Books for July
the perfect summer night is actually a renaissance play
Hi dearest reader,
The perfect summer night is actually a renaissance play and let me tell you why and how I came to this conclusion.
Like a siren, a story calls to you, lures you onto its pages. You can’t predict which tale will strike you as needing to be urgently read.
This month, several books chose me and none of them were as expected.
As I write for Books & Banter, I have a plan, and yet my plan never goes through. I think I know what books I’ll read to hopefully recommend; I spend many hours choosing and vetting these books.
ALAS, NONE OF THESE BOOKS HATH BEEN READ.
And rarely does it work that way, because in truth it’s the book that chooses the reader. Hardly ever is it the reader who chooses the book.
It also may be true that I have an opposition to authority. If I’m told these are the books I should read now and in this order, it would please me to reject those rules and cast my gaze elsewhere. It’s only a shame that the authority I’m opposing is my own.
I think it’s true, henceforth, I shall throw out the rigidity of curation and follow my reader’s heart. Still I’ll research and pluck and preen our shelves to our liking, with upcoming releases and what-not, but allow for more flexibility in my choosing.
OH, WHERE FOR ART THOU STORIES TO BEWITCH ME? Here is one, forsooth, best to read on a July evening by an author you’ve certainly never heard of before.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
— Act III, Scene 2
We love mortals for the fools they are, because they give us drama. Not even Love Island could handle this drama.
Maybe like me it’s been a long time since you’ve read (or seen) A Midsummer Night’s Dream and you want to check it out with fresh adult eyes.
Suddenly, yesterday, I was thinking fondly of my experience in childhood acting in the play with my sister. I believe we were both fairies of some kind in Titania’s retinue. And I remember feeling permanently changed by the whole thing, discovering it’s within the hidden realms of our world I must forevermore find myself in.
Then in high school English class, we had to memorize different acts of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and perform it to the class. THIS WAS THE MOST FUN I HAD THAT YEAR. I swear I don’t remember anything else I was taught, but I remember my role as Pyramus:
O grim-looked night! O night with hue so black! O night, which ever art when day is not! O night! O night! Alack, alack, alack!
I remember the fabric of language rippling into new shapes, my brain stretching, and strengthening. I enjoyed it fiercely, although I was annoyed to say “alack” three times like having a coughing fit.
The best part of the role was hilariously killing myself in front of the class.
Thus die I: thus, thus, thus. [He stabs himself] Now am I dead, Now am I fled, My soul is in the sky. Tongue, lose thy light; Moon, take thy flight. [Exit Moonshine] Now die, die, die, die, die.
Soon after high school, I never thought much about pursuing Shakespeare again. Until yesterday, when a sudden force overtook me, and I simply had to read this play while also watching a live performance of it. That was going to be my very cool Thursday night. Reading a physical copy while following along to the brilliant actors performing it.
And the play HAD to be brilliant. I was possessed by the idea that I needed to experience pure, true, emotion in every line, in every word!!! I came across several renditions on YouTube I found extremely unsettling.
No, I was in need of professionals.
I. found. the. best. play. ever. A single performance has changed me. I am now suddenly very much into theater.
This is thanks to the 2013 performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by the Shakespeare’s Globe theater in London.
New-to-me is this incredible resource of films they stream of their performances. (Here’s a link to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2013. Here’s a link to their catalog of plays.)
These actors make it funnier where it should be funny, and more painful where it should be painful. I know it seems obvious, but it’s actually very hard while speaking ye old English in verse.
What clever plot inspires these actors?
Helena loves Demetrius, but Demetrius doesn’t love her back. No, he’s in love with her best friend, Hermia.
Oh, but Hermia doesn’t love Demetrius, she loves Lysander, a much cooler man.
Hermia and Lysander meet in the woods to run away and escape Athenian law that aims to kill her dead!
But wait, there’s more. Here’s why I called 5 bookstores asking if they had a copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, later stomping my cowboy boots into the store:
Running alongside the mortal realm is a magical, parallel world of fairies and trickster spirits, where King Oberon and Queen Titania debate their conflicts and entanglements, their arguments wreaking havoc on nature for the humans.
It all gets messed up when these royal fairies meddle with mortal relationships, dripping magical flower juice onto their eyes, making them fall in love with the first person they see. Mistakes are made thanks to a most beloved hobgoblin, Puck—also named Robin Goodfellow—the trickster spirit.
Forget a love triangle, Shakespeare gave us a love quadrangle! (And a queen who f*cks a donkey, I bet this joke killed in 1596.)
I mean, this is simple mystical, magical fun. Additionally, for my writing life I needed to read the source material for what has inspired so many stories, including my own.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is for language lovers and for plot-lovers alike, gather your scripts and find a live rendition that pleases you, read along for a perfect summer evening.
News:
I have FANTASTIC news, my mail club of zines, bookmarks, and letters—the Dearest Reader Club—was accepted into the San Francisco Zine Fest!
Come see me in person at The Hibernia and grab a zine of book recs and bookmarks to encourage your reading life. Read Books & Banter in print! DATE: September 6th in San Francisco at The Hibernia.
Next on Books & Banter:
I’m also in the middle of moving houses, so guess what I’ve lined up for us?! The newsletter will have amazing guest posts from authors and readers sharing the best books of their lives so far. Subscribe to receive these straight to you!
If you like this series from our special guests make sure to tell me in the comments, because if so I could make this a regular column on the newsletter!! It’s inspiring to see which books had a lasting impact on other readers and writers. It’s also a great way to find hidden gems to read! ALSO it’s more fun writing from authors we love—I mean, hell yeah.
See you next week with our first special guest, Anna Dorn, a witty, luminous author who wrote the funnest read of my year, American Spirits! Keep an eye on your inbox. 👀
Love,
Amani
In case you missed it, you can read this roundup of books and philosophy on choosing what to read:
