New Year's resolutions aren't really my thing but I will promise that I'll do more posts about books this year. I read a lot, you read a lot — we should be sharing our reviews with each other. I'm still toying with ideas about how to make a book club work here. Maybe we will just have to pick a centrally located bar in the United States and get together.
Dream big.
Another goal of mine for 2025 is to read a lot of Shakespeare. Yes, I've read some of the comedies, but I am not well-read when it comes to the Bard. It's time for me to up my Shakespeare game, dear readers.
Before I continue, I want to mention that I will be doing a follow-up to the column I wrote last summer about some of my favorite recent science fiction books. There was a lot of great discussion in the comments and it was suggested that the sci-fi fans among us get together and do that more often.
While my education did feature a lot of reading of the classics, it was a little light on Shakespeare. I'm not sure why; it just turned out that way. I think about that from time to time — especially when there's a Shakespeare category on Jeopardy. A couple of months ago, I simply decided that I was going to dive into the works of Old Will for the new year.
The decision was a quick one. It popped into my head one Saturday morning and that was that. The only reason that I postponed it until this year was because I was finishing up Ron Chernow's biography of Ulysses S. Grant at the time. That was a 1,000-page time investment that I wanted to make sure I wrapped up by the end of last year. It was worth it.
It's not as if I need to be able to toss out Shakespeare quotes when writing political columns. If I do end up doing that later in the year, it will be as intentionally pretentious as when others do it; I'll just be owning up to the pretentiousness. I think a good pompous-ass turn can liven up an otherwise dull day.
I'm kicking off the journey with "Macbeth" because it seems like a play that would go along well with my winter mood. The current plan is to move on to "Julius Caesar" for Round Two. OK, it's not really a plan: I just thought I'd keep things nice and lighthearted. If I need a break from Shakespeare after that, perhaps I'll read "Helter Skelter" or Norman Mailer's "The Executioner's Song" next. Again, winter does things to me.
I would love to hear from those of you who have read a lot of Shakespeare. What are your favorites and why?
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