Manga Shakespeare - King Lear

After finishing, Fool, I looked up and saw a graphic novel version of King Lear on the shelf right above me.  This was a Christmas gift I gave to Dan this past December.  He's becoming a big fan of graphic novels; I enjoy them, but I feel that they flash by too quickly.  I need more words to help me slow down and savour the story.

This version of Lear has its appeal, though.  It relies solely on actual language from the most widely known version of Shakespeare's play.  Where it takes its departure is in the setting: this version is set in early days of colonization in America.

This would be a great text to read in parallel with the "original" (I use "original" for lack of a better word, because the version usually used is a conflation of two scripts).  I can see how the visuals would help a student better understand what was happening in the script version, but I can also see how the manga version on its own could be a little tricky to follow.

Started: Saturday, April 7th at Balzac's in Kitchener.  

Finished: Presumably later today. 

Fool by Christopher Moore

Bawdy, bawdy, bawdy, bawdy, bawdy.  And hilarious.  Rather than reading one of the many "unreads" on my shelf this weekend, I went to the thrift store and The Book Vault and added several to my collection.  This was one of them.  I have seen Christopher Moore's books around all over the place, but I assumed they were all vampire novels.  Guess I'd never seen this one before!

Fool is a retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear from the perspective of Lear's fool (jester), Pocket.

Started: Saturday, March 31 at Balzac's in Stratford.

Finished: Saturday, April 7.  Ah, Easter long weekend: long stretches of time to lounge on the couch with a book.