Most Influential Books

Jillian at Random Ramblings posted about ten most influential books in her life and she encouraged others to do the same with one rule... you can’t explain your choices. I tend to over explain my choices for lists, so this was an intriguing idea. Then Brona listed her books and Adam listed his and I knew I had to join in the fun.


Jillian said "I love a lot of books. However, I've learned that the favorites list and the most influential list are two completely different things." As I started making my own list I realized the same thing. The most influential book I read by one author might not even be my favorite by them.
 

So here’s my list…
1) Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
 

2) Hamlet by William Shakespeare
 

3) The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
 

4) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
 

5) Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
 

6) The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
 

7) Matilda by Roald Dahl  
 

8) Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
 

9) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
 

10) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott  

Photo by moi.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
by David Wroblewski
★★★★☆

 

I’m having a hard time explaining how I feel about this one. It’s been a long time since a book so completely enraptured me and then utterly broke my heart. For starters, it is so beautifully written and it’s a tribute to the writer’s skill (I still can’t believe this is the author’s first novel), that I became so attached to the characters, especially the dogs. I’ve always been an animal lover and I have a really hard time with anything bad happening to animals in books, (Where the Red Fern Grows, The Yearling.) I’m particularly sensitive to cruelty to dogs and horses for some reason and so there were a few parts that were hard for me to read. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a book about cruelty towards animals, but the dogs are main characters in the book and there are some tough scenes. I’ve never read a book that expressed the psychology of a dog in such a vivid way.

 

Edgar is born mute to devoted parents who own a unique dog breeding and training company in Wisconsin. From the earliest chapters, where we meet Edgar’s parents Trudy and Gar, the story hooked me completely. It’s a slow moving novel, one that you sink into and hardly notice when 100 pages have past. The story is a loose retelling of Hamlet. The local vet, Doctor Papineau is Polonius, his son is the county sheriff and fills the role of Laertes. Edgar’s loyal dog, Almondine, is a twist on Ophelia. Now keep in mind that it’s not an exact retelling and so not all of the characters share the fates of their Hamlet counterparts, but knowing the general story in advance certainly cloaks the entire novel in a layer of portentousness.

 

The moments where the story was the most closely aligned with Shakespeare’s original tale were actually the sections that I thought didn’t work as well as the rest of the book. Maybe because it took the mystery out of it or maybe because it’s such a strong story in its own right, that adding a supernatural element and relying heavily on the revenge tale took away from the powerful characters Wroblewski created in the Sawtelle family.

It’s strange, the book could absolutely have 200 pages cut from its bulk to move the story along at a faster clip, but at the same time, the quiet moments where very little happened were some of my favorites. When Edgar is with his dogs, training or spending time with them, that’s when I felt the most connected to him as a character. When the plot was rolling forward with its tone of impending doom, headed inevitably towards the Hamlet conclusion, those were my least favorite parts. They felt a bit more forced, like they were violating the actions we had grown to expect from certain characters.

 

BOTTOM LINE: I couldn’t put it down, even when I was worried about a character or heartbroken over a scene, I still didn’t want to let it go. I almost felt tense while reading certain sections, but then I would relax into the comfortable comradery Edgar had with the dogs. It’s one of the most unique reading experiences I’ve had in a long time and I know I’ll be thinking about Edgar, Almondine, Tinder, Essay and Baboo for a long time. The only reason it didn’t get 5 stars is because I can’t imagine putting myself through reading it again.

 

“From the look on his face I could see he was one of the lucky ones; one of those people who liked doing what they’re good at. That’s rare.”

 

Crash Course just did a post on Hamlet. If you aren’t already subscribed to their literature posts, you should be!

How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare

How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare

by Ken Ludwig

★★★★★

This gem is a book built to help introduce your children to Shakespeare, but it would work as an introduction for adults as well. It’s also a great way to dive deeper into the world of Shakespeare even if you’re already a fan. I felt like I learned quite a bit while reading it, because it isn’t dumbed down for kids, it’s just simplified.

Ludwig's passion for Shakespeare is infectious. He finds joy in the work and beautifully explains how to make that joy accessible to anyone who reads the Bard. He makes you appreciate each lovely line while giving an overview of the plays, Shakespeare's life and the depth of his work.

“… Shakespeare was fearlessly true to life. Throughout his plays we see not only comedy and not only tragedy but also, always, the truth.”

Ludwig breaks down some of Shakespeare’s most famous plays to make them accessible. He focuses quite a bit on memorization, but that’s just one aspect of the book. He explains plots and language, the difference between prose and poetry, provides character break downs, and walks us through beautiful speeches and what they mean. He explains the way Shakespeare used the cadence of the language to help the actors pace their performances.

He takes some of the famous soliloquies, especially from Hamlet, and breaks them down in a side-by-side comparison. He gives the reader Shakespeare’s words next to his own paraphrase in modern language. It’s incredibly helpful for adults as well as kids. It helps readers understand the full meaning behind some of well-known lines.

One of my favorite things Ludwig does in the book is offer a context for Shakespeare’s work. He looks at the author’s life, England during that time period and the order in which the plays were written. Understanding that The Tempest was written later in life and The Taming of the Shrew was an early work helps readers understand the increased tone of gravitas n even his comedies.

At the end of the book he also includes an extensive bibliography of both books and films to further your children’s or your exploration of Shakespeare. I love that in addition to listing the books and movies he gives some background and his opinion of them.

BOTTOM LINE: Beautifully written and incredibly accessible, this book is sure to ignite a love of Shakespeare in anyone who is interested!

*The book covers the following plays: Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Henry IV, As You Like It, Henry V, and The Tempest.

“Shakespeare’s plays, like all great works of art, are open to interpretation. That is the hallmark of art that has real value. If a work is static and never changes, then it can never tell us very much about how we change over our lifetimes, and how mankind changes over centuries. As Hamlet says, it is the artist’s job to hold the mirror up to nature.”

“Toward the end of his life, Rossini said of Mozart: ‘He was the inspiration of my youth, the despair of my middle years and the consolation of my old age.’ We want Shakespeare to be all those things for your children.”

Image from here.