Reading the Bard -- Schedule & Requests

[Katy, Old School Classics]

We could sure do a play ever other month also -- might make it much more doable.

[Pink]

Well with 36 plays to get through (or are there more?!), doing just 1 per month would take 3 years! Perhaps we should take it in 3 month chunks and decide which plays to focus on each season, depending on which have the most interest. Then we can set up the relevant buddy read threads for people to comment either now or later.

We already have threads for past and current group reads of King Lear and The Merchant of Venice. New buddy read threads for Macbeth and The Tempest and upcoming group or buddy reads of Romeo and Juliet and Othello, so that's 6 crossed off the list already.

[Loretta]

Wow! That's great! I'm so thrilled we're doing this! :)

[Katy, Old School Classics]

Pink wrote: "Well with 36 plays to get through (or are there more?!), doing just 1 per month would take 3 years! Perhaps we should take it in 3 month chunks and decide which plays to focus on each season, depen..."

I do like the idea of a play a quarter to discuss -- that way we still have time to read the group books too.

[Brina]

I like the one a month idea. It is a welcome break from longer reads.

[Katy, Old School Classics]

Brina wrote: "I like the one a month idea. It is a welcome break from longer reads."

As buddy reads -- as long as you have a buddy you can read as many as you want!

[Susie]

I can't imagine reading 1 Shakespeare a month for the next 3 years...that seems like too much! ;)
I will be happy to jump in on a few plays a year what ever is decided by the group...

[Pink]

I like having a few select choices each quarter, which is what we seem to have done already without trying...Macbeth, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Othello and maybe something else for December.

It's nice to be able to hop on with some of them and skip others.

[Brina]

Fair enough. If I read R/J and Othello it will end up being one a month. This is a great way to motivate me to read more Shakespeare. I'd love to see King Lear in December but am happy to read whatever everyone else decides on.

[Katy, Old School Classics]

Please note that we now have a William Shakespeare Collection folder. All group & buddy reads by the Bard will be in this folder.

[Loretta]

Thanks Kathy!

[Katy, Old School Classics]

Loretta wrote: "Thanks Kathy!"

You are welcome.

[Pink]

Brina, the same here, probably one a month for me. I'll be skipping Macbeth, The Tempest and King Lear until next year, but it's good to know that I can join in these discussions later.

[Katy, Old School Classics]

Shall we choose our play for December now then?

As far as I can tell by scanning the posts above, we have suggested:

King Lear
Much Ado About Nothing
Richard III
The Winter's Tale
Twelfth Night
The Merry Wives of Windsor
A Midsummer Night's Dream

As this is for a buddy read, we will not run a poll but just take votes in this thread.

[Brina]

King Lear for December please :)

[Loretta]

Much Ado About Nothing

[Lilly]

The Winter's Tale, please.
Though King Lear is fine as well ;)

[Susan O]

King Lear, although I love Much Ado About Nothing.

[Sue]

I'm fine with any of the ones mentioned. I think doing one a month is going to help a lot with processing the language. I was feeling so good after The Merchant of Venice. I felt like I understood the main points on a first pass, but I'm having a harder time with The Tempest.

[Katy, Old School Classics]

I haven't read The Winter's Tale so that would be my vote

[Sarah]

I need to get Much Ado About Nothing in this year for my challenge, so I'd be up for that for sure.
And I'm definitely up for Shakespeare buddy reads in general. I really enjoy his works.

[Janice (JG)]

Kathy wrote: "I haven't read The Winter's Tale so that would be my vote"

The Winter's Tale for me also.

[Pink]

Hmm, I think I'd go for some King Lear in December.

[Loretta]

Sarah wrote: "I need to get Much Ado About Nothing in this year for my challenge, so I'd be up for that for sure.
And I'm definitely up for Shakespeare buddy reads in general. I really enjoy his works."

I'm with you Sarah for the buddy reads in general! :)

[Portia]

I vote for Twelfth Night because the real Twelfth Night is January 6 ;-)

[Katy, Old School Classics]

Portia wrote: "I vote for Twelfth Night because the real Twelfth Night is January 6 ;-)"

I hadn't even thought about that -- good point.

[Melanti]

I'm pretty sure I haven't read Winter's Tale yet, so of the ones you guys are mentioning, that's the one I'm most enthusiastic about.

However, I haven't read King Lear since Jr. High, and have forgotten it completely, so I wouldn't mind re-reading it to refresh my memory.

I'd participate in a buddy read of either one.


I've actually read or seen Much Ado... so often I have all the best parts half-memorized.

[Pink]

I'm happy with anything for December really.

I ended up watching a couple of programmes last night about the history plays of Richard II, Henry IV (parts 1 and 2) and Henry V and I really want to read those as well now!

[Brina]

Pink I know what you mean. But I am still leaning toward Lear just because others at my school read it and I never did. I'm looking forward to Othello.

[Loretta]

Just curious how we're planning on "voting/nominating" for December.

[Lilly]

Loretta wrote: "Just curious how we're planning on "voting/nominating" for December."

I think it's not quite as official as that, right?
Maybe more like some people decide to read this, while others decide on that - and then later some others just agree on the same play and use the thread ... or that's how I thought it was ment, so far ...

[Sarah]

Pink wrote: "I'm happy with anything for December really.

I ended up watching a couple of programmes last night about the history plays of Richard II, Henry IV (parts 1 and 2) and Henry V and I really want to..."

Henry V is really good. I'd put it as my second favorite Shakespeare play.

[Portia]

Just a note on King Lear. Jane Smiley based A Thousand Acres in Lear. Another group many of us belong to has been discussing it.

[Portia]

Lilly wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Just curious how we're planning on "voting/nominating" for December."

I think it's not quite as official as that, right?
Maybe more like some people decide to read this, while oth..."

I'm going to make a defense for being a bit more structured. I want to read all of the plays and the sonnets and anything else Shakespeare wrote, but I am the sort of reader who I'll end up sitting in a pile of scripts weeping at my inability to finish even one.

May we at least discuss the more structured option, including someone volunteering to moderate? For example, say we vote on plays for 2017. And then let's say we vote for King John to be read in April (this is REALLY hypothetical) and I volunteer to moderate the discussion.

I'm all for open and free and going at one's own pace, but I know myself and I'll fall behind and then get frustrated and give up.

Please weigh in on this! Let's see what we come up with:-)

[Pink]

Lilly wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Just curious how we're planning on "voting/nominating" for December."

I think it's not quite as official as that, right?
Maybe more like some people decide to read this, while oth..."

I think we're just deciding here between ourselves what is most popular for December. Of course when the time comes if 2 or more people want to read something different, there's no reason why not.

[Loretta]

Lilly wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Just curious how we're planning on "voting/nominating" for December."

I think it's not quite as official as that, right?
Maybe more like some people decide to read this, while oth..."

I like that thought Lilly.

[Loretta]

Portia wrote: "Lilly wrote: "Loretta wrote: "Just curious how we're planning on "voting/nominating" for December."

I think it's not quite as official as that, right?
Maybe more like some people decide to read t..."

Portia, I'm not for a member to moderate unless of course it's our moderators.

[Loretta]

My opinion is that we should just read the books. Maybe one or two of us will read book A and some will read book B. The people reading book A will discuss the book, same for the people reading book B. Why do we need a moderator for that?

This thought process of reading more Shakespeare was suppose to be light and airy and now it's not.

Anyone else want to share their opinion?

[Brina]

Agreed Loretta. I wanted a no pressure situation. When I was in school classics became a chore and I detested reading them. Definitely do not want to have that happen here.

[Loretta]

Brina wrote: "Agreed Loretta. I wanted a no pressure situation. When I was in school classics became a chore and I detested reading them. Definitely do not want to have that happen here."

Agree Brina.

[Brina]

I also find reading a play every 4-6 weeks allows me to be familiar with the language. If group A reads Twelfth Night and group b reads King Lear at least we are reading Shakespeare in a fun way.

[Brina]

I'd be reading Romeo and Juliet too but my holidays make me too busy to read much of anything :(

[Loretta]

Brina wrote: "I also find reading a play every 4-6 weeks allows me to be familiar with the language. If group A reads Twelfth Night and group b reads King Lear at least we are reading Shakespeare in a fun way."

Or group A can read Twelfth Night and group B can read Much Ado About Nothing. :)

[Loretta]

Brina wrote: "I'd be reading Romeo and Juliet too but my holidays make me too busy to read much of anything :("

I hear you Brina. The next three months I'm slammed with commitments and then the holidays.

Since I've read Romeo and Juliet many times I'll probably just look at my notes and possibly add to the discussions.

[Brina]

For me it's almost easier having the holidays first and getting them over with. My treat to myself is scheduling some fun reads for November. I've read R/J before too and have read many modern star crossed lovers stories so I will definitely participate in the discussion.

[Nathan]

My vote for December is The Winter's Tale. I'm actually already planning to read it with a few friends, but it would be cool to have a discussion here.

[Lilly]

Portia wrote: "And then let's say we vote for King John to be read in April (this is REALLY hypothetical) and I volunteer to moderate the discussion."

Well, no matter what we do and how we do it, I think Portia deserves a thank you! for her offer - moderating must be hard.

And so do all our group moderators - Bob, Kathy, Melanti and Pink - you're all doing a wonderfull job setting up all those threads, polls, and everything. Thank you all so much!

[Katy, Old School Classics]

It has been a busy morning for me. Glad to see so much going on. I promise to check the Shakespeare thread and stay on top of it best I can -- hope that helps with moderating vs. not-moderating. Sort of in-between?

From the discussion above for December -- King Lear and The Winter's Tale are the two most of us are interested in reading, with KL coming out just a bit ahead. So let's plan on KL for December & in December we will start taking about buddy reads for 2017.

But remember if you have 2-3 of you who really want to read something else you can buddy read that -- but I do agree that I'd like to have a bit more structure in buddy reading the bard if you are all willing.

[Pink]

Loretta wrote: "My opinion is that we should just read the books. Maybe one or two of us will read book A and some will read book B. The people reading book A will discuss the book, same for the people reading boo..."

This seems like what is sort of happening already. I'm reading R&J and Othello, others are reading Macbeth and The Tempest as well or instead. This allows everyone to choose from a small selection of his plays within a timeframe of a few months. Once the threads are up, we can all decide when to chime in with our thoughts, depending on when best suits us. For instance I'll probably read Macbeth early next year and post my thoughts then.

Both King Lear and The Winter's Tale look like the popular options for December. When the time comes we might need threads for both of these plays, but we have several others to get through first, so I guess we'll see how everyone feels in another couple of months.

I'm not sure what the difference would look like between a structured reading vs an unstructured reading of each play?! I don't think they need to be moderated as such, just people with more interest or experience of particular plays will be able to contribute more comments and offer further insights. They're all short reads, so I don't think we need a tight timeframe, other than deciding which month to create each play's thread.

[Loretta]

That's fine Kathy and Pink but I'll stick to my plan. I'll be reading Much Ado About Nothing in December (or sooner) if anyone else is interested, great, if not, no biggie! :)