Booknotes 4.26

The Life and Death of King John, by William Shakespeare, published 1623, play. My first time reading any of Shakespeare’s historical plays. Enjoyed it — the Arthur parts were especially compelling — and I’m looking forward to the rest of the histories.

The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe, by Matthew Gabriele & David M. Perry, published 2021, nonfiction. About the supposed fall of Rome (asserting that it did not actually fall), Charlemagne, Vikings, the Crusades, the Black Death, Iberia’s convivencia, Byzantium, and more, showing that the Dark Ages were in fact full of humanity and innovation and goodness along with all the bad parts. Liked it, especially the Iberian section and the latter third or so of the book where it talked about Marie de France, Eleanor of Aquitaine (who, speaking of King John, was the mother of John and Richard I), and Hildegard von Bingen, among others.

The Raigne of King Edward the Third, by William Shakespeare (in part), published 1596, play. Authorship issues aside, this one didn’t really grip me, though I did rather like Audley’s monologue on the inevitability of death: “To die is all as common as to live; / The one in choice, the other holds in chase: / For from the instant we begin to live / We do pursue and hunt the time to die: / First bud we, then we blow, and after seed; / Then, presently, we fall; and, as a shade / Follows the body, so we follow death. / If then we hunt for death, why do we fear it? / If we fear it, why do we follow it? / If we do fear, how can we shun it? / If we do fear, with fear we do but aid / The thing we fear to seize on us the sooner: / If we fear not, then no resolved proffer / Can overthrow the limit of our fate: / For, whether ripe or rotten, drop we shall, / As we do draw the lottery of our doom.”

Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury, published 1962, fantasy. I hadn’t read Bradbury since I was a kid (some of his stories and Fahrenheit 451, which I should probably reread now that I’m an adult), but wow, his writing! Crisp, concrete, visceral, physical. The effect, for me, was magical. While some of the book was weird, I generally liked it, and it fit well as a Halloween read.