Hello everyone, This is the last week of the summer reading challenge and I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. This time, we're looking at poetry and plays, to end the challenge reading a different type of text. So, let's start with the poetry. It don't know about you, but whenever anyone mentions 'poetry' I think immediately about something very long-winded and highbrow dotted with lots of 'doth' and 'speaketh' which makes all very boring, melodramatic and tedious to read. Right, forget all that - it doesn't have to be like that. Let's start with something simple. 'Michael Rosen's A to Z: the Best Children's Poetry.' Most people have heard of his 'Chocolate Cake' poem, but, in this collection, there are a mixture of humorous and more serious poems to introduce children to. I personally still like reading some of them, my particular favourites including: 'GRRRR' by Francesca Beard (true), 'Attack of the Mutant Mangoes: A Fruit Salad Ballad of Baddies' by Andrew Fusek Peters (bizarre) and 'The Painting Lesson' by Trevor Harvey (hilarious). I think my favourite, though, has to be, 'How was school?' by Lindsay MacRae - I thought it was so funny. This book is a great introduction and a way to find a nice, easy style of poetry to suit your taste. Another great book is the 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats' by T.S. Eliot. It's a of poems by the same author all about different cats, including Macavity the Mystery Cat, Magical Mr Mistoffelees and Old Deuteronomy. Not the most scholarly of his works, but thoroughly entertaining. The poems were also the inspiration behind the musical 'Cats' where many of the lyrics from the songs come from the original poems. I also love the 'Jabberwocky' by Lewis Carroll. It's a nonsense poem, but that doesn't make it difficult. It's not like those poems which, if you don't understand, you're through, because, at the end of day, it wasn't really written to be understood. It's also a fun one to read aloud, getting your tongue around the twists and turns in the words. There's also 'Hunting on the Snark' which, though incredibly longer, is no less fun. 'The Highwayman' by Alfred Noyes is a good one, too, as it was rhythmic stanzas with an interesting rhyming scheme which takes you through the story of the highwayman on his night's mischief. 'Eldorado' by Edgar Allen Poe might be one of my favourite ever poems, and it takes only half a minute to read. 'Sea Fever' by John Masefield is yet another poem which is short and sweet, but still with meaning. For something more, the poem 'If' by Rudyard Kipling is charming and thoughtful, or there is 'Kubla Khan' by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is in an older and more challenging style, but is beautiful nonetheless. Some of the more challenging poems named here are not part of a collection or larger books, but that doesn't mean there not worth reading. You can have a go at a few of them, and see what sort appeals to you, before maybe finding a collection of similar poems or more by the same author. Poetry is a very subjective thing, so I'd recommend giving all different types a go before committing yourself to reading something which you don't like and is going to cloud your judgement on poetry in the future. So, there's that done - not so scary after all. Now for plays. When I think of plays, I think of them on the stage. I think of them being acting to the accompaniment of a booming orchestra or, perhaps, adapted on the screen. Reading plays doesn't occur to me straight away, but they are different and exciting formats for reading stories of all varieties, and everyone should give them a go. The first play I read was 'Wicked' - the script of the Broadway musical. Not a hard read, as most of it is song lyrics, but I enjoyed. All the songs were playing at the back of my mine and it was a really fun way to accustom myself to the different layout and feeling of a written play. An interesting thing to note about 'Wicked' is that the play is considerably more famous than the book - 'Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West' by Gregory Maguire - on which it was based. That book was, in a way, inspired by the 1939 movie on a similar theme. It's all very tangled up, but the fact remains that the play is more famous than any previous interpretations of the story, and it is a lovely one to read. (I have a copy of the full play in a book called 'Wicked: the Grimmerie' which has information on everything about the production.) 'The Importance of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde is my favourite play, though. It's so witty, so quick, and so delightfully clever. There's nothing complicated or intimidating about it, and the mind simply whirrs through the hilarity of it all before wanting to go back and read it all again. If you're still a bit worried about reading it, watching a filmed version beforehand (or, even better, going to the theatre to see it), might help you understand the plot so that, when you read it, you can appreciate the nuances. If you still want more, there's always Shakespeare. People have written such a lot about him I don't think I have anything original to add. I would only advise that you read examples of his work which appeal to you with their plot and characters (so, for example, if you're a light, bubbly, happy sort of person, Hamlet might not be your cup of tea) because that will make ploughing through the text more fruitful. I say 'ploughing' but that's not quite the right word - though Shakespeare's English may seem incomprehensible, it is still English, and, as such, not as hard to understand as may first appear. It requires only a little bit of patience, understanding and imagination to decipher. Having a plot summary of the play might help you follow it more, but I personally think that takes away from the drama and excitement of the reading, so perhaps it might be better to search up particular passages or phrases when you happen upon them. And so, there it is - the Summer Reading Challenge has been completed. All the books and texts I've talked about will be updated throughout the website during the next couple of days, so that you can find them across the website in their rightful categories. Hopefully, you have found something across the genres we've covered which you've really enjoyed reading, and, if so, do comment about it on the blog; I'd love to hear from you!
This website is all about encouraging people to read books which they might not have chosen before, and to enlarge literacy skills across different texts which are more challenging to make confident, capable readers. And, really, it's all about having a bit of fun on the way. I hope you have done just that, and have enjoyed trying new sorts of books, and feel like you've had a go at reading something different. I'd love to hear any feedback on what you've read or learnt, and I hope you've all had a wonderful holiday. Goodbye!
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AuthorHi, I love reading all kinds of books. Here, we can talk about different types of books we're reading and recommend reads to each other. Maybe share with us your reading 'ideal meal' or one of your favourite books. Archives
August 2020
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