King Henry IV, Part 2 by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare Project 2020

The saga continues  - will Hal continue to hang with the wrong crowd, getting into mischief or will he begin acting in a more princely manner?

Will the rebels defeat the current reign?

Will Falstaff ever pay back his debts or join AA?

Some of my favorite quotes:

I.1

Northumberland: "Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news

Hath but a losing office, and his tongue

Sounds ever after as a sullen bell,

Rememb'red tolling a departing friend."

I.2

Chief Justice: "Well, the truth is, Sir John, you live in great infamy."

Falstaff: "He that buckles himself in my belt cannot live in less."

Chief Justice: "You're means are very slender, and your waste is great."

Falstaff: "I would it were otherwise; I would my means

were greater and my waist slenderer."

II.1

Page: "Away, you scullion! you rampallian! you fustilarian!

I'll tickle your catastrophe."

III.1

King: "...O sleep, O gentle sleep,

Nature's soft nurse, how have I frightened thee,

That thou no more will weigh my eyelids down,

And steep my sense in forgetfulness?"

IV.1

Westmoreland: "..You, Lord Archbishop,...very blessed spirit of peace - 

Wherefore you do so ill translate yourself

Out of the speech of peace, that bears such grace,

Into the harsh and boist'rous tongue of war?

Turning your books into graves, your ink to blood,

Your pens to lances, and your tongue divine 

To a loud trumpet and a point of war?"

 A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber

Series

Its always a joy to return to Lady Darby!

While it is a slower read, much like the era it portrays, it transported me to pastoral scenery, gothic castles and beautiful dresses.

A real whodunit that had me guessing to the very end. Complications of the era including a cholera outbreak that was reminiscent of our current times.

Summary from Goodreads: Scotland 1832. After enjoying a delightful holiday with her family, Lady Kiera Darby is looking forward to finishing her new friend, the Duchess of Bowmont's portrait, as well as attending the duchess' annual Twelfth Night party. Though she normally avoids such fashionable events, Kiera trusts the attention will not be focused on her, but rather her notorious hostess and her family. But upon their arrival at the opulent Scottish estate, Kiera and her husband and fellow investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, swiftly deduce that all is not merry in the duke's household. The family appears to be under a great strain, and someone seems determined to cause mayhem among the guests with a series of forged notes.

However, matters swiftly turn from irksome to downright deadly when the merrymakers stumble upon a decomposing body in the castle's crypt. This corpse is certainly no laughing matter, especially when it is identified as the duchess' son-in-law, the Earl of Helmsdale, who had purportedly traveled to Paris more than a month earlier. It is evident the man met with foul play, and Kiera and Gage step in to investigate, at the duchess' insistence. Kiera and Gage must swiftly reexamine the facts, for a ruthless murderer walks among them and may well be a member of the duchess' own family. Kiera soon discovers just how deep the killer is willing to dig to keep their secrets from ever seeing the light of day.

          Outside Valentine - Liza Ward  

  #monthlykeywordchallenge - Nov. Out                                                  

       Fictionalized story of the serial killers in the 1950s, Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate.                                                            Told in 3 narratives:

  Caril Ann Fugute during her time with Charles Starkweather

 Susan , a 14 year old in love with one of the victims son, 1962

In 1991, Lowell, who is questioning his marriage to his wife and dreams of his childhood.

Goodreads:  A debut novelist interweaves a trio of voices-haunting, dangerous, full of longing--mysteriously linked by a shocking crime and the search to heal the past

Many long years have passed since the winter of blinding white when Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate drove across the hushed midwestern landscape and left a trail of blood and pain. So why does Lowell, a Manhattan collector of antiquities, still dream of what happened, despite his wife's best attempts to draw him back and offer comfort? And who is Susan, the teenager who appoints herself a detective, piecing together the story of the murders while wondering if she'll ever be loved like Starkweather loved his girl?

And then there's Caril Ann herself, who takes us back to relive the ride she swears she could not control. It began on the day Charlie first saw her, dangling her bare legs off the edge of a tree house. It ended outside Valentine, Nebraska, on that night when she still believed that life could somehow go back to being normal . . .                                                         

 An Artless Demise - Anna Lee Huber

                                    Series

It was so nice to get to reading about some old friends, Lady Darby and Sebastian Gage.  This is the 7th in this delightful series but there seemed to be alot of reminiscing about Lady Darby's past. Maybe because one of the cases involved bodysnatchers which is what Lady Darby's first husband was involved in.

Another of the cases we were following was heirs of prominent men being murdered!!

 Still, all in all, a slow but enjoyable read.

Goodreads:    November 1831. After fleeing London in infamy more than two years prior, Lady Kiera Darby’s return to the city is anything but mundane, though not for the reasons she expected. A gang of body snatchers is arrested on suspicion of imitating the notorious misdeeds of Edinburgh criminals, Burke and Hare—killing people from the streets and selling their bodies to medical schools. Then Kiera’s past—a past she thought she’d finally made peace with—rises up to haunt her.

 The Merry Wives of Windsor

Shakespeare Project 2020

After the "problem plays" (i.e. the unfunny comedies), it was quite the joy to return to comedic, bawdy Shakespeare!

The fun cast of characters: portly Falstaff, crack-myself-up Mistress Quickly, Clouseau-like Doctor Caius and the conniving Mistresses Ford and Page!

I.1

Slender:"...for though I cannot remember what I did when you made me drunk, yet I am not altogether an ass."
I.4

Caius:"...by gar it is a shallenge; I will cut his troat in de park; and I will teach a scurvy jack-a-nape priest to meddle or make....By gar, I will cut all his two stones; by gar, he shall not have a stone to throw at his dog."

II.2.

Pistol: "Why, then the world's mine oyster."

III.4.

Anne: "Alas, I had rather be set quick i' th' earth.

And bowl'd to death with turnips."

III.5.

Falstaff: "The rogues slighted me into the river...and you may know by my size that I have a kind of alacrity in sinking; if the bottom were as deep as hell I should down."