Vooral een cover buy en daardoor kon het al niet mis gaan. Eerst deed ik trouw per dag 1 stukje, maar in de laatste maand gewoon me er doorheen geploegd. Ik vond de informatie die rondom het gekozen stukje tekst stond interessanter dan het schrijfwerk van Shakespeare zelf, juist omdat dit telkens kleine stukjes waren zonder al te veel context van de rest van zijn tekst.

Al het met al voelt het vooral als een klassieker dat elke boekenliefhebber in de kast moet hebben staan.

*I received this e-ARC in exchange for a fair review.*

Allie Esiri's "Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year" offers its readers the opportunity to spend a little quality time with Shakespeare every day. Upon receiving it for review, I was concerned about how well this would work. I'm the kind of scholar who finds it annoying when people take quotations from his plays out of context and end up misunderstanding them, so I was curious to see how or if Esiri avoided this.

I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the introductions, and felt that they give enough information to be interesting but not overwhelming, and maybe prod a couple readers into doing some Wikipedia searches, which seems like a good thing to me. It seems evident to me that Esiri knows her Shakespeare well, and her introductions set enough of a scene so that unfamiliar readers can understand the plot.

Since I am trying to review it in the spirit of the book, since May 1st (it's now the 15th) I have been reading a passage a day and find that it gives me something to look forward to. Some of the passages are from plays I don't often read and it's nice to be reminded. I especially liked the history of May dancing and the related passages from Shakespeare's comedies included in early May, since it's a holiday not widely celebrated as it was in Shakespeare's time. My only critique was that there were a couple passages that seemed like odd portions to include in the text. It wasn't that I couldn't follow, but perhaps that some of the humor is lost outside the play's context.

While it's a clear choice for someone who already enjoys the poet's work, I think this book has a lot to offer those less familiar and/or less interested. I can definitely see using this in a literature class as a daily class activity, relating the seasons, holidays, history, Shakespeare's biography and other tidbits to the day. I don't often teach Shakespeare's plays, and part of the reason is that an entire play can seem intimidating to students struggling with Shakespeare's language. However, with the interesting introductions that Esiri includes, I think it would be less scary for students to take a look at a portion of Shakespeare's play, and be able to notice detail and enjoy it. I also like that there's a little bit of history in terms of literary criticism, such as Coleridge's opinions of Shakespeare, and also I think I recall a mention of one of the Booths, which was interesting.

Both a good gift, as well as a good addition to a literature classroom intent on teaching Shakespeare.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

I've always loved books like this, with a surprise for every day. And Shakespeare is my favorite author, so I was really excited to see this one!

I'm still enjoying it (it's only February!), but this is as fun as I imagined. I love having a new (or old) quote to think about every day. There's a great variety and it's done really well.