Much Ado About Nothing
Some Quick Resource Links
Hello Readers,
Happy New Year! I wanted to send out a quick newsletter (not on my normal posting day) to make sure you all get some links to important resources as you start reading/listening/watching Much Ado About Nothing for our meetings in the coming weeks.
But first, I wanted to share my favorite literary parenting moment of the week. My 6 year old son received this Illiad graphic novel (and my other son got The Odyssey…trust me, get the hardback versions) for Christmas and he is now running around the house fighting wars saying, “I am a Greek….I am a Trojan.” I think we have some depths to still be plumbed, like that the Greeks and the Trojans are not on the same side, but I will count this as a literary win. Being inspired by beautiful ancient war poetry (in graphic novel format) is just what I want for my boys!
Onto business…
If you don’t have a copy of Much Ado About Nothing yet, make sure and get one soon! Even if you are planning to listen or watch you should have the text in front of you because each play or audio drama is an interpretation and directors will make choices. We want to make sure we are seeing what Shakespeare wrote and what directors are choosing to do with it. It is really fun!
Podcast Episodes
Close Reads has a specific Shakespeare podcast called The Plays the Thing where they are working through each of the plays one act at a time. As always, they are very insightful and the podcast is a helpful companion to reading the plays. Here are the episodes for Much Ado About Nothing.
Act I
Act II
Act III
Act IV
Act V
Movie Versions
The Kenneth Branaugh’s version of Much Ado is available for free with Prime or Roku it looks like. This is a very fun rendition if you haven’t seen it yet (or if you have). We will definitely be watching this version in our house this week! (I have seen this a few times)
It looks like there is a live stage play with David Tenant, but I can not find a way to stream it…so please let us know if you can find it anywhere! I love David Tenant and would love to watch (I haven’t watched this one yet)
A modern retelling directed by Joss Whedon from 2012 is available for free on YouTube (I have not watched this one yet!)
My favorite way to read Shakespeare is to read and listen to an audio drama at the same time so that I can get into the flow of the language. It looks like there are multiple options on Youtube, Scribd, Audible, Librivox, and your local library is sure to have something as well!
That is all for now. I hope you all have a lovely start to your New Year and here is a Substack post I enjoyed while reflecting on last year…. List of 23 thoughts about 2023 (in bullet point form) from Born of Wonder.
I wish you lots of reading in the New Year and hope you enjoy all your Shakespeare reading and watching coming up!
A Few Reminders
Next up in January is Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare and then on to Middlemarch for February and March.
If you found your way here and are not part of an in person book club, welcome! We would love you to read along with us. But, in person literary community is a beautiful thing. So please contact me if you’d like to join or start a group!
If you are part of a group, but you’re not on our Slack page, please contact me. That is where people share thoughts and logistics for each in person group.
Book lists from previous years can be found here.
We are now on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (with links to Substack) in order to hopefully spread the reading life to more people...if you want to like or share with any friends that want to start their own groups (or follow along virtually) please do!
*As always, some of the links are affiliate links. The few cents(literally) earned with each purchase you make after clicking links (at no extra cost to you) go toward the time and effort it takes to keep Literature Book Club running and I appreciate it!