There seems to be a developing sub-genre of popular history which takes as its departure point a particular year and then explicates its significance and interest. Distinguished members of the species include 1066 (about Anglo-Saxon England), 1215 (a revisiting of events surrounding the Magna Carta) and 1688 (an eclectic trawl through the world of William of Orange and the Dutch East India company). By keeping their focus tight these works are able to go more deeply into their subject and, within a narrow compass, avoid the superficiality which plagues much popular historical writing.
In 1599 James Shapiro gives us a lot of information about a short period in the life of William Shakespeare. In doing so, he tells us about the financial and technical context of the construction of the Globe Theatre (commencing with the liberation of its structural oak members from another theatre. Also the dismal war in Ireland which was instrumental in the downfall of the Earl of Essex; and the occasionally lethal artistic and personal rivalries of Shakespeare’s contemporaries.
1599 was a critical year for Shakespeare. It was the year he finished Henry the Fifth, and wrote Julius Caesar, As You Like It and Hamlet. The establishment of the Globe (in which he had a significant financial stake) gave him a venue at which he could develop his art beyond the English history plays and comedies which predominated in his early period.
It is trite to observe that Shakespeare was a genius. What is harder to grasp is that he was a genius who had to make a living in the dog eat dog world of Elizabethan England. It wasn’t easy being a playwright even in a time when the average punter went to see a play about once a month. Patronage was unreliable (Queens are hard to please and earls keep losing their heads); the city council kept closing theatres and the public taste was robust rather than refined.
By giving us the texture of the Elizabethan world at a particular point in time Shapiro permits a fresh insight into Shakespeare’s amazing achievement.
Reviewed by Grant Hansen
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Shapiro was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Hestudied at Columbia University and the University of Chicago. He is currently Larry Miller Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1985. In 2011 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation, and The New York Public Library Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.
James Shapiro is currently Shakespeare Scholar in Residence at the Public Theater in New York City. He also serves on the board of the Authors Guild.
When Perry Firekeeper-Birch’s plans of a lazy Summer holidays are interrupted by her aunt, she takes on several internships throughout the course of the break. She meets new people, learns more about her past and ancestors as an Ojibwe woman, and works to claim that past back. Eventually, doing whatever it takes.
All the characters were realistic and compelling, and I fell in love with them quickly, Perry was an incredible protagonist to follow throughout the novel, and the supporting characters were charming in their own ways. The action and the foreshadowing, clues and mystery were amazing and led to a conclusion which I believe could have used more foreshadowing to really drive it home. Warrior Girl Unearthed is an incredible novel about family, the past and attempting to make amends, it felt honest and truthful and was a delightful read.
Sam is determined to win her ticket to an exclusive game design workshop, a much sought after prize by indie game developers, just like Sam. So when her ticket is snatched by Jay, she’s quick to come to an agreement with him. Whoever wins a 1v1 competition of all the classic indie video games wins the ticket. It’s the ultimate test of who deserves it more, and a challenge neither can back down from.
Despite the intense competition Sam and Jay find common ground. From their shared Australian-Malaysian background and passion for gaming, they become friends. In a tale of family and friends and games, Sam is able to find purpose and happiness in her life.
The family is beautifully portrayed and the struggles that Sam was going through to decide what she wanted to do with her life resonated strongly with me as a young adult. The fact that the story didn’t rely on romance as the driving plot feature was so refreshing. Yong’s style of writing is so sassy and captivating to read, it had me totally hooked! Two Can Play That Game is awesomely nerdy and full of warm fuzzy feelings.
Hang onto your hats, gentle readers; suspend your disbelief; and prepare to enter the world of a mathematics professor who studies nothing, makes nothing his life’s work, and believes nothing.
Wala Kitu (each name meaning ‘nothing’ in different languages, but with the real name Ralph Townsend) lives a quiet life as a professor at Brown University, Rhode Island, as an expert on nothing, and he does nothing about it.
Enter John Sill, billionaire baddie, who yearns to be a James Bond villain. He enlists the good professor’s help, with a three million dollar cheque, to break into Fort Knox where there is a box containing nothing, which will help him wreak revenge on the USA for the way it treated his parents.
Sill, with money inherited from his mother, who made it from prostitutes and property, has all the requisite toys of the multi-millionaire … a private jet, his own helicopter and submarine, even a modest yacht. Oddly, he does not actually need Kitu’s help to break into Fort Knox. But that is nothing to worry about.
With tongue firmly planted in his cheek, Everett sends up the whole idea of a criminal trying to get his own wicked way, with bodies a-plenty, gunfire, even a shark pool beneath a meeting room into which an under-achiever is tipped. There are mathematical allusions that may or may not be valid, and Kitu’s most enlightening conversations come in dreams where he chats with his one-legged dog, Trigo. Because of his missing limbs, Trigo must be carried everywhere, but Kitu’s clever colleague, Eigen Vector, adores him. She thinks she also wants to be a Bond villain but spends a good deal of the novel either brainwashed by Sill or drugged.
Dr No is a glorious romp, with Everett making a good deal of something out of nothing.
Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Percival Everett is the author of more than thirty books, most recently The Trees (shortlisted for the Booker Prize) and Telephone (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize).
Gardening, like reading, is good for the mind and the soul. Digging into a good book or getting your hands in the soil helps calm our busy brains and connect with something bigger than ourselves. No wonder studies show both activities can help combat anxiety and depression and offer many health benefits alongside what we learn while doing them.
Harriet’s Hungry Worms dives into both a smile-inducing eco-story where a young girl starts to wonder what’s so great about the big box of wriggly worms in a shady corner of the family garden. While her brother walks the dog and her sister oversees the chickens, Harriet gets worm duty; tasked with feeding 983 slimy, hungry worms living in the big green box. Each day the worms devour different things, from the neighbour’s freshly plucked weeds to the sports pages from Uncle Sam’s newspaper. All they do is eat. Or is it?
Smith and Johns have crafted a lovely story that’ll be fun for younger readers to devour, or adults to read with them. Laced with fascinating worm facts and packed with creative illustrations, this was a tale my young daughter and I both enjoyed, for its story and how it prodded us to think about the role wriggly worms play in our own garden. Dig in.
I am one of those doctors who can’t prescribe a Panadol, and got given the doctor title for my research into youth and environmental communications.
To further fuel my love of writing, I am a member of the Australian Society of Authors and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
I love all things green and this – together with our overactive compost and a few rogue worms that broke into the kitchen – inspired Harriet’s Hungry Worms.
Together with Melissa Johns’ inventive illustrations incorporating recycled materials, I’m hoping my first eco picture book will inspire young worm warriors to roll up their sleeves and put their kitchen food scraps to good use.
James Shapiro was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Hestudied at Columbia University and the University of Chicago. He is currently Larry Miller Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1985. In 2011 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Percival Everett is the author of more than thirty books, most recently 
I am one of those doctors who can’t prescribe a Panadol, and got given the doctor title for my research into youth and environmental communications.