I had this idea because of a weird dream I had. This project is for after I finish reading the Harry Potter books – which I’m taking longer to do than I anticipated, because I’m enjoying it so much and I want to make it last.
My next reading project – which will run parallel to my rereading The Good Fairies of New York and Lonely Werewolf Girl before finally reading Suzy, Led Zeppelin, and Me – will be to read all of Shakespeare’s plays, in chronological order. There’s at least twenty of Shakespeare’s plays I’ve not read, and you know, I really like William Shakespeare. He’s one of those people that I like so much that it will change my opinion of – hm. This sentence isn’t working out. What I mean is, when people dislike Shakespeare, they go down in my estimation (like Bernard Shaw), but when people really, really, really like Shakespeare, I feel fonder of them (like Samuel Johnson). I have this same thing about the Brownings and Oscar Wilde. If somebody says something unpleasant about them, it’s like they’ve insulted my family. I feel very angry and I want to track down the offending parties and be like HEY YOU. BACK OFF. I even went through a phase of being angry at Alexander Pope, with whom – ordinarily – I think I would have gotten on beautifully. But I was mad at him for making changes to Shakespeare’s verses. I’m sorry to say that I called him “Alexander Poop” for two months my senior year of high school before finally deciding to forgive him.
Anyway, watch out for my views on Henry VI. Coming relatively soonishly.