Interred with their Bones, or the Da Vinci Code for Shakespeare

I was mainly writing papers last weekend, but somehow I also found time to read a fun little mystery a la Dan Brown about Shakespeare. I had heard about this book on a podcast so figured when I saw it at the library that I deserved a change from library science, political blogs, and teenage vampires. (Seriously, what do I read these days?) (Edit: just wrote another two paragraphs without noticing that I hadn't given any other info on the book. It's Interred with their Bones (or "The Shakespeare Secret" outside of the US apparently) by Jennifer Lee Carrell.)

Like with Da Vinci Code, as well as I can remember it, there are two major plots tracking together. The first is the historical treasure hunt, with information that threatens to blow up everything we thought we knew about a historical figure. In this case, it's about a missing Shakespeare play... oh, and his very identity. The second is the willingness of someone to kill to keep the information safe.

I like to think I'm decently perceptive. But when I read or watch mysteries, I really don't get it sooner than the average person. I like to think this is because I enjoy the discovery process more than being right all along, but really, I have no idea if this is true. What is true is that I figured out the twists on the murder plot pretty quickly, and wasn't convinced when Carrell starting throwing up new misinformation. That was a suprise. On the other hand, I didn't mind all that much, because the far more interesting part was trying to follow her and her characters as they march through Elizabethan, Jacobian, and Shakespearean history, plus an overview of the major controversies of Shakespeare scholarship. It made me realize that I totally do not know my Shakespeare well enough. Have I read any of the English king plays? I don't think so. Or Lear? Have I read Lear? (Why, in my "Shakespeare's England" course in college, did we only read Coriolanus and Titus Andronicus? It was a history course, but still...)

I digress. The book is fun, but still sufficiently intelligent. And nicely creepy for curling up in bed at night.

Twilight update

That series is like crack or something. I don't understand it, but I'm willing to concede that I have really enjoyed spending three straight weekends working through the first three books. The fourth, well, that's going to wait until after finals.

A couple quick things worth noting: I know Romeo & Juliet and Wuthering Heights are fairly typical teen fare; now I'm trying to decide whether Meyer's explicit use of them has made them more accessible or has otherwise turned young readers onto the classics. Also, I love this poem. And well before I saw it as the beginning quote to Eclipse, I had been thinking of it in conjunction to this series. However, I think about it kind of a lot, so maybe that's not such a coincidence.

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Now playing: Dave Matthews Band - Warehouse
via FoxyTunes

My new president supports my new career

I know it's just one line from one speech to a special interest group, but still, yay!

“More than a building that houses books and data, the library represents a window to a larger world, the place where we’ve always come to discover big ideas and profound concepts that help move the American story forward and the human story forward. ... That’s what libraries are about. At the moment that we persuade a child, any child to cross that threshold into a library, we change their lives forever, for the better. It’s an enormous force for good.”

-Barack Obama, speaking at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, 2005

Edit: 11/10 - so, apparently I already knew about this quote 3 years ago... See, I was an Obama fan back in the day. Glad so many Americans caught up with me.