A Little Shakespeare

This week I read a few stories from Shakespeare. I say "stories from Shakespeare" rather than the actual plays because the books I read are novelized versions of the plays. First up: Othello by Julius Lester. This is a "novella" of the play Othello. Jealous Othello listens to his jealous friend, Iago, and murders his faithful wife Desdemona. Yup, even in novella format jealousy and hot-headed-ness rule the day and it doesn't end well for anyone. Lester uses some of the Shakespeare's original dialogue helping this story ring true.

Next I read Bruce Coville's re-telling of Macbeth. Coville has re-told several of Shakespeare's plays in beautifully illustrated versions. In this version of Macbeth Gary Kelley does a wonderful job with the illustrations. The "Scottish play" isn't very long and so Coville kept most of the original story intact. He also used some of the bard's original dialogue keeping the story close to the original. Beautiful book.

Next up: Hamlet by John Marsden. It's more of a YA read than the first two I mentioned (it gets a bit racy at times) and Marsden modernizes the setting slightly (Hamlet wears jeans in some scenes). But Marsden definitely stays true to Hamlet's tormented soul. This one is pretty intense!

I also finished another adult book The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. Henry is a Chinese boy growing up in Seattle during WWII. When anti-Japanese sentiment in the US grows, his father makes him wear a pin that says "I am Chinese." Henry is the only non-white student at his school and button or no, he is a target for the school bullies. In the middle of the year Keiko, a Japanese girl, starts attending Henry's school and they work together in the school's cafeteria. A strong bond of friendship and love begins to grow between the two even when anti-Japanese hostilities grow louder in Seattle. Henry does all he can to help Keiko's family but can really do very little. The book goes back and forth between the past (1940's Seattle) and the present (1980's Seattle) where we meet Henry's son Marty. This one is a sweet story that made me want to listen to more Jazz music.