Review: William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher

William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher
July 2013 by Quirk Books
176 pages--Goodreads

Inspired by one of the greatest creative minds in the English language-and William Shakespeare-here is an officially licensed retelling of George Lucas's epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. ’Tis a tale told by fretful droids, full of faithful Wookiees and fearstome Stormtroopers, signifying...pretty much everything.

Reimagined in glorious iambic pentameter—and complete with twenty gorgeous Elizabethan illustrations--William Shakespeare’s Star Wars will astound and edify Rebels and Imperials alike. Zounds! This is the book you’re looking for.

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To like this book, you need to be both a Shakespeare nerd and a Star Wars geek.  Being a fan of both, William Shakespeare's Star Wars was hilarious.  Doescher does an excellent job of re-scripting the story in Elizabethan English in a humorous rather than stuffy way.  The asides and soliloquies are great and the iambic pentameter never feels forced.  Doescher also weaves in quotes from Shakespeare here and there, my favorite being when Luke starts reciting the Saint Crispin's Day speech to inspire the rebels.

The action sequences are a bit boring to read since the Chorus just gives us a play by play, but there's no other way to make that work in the context of a play.  Shakespeare didn't give stage directions, so we need a character of the Chorus to say what happens.

William Shakespeare's Star Wars is a goofy sounding combination that hits the mark.  It's a loving parody of both source materials.  I'm looking forward to The Empire Striketh Back.

Mini Review: Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev

Eyes Like Stars--Lisa Mantchev
July 2009 by Feiwel and Friends
352 pages--Goodreads

All her world’s a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.  She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.  She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.  That is, until now.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

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I don't have much to say about this book.  I actually liked the premise a lot more than the actual book because the STUPID love triangle got in the way of including an actual plot.  We've got the manipulating bad boy, Ariel, who we know we can't trust but Bertie is inexplicably drawn to him and the nice guy Nathan, who would be just fine as a friend, but he's turned into a romantic interest to create tension and then nothing actually happens.  It was all completely contrived and unsatisfying because it crowded out an actual plot.  What little plot manages to squeeze in is jumbled, disjointed.

I did get a kick out of the allusions to Shakespeare's plays.

Theater buffs may like it, but I didn't care much for it, even though the cover is gorgeous.

Shakespeare March Madness Showdown

I am not a sports aficionado by any measure.  I filled out my March Madness bracket by pitting each team's mascot against each other, which explains why my bracket is in dead last at work.  Fortunately, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater has provided an alternative:

Shakespeare Showdown

My bracket is hard to see, but if you click on the picture, it should pull up a bigger image.  I have Benedict of Much Ado About Nothing winning the championship.  It eventually came down to Kenneth Branagh vs. Kenneth Branagh vs. Kenneth Branagh vs. the Fool.  Or I suppose I could have worked in David Tennant instead.  Romeo wouldn't have stayed in the game for as long as he did if he had gone up against some decent opponents.  And Poor Lady Macbeth got knocked out in round two only because she was up against Henry V.  Even the creepiness of Lady Macbeth can't stand up against the inspiration of the St. Crispins day speech.

You can find more information about the Showdown at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater's website.  Sadly, they are no longer accepting submissions, but filling out the bracket is fun enough on its own.  You can also vote for your favorite characters on their facebook page from now until April 15th.

Let me know if you disagree with any of my picks and leave a link in the comments if you fill out your own bracket.

Halloween Book List

I am super excited for Halloween.  It's all about dressing up, eating candy, and getting scared out of your mind.  And, now that we live in a residential neighborhood instead of college apartments, we might just get trick-or-treaters.  This possibility is lessened by the fact that our landlords have started renovating their house (we live in the basement) and there is a giant hole where the driveway used to be.  No matter.  I've bought candy in preparation, and if necessary I will sit on the sidewalk with a blanket and the candy bowl.  

In honor of the upcoming holiday, here's a list of Halloween-appropriate reads.  I don't read a lot of horror, paranormal, or ghostly books, so while I know Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Rot & Ruin, Coraline and other modern Halloween reads are out there, I haven't read them and can't vouch for them.  So instead, you get a slightly classics-heavy Halloween Reading List.

Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe
This was one of my favorite books during 4th grade.  It's more on the humor end than the horror end of Halloween reads, but who doesn't love a vampire bunny?  Or trying to get rid of said vampire using raw steak?  It's only about 130 pages, so you can easily finish it while passing out candy on Halloween night, and it's a great read-aloud for younger kids who can't handle the scarier stuff.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
I, unlike everyone else including the Newbery Award committee, only moderately liked this book, but it's chock full of ghosts so I can't not include it.  Maybe Gaiman just doesn't fit my reading style or maybe I read this with the wrong mindset.  Anyways, fans of Coraline and Gaiman's other works will probably like this.  Ghosts, murder, mystery, creepiness.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" or anything else written by Edgar Allan Poe
Crazy narrator, murder, chopped up bodies, tortured soul--Poe is the king of creepy and suspense.  I love Poe's writing--I'm weird like that. I just get chills (or nightmares) at "the beating of his hideous heart!"  If gore isn't your style, try "Cask of Amontillado" instead.  Or "Pit and the Pendulum."  Or "The Raven."

Harry Potter and the Anything by J.K. Rowling
Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite Potter book, and it has a werewolf, but it is not the only Halloween-appropriate read of the series; any of the Potter books would work well.  In addition to the regular cast of witches, wizards, and ghosts, something interesting always happens on Halloween:  a troll is set loose in the dungeon, Harry attends a death-day party and someone is attacked, Sirius Black invades the castle.  It's a day that's just safer if you stay in your dormitory or even take a short vacation from Hogwarts, but where's the fun in that?

Macbeth by Shakespeare
Grisly murder, ghosts, madness, what else do you need for a good Halloween read?  You could also read Hamlet, but Macbeth is darker, more violent, and just plain creepier.  Don't have time to read the whole play?  Watch PBS's production starring Sir Patrick Stewart.  So good!  And it has the creepiest witches I have ever seen.  Ever.  Bloody witch-nun-nurse things.  Blogger won't find the Youtube clip I want to include, so here's a link to it.  Creepy nurse-nun things.

Something wicked this way comes.



What are your favorite Halloween reads?