The Reading Challenge Group discussion

2016 marks the 400th Anniversary Celebration of the life of William Shakespeare. To join the festivities we will embark on a year long tribute to the bard. Our goal is to read as many sonnets and plays as possible throughout the year. You can post both your accomplishments and your thoughts in this thread.

Set your own goal. This challenge will run all year.

Reserved for Updates. Badge information will be forthcoming.

Renee plans to BRUSH UP HER SHAKESPEARE by reading as many sonnets as possible in 2016.

1) Sonnets 1-17
2) Sonnets 18-30
3) Sonnets 31-45
4) Sonnets 46-60
5) Sonnets 61-75
6) Sonnets 76-90
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
12)

This is one challenge that I can't resist. I don't have a goal in mind, I just want to cross off as many as I can by the end of the year right now.

Comedies
All's Well That Ends Well
As You Like It
The Comedy of Errors
Cymbeline
Love's Labours Lost
Measure for Measure
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest - Finished 6/21/2016
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night - Finished 8/31/2016
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter's Tale

History
Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, part 2
Henry V
Henry VI, part 1
Henry VI, part 2
Henry VI, part 3
Henry VIII
King John
Richard II
Richard III

Tragedy
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus - Finished 2/9/2016

Poetry
The Sonnets - Finished 5/8/2016
A Lover's Complaint
The Rape of Lucrece - Finished 6/10/2016
Venus and Adonis - Finished 9/30/2017
Funeral Elegy by W.S.

I'm totally using your post as my Shakespeare reference!!!

I want to try for

1. The Sonnets (ALL)
2. Romeo & Juliet

Wish me luck!! (I'm not big on classics, but I do want to get these in at some point :))

Good for you, Dana!
Will you spend the sonnets out? Like one a day or something?

Hmm, I actually like the idea of a sonnet a day.

I know! Right after I typed it , I started thinking "I should do that!" I'm going with Elizabeth Klett
From Librivox. There are actually 4 versions but I really like her readings of other things. There are 154 so I'll have plenty of time that way.

I'm also thinking about The Rape of Lucrece. Mostly because I didn't know about it until I saw your list. And the Histories. I've read/seen most of the comedies and tragedies at least once each. But the histories seem harder to come by.

I may do this because I have the sonnets book (think i read about 50 not too sure, will start again though) and was considering reading it this year anyway, I also have the ebook of all his works so later on I may pick through them, the only one I've actually read is the Merchant of Venice and that was because I did it for English at school. Mine is split into five sections so I may read at least two from each section or just go down the list on the contents page...

I found a fun series of podcasts on the sonnets. It's called "Shakespeare's Sonnets" and is an Inner Ear Production.

I might try finish off the remaining Shakespeare plays I need to read... I made it a goal last year to read them all, but I failed kind of miserably. So I have a decent amount left to read:

All's Well That Ends Well
Coriolanus
Cymbeline
Henry VI, Part 1
Henry VI, Part 2
Henry VI, Part 3
Henry VIII
King John
Love Labour's Lost
Measure for Measure
The Merry Wives of WIndsor
Pericles
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
Troilus and Cressinda
The Winters Tale

Confession time.... I have lived for over 30 years in Stratford-upon-Avon. I went to school, college and work here. Everywhere I go Shakespeares face looks back at me from shops, postcards, the theatre and just about everywhere you can think of. Despite this I have only ever read the Shakespeare plays I was made to at school.
I think this challenge and his 400th might be a good way to finally get me reading some of his works. I'm going to start small and say i'll read his sonnets in bite sized chunks throughout the year and see where that leads me.

Great confession, Clare! We so often take fit granted what's right in front of us every day.

I need to make a correction on the podcasts I mentioned earlier. They are IN EAR ENTERTAINMENT, not Inner Ear as I previously stated. I've listened to a few now and they're pretty hilarious but also interesting.

For example, I didn't know that the first 10 (I think they said 10) are consider the "procreation" sonnets. So far the message seems to be...have sex, make babies, before you're too old to do that. Seriously lol!

I googled. Procreation Sonnets are sonnets1-17. Interestingly, sonnet 18 is the well-known "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" sonnet.

I have read some of the sonnets and I enjoyed them. However it does bring back terrible flashbacks of having to reinact scenes for english class at high school! :) I don't know which play to start reading first? Any suggestions?

Been awhile since I've read any Bard. In school of course they made you read him and bored you away from it. In both Junior High (now called Middle School) and High School it was mandatory reading in English class. Some teachers just had you read it like any other book, some would have a little fun with it by assigning people parts to read. That made more fun and felt almost like being at a read-thru rehearsal.

Seen a few productions of some of the other shows and read a lot of it in a theatre class in High School as well as. For that class we performed a few scenes from the "play within the play" portion of "A Midsummer's Night Dream" for if I recall correctly a few select underclassmen English classes. I was Snug the joiner who does the Lion.

With community theatre I have performed in "Twelfth Night" as both the Sea Captain and Priest in the same production. I ran the sound for a production of "Much Ado About Nothing".

Not sure how much if any I will end up reading this year. Not even sure how much of my personal 15 book reading challenge I will do this year. So far not much time for concentrated reading.

Hayley-
Perhaps Macbeth. It's got witches, madness, tricksy prophesies, betrayal, and murder. And you don't need any historical background to understand it.

The comedies like Much Ado and Twelfth Night are great fun, but there's a lot going on and lots of farcical elements which can sometimes be confusing. Of course, there's also romance. And some great movie adaptions.

It depends on what would most hold your attention.

I'm enjoying the heck out of the podcasts on the sonnets. So far I've done 1-10, with 8 and 9 standing out for me. There's a "gather thee rosebuds while ye may" quality to the procreation sonnets. But the goal is rather different.

Perfect challenge! I've just bought The Compete Plays. Favourite re-reads will be Macbeth (my daughter is currently covering this for her GCSE), Much A Do About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I will list them here once I start reading them.

I have the pleasure of going to Stratford Upon Avon for the day tomorrow. So hopefully that will kick start my Shakespeare year nicely!

Oh so jealous! Have a fabulous time!

Last Summer I went to The Globe to see Richard II, it was so good. A lot of them are available as podcasts as well, so you can listen to them as you follow the text. That's what I like to do. Might give this a shot at some point

Holly,
How was your Stratford Upon Avon trip? I've been hoping for a little vicarious visit.

I'm in for the challenge - not sure what my objective is, except to read more. I've seen a lot of the plays performed (multiple times for the more common ones), but the only ones I've definitely read all the way through are The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

I've decided to try and read as many of Shakespeare's sonnets as I can in 2016. I'm going to say a minimum of 5 a month just to stop me from grinding to a complete halt but hopefully it will be more than that.

[✓] = A minimum of 5 sonnets read that month.

[✓] Jan - Sonnets 1-14
[✓] Feb - Sonnets 15-23
[✓] Mar - Sonnets 24-43
[✓] Apr - Sonnets 44-56
[✓] May - Sonnets 57-85
[✓] Jun - Sonnets 86 - 97
[✓] Jul - Sonnets 98 - 107
[✓ ] Aug - Sonnets 108 - 114
[✓ ] Sept - Sonnets 115 - 130
[✓ ] Oct - Sonnets 131 - 142
[✓] Nov - Sonnets 143 - 154

Favourites - 18, 29, 48,

I will read A Mid Summer's Night Dream or/and Romeo and Juliet.
Going small as I never read Shakespeare before.

Hayley - My favarite has always been The Tempest. McBeth is a good one to start with as well though. If I can dig out my complete Shakespeare I may try and reread tempest. Maybe one or two others.. I have so many other books as well!

Clare-
I'm doing something similar and I love your method of keeping track!

Starting Shakespears sonnets today! And I have a libary set up niw so I can get to all my books!

That sounds great. It's so comforting to have our libraries set up the way we live them. :)

Yes, and now I can find my books for challenges easier!

Fell in love with my podcasters today when they referenced Buffy, the Vampire Slayer in their analysis of one of the sonnets. :)

Haha thats too funny! What sonnet was it?

I'll have to look back and see if I can find it. In the 50s, I think.

Ah cool. I am up to 56 right now. I love how they are in such distinct groups.

Yes. I was only aware of the Dark Lady sonnets. The first series is really interesting.

Sonnet 60! My podcasters go on a complete tangent about Joss Whedon's Much Ado, Nathan Fillion, etc. Then tangent again onto Love, Actually. So, yeah, total infatuation now.

Sonnet 126 is interesting... It's two lines shorter than any others and has a different rhyme scheme. Reads very uniquely as well.

Wow! You're really moving quickly. I'm only in the 60s but I'll look forward to that one.

I'm at the end of the 90s myself.

I've finished all the sonnets now. I get three ten minutes breaks so I read a few each break and finished them quickly that way. Now I gotta decide which play to start with.

That's a great way to work it in!

Yep for sure! My dog likes Shakespeare too haha. He always has to nose his way into my lap when I read it at home!

I'd love to do this too. Everytime I read a Shakespeare, I love it, and yet I keep forgetting to read some more.

Audiobooks/podcasts are great since they add the performance aspect. Has anyone tried Manga Shakespeare? I've read Manga Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice in original language (not modernised) and it was amazing. I directly went to the play too afterwards. I know this will not be to everyone's taste but I see it as another kind of 'performance', and great introduction to the bard.

I have seen Manga Romeo and Juliet but nor got it. I may have to now!

I think Manga Shakespeare is a brilliant concept. Reminds me of the old Classic Comics which did illustrated/graphic versions of classic novels. They were addicting.

Don't forget your Shakespeare!

If anyone needs a break from Shakespeare. I just read a funny one act play titled The Hiartville Shakespeare Club. It is written by Belle Marshall Locke. It is out of print at Amazon. You can read it for free at Library Of America