Weekend Assignment #319: The Play's The Thing

We seem to be in literary mode at the moment, so let's take a quick look at another of the literary arts:

Weekend Assignment #319: The Play's The Thing. NOW CLOSED!

Nowadays we get most of our comedy and drama from television, from movies and even from internet downloads. Perhaps we sometimes forget that all of these evolved from a much older art form, the stage play. Do you ever attend plays, musicals or operas? Why or why not?

Extra Credit: Have you ever seen anything by Shakespeare performed live?

Here are the guidelines for participating:

1. Please post your response no later than than 9:00 PM, EDT on Wednesday, May 26th. You can do this either in a blog entry of your own or in the comments section of the assignment entry.

2. Please mention the Weekend Assignment in your blog post, and include a link back to the original entry. Using one of the logos shown here is encouraged but not mandatory.

3. Please come back here after you've posted, and leave a link to your entry in the comments to the assignment. Please post the URL itself rather than a live link.

4. Visiting other participants' entries is strongly encouraged!

5. We're always looking for topic ideas. Please see the "Teacher's Lounge" page for details. If we use your idea, you will be credited as that week's "guest professor."

6. We reserve the right to remove rude or unpleasant comments (not to mention comment spam), and to leave entries off the linking list if the person has been rude or unpleasant, or fails to mention the Weekend Assignment in his or her entry.

Last week, for Weekend Assignment #318: Library Books, Carly asked about delinquently-kept library books. Not too many people copped to forgetting to return books, but the discussion was nevertheless quite interesting. Click on each name to read the full entry.

Anne said...

Um...no. I have never flat-out forgotten to return library books. I have been late in the “I thought it was due next weekend” sense. Or in the “paper’s not done, so I’ll just pay the fee” sense. But I have never flat out forgotten. And oooooh, with the new online renewal feature…God as my witness, I shall never be late returning a book again.

Sherrie said...

I am regular library user. 99% of my books come from my library. It's really a cozy little library in a small town. Not a great big one like some. But it has lots of books to read. As for forgetting to take them back, that rarely happens. Most of the time I am just finishing up a book and need a couple more days to finish it. But as for actually forgetting about a book, no I have never done that.

Kara, a.k.a."hip chick" (welcome, new participant!) said...

At the library here in Hip-Ville there are many things to do other than rent books. For example, there is a book sale room where you can pick up used books for a song. In fact, all through the month of May everything is half off because they are going to be moving the book sale room to make room for a teen room. One can spend time perusing the periodicals, getting jiggy with a jigsaw puzzle, using a computer, or for the more traditionalist, reading. Some folks have even been known to take a bit of a nap at the library.

Freda said in comments...

I don't do the library, so I opt out this week. Best wishes to the others.

Sandrine said...

I'm not that good on libraries. Every time I go into one, I marvel at the fact that they'll let me take some books home for free. Any book I like. Even crime fiction. That is truly wonderful. But I just don't go that often. There's something about them I find stifling, hospital like. The books don't smell like books should. Even if they're dusty it's an aggressive kind of dusty, not the friendly pick me up and take me home kind.

Karen said...

See, this is one of several reasons why I don't go to libraries any more. I don't like the pressure of having to finish with a book by a certain date and return it. In fact, I'd rather not return a book at all. It was one thing to borrow a few dozen books each by Walter Farley and Jim Kjelgaard (not all at once, of course!) when I was in fourth grade. That made sense, because what kid can afford to buy a prolific writer's entire output? Manlius Public Library and Fayetteville Free Library were very helpful when I explored the science fiction genre in high school, and Bird Library at Syracuse University helped me out when I needed to read English translations of books I struggled with in a French literature class. As an adult, though, I want to own the book, even if it means being far more selective about which books to read.

Stephen said...

Our local library is small, and it doesn’t have a particularly large collection. So, if you want a given book, chances are good you’ll have to wait for it to come, interlibrary, from one of the other libraries in the system. And if it’s a book worth reading, chances are also good there’s someone in line in front of you waiting to read the book first. (Dear Wife has even had to wait her turn to check out knitting books and cookbooks.)

Trevor said...

I love libraries. I love the idea of going in and having access to books I won’t see in bookstores usually, and being able to try out new authors I’ve never heard of. I also have a list of over forty authors I read on a regular basis, who come out with a book or two a year. You can imagine how bad this would be for our finances if I didn’t have library access. You can say, you can get them online, but I’m sorry , no. At least with libraries I know someone has gotten paid for their work, in some way. And I love the idea of using tax dollars for such a blatantly socialist enterprise. (Take that, Glenn Beck!)

Florinda said...

I would tell you about the last book I checked out of the library, but I honestly can't remember what it was or when I did it! I can tell you it's been at least six years since I had a valid library card, though - I've never gotten one for the library in Simi Valley, and I've lived here for almost five years now. Yes, I am hanging my head in shame, why do you ask?

Kaitlyn said...

I might wait until the day the books are due, but I’ll always get them back on time (even if that means renewing, which is much easier now that the library has a comprehensive online system). I do remember one occasion when I was young when the dog threw up on several books. It mostly just ruined the covers, but we did have to buy the books from the library. I think my sister was upset about that, but I didn’t mind, especially since one of the books I’d borrowed was a cookbook (or maybe a craft book).

It's interesting; nearly everyone who participated said nice things about libraries, but many of us seldom go there any more. At least, we don't go there to check out books and then forget to return them. I suppose that counts as a good thing.

Thanks, folks! Happy writing!

Karen