I admit to having an irrational dislike for Shakespeare. I think it comes from school teachers pushing it on me all through middle and high school.

I told you it was irrational.

Now that I am older, I want to read Shakespeare for me. I know it is worth my time and effort and I know I will enjoy it.

I am a member of Read Aloud Revival and recently participated in a member’s only Master Class on teaching Shakespeare to our children (you see the irony, here, right?!). It was such an awesome class and I am feeling really fired up about not only embracing Shakespeare for myself, but also presenting it to my children.

Want to find out more about the Read Aloud Revival and the Master Classes? Follow this link!

Well, I have added Twelfth Night to my reading list. This is one Shakespeare work that I have never read in my younger years, so I am glad that it is the one I am starting with.

As an aside, I am LOVING the Folger Shakespeare Library edition. There are extensive notes about Shakespeare and the writing and story at the beginning, and each page of writing has a companion page of notes – obscure words or phrases defined. Having each two-page spread set up this way, with definitions on the left and the actual text on the right makes it much easier to read. Because clarification of obscure terms requires little more than a glance to the opposite page, reading is smooth and not disjointed.

Here is one of my favorite passages:

I’m elbow deep in books right now. When I started working part time at the beginning of the year, I had no idea how it would impact my personal scholar time. I am finding it difficult to keep up with my projected reading list I planned out in late December. Right now, I am working to finish the stack of books I started at the beginning of the year, along with a couple smaller books I have added. I will be paring down my 2016 reading list soon to something more realistic given my time constraints. Look for a revised 2016 reading plan soon.

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