The Shakespeare Stealer

by Gary Blackwood
1998

Drawn by the name "Shakespeare" in the title, I grabbed this book off the shelf at our local library.

I knew I'd read it.
I hoped he'd read it.

I have.
He hasn't.

What can I do to get Boy 1 to read a book with Shakespeare filling its pages?


The Shakespeare Stealer is basically about an orphan charged with the job of stealing a copy of William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. He joins a troupe of actors at the Globe Theatre and tries to carry out his task...

Sound familiar?

The Shakespeare Stealer was a great book. I thought the characters were interesting and well-developed. I thought the writing smooth and the research (to my non-expert eye) seamless.

The only downside, in my opinion, is that it has all been done before.

The Shakespeare Stealer has different characters with different names and different circumstances, but I feel like every time I pick up a middle grade novel involving Shakespeare, there is always a script to be stolen or a plot to be foiled or a boy who is really a girl...

Is there any other story to be told?


Even so, it was a good book and I did enjoy my time in its pages.
I just wish my boy had read it. Sigh.

On that note, what he is reading will be the topic of my next post.



Reading on...

Adventures with Knives: Surviving 1,000 Hours of Culinary School

by Bob Foulkes

2011

The only TV show my hubby and I regularly watch is MasterChef.

Haven't heard of it? 

In short, it’s a bunch of amateur cooks facing off for the grand prize of money, a cookbook contract and, of course, a trophy.

The fact that I watch that kind of TV should give reason enough as to why I would pick up and read a book called, Adventures with Knives, 

And loved it!

Basically, Adventures with Knives is the account of author, Bob Foulkes, experience in culinary school. 

And his reason for going to culinary school?

In his early sixties at the time, Mr. Foulkes decided to rebel against the cultural norm of retirement, ie sitting on the couch and doing nothing all day, and go to culinary school in a “restless, self-absorbed search for meaning in [his] life.”

Adventures with Knives was a terrific read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and totally recommend it.

Bob Foulkes has a relaxed and easy writing style full of understated humour and quirky stories, all with a bunch of really useful cooking tips thrown in.

For instance,
I learned how to keep green beans green, how to intentionally under cook scallops and that all vegetable stocks start with sweating onions.

What does it mean to “sweat onions”?

For all aspiring chefs, and all watchers of MasterChef, this book is a keeper.

Reading on...