Macbeth

Nesbo, Jo. Macbeth. London: Hogarth, 2018.

This retelling places Duncan has chief police commissioner in a once-important industrial city infested with drugs, organized crime, and corruption. All the major players have roles in the police leadership. When Duncan dies, Macbeth, the head of the SWAT team, succeeds him as commissioner. The Norse Riders fill the role of a gang. The setting did not work for me. I'm not a fan of gritty noir novels, and this take on the classic Shakespeare fit the category. I received an advance electronic copy through the publisher via NetGalley with the expectation of an honest review.

Holy Shakespeare!

Sparks, Maisie. Holy Shakespeare!: 101 Scriptures that Appear in Shakespeare's Plays, Poems, and Sonnets. New York: Faith Words, 2016.

I was looking forward to this book, thinking perhaps the author was using the Scriptures and passages of Shakespeare to create devotional thoughts. I was disappointed when I opened the book to find only the passage from Shakespeare at the top and the Scripture at the bottom with a few pages of short "facts" about Shakespeare or his times scattered in between. This is definitely a marginal purchase for most persons and libraries as other books treat the subject better from both an academic and devotional point of view. The bibliography at the end of the book is probably the most useful aspect of the entire volume. This review is based on an advance uncorrected proof e-galley provided by the publisher for review purposes through NetGalley.