Top Ten Favorite Plays

 

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks one question, but I decided to answer another. Here are my Top Ten Favorite Plays. I’m only including ones that I have both read and seen performed live, so there are definitely a few other plays I’ve loved even more that I’ve either seen or read, but not both. I love live theatre and I'm lucky enough to get to see a ton of productions because I review shows once a week at Stage Write! I’ve had so much fun reading plays before or after seeing them and realizing what choices the directors and actors made that differ from the text.

 

1) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

2) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

3) Our Town by Thornton Wilder

4) Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

5) August: Osage County by Tracy Letts

6) Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose

7) Wit by Margaret Edson

8) A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

9) The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

10) Shakespeare (sorry I just can’t limit it to one!) The Tempest, Twelfth Night and Hamlet

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest

by Oscar Wilde

★★★★★

You can’t beat Oscar Wilde when it comes to witty dialogue. The playwright mastered the art form of clever repartee and The Importance of Being Earnest is the best example of that talent.

Two bachelors, Jack and Algernon, both find themselves pretending to be someone they are not in order to get what they want. Their actions cause confusion and cat fights when two ladies, Gwendolen and Cecily find themselves falling for the fictional “Earnest.” Top it off with the indomitable Lady Bracknell, whose matchmaking skills rely heavily on evaluating someone’s social standing and you’ve got a recipe for hilarity.

I’ve always loved this play and rereading it was a treat. I also had the chance to finally see it performed in May and I loved it. That version set the story in the 1990s instead of the 1890s, but the text was exactly the same, which reminded me that romantic comedies really haven’t changed too much.

This play also contains many of Wilde’s most infamous lines. Here’s a few of my favorites:

“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”

“To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”

“I'll bet you anything you like that half an hour after they have met, they will be calling each other sister.
Women only do that when they have called each other a lot of other things first.”

BOTTOM LINE: Read it! It’s a quick and delightful play.

I read this as part of the Let’s Read Plays yearlong event hosted by Fanda. From November 2012 to October 2013 participants will read 12 classics plays throughout the year, at least one each month.

Pairing Books with Movies: The Blue Castle

The Blue Castle

by L. M. Montgomery

★★★★☆

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde

That is one of my favorite quotes and it explains this story perfectly. Valancy Jane Stirling is only 29, but she’s been relegated to the role of old spinster in her family. She has, as Wilde said, been existing, but not living. It’s not until she receives some startling news that she decides to change her lot in life.

It’s so satisfying when she finally starts standing up for herself, but it’s so sad that it takes such a dramatic twist to get her to break out of her shell. The book is really about having the courage to live the life you want. Valancy and Barney Snaith are both good characters. They both have to learn to trust someone else with their happiness, a difficult thing for anyone to do.

This is the first Montgomery book I’ve read outside of the Anne of Green Gables series. While I will say I love those books more, I still loved her writing style in this one. I had longer to get attached to the characters on Prince Edward Island than I did to those in this book.

BOTTOM LINE: The story is predictable but sweet. It’s the equivalent of a really good romantic comedy movie. So save it for when you’re in the mood for a charming tale.

"You made me believe again in the reality of friendship and love."

"Fear is the original sin. Almost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something."

“She, who had been afraid of almost everything in life, was not afraid of death.”

“People who don’t like cats always seem to think that there is some peculiar virtue in not liking them.”

Pair with a viewing of Now, Voyager. The 1942 Bette Davis movie is about an old maid who gets a second chance at life. Her visual transformation in the movie is particularly fun!

A Victorian Celebration Giveaway!

Giveaway Closed: Kerry @ Entomology of a Bookworm is the winner!

Last year I participated in a Victorian Literature Challenge and read 15 books that fall into that category. I developed a huge appreciation for the genre* and realized how much I enjoy it. I also discovered a few new authors whose work I’m looking forward to exploring.

So when Allie at A Literary Odyssey decided to host a Victorian Celebration this summer I couldn’t resist. To join in the fun I’m giving away three Victorian novels that I love: Jude the Obscure, Jane Eyre and Great Expectations. All three are wonderful in their own ways and if you haven’t read them yet, this is the perfect opportunity.
 
For a chance to win all three books (seen above) leave a comment with your email address and your favorite Victorian novel. This giveaway is open to US residents only, sorry guys!
 
For my own reading choices for the Celebration I decided to definitely read Villette by Charlotte Bronte (1853) and The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (1878). I’m also going to try and fit in a couple more from the following list:

- The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1890)
- Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (1868) 

- The Warden by Anthony Trollope (1855) 


- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1844) 

- Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (1848)

If you’re looking for other ideas of Victorian books to read, here are the books I finished for last year’s Challenge.
1) Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (1895)


2) The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1902)


3) Middlemarch by George Eliot (1874)

4) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850) 


5) The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (1881)
 

6) The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (1905) 


7) The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells (1897)
 

8) Heidi by Johanna Spyri (1880) 

9) Kim by Rudyard Kipling (1901) 

10) King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard (1885) 

11) Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (1869)


12) The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1892)


13) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1869) 


14) A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)


15) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (1845)

* The Victorian era is usually defined as the lifespan of Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837-1901. Books published during these particular years and authors who lived during this time usually fall in the “Victorian” category.

Top Ten Victorian Novels

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for my Top Ten books in the genre of my choice. I decided to do Victorian novels, because to complete the Victorian Literature Challenge last year I read 15 books from that period and I have a few others I already loved.

The Victorian era is usually defined as the lifespan of Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837-1901. Books published during these particular years and authors who lived during this time usually fall in the “Victorian” category. I’ll also add that there are still many Victorian novels that I haven’t read yet, so if you don’t see your favorite here, tell me I should read it soon!

1) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850)

2) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (1847)

3) The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1890)

4) Middlemarch by George Eliot (1874)

5) Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (1895)

6) Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)

7) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1892)

8) The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (1881)

9) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (1859)

10) Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1851)

Image form here.