Everyday Shakespeare, Ben Crystal
Everyday Shakespeare, Ben Crystal
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

Everyday Shakespeare
Lines for Life

Author: Ben Crystal, David Crystal

Narrator: Ben Crystal, David Crystal, Hillary Crystal

Unabridged: 10 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Chambers

Published: 09/07/2023


Synopsis

An absolutely joyous, gasp-out-loud achievement. - Stephen Fry

A cathedral of consciousness - Shakespeare's uncanny insight into human nature finds us, unearthed here. - LionHeart, artist, poet, and BBC Radio London presenter

Shakespeare had an ear and hand that was able to capture our everyday thoughts and emotions, pin them to a page, and express them so well that still today they can make us feel stunned to be seen.

'Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.'
'Make not your thoughts your prisons.'
'Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.'
'And I have heard it said, unbidden guests are often welcomest when they're gone.'

With a quote for every day of the year, this beautiful book gathers the finest lines from the lesser-known corners of Shakespeare's plays and poems. While you may not be familiar with these 400-year-old phrases, you will be surprised by the immediate, easy resonance they have with modern day-to-day life and, hopefully, inspired to learn a few quotes, say them out loud, and drop them into conversation.

This audio edition is read by David, Ben and Hilary Crystal. Each quote is provided in standard British English, and then again in original pronunciation (OP), as it would have been spoken when it was first performed in the 1600s. The original pronunciation provides insight into the rhyming structure of some lines that are lost in modern pronunciation, as well as highlighting the similarities OP has to other varieties of English, notably the american 'ar' sound.

The Crystals also draw attention to points of daily life, literary, linguistic, and theatrical interest through their entertaining commentary. They offer notes of context for anyone who wants to know who originally said the words, in which play, and why.

Shakespeare's words are a mirror for us to peer into, to see if any part of ourselves, familiar or strange, is visible. Each day as you read his lines, you'll get glimpses of loves you've known, jealousies you've felt, relationships you've had, and situations you've encountered that bring a smile - or a wince - of familiarity.

Everyday Shakespeare shares the simple lines that encapsulate the wondrous complexity of life, and the enduring appeal of the Bard.

Shakespeare was not of an age, but for all time. - Ben Jonson

About Ben Crystal

Ben is an actor, author, and creative producer and explorer of original practices in Shakespeare rehearsal and production. He is an Associate Artist at the Shakespeare North Playhouse, and a patron of Shakespeare Week. He is the co-author of Shakespeare's Words (Penguin 2002), The Shakespeare Miscellany (Penguin 2005) and An Illustrated Dictionary of Shakespeare (OUP 2015, shortlisted for the 2016 Educational Writer of the Year Award) with his father, David Crystal. He wrote Springboard Shakespeare - a quartet for Arden Shakespeare / Bloomsbury, and his first solo book, Shakespeare on Toast - Getting a Taste for the Bard (Icon 2008) was shortlisted for the 2010 Educational Writer of the Year Award.He brought together the Passion in Practice Shakespeare Ensemble and was invited with his father to explore original pronunciation (OP) in the newly finished Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare's Globe over 2014-2016. He founded theShakespeareEnsemble.com, an international ensemble who make full-scale productions of Shakespeare plays in 3 days or less, exploring a fusion of Elizabethan rehearsal methods and modern physical theatre techniques. They create work that responds to the environment, the community, and the space they find themselves playing in.He gave the English Council Lecture at the British Council on Speaking the bright and beautiful English of Shakespeare. His TEDx talk was called Original Practices: Shakespeare's Craft. He tweets from @bencrystal and gives workshops & talks on performing Shakespeare around the world.

About David Crystal

David Crystal, OBE, is known throughout the world as a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster on language. His work on Shakespeare includes Pronouncing Shakespeare, Think on My Words: Exploring Shakespeare's Languages, and, with Ben Crystal, Shakespeare's Words, The Shakespeare Miscellany, and The Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary. He has written or edited over 100 books and published numerous articles for scholarly, professional, and general readerships on the history and development of English, including The Stories of English, How Language Works, Evolving English, Spell It Out: The Singular Story of English Spelling and Wordsmiths and Warriors: The English-Language Tourist's Guide to Britain, with Hilary Crystal.


Reviews

Goodreads review by 8stitches 9lives on May 24, 2023

Everyday Shakespeare: Lines For Life is the quintessential introduction to William Shakespeare; in bite-size chunks, it entertainingly and effortlessly brings to life his many plays throughout the pages using some of his most relatable and inspirational quotes. The authors are themselves experts on......more

Goodreads review by Ashley Love on July 10, 2023

My mother is responsible for my love of Shakespeare. For as long as I can remember, she has read him, quoted him, and shared movie renditions of his work with me. Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing is a deeply nostalgic movie for me, and I remember campaigning hard in both high school and coll......more

Goodreads review by nigel (nicole) on August 20, 2023

I read this e-book on the iPad Kindle app, and there were several formatting issues: - Some of the headings of play titles didn't align with the quotes underneath - From my understanding, each day of the year was assigned a quote, yet in my version, 85% of the quotes didn't have dates attributed to th......more

Goodreads review by Jennyfer on July 26, 2023

I love Shakespeare's works. Like many, I was introduced to them at school, and the language and themes have entranced me to this day. There is always more to uncover in subsequent readings. So I was happy to stumble upon Everyday Shakespeare by Ben Crystal; David Crystal . This book is a quote-a-day......more

Goodreads review by Jeremy on June 28, 2023

Everyday Shakespeare is a wonderful collection of quotes to get you through the year. The authors provide a theme for each month and a quote for each day, along with an explanation. It's a really wonderful concept that provides more insight into both the characters from Shakespeare's plays and to la......more