Hi y’all!

It’s October! This is one of my favorite months. I love the fall vibes. Although, we could use some more fall-like temperatures around here. I am done with 80 degree weather especially with how pregnant I am starting to feel! Regardless, we have our fall decor out and are enjoying all the pumpkin treats we can!

I am excited to share my review of Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb. I read this as part of my second list for The Classics Club and a classics Instagram challenge that I’m doing this year. I really enjoyed this collection of prose stories from Shakespeare. I have heard about this collection for years and was so glad to finally read it.

Book Summary: “Charles and Mary Lamb have delighted generations of adults as well as children with their famed prose renderings of Shakespeare’s originals. Bringing the plays to life in a form that encourages readers to enjoy and explore, Tales from Shakespeare provides an entertaining and informative introduction to the great works while retaining much of Shakespeare’s lyricism, phrasing, and rhythm. It is a captivating work of Romantic storytelling as well as the original literary homage to the Bard.”

I love Shakespeare and it was fun to read many of his stories in a new way. I’ve read many of his plays both in college courses and for fun (I know that is unusual. Haha). I have seen his plays performed in London’s Globe, in Stratford upon Avon, and in the United States. I am captivated by his stories and by the characters. Experiencing those stories in a new way was really fun. The prose style makes it easier to understand the basics of the story and how the events flow together. I enjoyed how they use multiple quotes from each play and the characters are usually directly quotes from their lines from the original plays. Many of the stories are familiar to me. And it was fun to read those and remember my favorite parts. Others were new and I enjoyed reading the prose versions to get acquainted with the stories.

The Lambs introduce this collection as a collection for children but I think it will connect adults and older kids to Shakespeare. Certainly, this collection was published in 1807 so times have certainly changed. I am not sure my youngest kids would really be drawn into the stories and some are still rather intense and even graphic like the tragedies. But that is also a product of my time reading them rather than in the 1800s when it was first published as a collection. That being said, I think this is a great resource for older kids and even adults to be exposed to Shakespeare in an often easier medium — prose. Sometimes the style of reading a play can be hard to understand exactly what is going on. But the storytelling in this collection helps clarify the story lines and connections between characters. Especially for new readers of the Bard, I think this is a great option to be exposed to his writing and his style.

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection. The stories are well told and I enjoy the ways the Lambs connect their retellings to the original plays with quotes and a few pictures. I think its a great way to introduce kids and teens (even adults!) to the works of Shakespeare and I’m glad to have read these. Highly recommend!

What are some of your favorite Shakespeare plays?
Any tips for new Shakespeare readers?

This is my 13th classic finished on my 2nd list for The Classics Club!
Check out my full list here. To see my completed first list, click here. For more info on the club, click here.