Shakespeare

I still remember wading through "The Merchant of Venice" in ninth grade English. At first, I was wishing it came with sub-titles. After a week of hating this foreign language, I found myself actually understanding what was going on and caught up in the story. After college, my mandatory with Shakespeare came to an end.

Then came my boys. Encouraging them to be well-read was one thing. Being well-read was something else. As such, I figured I best practice what I preached and about ten years ago, I began to reacquaint myself with the Bard.

All that to say I have just finished "Henry V" and what a story! If you haven't waded through Shakespeare in awhile, H-V has it all, drama, intrigue, combat, betrayal, love, courage, and best of all a hero who is worthy to be called a hero.

As an enticement, it is from H-V that Stephen Ambrose got his title for "Band of Brothers," a history of one US Army company during WWII. A number of stirring speeches by King Henry make getting back into synch with Queen's English worth the while.