Will in the WorldToday is Shakespeare's birthday and to celebrate a Goodreads contributer created a great infographic to help you select your next read.  A comedy?  A tragedy?  MCPL has works by Shakespeare, books to help you get through the plays and of course biographies.  One of the best biographies is Stephen Greenblatt's Will in the World.  Shakespeare expert and Harvard historian, Greenblatt does an excellent job of integrating a basic biography with the sights, sounds and feel of Elizabethan England.  This book is dense with detail, but also entirely readable is a great choice for both self professed Shakespeare know-it-alls and newcomers alike.

Seeing as it is a classics sort of day, I thought I would also link to the Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  This fictional video blog chronicles the modern day Lizzie Bennet, her sisters Lydia and Jane, and her best friend Charlotte Wu as they navigate between the pressure of their parents and potential boyfriends including the new-to-the-neighborhood Bing Lee.

  These videos came out about a year ago, but I first heard of them just recently thanks to NPR podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour.  Lizzie, like her Pride and Prejudice counterpart, is likable, funny and insightful in her observations.  The videos are in parts homage, a rif of the original, and an update for the modern world. Each video is short and the story continues across twitter and other social media.  All of this is included chronologically so you can start from the beginning as I did.