"Cry woe, destruction, ruin and decay:
The worst is death, and death will have his day."

Shakespeare is the best. Having read very little of Shakespeare I'm really not the best judge, but I am continuously amazed at his skill. He's a real pleasure to read; he makes me laugh, makes me cry, makes me excited and, most importantly, involved.

With BBC's 'The Hollow Crown' airing soon I thought I'd start my Shakespeare education with those adapted plays - Richard II, Henry IV pt. 1 and 2, and Henry V.

(If you haven't heard of 'The Hollow Crown' I urge you strongly to check it out, what a cast! what a production! It's gonna be epic)

I liked this a lot better than I thought I would. I mean, it's history? But it's exciting history! I'm a sucker for these things. Swords, corruption, treason, murder, love, power - it's too good.

I listened to it as a radioplay while reading (it gets a star for that, because just reading would be so endlessly boring) - I'm afraid my English is not quite good enough to simply listen and understand - and of course plays are made for a stage, and if I cannot have a stage, cannot have visuals, then let me at least have voices and let my mind do the rest.

This also has a fantastic speech by Richard II, let me give you my favourite parts (also, coincidentally, the parts read by Ben Whishaw in the trailer - he's gonna make a fabulous Richard):

"Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth,

For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings;
How some have been deposed; some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;
Some poison'd by their wives: some sleeping kill'd;
All murder'd: for within the hollow crown"

This is just the beginning of Shakespeares tetralogy, and is succeeded by Henry IV pt. 1 and 2 and Henry V. They can all be read separately, I believe, but they probably benefit from being read together. I will promptly start with the others!