Romeo and Juliet, Act I, and Other Reading

     The first act of Romeo and Juliet. I thought it was pretty good. Of course my mind blanks at specifics, but I did like it. I didn't find it cumbersome to read or anything, but sometimes I would get bored when someone talked for a long time (Mercutio and dreams, the Nurse and her... joke) because I wanted everything to keep moving. It wasn't bad to listen to the long talk about 'Queen Mab', but after the first twenty lines or so, it wasn't holding my attention. But really, I don't mean it was bad, in fact, I thought it was very good poetry. Speaking of that, I also really liked that little four line rhyme Juliet says at the very end of the last scene. (Scene 5, 147-150) I thought it was beautiful.

     I agree with, well, probably almost everyone, that it is, although not unusual for the time, not favorable that Juliet is almost fourteen and Romeo is a few (five-ish, I'm think) years older. Of course, Paris doesn't sound like the youngest guy, either, certainly older than Romeo. But I actually find it more alarming that they (Juliet's mother, her nurse, people then in general) thought of marriage at such a young age, rather than the gap in age between the Romeo and Juliet. I guess her dad did say wait a few years, but that's still young. To me, though, neither seems particularly young. Romeo doesn't seem really old, and Juliet seems as if she might be closer to his age than she is. They do seem to fall in love particularly fast, but I guess when you have two hours to put on a show, you have to keep things moving if they need to die by the end.

     I am pretty excited about reading this play, so far it is very good, and I enjoy the poetry. I'm glad that Romeo can get over Rosaline (Although alarmed at the speed...) and that there was a masquerade ball. I have always thought it would be neat to go to one of those, as long as everyone truly was disguised well. I would love all the mystery to it! You would never know who you were dancing with. Hmmm, maybe I don't like the idea. (Besides, I doubt I could ever dance fancily like they did)

     Other reading this week: actually, a few things. I read a book called 'The Haunting of Charles Dickens' by.... someone or other with a weird last name, Buzbee, maybe? I thought it was a sort of strange, kind of cheesy book, but at the same time I did like it. Basically this girl's brother disappeared and with the help of her friend, Charles Dickens, they discover where he disappeared to. So Meg (the girl) does all sorts of sneaking around (tunnels, deserted houses, mansions, factories with child workers) and acting. I felt like everything worked out a little too well and that Charles Dickens wasn't really necessary in the story. First of all, the basically jump from clue to clue without any trouble, other than Meg's father doesn't want her to be in any danger, so he tries to stop her for looking for Orion (her brother). Everything is figured out very easily (with the exception of the letters MR) and there is little suspense. Now that it's all over, as I've said, I'm not quite sure why Dickens was important. I have read a few books by Dickens, and reading this does give me inspiration to read more, but he didn't really seem vital to the plot. The characters that are give them clues are from Dickens' books. For example, Mr. Micawber (David Copperfield) and Jenny Wren (Our Mutual Friend) both help Meg and Mr. Dickens to find Orion. The unfortunate thing is, without having read all books by him, I probably missed some characters that were from his books, and assumed this author made them up. (Some characters clearly were Dickens' and others clearly not) When reading it, I wanted to catch all the names, and it was annoying to only catch a few. I probably wouldn't have caught any at all if the first person they met wasn't Mr. Micawber and didn't clearly share his personality.

     Things I did like about it, though, were also important. I loved this picture of London, back in Dickens' day. I don't know what it is about it, but I enjoyed that part of the setting. I also enjoyed these pictures that were put in every so often. There were probably less than ten in the whole book, but each one helped to form an idea of what a scene or object looked like. I also liked how the author made each character with a purpose to help in the discovery of Orion. In the end, although I felt the writing was sort of weak and predictable, I did enjoy the story.

     I also read a few comics this week, which I will only write briefly about. I read a Foxtrot comic called 'And When She Opened The Closet All The Clothes Were Polyester!'. I think Foxtrot is probably one of my favorites. I also have Calvin and Hobbes comic that I'm reading. While I was at the library, looking for Foxtrot, I found this one about a duck on an island, which I don't remember other than that, and I was going to take that, but in the end I didn't.