The Canterbury Tales

Thursday night I attended The New American Shakespeare Tavern's adaptation of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and it was fantastic! The dialogue had been slightly changed, so though I didn't get to recite the Prologue word for word along with the actors, I was so entertained by the beer cans, Converse sneakers, a ballroom-dancing Chanticleer, tour bus, puppets, two added tales and Southern accents to notice.

I went with my friend, Lori, who gets just as excited about books, plays and history as I do. We had a great time, and hope to do more fun stuff in Atlanta soon.

The New American Shakespeare Tavern has occupied its space on Peachtree Street in Atlanta for 20 years, and they are celebrating all season with a winter schedule that includes several great plays still to come: Romeo + Juliet, King Lear and The Taming of the Shrew.

If you have the chance to see a play at this theatre, you just simply must.

Ronald Regan, Michael Deaver and Harry Potter

I've already gotten going on my 2010 reading list, and I have just finished A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years with Ronald Reagan by Michael Deaver. I was alive during all eight years of Reagan's presidency, but wasn't paying much attention to politics at the time. All I remember is that some of my family members were pleased as punch to have him as president. Others were not. I have to say that until I read the book, I wasn't sure who Michael Deaver was. Now I do.

The book wasn't any great work by any means, and I'm not sure I can even call it interesting. I'd classify it as a memoir, because instead of telling the whole picture, Deaver chose very carefully what to put in and what to leave out. When I finished the book, I couldn't even be sure that Deaver had resigned because of a scandal. Deaver was pretty vague about that, so I Googled it and came across his obituary from 2007 in the Washington Post. You can read it here.

I guess when you're the author you get to choose what you write. Anyway, it's checked off my list and I'm now on to more fun reading.

Speaking of the 2010 reading list and fun reading, my group is very excited about the upcoming opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Here's an update of the park's progress. We're hoping we'll be making a visit together one of these days.

Author News: J.D. Salinger

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." -- Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye

These are the opening lines of The Catcher in the Rye. I read the book for the first time as a junior in high school, and I'll never forget hearing the first few pages of the book as our English teacher read them aloud. It totally sucked me in. It was unlike anything I'd ever read before, and unlike everything I've read since (though James Frey's A Million Little Pieces made me think of Holden).

The author, J.D. Salinger, died Wednesday after living the last five decades as a recluse in New Hampshire. He is considered to be one of the most important writers of the 20th century. I think Holden is one of the most memorable characters in literature. He says and thinks many great things in The Catcher in the Rye. I think my favorite is, "If a girl looks swell when she meets you, who gives a damn if she's late? Nobody."

The rest of the story...

I saw an interesting news story over the weekend that brought to light the long friendship between radio personality Paul Harvey and former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Harvey often submitted his news to Hoover prior to broadcast, which goes against everything taught in a journalism course. To read The Washington Post story, click here.

I love books and movies with the theme of journalistic integrity. If you're into that too, be sure to check out:

All the President's Men (book by reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward; movie released in 1976)
Good Night and Good Luck (movie released in 2005)
Almost Famous (movie released in 2000)

And, here's another story about how journalism is portrayed in the movies. Click here.

Austen Alert!

Over the next several Sunday nights, PBS will be showing adaptations of three Jane Austen novels. To see the schedule, visit here. Emma will be shown first. To prepare yourself, go head and take the Bachelors of Highbury quiz. Apparently, my best match would be George Knightley.

Also, Sunday night, there is an Emma Twitter Party (read more about that here). Sign up to follow @pbs and @masterpiecepbs. While you're at it, feel free to start following me @betsyrhame.

Also coming up on PBS in April is The Diary of Anne Frank.

Enjoy!

Coming soon...

If you're looking for new reading material this winter, USA Today has a list of books that will be published from January to April 2010. You can sort through the list in several ways, or click through the whole list. I have quite a few books to be looking forward to!

See what's coming up: http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2010-01-12-winter-books-calendar_N.htm

Two Books to Reread

I'm promoting and planning to participate in two reading programs over the next month or two. Join me!

The books selection for Forsyth Reads Together 2010 is my all-time favorite, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. To celebrate, there are several events in February. To learn more, visit the Forsyth County Library home page.

In addition, The National Endowment for the Arts' Big Read selection is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. The Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta has several events planned to celebrate. Visit their web page for more.