The Great Russian Readthrough

Hello, readers!

I realize it has been a few months since I have posted here, so I wanted to give you an update on what I've been reading.

For the next semester, I am doing an independent study of Russian Literature, which I have designed to cover everything from the 19th century Golden Age (think Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and the other greats) to the 21st. The purpose of this span is not only to give me the chance to read more Russian lit (which, I confess, while incredibly strange, is something that I've wanted to do for ages), but to see how Russian history has affected what Russian authors write about. Specifically, I'm interested to see whether Soviet control of propaganda and other information which was released to the public caused authors to cloak their critiques of the government in historical events.

In order to get through everything that I will be reading this semester in a timely manner, I've set up a reading schedule over the summer so that I can read each book and take notes before the school year starts.

Here's a taste of what I'm going to be reading:

1. Eugene Onegin - Alexander Pushkin
2. Notes from Underground - Fydor Dostoevsky
3. Demons: A Novel in Three Parts - Fydor Dostoevsky
4. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
5. The Cherry Orchard - Anton Chekov
6. And Quiet Flows the Don - Mikhail Sholokhov
7. Life and Fate - Vassily Grossman
8. Siberia - Nikolai Maslov
9. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Alexander Solzhenitsyn
10. The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
11. The Funeral Party - Lyudmila Ulitskaya
12. Selected Poems - Marina Tsvetayeva
13. The Day of the Oprichnik - Vladimir Sorokin

I've already finished the first three, and I'm almost done with Anna Karenina, so I feel like I'm doing well. The only one that I'm worried about getting stuck in is Life and Fate, because it's almost as long as War and Peace (you can see that it is noticeably absent from this list - there's a reason for that). I'm really excited for discussion with these works, though.

Of the three that I've finished, I surprisingly most enjoyed Eugene Onegin. I don't usually like poetry, especially extended poems, but I couldn't put the work down. I understood the characters so well, and felt like they were human and fleshed out. By comparison, I felt like Dostoevsky's characters were too bogged down in philosophizing and passing on religion to be fully formed. And at least one of the characters in each novel has to be insane, apparently (this is a running theme I'm noticing, having found it in The Brothers Karamazov and in Crime and Punishment as well). 

Anna Karenina is interesting, in that so far (at least) it does not have nearly the level of political commentary that its companions have had. It is solely a social commentary. If anything, what it does the most is reveal the position of women in Russian society in the 19th century, through four different female characters. As I finish reading, I might keep pondering this viewpoint (maybe it could be a good paper topic!).

That's it for now - I look forward to updating you all with more about the Great Russian Readthrough! 

Happy summer reading, everyone!

So Many Books, So Little Time

I realize that I haven't posted in a while (okay, almost forever), but with classes going on, it's hard to get time to write about what I'm reading!

I've been mostly reading books for classes, but many of them are new reads for me - and ones that I'm really enjoying.

To give you a brief rundown of what I've been reading, I will go class by class. Each book will receive a brief summary, or a note that it is a reread (which it is, in the case of some of them). With those that are rereads, I will not be reviewing them, as they do not apply towards this project - but feel free to ask my opinions in the comments!

Here we go...

Absolutism and Enlightenment

This is a class that I took my freshman year, and so I'm sitting in on it this year as a way to determine what I want to do in grad school, and also because I missed having a class with my advisor. Part of the deal was that I would do the out of class reading and participate in discussion - so here is what we have been reading:

The Devils of Loudun - Aldous Huxley

This history book, written in a novelistic style, tells the story of a Jesuit priest in the village of Loudun in France who was arrested on charges of witchcraft. His trial pulled in not only his small village and their issues with Huguenot and Catholic tension, but also Cardinal Richelieu, and the event was blown into one of mass hysteria. Eventually, the man was executed and one of the nuns who accused him became a wandering visionary. It's a fascinating look at the period - and a book that we had not used in the class before.

The movie version, The Devils, is a pass - it does its best to make the story much more sensational than it even needs to be. It's already quite a sensational story as it is.

If you're interested in Church/state relationships, absolutist France, witchcraft, or mysticism, I highly recommend this.

The other books that we've been reading this semester are all rereads for me - Vermeer's Hat, The Affair of the Poisons, and Candide. I still love all of these, and loved having the chance to crack them open again.

Colonial Latin America

This class has focused on the history of Latin America - mainly modern-day Mexico, Peru, and Brazil - and the way in which life changed forever when the Spanish and Portuguese arrived. It traces interactions between native peoples and the Iberian invaders until the independence movement in Mexico. We have used three main books, but the only one which has been read in full is the following:

Victors and Vanquished: Spanish and Nahua Views of the Conquest of Mexico - Stuart B. Schwartz

As the title says, this book deals with the interactions between the native people of Mexico - called variously Mexica and Nahua by the text - and the Spanish. It is a compilation of primary source documents from both sides, with summaries of events at the beginning of each chapter.

Having never studied colonial Latin America in depth like this before, I found this book fascinating. The Mexica perspective was incredibly interesting to me, because it was occasionally filtered through the translation work of Franciscan friars - which makes me question how much of a spin the friars may have put on the documents. This book was incredibly enlightening for me, however, as it opened my eyes up to the other narrative that is so often overlooked in Euro-centric studies of the Age of Colonialism.

If you're interested in the Conquest of Mexico, the Spanish Empire, Aztec traditions, or the history of Latin America, I highly recommend.

British Literature from 1789 to the Present

The class is pretty much as the title says: we're doing a survey of British Lit from 1789 - the year of the French Revolution and the beginning of the modern period - to the current era. Much of the work we have read has been poetry or small essays by authors compiled within the Masters of British Literature collection. We have also read Persuasion and Jane Eyre, both rereads for me. However, our most modern novel is the following:

The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro's Booker Prize winning novel deals with a butler in the 1950s as he drives to see a former co-worker and copes with his memories of his former master, a Nazi sympathizer whose home was the site of many important events during the Long Weekend between the World Wars. The novel is a reflection on memory, on duty and greatness, on what it means to be British, and on life.

And I could not love it.

I tried, I really did. But the narrator, Stevens, is so heartlessly tied to his job that he carelessly tosses out information as if it were a small matter. His inability to react at key moments made me hate him. I could not, for the life of me, find sympathy for him, in any way, shape, or form - and this made reading the novel an unbearable slog.

I really loved Never Let Me Go, and, while I had some reservations about it, I enjoyed The Buried Giant. But, even if you are a rabid Downton Abbey fan (and, for the most part, I am), I would not read this novel.

Fantasy Literature

Here is where most of my reading has been coming from this semester. Two of these are rereads - American Gods and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, both of which are tried and true favorites. Two volumes we read selections from - After the Quake and Dreams Underfoot. But three have been new for me.

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights - Salman Rushdie

I must confess that I have never before read a Rushdie novel. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started reading. And I must say, a jinnia in love with a philosopher, a magical storm overtaking New York, a Candide-esque gardener and a Lady Philosopher were not what I was expecting.

The novel took a good while to pick up, but once it would start, it would cycle off-topic once again. If you are familiar with the 1000 and 1 Nights, which this novel is mirroring, then this should make sense - but if you are not, this is confusing and can make for a very difficult read.

I enjoyed sections of this novel, but I'm not sure I'd pick it back up just for fun. If you're a fan of Rushdie's writing, then I'd suggest it. Otherwise, I'd pass this one by.

A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin

I finally get all the hype.

If you aren't familiar with Game of Thrones by this point, I'm not sure how. It's been everywhere almost, since its arrival on HBO. The first novel pretty much covers the events of the first season - up to the death of Ned Stark and the birth of Khaleesi's dragons.

I think I fell in love mostly with Martin's writing style. He writes the best food scenes since Redwall - I think most of my notes were about how I would willingly move to Westeros just for the food alone! I was also looking for hints of the War of the Roses, which he has said on multiple occasions was the inspiration and basis for the series. While I have guesses, I don't want to reveal them too early...there is a decent chance that I'm wrong.

If you like high fantasy, read this one. Trust me.

And then read The Kingkiller Chronicles, because it doesn't get enough praise.

The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell

This. Book.

I loved Cloud Atlas, and so seeing a novel with a similar set-up was exciting. Six sections, all interconnected because of the presence of one woman: Holly Sykes. Holly opens the novel, introducing us to her life, with The Radio People, her strange younger brother, Jacko, and the actions that she took after one fight with her mother that change the lives of everyone in her family forever.

I was hooked - right up until the last section. Holly returned as narrator for the final section, in a post-apocalyptic wasteland of Ireland where she is a grandmother. It almost felt as if the author had lost Holly's voice in the midst of his writing about her from others' perspectives, and I didn't quite find the ending believable.

Despite the ending, I highly recommend this novel and Cloud Atlas. Both will have you on the edge of your seat.

Civil War and Reconstruction

Last but not least come the books I've been reading for Civil War and Reconstruction. We have been using selections from This Mighty Scourge, along with the following:

This Great Struggle: America's Civil War - Steven E. Woodworth

This is an easy-to-follow, step-by-step account of the Civil War, from before the war to after. For the most part, it is relatively easy to read. The only exceptions are during battles, at which point Woodworth becomes burdened with military lingo that may not be easily understood by the average reader.

I think this is a very succinct look at the war, and I have greatly enjoyed reading it. For those interested in an overview of the whole war, this is an excellent choice.

The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery - Eric Foner

I am not terribly fond of Eric Foner's academic writing, which I knew going into this book, and was hoping that a full-length book would be different. My other issue with this book is its focus: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. There is only so much paper that can be devoted to the fact that Lincoln didn't have a defined plan until the end of the war, and then he was shot.

But Foner manages.

Sometimes, this book is interesting - such as Lincoln's obsession with the policies of Henry Clay (he called him the "beau ideal of a statesman") and the treatment of escaped slaves prior to the Emancipation Proclamation. But it is poorly divided, with chapters that never seem to end and a topic that, while important to study, could have been managed in a better way.

I understand that, for the purposes of this class, looking at the treatment of African-Americans was key. However, I would have liked to look at African-Americans in the war, rather than just slavery overall. Something focusing on the 54th Massachusetts, for instance, would have been interesting, or one of the contraband units formed throughout the South.

If you are interested in Lincoln and his work with the anti-slavery movement (or, depending on the period, his lack of work), then this is the book for you. If you're looking for a biography of Lincoln, then look elsewhere - this is a very narrow lens on Lincoln's political life.

The Killer Angels - Michael Shaara

This novel tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg from the viewpoints of the men who were there - Lee, Longstreet, Chamberlain, and others. It not only gives readers a first-hand account of the battle, but elicits sympathy for both sides and what occurred.

I loved this book. By the end, I just wanted to give Robert E. Lee a hug - he was so depressed and just wanted to go home and play with his grandchildren. I do think this novel takes advantage of its first person narrative to tug at the reader's heartstrings, however, and so is not as accurate as a history book could be.

That being said, if you like novels about military events or the Civil War, this is the great Civil War novel. Definitely pick this one up.

A Year in the South, 1865: The True Story of Four Ordinary People Who Lived Through the Most Tumultuous Twelve Months in American History - Stephen V. Ash

This book is a form of bottom-up history - looking at the lives of average people instead of the big names. And it is fascinating.

It follows four people - a slave, a Virginia war widow, a paroled Confederate soldier, and a preacher living on a  plantation - who lived across the Confederacy in 1865, tracking their lives and how they survived the end of the war and the beginning of Reconstruction. It does a good job of using primary sources and explaining exactly what situations in each area were at the period. The prose is engaging, and the stories are incredibly human.

This is a must-read to understand Southern life after the end of the Civil War if you are interested in the period.

Outside of Class

Of course I've been reading outside of class! I've read two novels in my free time, Carry On and Gray, both of which were excellent. I'm also still working my way through Alexander Hamilton, which is as fascinating as ever.

That's a lot of reviews, so I hope you enjoyed them! Let me know if you have any questions in the comments!

First Books of the Year

It's only been seven days of 2016, and I've already finished two books and am working on a third.

The book that I'm working on is Ron Chernow's Hamilton biography. After spending my whole semester with Hamilton: An American Musical on repeat, I felt it was only fitting to read the book it was based on (especially since it's been sitting on my bookshelf unread for years). And so far, it's been fascinating - although I have gotten bogged down in a lot of banking and economic terminology that isn't exactly the most exciting of reading.

The two books that I've finished are Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo, and Landline, by Rainbow Rowell. From this point on, please be warned: I will be discussing the whole novel, so spoilers are possible. 

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Okay, now that that's out of the way...

Shadow and Bone

Leigh Bardugo

The premise of Shadow and Bone is one that has become incredibly familiar - a young girl must save her people from certain disaster, all while being torn between two attractive men. In this case, the girl is Alina Starkov - a mapmaker from the First Army of Ravka, a country literally torn in two by the Shadow Fold, an area of darkness so deep that those who wander in don't see the creatures who kill them until it's too late. After saving her regiment's skiff from destruction in the Shadow Fold, it is revealed that Alina is actually a Grisha, one of the upper echelon of society who have magical abilities. Not only is Alina a Grisha, but she is the long-awaited Sun Summoner - the one who can remove the Shadow Fold.

Reading the novel was, as I read it, fascinated by the story and the characters. Everything kept me pulled in and I could not put the book down.

Looking back on the novel, there were two major issues for me that would keep me from buying this or rereading it. The first was the unmasked use of Russian culture; the second, the lack of character development.

First, the novel is set in Ravka, which is practically a fictional version of Tsarist Russia. A building is described as having onion domes (a distinctly Eastern European and Asian trait often seen in Russian architecture); characters fear being sent off to a Siberia-esque area called Tsibeya, where people live in work and prison camps; and a shadowy priest hides beside the throne, echoing Rasputin, the monk who befriended Nicholas II and Alexandra. Not only this (and these are only the ones that come to mind), but the names of characters are all incredibly Russian. Take the main character, for instance. Alina Starkov is a Russian name - with the one exception that, if it were truly in Russian, her last name would be Starvoka or Starkovna. This use of Russian culture is so obvious that I can replace Ravka with Russia and the story still makes sense (although the story becomes a strange historical fiction/fantasy amalgam).

Second, the characters are not fully formed. All I really know about Alina is who she is in relation to other characters in the story. There is not a moment where I can fully define Alina as a solid person, her own woman. Instead, she spends the novel divided by her need to help her people and her love for two different men, who are just as caricatured as she is. Her childhood friend, Mal, is the "nice guy" - always there for her, lovable even though he sleeps around, and the best tracker in Ravka. The Darkling is the dark, mysterious "bad guy" - practically Kylo Ren with a little Mr. Rochester thrown in. Neither of their relationships with Alina is defined enough for me to either get to know them or to really care about them as people.

Overall, I would suggest this novel for people who want a quick, fun read, but aren't interested in a deep, thought-provoking read. Excellent beach reading.

Landline

Rainbow Rowell

Georgie and Neal's marriage is falling to pieces - and it couldn't happen at a worse time, since it's both Christmas and the chance for Georgie's tv show to be picked up by a network. As Neal and their two daughters head off to Nebraska for Christmas without her, Georgie discovers a link to Neal in the past - and her actions might affect what happens with their relationship in the present.

I really loved the use of time travel here - it wasn't actual time travel, but vocal time travel through a telephone. And Georgie was incredibly aware of the repercussions of time travel - there were plenty of sci-fi references to show that she was definitely a nerdy teen growing up. What I enjoyed the most here (and what I found sadly lacking from the first novel) was the character dynamics - between Georgie and Neal, and between Georgie and Seth, her best friend from college. I actually felt chemistry between these characters - they came off of the page and seemed like real, breathing people to me. And for fans of Rowell's novel Fangirl, there's an appearance by some of the novel's characters (I won't say where - I don't want to ruin the surprise!).

I really enjoyed reading Landline - I would recommend it, and any of Rowell's other works, to people looking for strong narrative style and intriguing plots.

Have any thoughts on these books? Ideas on how to improve my reviewing style? Leave me a comment below!

What's Next?

It's almost 2016 - this coming August, it will make two years of blogging here.

So my plan is to continue to blog.

For 2016, one of my resolutions is to complete a reading challenge - something that I attempted to do last year, but failed miserably at, because there were strict guidelines as to what I could and could not read.

This year, my reading challenge is to finish the books that I've already bought. And, for the most part, those are books that are sitting firmly in the nonfiction portion of my bookshelves.

So, in the next few months, expect a resurgence of my Van Gogh biography read through (which I had to put aside while I was in Europe because the book was too large to carry with me); a look at the biography that inspired the hit musical Hamilton; books on the French Revolution and the Glorious Revolution, on witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts and in France, on poets and authors. And also keep an eye out for stories of me reading classic novels, fantasy fiction (this will finally be the year I tackle Game of Thrones), and even some YA classics.

And all of it will be tied up with what I'm doing on campus and what I'm studying in classes.

Fingers crossed that I can keep this up.

Wish me luck!

Happy New Year, readers.

Reflections

It has been such a semester.

I felt that, in order to do it complete justice, I needed to step back and reflect on it for a while.

And, looking back on Bologna - after Christmas has passed, after being in America and returning to American culture for about three weeks - I have to say that I miss it terribly.

I miss the walking everywhere I went - because not only did it justify having gelato every week (if not once, then two or three times) - it brought me into contact with people that I wouldn't have had the chance to observe. I got to really see Bologna by walking through it, and got the chance to fall in love with its cobbled streets, its covered walkways, and its piazzas.

It also didn't hurt that, while I was overseas, the walking helped me shed an extra ten pounds.

I miss the food - although who wouldn't? I miss being able to walk out the door and know that there was quality pizza right across the street - and that I knew the guy who ran the restaurant, and he knew me, my order, and my preferences, and would stop by my table to chat and say hi. I miss knowing that I could pop into a coffee shop and grab a latte macchiato at any hour of the day and no one would question me. I miss pasta e fagioli, pasta carbonara, tagliatelle alla bolognese, and cotoletta alla Bolognese. I miss walking down to a small hole in the wall restaurant every week with my roommate, sitting down at our table, and eating what was recommended to us by staff that were enthusiastic both about their food and their customers.

I miss the travel. I had no idea that I was going to leave America and come back in three months having spent time in Greece, England, Spain, Poland, Germany, and (briefly) France. I treasure the chance to go to sites that I only dreamt of seeing - Delphi, Sagrada Familia, the Parthenon Museum, the city of Torun, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the David, the Duomo in Milan - and I know that next time I'm in Europe, I have to expand my horizons even more. Especially in Germany, because I only saw the airport in Germany, and I wish I'd had more time to see it properly.

Most of all, I miss the people. I miss the classmates with whom I spent practically every waking hour in Bologna, learning about environmental ethics, Italian language and Bolognese history, and art history. I miss bonding with them over meals in the mensa, and using what little Italian I knew to communicate with the staff and teaching them English in return. I miss traveling around Italy and Europe and meeting people who, no matter what, reminded me of why I came to Italy in the first place - from the students at Loyola who bonded over the American in Europe experience with us all at our farewell dinner in Torun to the woman in Stratford who helped me call a cab from the train station, their kindness and welcoming nature helped me to shed my nervous nature and open up to new experiences.

But every experience has its downsides.

I don't miss being away from everyone at home. In fact, being back stateside has made me even more grateful for cell service and wifi so that I can remain in contact with my friends and family in a way that wasn't possible in Europe.

I don't miss the fear. After Paris, everyone at home (and some people in Europe, although not the majority), began to panic about my being overseas. I didn't even know it, but over the holidays my family's first question about my trip wasn't, "What was your favorite part?" but "Were you afraid?" or "What happened in Europe? What was the climate like after...you know..." And I've already addressed this here, so I won't rehash it for you again, but I really don't miss personally being afraid while everyone else thought I was insane. And getting home and finding out that no one really understands what it's like? It doesn't make things any better.

However, I don't think these negatives outweigh the positives of my time overseas. I'm a different person now than I was when I left in September, and I think Italy has been a huge part of it.

Grazie, Bologna.

"Sweet Swan of Avon:" Rediscovering Stratford-upon-Avon

After our class trip to Paris was cancelled, I wasn't quite sure what to do with my Thanksgiving break. At first, I toyed with simply staying in Bologna for the weekend, hanging out with my classmates and spending my weekend traveling on day trips to cities in Italy - maybe even making it to Castel del Monte, my great-great-great grandfather's home town. But I realized that I probably wouldn't actually do any of those trips, and I would most likely just stay in my dorm for the entirety of the break - sometimes, I'm just too lazy to actually do anything.

My fears of another attack like the one in Paris also crippled my planning - the US State Department published warnings about Milan and Rome, telling Americans not to go to major sites in either city. And I was talking with my dad while trying to plan what I would do, and mentioned that I was afraid that I would wake up one day and be posting a comment that said, "I can't believe that saw the Duomo in Milan/St. Peter's Basilica/the Colosseum and now it's gone. So heartbreaking." to my Instagram, Facebook, tumblr, and even to this blog. My fears of each trip being my last started to get to me.

Finally, my mom called me and told me that she didn't really care where I went, as long as I went somewhere that wasn't Bologna. And she suggested Dublin. So that started my planning.

Dublin wasn't on my list of places to go, but the UK was - I've been to London before, but I went four years ago, as part of a school trip the summer before my senior year of high school. I've wanted to go back to that part of the world ever since I left.

My plans for Dublin were smashed as soon as I saw just how expensive the hotels were - and that didn't even start on the museums, meals, and flight costs.

So I thought I'd just give up.

And then I remembered my favorite part of my trip to England.

On my previous visit, we had spent a day in Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of William Shakespeare, touring his birthplace and visiting the home of his wife, Anne Hathaway. It was probably my favorite part of our trip - I think that moment, and our tour of the Globe Theatre, cemented my obsession with Shakespeare and his works.

After looking up how to get to Stratford - it's small enough that I couldn't fly directly there, but needed to take a plane to Birmingham and two trains to the center of town - I booked a bed and breakfast, and then began planning the dream trip of a lifetime.

And I was planning to do it alone.

On Thanksgiving, while the rest of my classmates were planning an epic Friendsgiving feast and playing football in the quad at Camplus, I was waiting at the airport in Bologna to print off my boarding passes and board my flight to Munich. Once in Munich, I had to pass through German customs (which earned me my first real stamp on my passport since I went through customs in Amsterdam on arriving in Europe in September), and then passed four and a half hours wandering the gates, eating lunch, and charging my phone. I then flew from Munich to Birmingham, England. When I landed in Birmingham, it was only 4:45 local time, but it was already completely black outside - something that I hadn't been prepared for.

After pulling some pounds from a machine (gotta love different monetary systems), I went to the train station via a quick inter station train between the airport and the train station. After talking to the gentleman at the counter, I bought tickets for my journey to and from Stratford, and then caught my first train, which took me to Leamington Spa. There, I bought a sandwich and some tea, and waited for my second train to come into the station.

Leamington Spa Station

Once I arrived in Stratford, I realized that the way that I had planned on walking to the station was blocked off by construction, so I looked for a taxi stand in order to get to my B&B. However, I saw no posted signs for a taxi stand, and so I had to look for a local to ask for directions. I stopped a woman who was walking up to catch a train, and asked if she knew of a taxi stand nearby. She stopped, thought about it, and handed me a card with a taxi company's phone number on it, and told me that she was going to go buy her ticket, but she would wait for me to get a cab before she left. It took calling four taxi companies, but I finally wound up with a cab, and only a 10-15 minute wait. The woman - whose name I never caught, but to whom I am eternally grateful - had to catch her train, but left me the card for future emergencies.

After my cab picked me up from the train station, I walked into the B&B and was taken up to my room. I had booked a single with private bath, and so was expecting a twin bed and a tiny little bathroom. What I got was a large, double bed, with a small but clean bathroom, and a beautiful view of Stratford. After a quick chat with my family to wish them a happy Thanksgiving and tell them that I had made it safe, I curled up in bed and went to sleep.

My first day in Stratford I spent visiting properties owned by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. My day started at 8 AM with an English breakfast at my B&B, and I left at 9:15 to walk from the B&B to the town center. The walk was much shorter than I had expected - and my first visit, to the Shakespeare Birthplace, wasn't until 10 - so I wandered down one of the streets. As I walked, I found a bookstore, Waterstones, and popped in for a bit, to warm up and kill some time.

Waterstones is basically the British version of Barnes and Noble. However, they carry literally every special edition of every classic novel ever written - and in Stratford, they have an entire shelving unit devoted to William Shakespeare. As soon as I walked in, I spotted a pile of beautifully bound classics - one of which was Pride and Prejudice. The sign on the table said that the books were limited edition releases by Penguin for this Christmas, and only available at Waterstones.

Needless to say, I picked up a copy. What better way to memorialize a trip to the UK than Jane Austen?

I wandered upstairs and looked through the history and biography sections (sadly lacking in American history - and it was quite strange to see British history merely labeled "history"), and spent some time looking at different editions of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare and individual plays. On my way back down, I spotted a tote bag that said "I Love Darcy" and snagged it - if I was going to buy something Austen, I might as well go all the way.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an Austenite in search of Pride and Prejudice will always find more Pride and Prejudice things.

As I was checking out, my cashier remarked that she didn't even know that they carried that tote bag, and seeing it made her really want one. She also said that the Penguin editions were just absolutely gorgeous, and she had one also. She then pointed out the correct direction to the Birthplace, and I headed towards my first Shakespeare stop for the day.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust runs seven buildings in Stratford-upon-Avon. Five are within the town itself - the Birthplace, Harvard House, Hall's Croft,  and New Place and Nash's House. The others are outside of town - Anne Hathaway's Cottage, a 30 minute walk outside of town, and Mary Arden's Farm, two train stops away. New Place and Nash's House are being restored currently, and will reopen in the spring, and so Harvard House, which is not normally open, was open during my visit.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

"And there is pansies, that's for thoughts." - Hamlet IV.v

The Shakespeare Birthplace

After purchasing my entrance ticket, I wandered through the brief Shakespeare exhibit the Birthplace Trust had out, and then entered the Birthplace - one of the first people to do so for the day. The rooms were exactly how I had remembered them from my visit four years before - but this time, I was able to spend as much time as I wanted to wandering and listening to the speakers. I learned about the obsession with long fingers on gloves in Tudor England, and the reason why boys were dressed in dresses until they turned 8. I also was told that new scholarship is suggesting that Shakespeare visited London on business for his father's glove making shop during his lost years, and wound up as a patron of a group of players before he joined the Lord Chamberlain's men. Finally, I walked into the last room of the house, and learned what happened after John Shakespeare, William's father, died.

Constantly leaving their mark on history - visitors used to carve their names into the windows (Henry Irving is the signature on the top left of the center pane)

Once his father died, Shakespeare no longer needed his childhood home - he had already purchased New Place, the nicest house in the town, for his own family. Instead, Shakespeare expanded the house, and turned most of it into a tavern. The tavern remained open until the 1700s, when its last owner died, and no one purchased the tavern. The building was closed, and lay in disarray until rumors came about that P.T. Barnum wanted to buy the house, ship it to the States, and make it part of his circus. Charles Dickens was having none of that, and so he put on productions of Shakespeare's plays in London, with the money going to the purchase of the Birthplace and the foundation of the organization today known as the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Inside the room were the in-house players, who offered to perform bits of Shakespeare's plays by request. One woman requested Antony and Cleopatra, and so I was privy to a performance of part of Cleopatra's death soliloquy:

"Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have

Immortal longings in me: now no more

The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip:

Yare, yare, good Iras; quick. Methinks I hear

Antony call; I see him rouse himself

To praise my noble act; I hear him mock

The luck of Caesar, which the gods give men

To excuse after their wrath: husband, I come:

Now to that name my courage prove my title!

I am fire and air; my other elements 

I give to baser life. So; have you done?

Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips.

Farewell, kind Charmian; Iras, long farewell."

 - Antony and Cleopatra, V.ii

After which point, Iras suddenly drops dead (as our actress noted), and the scene gets much harder to perform. I then requested Richard II, and got to see and hear part of my favorite Shakespeare soliloquy (which she admitted that she had only just started learning, but she would try, since I asked):

"No matter where; of comfort no man speak:

Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;

Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes

Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.

Let's choose executors and talk of wills:
And yet not so, for what can we bequeath
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?

Our lands, our lives and all are Bolingbroke's,
And nothing can we call our own but death
And that small model of the barren earth
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.

For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings;
How some have been deposed; some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;

Some poison'd by their wives: some sleeping kill'd;
All murder'd: for within the hollow crown

That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be fear'd and kill with looks,
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,

As if this flesh which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable, and humor'd thus
Comes at the last and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!"
 - Richard II III.ii

At which point she said that she couldn't remember any more (it is rather a long soliloquy, and not an easy one) - but for a moment, I got to hear a speech that most people don't perform in the States, and done well.

It was a highlight of my day.

From the Birthplace (and its gift shop - the most wonderful shop in the world), I went into Starbucks and then to Harvard House. The house belonged to Thomas Rogers, a successful member of Stratford society. His daughter Katherine married Robert Harvard; their son John moved to Massachusetts with his wife and became the namesake and founder of Harvard University. The house belongs to Harvard University, and is cared for by the Birthplace Trust. 

Harvard House

So many tiny stairs, so little time for me to trip and bump my head

It is a small house, and not designed for tall people to walk through - I managed to bump my head twice on the way down and trip over my feet on the stairs. But the family was definitely wealthy - they had painted their walls and had stained glass in one of their windows. There were also Lancaster roses around the house, which I found particularly interesting, given the location of the town near Warwick - a stronghold of Yorkist support during the Wars of the Roses. 

Original painted walls in Harvard House

Stained glass windows

Harvard House's staff were especially excited to see an American tourist, and so we talked about Thanksgiving (which they had hosted the day before) and where I was from. I then walked on to Hall's Croft.

Hall's Croft was the home of Shakespeare's eldest daughter, Susannah, and her husband, Dr. John Hall. Susannah was the only one of Shakespeare's children to have a child who married - her first son-in-law, Thomas Nash, is buried in the family crypt in Trinity Church. The house is incredibly spacious, with high ceilings and large fireplaces. The Halls also had a large garden behind their house. Dr. Hall practiced medicine from their home, and earned enough money to purchase several paintings - both portraits and still lifes (although whether these images are from the Halls' time in the house or the time of those after, I'm not quite sure). Also on display was an exhibit on Shakespeare, Stratford, and the First World War - this is the second year of the 100th anniversary of World War I, and so the exhibit was appropriate.

Dining room in Hall's Croft

Dr. Hall's medical practice 

A view to the garden outside

After a full morning, I stopped for cream tea at the cafe downstairs, and had a pot of English Breakfast and a scone with clotted cream and strawberry preserves. It was absolutely delicious, and just what I needed to pick me up before I stopped for my last planned visit of the day - Trinity Church, the site of Shakespeare's grave.

Lesson learned: I'm not allowed near clotted cream...

I had seen the gravesite before, of course - but I had been sped past it last time, in order to get back on the bus. This time, I walked in, taking copious pictures of everything. Even after two minutes of pictures, I still managed to have enough time to stand alone in front of Shakespeare's tomb and talk to it.

Trinity Church 

The entrance to Shakespeare's grave 

"Good friend for Jesus' sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest be he that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones." 

A memorial to Shakespeare designed by his friends and family in 1623

The Shakespeare family graves

It might seem a little weird, talking to the grave of a long-dead poet. But without this poet, I've realized, a lot of what I love - the words that I enjoy working with so much, the books I love to read - they wouldn't be here. And so I stood there quoting from Shakespeare's plays to him for five minutes, and almost started on Ben Jonson's poem, before realizing that bidding a 400 year old corpse to rise was probably a bad idea. Instead, standing there, I began to tear up, and, softly, I murmured, "Thank you. For everything."

As I was walking out (and trying not to cry - it was kind of a big deal), I asked the woman at the ticket desk about the history of the church. We wound up having a chat for 10 minutes about the church's history, the formation of Anglicanism and Cromwell's effect on churches in England, and another church in Stratford that she suggested I visit (since I'm studying history and English). I really enjoyed her chat - and I'm also grateful that she didn't judge me in the least for asking questions about her history, her church, or area. Thank you.

"For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
 When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
 Must give us pause." - Hamlet III.i

I wound up walking back towards that second church, the Guild Chapel, but it was locked - it contains partial frescoes preserved from Cromwell's attacks on churches. Trying to kill some more time - I was getting tired, but it was only 3:15, and I had at least another 45 minutes before the sun went down - I walked into a local bookstore called the Chaucer's Head. There, of all places, I found a book on Robespierre and the French Revolution (which I believe is out of print in the States). After purchasing the book, I walked to a Costa Coffee, bought a sandwich and a tea, and walked to my B&B for the evening.

The next day (after another English breakfast), I walked to the Royal Shakespeare Company, on the banks of the River Avon. I've been dreaming about seeing a show at the RSC since I was in high school - and this trip, I booked a ticket to their matinee performance of Wendy and Peter Pan. I also had booked a backstage tour of the theatre (since I've seen the backstage areas of the National Theatre in London, I felt it was only right that I should do a similar tour here, as well). 

The River Avon

I got to the theatre early (surprise surprise), and so I walked along the banks of the Avon, taking pictures of the swans and the RSC. Once I picked up my tickets, I waited for my tour inside the area just outside of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre - and was greeted by a large production photo of David Tennant (my favorite Doctor from Doctor Who) in his production of Richard II. 

Immediately, I felt at home.

They wouldn't let me take pictures inside for copyright reasons, so I took a photo of my ticket instead

My tour group was very small - just myself, the tour guide, and a married couple who had come because they had seen lots of shows from the RSC but never been on a tour before. I got to see the quick change areas (apparently, to keep the audience from hearing them, all quick change costumes are done with magnets - something I'd never considered before) and the back of the stage, where they were keeping the Jolly Roger for the matinee production. The original stage of the RSC Theatre was built in 1932 to house 1,000 people - but in the 1950s, it was expanded to hold 1,500. The stage was a traditional proscenium arch, behind which all the action took place. The new stage, built in 2007 and opened in 2010, is a thrust stage, maintaining the proscenium arch, but putting the action before it. Each production has a different stage, to accommodate the sets and entrances from underneath. It can now seat 1,045 people. 

From the RSC Theatre, we walked upstairs to the dressing rooms and the laundry, where costumes are kept. Every piece of fabric that touches the skin must be washed after each show - that means after the matinee and before the evening show, each actor's costume is cleaned. 

From there, we entered the Swan Theatre. The Swan is on the site of the original theatre built by Charles Flower, a brewer in Stratford who was determined to give Shakespeare a memorial in his hometown. The original building burned down to the ground in the 1920s in a mysterious fire that was spotted by locals at the Black Swan/Dirty Duck Pub down the road (which has delicious food - it's the place I ate at when I was in town four years before). The site was refurbished as a practice space, but eventually the company needed a second stage. The money for the project came from a Kansas billionaire, and the theatre opened in the 1980s. The exterior of the stage is currently undergoing restoration.

From the Swan, we walked into the light and sound booth, and then to the Rooftop restaurant, where we saw just how far back the furthest row of seats were from the stage in the original RSC Theatre - 25 meters from center stage to the back row.

"...can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?" - Henry V I.i

After the end of my tour, I walked into the gift shop to pick up gifts and souvenirs, and then to the cafe to grab a quick bite before my show began. 

Wendy and Peter Pan was amazing - the acting was spectacular, the sets were gorgeous, and I desperately want to wear the costumes. If anything, I wish that the show had been done with actual child actors, instead of actors my age playing Wendy and Peter and the Darling children. But the best part of the show was by far the Crocodile. He came out in a long, green leather trench coat, a Doctor Who scarf, and a top hat, and then slid into a split and crawled across the stage, moving his hips completely around and pulling himself forward. The terrifying cat's eye contact lenses and the bone-cracking noises playing as he moved didn't help to make him less scary. Although he had no lines, he perfectly embodied his character, and I was enthralled whenever he was on stage.

From the show, I left to stop by Starbucks for a hot chocolate and a sandwich, and picked up a last minute book on Shakespeare from Waterstones, before heading back to my B&B in the rain. Once I dried off, I packed up for the next morning, checked into my flights, and looked at the train schedule.

After catching my trains and my flight, I landed in Frankfurt and had another four and a half hour layover, spent much the same way. Once I got back to Bologna and my dorm, I was incredibly grateful to be back - and also sad that I couldn't stay longer.

I've never been somewhere where everyone was so friendly and ready to help me. All of the people that I stopped and talked to were incredibly cheerful and nice, and were willing to give me advice (and I was even mistaken for Canadian, which was a welcome surprise). I could definitely see myself living in a place like Stratford - maybe even in Stratford, if I had the chance.

Most importantly, I had the chance to relax before exams and get away from daily life. 

So thank you, Stratford, for one of the best experiences of my life. I can't wait to come back.

"Soul of the age!
The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!
My Shakespeare, rise!"
 - Ben Jonson, "To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare"

Thinking Over Paris

On November 13, Paris was attacked by terrorists.

When it happened, I was out of Bologna, on the Iberian Peninsula. And I had two friends (and classmates) in the city.

So my reactions to what happened might be a little different than anyone else's.

But this is what I've been feeling for the past few weeks.

On my flight out to Spain, I felt like something was wrong. There was a knot in my stomach for the entire flight, and it didn't untwist until we were in our hotel and had eaten dinner. And then we got back, and everything came crashing back.

After we got up the next morning, everything seemed different. I had a wonderful time, but underneath all of it was a lingering sense of dread and fear - of wondering how long the buildings and historic sites I was seeing, the restaurants and cafes that my roommate and I were walking into, would last after we went to them - if, when I turned the corner, that corner would be the last thing I saw.

Getting on the airplane to Bologna, I had my bags searched because I had purchased soap and they thought it could be explosives.

In Bologna, I found out that they cancelled our school trip to Paris - at the time, I figured, because of all of the raids occurring and the issues of having students there when there could still be a viable attack.

Walking to classes in the town center that Monday was a nightmare. For the first time on the whole trip, I didn't feel like being an American gave me any protection at all. If anything, it put a giant red target on my back. And it made me nervous.

All I wanted to do was forget that anything had happened in Paris. My friends made it back safe, and so I wanted to ignore the fact that they had nearly died (and that Europe was beginning to embroil itself in what appears to be the beginnings of WWIII). But my professors insisted on discussing everything - the background of Islamic radicalism, the reasons for the bombings, and what Europe would do next. My friends were allowed to leave the room. I was not.

Tuesday, we had a group meeting that was supposed to be about why we had cancelled the Paris trip. What it turned into was a "let's share our feelings" meeting - which I'm not opposed to, but I had not signed up for a feelings session. I was there for strictly business. I wanted to get in and get out.

And then, our director informed us that he had cancelled the trip, not because he thought it wasn't safe to go to Paris (in fact, he encouraged us to still go if we wanted so that we wouldn't have to lose the tickets we had all bought), but because he didn't want to deal with getting all of us through the increased security in places like the Louvre (which already has some of the tightest security in the world for a museum, so that would've been a hassle anyway). And I was slightly upset - because of all the reasons to not go to Paris, that seemed like a horrible one.

And after Wednesday, it was like nothing had ever happened in Paris. Europeans haven't really done anything different - in fact, Italy said they would be stepping up their security measures, but I've been through the airport twice since they've said so, and I have yet to see it happen.

Yes, the events in Paris are and were terribly sad. And yes, I probably could've gone this weekend and been perfectly safe there (and probably safer than anywhere else in Europe).

But I chose not to.

Because I feel like Paris (and France together) are still in mourning. And I'm not sure that I would have enjoyed a visit to Paris right now, two weeks after the tragedy. Yes, I had classmates who went this weekend and had a wonderful time. But Paris is my dream - ever since I realized that I wanted to study French Rev, I've wanted to go there. And I want to enjoy my dream.

This just wasn't the time to do it.

If I've learned anything from my studies, though, it's that the French are the wrong people to mess with. Attack them - take away their rights, their bread, their land; destroy their cities, kill their people,  occupy their towns - and they unify and attack right back.

France will come out of this more unified than we have seen them in a long time.

I send prayers towards Paris, and the people who live in France. May your nation find peace again.

"Français, en guerriers magnanimes

Portez ou retenez vos coups!

Épargnez ces tristes victimes,

À regret s'armant contre nous."

 - La Marseillaise, French national anthem dating to the French Revolution