0

Books Finished: 0

Currently Reading

Title: Antony and Cleopatra
Author: William Shakespeare
Date Added: January 16, 2019
Date Started: January 17, 2019

Antony and Cleopatra coverMedia: eBook/Kindle
Progress: Act 5 Scene V

I was hoping to finish this today, but if wishes were fishes, there’d be more in the sea. Maybe tomorrow.  Then I can look up notes on it to see how good my interpretation of Shakespearean English is.  I actually read this at lunch to take a brain break :p

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The State of the Reader: 1/30/19

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<–The State of the Reader: 1/16/19          The State of the Reader: 2/13/19–>

A weekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Obtained: 1

  • Hard Day’s Knight by John G. Hartness – $2.99 @ Amazon

Books Finished: 0

Currently Reading

Title: Antony and Cleopatra
Author: William Shakespeare
Date Added: January 16, 2019
Date Started: January 17, 2019

Antony and Cleopatra coverMedia: eBook/Kindle
Progress: Act 1 Scene VII

I’m recording the progress a little different since I have no way of easily telling how far along I am in the play percentage-wise.  I’m reading it from a compendium of all the Bard’s works so it’s only giving me the percentage of the entire thing I’ve finished.

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The State of the Writer: 1/27/19

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<–The State of the Writer: 1/13/18          The State of the Writer: 2/10/19–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 2

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 255,229
Prior Word Count: 255,627
Word Difference: -398
Status: Editing
Progress: Chapter 14 First Edit

Aeris in a pink ballgown with white ruffles going up steps. She's looking over her shoulderI’m still working my way through this extensive chapter, but I’m nearing the end.  I may end up splitting it after I finish the first edit, depending on if there’s a natural place to do so; however, I’ll still post all of it at once.  It’ll just be two chapters at a time instead of my typical one.

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All’s Well That End’s Well by William Shakespeare (DNF)

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Title: All’s Well That End’s Well
Author: William Shakespeare
Date Added: September 15, 2017
Date Started: January 26, 2018
Date DNF: March 3, 2018
Genre: Play, Classic, Drama

All's Well That End's Well coverPages: 336
Publication Date: 1602
Publisher: Latus ePublishing
Media: eBook/Kindle

Helena, a ward of the Countess of Rousillion, falls in love with the Countess’s son, Bertram. Daughter of a famous doctor, and a skilled physician in her own right, Helena cures the King of France-who feared he was dying-and he grants her Bertram’s hand as a reward. Bertram, however, offended by the inequality of the marriage, sets off for war, swearing he will not live with his wife until she can present him with a son, and with his own ring-two tasks which he believes impossible. However with the aid of a bed trick, Helena fulfils his tasks, Bertram realises the error of his ways, and they are reconciled.

This was the first play I finished in my goal to read/reread all of the Bard’s plays.  I didn’t finish it because it annoyed me, but apparently I also didn’t review it either, which is odd, since I usually still review literature I DNF.

Bertram, the son of a countess, is a snobbish ass and Helena, the low-born ward of the same countess, could do so much better.  He refuses her marriage offer even after the king of France says he’ll fix any title issues Bertram has with the union, which seems to be the only problem: he doesn’t want to marry below his station.  Helena has fulfilled her promise to the French monarch in healing him, and the king has the power to raise her beyond her “low breeding as a physician’s daughter,” which is (ironically for that judgment) the reason she was able to cure him in the first place!  Granted, at this point in history, doctors weren’t looked up in high regard, so this assessment wasn’t inaccurate.  If this is Bertram’s only reason for not wishing to wed Helena, it’s a poor one at that.  Obviously, no one should be compelled to marry against their will, regardless the cause, and that’s exactly what the king forces Bertram to do.  While he weds her, he doesn’t bed her, instead sending his unwanted bride back to his estate and informing his mother how much he hates her.

Excuse me what the fuck meme with very wiggly, grey guyI became bored with the story at this point and decided to DNF it, but thanks to the internet I know what else happens, and yes, it is twisted.

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The State of the Writer: 4/22/18

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<–The State of the Writer: 4/8/18          The State of the Writer: 5/6/18–>

A biweekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 2

Book Review: The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare – 4/21/18
List: Games Alive – 4/22/18

Ugh…the Games Alive list posted in February because I accidentally published it back then before it was completed.  I forgot WordPress keeps the original publication date unless you schedule it.  I was wondering why the hell I wasn’t seeing it recently.

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 261,491
Prior Word Count: 261,548
Word Difference: -57
Status: Revising
Progress: Second edit of Chapter 3

My hunt for this picture’s source revealed that this is not technically one of Sephiroth, but rather of someone else who shares similar features.  I think it looks a great deal like him with blue lilies in his hair, so I’m going to allow it.

Something very interesting happened to me recently.  I received a contact from someone who thought I was the author of The Broken Orrery, the best written fanfiction I’ve ever read, written CymbelinesHalo.  It’s been over a year since she updated, and the message I received asked if I was the author as they implored me to please remedy this.  I was quite flattered that someone had mistaken me for this writing genius, but I had to set the record straight and inform them that I was the author of Northern Lights (TBR isnt on Fanfiction.net; it’s way outside of their draconian censorship stipulations), and I, too, was waiting with bated breath for TBO to be updated.  They haven’t gotten back to me, so I hope their disappointment wasn’t too heartfelt.

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The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare

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Title: The Winter’s Tale
Author: William Shakespeare
Date Added: August 24, 2014
Date Started: August 14, 2017
Date Finished: September 11, 2017
Reading Duration: 28 days
Genre: Drama, Tragedy, Comedy/Romance Classic

The Winter's Tale by William ShakespearePages: 171
Publication Date: May 15, 1611
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Media: eBook/Kindle

One of Shakespeare’s later plays, best described as a tragic-comedy, the play falls into two distinct parts. In the first Leontes is thrown into a jealous rage by his suspicions of his wife Hermione and his best-friend, and imprisons her and orders that her new born daughter be left to perish. The second half is a pastoral comedy with the “lost” daughter Perdita having been rescued by shepherds and now in love with a young prince. The play ends with former lovers and friends reunited after the apparently miraculous resurrection of Hermione.

The cover I used above is not the cover of the version I read, but since that one is boring (it’s just the play’s title and the Bard’s name on white a green.  Oh hell…

The Winter's Tale (boring cover)See.  Boring), I decided to use a festive piece.

The Winter’s Tale has a tragic/dramatic beginning and a comedic end, comedy, in cases like this, meaning there’s a happily resolved romance, as opposed to his more famous Romeo and Juliet, which while possessing a romantic element (if you want to call it that…), is generally classified a tragedy.  I’m unsure how comedy and romance became conflated, but in examining The Seven Basic Plots, that is how it’s described.

Hero and Heroine are destined to get together, but a dark force is preventing them from doing so; the story conspires to make the dark force repent, and suddenly the Hero and Heroine are free to get together. This is part of a cascade of effects that shows everyone for who they really are, and allows two or more other relationships to correctly form.

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