11 Comments
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Madeline's avatar

I am team send all the emails!

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J. B. Velasquez's avatar

My TBR just got a shit ton smarter.

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Caz Hart's avatar

Fab interview. Thanks for introducing us to Henry.

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Fran Mason's avatar

I'm a Henry Oliver fan and look forward to listening to this. Any recommendations for me - I love to read and have read classics for pleasure, including Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss, Anna Karenina, and more - but I know NOTHING about Johnson. Where should I start, please? And thank you

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Henry Oliver's avatar

Rasselas perhaps is the best place. His preface to Shakespeare is amazing. Selected essays is great and you can dip. The life of pope also. Enjoy!!

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Fran Mason's avatar

Thanks! I also made a few notes on what you said about him when I listened. Appreciate it

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Eric McIntyre's avatar

I have a 5 year old daughter (and a 2 year old son) and I would love recommendations from Henry Oliver about books to buy for her (and eventually for my son). We have a few shelves of books for her but I've read them all to her too many times and I'm ready to buy a whole new shelf worth. He mentioned the children's version of Shakespeare and amazon has lots of versions so which version does he recommend? If he has anything else at all to recommend for kids --- the nerdier recommendations are preferred. Separately, I wonder if he has written about the distinction between taste and preference anywhere I can read to explore this topic further.

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Catherine Oliver's avatar

And on Shakespeare, the Usborne versions of various plays are good and short enough for young confident readers to enjoy by themselves. We have also enjoyed A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream retold by Georghia Ellinas. The Book How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare has good suggestions of excerpts that children can learn or just enjoy, with helpful information for parents who could do with brushing up their own Shakespeare knowledge!

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Eric McIntyre's avatar

Thank you so much Catherine, I deeply appreciate these recommendations! I will consider and likely buy all of them!

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