These Books Among Us

Okay, so with school being back in session for a lot of students around the country, I thought I would share my thoughts on the idea of the “classic” novel. You may have noticed my use of quotations around the word classic. That was intentional. Mainly because what people consider a classic novel nowadays means more that it is old rather than something that should be inherently taught in classrooms to students to help them understand the way of the world of yesteryear. Now I will say that there are some novels in this category that I agree should be taught, but there are others that I disagree with. Partly because I did not like the books. Partly because I think teachers read too much into them or have thoughts on them that do not connect with what is written in the pages. But I will get to that later. Let’s start with a list of some books that I have had to read, more specifically in high school, not college because that opens another can of worms. So, let’s begin: ...

Shakespeare by Another Name by Mark Anderson (640 pages) My Rating: 1.5 Stars Date Read: 14 December 2016 Synopsis: The debate over the true author of Shakespeare’s body of work (some of which was published under the name “Shake-speare”) began not long after the death of William Shakespeare, the obscure actor and entrepreneur from Stratford-upon-Avon who was conventionally assumed to be the author. There were natural doubts that an uneducated son of a glover who never left England and apparently owned no books could have produced some of the greatest works of Western literature. Early investigators into the mystery argued for such eminent figures as Christopher Marlowe or Francis Bacon as possible authors, but recent scholarship has turned to Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as the true Shakespeare. “Shakespeare” by Another Name is the first complete literary biography of Edward de Vere that tells the story of his action-packed life—as student, soldier, courtier, lawyer,...