http://gardenertofarmer.blogspot.com/ Amusings from a gardener wondering aloud (can I say “ablog”?) about where her “Falstaff brussel sprouts” got their name.

http://artofmanliness.com/2008/05/14/100-must-read-books-the-essential-mans-library/ As I’ve mentioned, I love lists like this because I want to see where Shakespeare shows up :).  Although this one comes from the site Art of Manliness, it’s really more about the classics – Huckleberry Finn, To Kill A Mockingbird, Slaughterhouse Five, etc… along with heaping helpings of real classics like Plato, Nietzche, and even Herodotus! Yes, Hamlet is on the list. I’ve read 20 of the 100.  Not sure if that’s good or not.  Doesn’t seem good.  There’s gotta be another 40 or so for which I could say, “Yeah, dang, I’ve always wanted to read that.”  Some I’ve just never heard of, or have no interest in.  Lot of war and politics books.

A little trailer I just happened across for what many consider one of the greatest Shakespearean performances ever put on film.  I had the whole thing on my ipod once, but found it hard to watch such new material (it is Welles’ own script, not specifically Shakespeare but bits of many plays cobbled together) on such a small medium.  I’ll have to try it again someday soon. (Trailer found courtesy Where The Long Tail Ends)

http://www.chasingthebard.com/ I don’t know anything about this audiobook / podcast, other than “It’s got Shakespeare in it” and I am a big fan of stuff I can subscribe to on my iPod.  I’ll let you know how it is.

http://howtodothings.com/education/how-to-easily-read-shakespeare I’m not sure I agree with much of what is on this list, which starts with “have a lexicon/dictionary handy.”  I think that a desire to fully understand the etymology of every single word in every single sentence is a little too “can’t see the forest for the trees”, honestly.  I don’t understand every single word, I admit that freely.   I move on.  I try to get the feeling for the whole passage, and then work backwards.  Took me a long time to understand what it meant to ‘defy augury’, but it didn’t change my appreciation of the play. I do, however, believe in #4, read the narrative to get the plot.  That’s basically what I do for my kids.  I  think it’s a little patronizing to suggest Charles and Mary Lamb’s version to a grown adult, but hey, whatever works.