#readwomen2014 Donna Tartt, P.D. James, Edith Nesbit and Jane Austen

I first heard about #readwomen2014 on Twitter at the start of the year. It's a campaign started by Joanna Walsh (you can read her original blog post here), which aims to increase the awareness of fiction written by women.

Equal representation of women in literature has always been a problem, from the pseudonym of George Eliot, to Joanne becoming "J.K." Rowling, to the still persistent lack of female authors being critically reviewed in the mainstream press. This is doubly frustrating when you take into consideration the current thriving community of female authors sharing their knowledge and experience online. Contemporary fiction also has a huge community of female readers; the majority of Booktubers (book-reviewing YouTubers) and their viewers are women. All this adds up to an exciting and diverse community of female writers and readers, which is one of the reasons #readwomen2014 really resonated with me. As Joanne said in The Guardian, "Everyone wants equality but few are willing to take responsibility or do the hard work." readwomen2014 holds you accountable- who will you read? What will you do? Which books by women will you recommend? I challenge you to take a look at your bookshelf (physical or virtual) and view the amount of authors that are male vs. those that are female. It's against the odds that the majority on your shelf will be by women, but now can be the time you change that for the better.

I won't pretend that all the books I've read this year have been by women. One of the major challenges for me so far this year has been the fact that my favourite genre is classics. Last year, despite my disinclination, I made a conscious effort to read more contemporary fiction. I discovered some gems and some duds, but I always return to the classics- and, of course, in the light of what has already been said- the majority of classics have historically been written by (dead, white) men. Keeping track of what I'm reading on Goodreads (you can follow me here) has held me accountable to the read women project though, and so far this year I've read:

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (review here)
Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James
Northhanger Abbey by Jane Austen (review here)
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
and I'm halfway through Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg.

I'm going to end this post with a (non comprehensive) list of female authors that I wholeheartedly recommend. Please feel free to recommend me female authors in return in the comments, or you can tweet me @evemariadust. I'm always looking for recommendations so I'd love to hear what you're reading for #readwomen2014.

Margaret Atwood, Donna Tartt, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Jane Austen, Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling, Virginia Woolf, Edith Nesbit, Doris Lessing, Louisa May Alcott, Margaret Mitchell, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Anna Sewell, Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, Maya Angelou, Sarah Walters, P.D. James, Hilary Mantel, Audrey Niffenegger, Zadie Smith, Phillipa Gregory, Suzanne Collins, Gillian Flynn, Ursula le Guin.

Book Review: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

I'm a longtime fan of Jane Austen but Northanger Abbey remained the only novel of hers unread. I was encouraged to read it by a Christmas viewing of the 2007 ITV film starring Felicity Jones and Carey Mulligan. Northanger Abbey tells the tale of Catherine Morland, a naive teenage girl with a love for Gothic novels. Catherine is new to society and is excited about the prospect of making new acquaintances when she visits Bath with some family friends. There she makes friends with two sets of siblings: Isabella and John Thorpe, and Henry, Eleanor and Frederick Tilney. Catherine's two new sets of friends place conflicting demands on her time and opinions, and along with the reader, she has to learn to evaluate the character and motives of any new acquaintances. Over the course of the novel Catherine develops from a girl who always assumes the best of other's motives, into a more discerning character. Northanger Abbey was a fascinating look into the perception and role of the novel in the lives of men and women in the 19th century. Catherine is a lover of Gothic novels, and at the end of the book learns that life is not as linear and carefully planned as a novel, which are written to excite and entertain, and in this way Northanger Abbey is a parody of Gothic fiction. Catherine and Isabella are both fans of the Gothic novels, and Catherine assumes that Henry, Eleanor's brother and Catherine's love interest, as man, is not:-

C: "But you never read novels, I dare say?" / H: "Why not?" / C: "Because they are not clever enough for you- gentleman read better books." / H: "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."

Northanger Abbey is full of little asides like these where Austen can be seen to talk directly to the reader in defending the novel form, or remarking upon its structure. A further example is at the very end of the novel, where Austen makes the remark that unlike the characters in the novel, as a reader, we can tell the lovers are to be married soon, by the short amount of pages that are left. This is perhaps something that is changing with the advent of eBooks and their ability to, on our command, show or hide from us the length of the text.

One of the things that impressed me the most about this novel was how well it showed the attitudes of women in the 19th century and how clear it was that Jane Austen was a highly perceptive, intelligent and funny woman. Her writing uses humour to cut right through the patriarchal attitudes of the time, and her books show how an intelligent woman could live in a society with so few options open to her- through social satire, observation, comedy and education. Northanger Abbey has numerous quotes that show that Austen was aware of how ridiculous the expectations and restrictions upon women were at that time, (in short, what a feminist she was) but to choose a few as examples:-

On marriage:
"In marriage, the man is supposed to provide for the support of the woman, the woman to make the home agreeable for the man; he is to purvey, and she is to smile. But in dancing, their duties and exactly changed; the agreeableness, the compliance are expected from him, whilst she furnishes the fan and the lavender water." / "You will allow, that in both, man has the advantage of choice, woman only has the power of refusal."

On friendship:
"If the heroine of one novel be not patronised by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard? I cannot approve of it. Let us leave it to the reviewers to abuse such effusions of fancy at their leisure, and over every new novel to talk in threadbare strains of the trash with which the press now groans. Let us not desert one another; we are an injured body." / "The men think us incapable of real friendship, you know, and I am determined to show them the difference."

I really enjoyed Northanger Abbey, and find it improves upon further study into its themes and historical period. I would really recommend it for Austen fans, and it is quite accessible in terms of plot and length, being her shortest novel. You can download Northanger Abbey on Kindle for free, and the book is available to buy for only £1.99.

Rating: 3/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle / DVD. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Book Review: Filth by Irvine Welsh

"That's the right idea though that Toal's got. Get as many voices in your head as you can and hide in the crowd." - Filth by Irvine Welsh

Filth was a novel I've been wanting to read for a while, and when I discovered James McAvoy was set to star in the film released this autumn I knew I had to read it before then. I'm a huge fan of the film version of Trainspotting and love Irvine Welsh for bringing its themes and distinctive style of storytelling into the mainstream, but it was Filth the novel that really made me a fan of his works.

Welsh, famous for the drug-riddled film that launched Ewan McGregor's career, writes not unsympathetically about the underbelly of Scotland, particularly Edinburgh, and the filth that lies beneath its deceptively civilised veneer. Filth is about a corrupt policeman, Bruce Robertson, who is sexist, racist, homophobic, sectarian, and addicted to sex, porn and drugs. The book starts with the murder of a black journalist and loosely chronicles Bruce and his police colleagues as they search for the killers. The book, written in the first person, details Bruce's descent into the filth he surrounds himself with in order to escape from and deny reality, and his inability to deal with his underlying mental health problems.

A second narrator appears about 1/3 of the way into the book, in the form of a tapeworm living in Bruce's intestines, and it's through the tapeworm we learn Bruce's backstory. This is an example of Welsh's experimental storytelling, both in terms of a narrative/plot device and in terms of the physicality of the text- the tapeworm's voice literally overlaps Bruce's narrative on the page, obscuring our ability to read Bruce's thoughts until the tapeworm is sated. The tapeworm begins to talk by simply urging Bruce to eat, and then slowly reveals Bruce's traumatic and violent beginnings in life.

Filth definitely benefits from a second reading as it takes time to make sense of Bruce's backstory and why he deals with situations the way he does. It also takes time for the reader to appreciate how and why Bruce's understanding of events differs from those around him. There's a scene where Bruce and Lennox make a house call to a drug user and they persuade him to pass them information by threatening him with a story about a man incarcerated for multiple violent rapes nicknamed 'the beast'- a serial rapist. It is only much, much later, from the mouth of the tapeworm, that we learn (spoiler alert!) that this is in fact Bruce's birth father, who raped his mother as a teenager. It is slowly revealed that Bruce suffers from severe mental illness, and has done for many years, and how this has affected his relationships with his wife and colleagues. The novel shows an interesting take on mental illness, and brings the nature/nurture debate to light. Did Bruce become mentally ill and behave reprehensibly‎ due to his father and his genes, or was it his upbringing and treatment as a criminal before he had done anything wrong, that caused him to behave in this way? Or a combination of both?

Filth was also a breath of fresh air in its representation of Scottish attitudes towards women, particularly when contrasted with the fact that representations of women in the media tend to be of a madonna/whore dichotomy. In Filth there are plenty of 'hoors' (the book is written in Scots dialect) and Bruce's abuse of a barely legal schoolgirl is particularly reviling, but what's refreshing is the sexual agency of all the women in the novel. For women in the novel, sex is a normal and varying part of their lives, not just in its emotional implications but in the physicality of it too. Two women in the novel who might appear to be victims at first, take back their agency after creating satisfactory sexual experiences for themselves.

I'd definitely recommend Filth to those who are fans of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries. If you enjoyed Girl, Interrupted or American Psycho, or, of course, Trainspotting, you will like Filth. If you like more modern murder mysteries like Gone Girl you might also be a fan of Filth. I enjoyed reading it just as much a second time, and it increased the depth of my understanding of the novel. Filth also gave me a lot to think about, from Scottish literature, to representations of the police force, women, sex and mental illness. I think it would be a good book for a book club discussion as there is a lot to unpack in a fairly short novel.

Rating: 5/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle / DVD. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Book Review: Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

“Everyone seems to have been talking about the younger generation tonight. The most boring subject I know.” “Well, after all, what does all this stand for if there’s going to be no-one to carry it on?” “All what?” Mr. Outrage looked around the supper-room, deserted except for two footmen who lent against the walls looking as waxen as the clump of flowers sent up that morning from hot-houses in the country. “What does all what stand for?” “All this business of government.” “As far as I’m concerned it stands for a damned lot of hard work and precious little in return. If those young people can find a way to get on without it, good luck to them.” - Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

Vile Bodies is a novella that details the life of the Bright Young Things of the 1920s and 30s- young, without responsibilities, unmarried and for the most part moneyed, the BYT's partied their way through the post-WWI years, drawing criticism and scandal with them wherever they went. Where Fitzgerald chronicled the American lifestyle in The Great Gatsby and The Beautiful and the Damned, Waugh shows us life in England, complete with Parliament, Lords, and scandals around the Prime Minister and his daughters. Waugh's novel loosely follows a small group of Bright Young People and details the various difficulties they get themselves into, mostly through their own negligence. The characters are childish, irresponsible, and very much an example of Fitzgerald's "careless people" (The Great Gastby, pg. 166). They act without thinking about the consequences of their own actions and what the future may hold. They do what they want, giving into their impulses, and expect other people to clear up the mess they make.

For a book centred around the Bright Young Things and their supposedly debauched parties and scandalous lives, the absence of action from the text is notable. The main character, Adam Fenwick-Symes, sleeps through two parties, and the Bright Young Things are constantly avoiding taking action on anything, despite appearing to others (society, the press, and the reader) to be at the centre of it. Examples of this avoidance include Adam sleeping through parties, Nina and Adam being absent from Agatha Runcible's funeral, and the Bright Young Things drinking at the bar during both the start of the motor car race and during Agatha's crash. Like an exclusive party for Hollywood VIPs, when the party is given its close-up, it appears rather lacking.

Also notable for its absence in the text is the almost complete lack of sex and sexuality, particularly of interest in a novel entitled: 'Vile Bodies'. Adam and Nina are engaged and become lovers, but neither seem particularly enthralled of it, particularly Nina, and neither seem excited by each other's bodies or have any sense of sexuality. As well as being disinterested in many things, (one example of common BTY slang being the word 'bogus') Adam and Nina seem disinterested in both their own bodies and other peoples, to such an extent that when Adam lays his head in Nina's lap at a party, a gesture that could have tillatious undertones is interpreted as childlike, when he promptly falls asleep and misses the party. The supposed orgies that the BYT's parties were scandalised for are also absent.

So for a novel lacking in character development and mainly devoid of plot, what is the attraction? One answer lies in its style. Waugh saw writing "not as an investigation of character but as an exercise in the use of language, and with this I am obsessed. I have no technical psychological interest. It is drama, speech and events that interest me." (Introduction to Vile Bodies, Penguin Modern Classics edition).

Waugh keeps description to a minimum, and focuses on short superficial extracts of dialogue between a small cast of characters, very much like the reality TV show Made in Chelsea. If Vile Bodies were a reality show, it's no small stretch of the imagination to say MIC would be it, although the detachment of TV as a medium could run the risk of making Waugh's irony less pronounced. In terms of authorial style, none of the characters are particularly well developed, which can make it challenging for the reader to empathise with them. Like the content of gossip columnist Mr Chatterbox's column (in the novel the late Lord Balcairn, and after his suicide, Adam), Vile Bodies is brief but colourful. Waugh forgoes character development and plot, and makes use of dialogue as a means of satirising English society of the 1920s/30s. Many events in the novel are based on real events, such as the death of the leader of the house of lords, the lives of the Mitford sisters, and the Cavendish Hotel as a meeting point for many Bright Young Things.

I'd recommend this book to Evelyn Waugh fans, Fitzgerald fans, and anyone interested in the history of post-WW1 society in England. I'd also recommend this book to anyone interested in the role of dialogue in the novel, particularly when contrasted with plot and character development and what the implications of this can be for the reader.

Rating: 3/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle / DVD. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Book Review: Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy by Helen Fielding

9.21 p.m. Is it morally wrong to get a blow dry when I may have undetectable nit eggs at the start of their seven-day cycle? 9.25 p.m. Yes. It is morally wrong. Maybe Mabel and Billy should not go to play dates either? 9.30 p.m. Also feel should tell Roxster truth about nits, as lies are bad in a relationship. But maybe, in this case, lies better than lice? 9.35 p.m. Nits seem to be throwing up unfeasible number of modern moral dilemmas. - Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy When I heard Helen Fielding had released a new Bridget Jones novel, I knew I had to get my hands on it, regardless of the critical reviews, and I was very happy to receive this book as a birthday present in October. The hardcover edition is particularly pleasing, as it's been a while since I experienced the new-book, hardcover Harry Potter smell. Bridget is now 50, with two young children, and, crucially, is a widow. Mark Darcy has been dead for four years, and Bridget, although still mourning him, is attempting to get back on the horse...via Twitter. Some have criticised the novel for not being true to Bridget's voice, but I find it highly unlikely that Fielding would have been able to please everyone, whatever direction she chose.

Fielding could have written Bridget and Darcy raising two kids together in a happy marriage, battling with school places, sex in marriage, and perhaps even 'mommy blogging' (a modern day Bridget would undoubtedly have been a part of this blogging community). Fielding chose not to go down this route, and used a bit more of her own experiences in raising two young children as a single mum and being back on the dating scene in her 50s.

There are some genuinely hilarious moments, and I had to stifle laughter several times on the train. My favourite moments includes Bridget's Freudian slip when referring to her screenplay 'The Leaves in his Hair' as 'the nits in his hair' while texting her toy-boy under the table in important meeting re: her children possibly having nits. There are also some sad parts, not least Bridget's memories of Mark Darcy, but the most sentimental part I felt was at the end. Bridget's father has passed away, and her mother, as full of life as ever, is living in a retirement home with her best friend, also a widow. Bridget and her mother have a similar relationship to the previous two books, but only at the end of the book do we see Bridget and her mother reconcile and tell each other how they really feel.

It is interesting to think about what the reception would have been to this book had it been Fielding's first Bridget novel. Readers are inclined to give 50 year old Bridget a pass with regard to her thoughts and behaviour, as we already know Bridget from her adventures in her 30s and have prior affection for her. However, 50 year old Bridget, taken as an independent entity, can come off as incredibly privileged, immature and spoilt. She lives in a good part of London, has zero financial worries and hardly any responsibilities, she has enough money that she doesn't need to work, has a nanny and a cleaner, a group of supportive close friends, and children at a fee paying school. For many (most) of us in terms of finances, she's living the dream- yet remains, as ever, "mad about the boy".

Overall, despite the book and Bridget's faults, my enjoyment of the book came down to the nostalgic pleasure of spending time with an old friend, and one who makes you laugh, at that. I think this book would make a good gift for those who were fans of Bridget's previous diaries.

Rating: 3/5. Buy the book: Paperback / Kindle. Follow me: Goodreads / Twitter / Bloglovin

Reading round-up: October

October is usually a pretty good month for me in books as it's my birthday mid-month. I had some great reads in the last few weeks, including a book that I think will be in my top 10 this year (Filth) and a surprisingly good chick-lit book (Rachel's Holiday).

Filth by Irvine Welsh

Hands-down my favourite read of the month. I actually read it twice this month, and saw the film starring James McAvoy (which was excellent- if you're a fan of Trainspotting and/or James McAvoy, it's a must see!) Welsh, famous for Trainspotting and the drug-riddled film that launched Ewan McGregor's career, writes not unsympathetically about the underbelly of Scotland, particularly Edinburgh, and the filth that lies beneath its deceptively civilised veneer. Filth is about a corrupt policeman, Bruce Robertson, who is sexist, racist, homophobic, sectarian, and addicted to sex, porn and drugs. The book, written in first person, details his descent into the filth he surrounds himself with to escape from and deny reality, and his inability to deal with his underlying mental health problems. A second narrator appears about 1/3 of the way into the book, in the form of a tapeworm living in his intestines, and it's through the tapeworm we learn Bruce's backstory. Filth definitely benefits from a second reading as we learn to make sense of Bruce's backstory and why he deals with situations the way he does, and how and why his understanding of events differs from those around him.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

I received this book as a birthday present, and the hardcover edition is particularly pleasing. It's been a while since I experienced the new-book, hardcover Harry Potter smell. Bridget is now 50, with two young children, and, crucially, a widow. Mark Darcy has been dead for four years, and Bridget, although still mourning him, is attempting to get back on the horse...via Twitter. Some have criticised the novel for not being true to Bridget's voice, but I find it highly unlikely that Fielding would have been able to please everyone, whatever direction she chose. There are some genuinely hilarious moments, and I had to stifle laughter several times on the train. My favourite moments includes Bridget's Freudian slip when referrring to her screenplay 'The Leaves in his Hair' as 'the nits in his hair' while texting her toy-boy under the table in important meeting re: her children possibly having nits. I really enjoyed spending time with Bridget and her assorted cast of characters again, and I think any fans of her previous books will too. Look for my full review of this coming soon!

The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness

I've long heard good things about Patrick Ness, particularly with regard to his writing style being literary, which I love. I was also attracted to this novel as it is a retelling of a Japanese folktale. In the myth, a man comes across a crane, and shortly after this event, a beautiful woman enters his life who he falls in love with. She makes a number of creations (traditionally, clothing, in Ness' novel, artwork) which make money for the couple. Eventually he discovers how she makes them- by plucking feathers from her body. When he discovers this, she disappears. Ness' retelling was interesting but lacked both novelistic structure, personality, and character development. I didn't really feel for any of the characters and the writing style wasn't as literary as I had hoped. I was disappointed with this and don't feel encouraged to read more of Patrick Ness.

Is It Just Me? by Miranda Hart

This was another birthday gift, as I'm a big fan of her TV series. This book is a collection of stories about her life, dealing with various topics such as music, hobbies, diets and dating, and is told with typical Miranda humour. Throughout the book she dips in and out of conversations with her 18 year old self, which takes a little getting used to, but is a fun way of delving into her life. I really enjoyed reading this and discovering more of Miranda's antics, however my favourite chapter was on the topic of beauty. For any fans of How to be a Woman by Catlin Moran, you must read this chapter! What Miranda said really resonated with me a lot more than anything in Moran's book. To give you a snippet, here's a quote:
"What [my friend] said was: 'Miranda, you've got to start taking yourself seriously as a woman.' She said this in response to the frayed, overstuffed handbag - and by handbag I obviously mean rucksack - that I've taken to carrying around with me. Is it just me who hasn't bought into the need for a £700 Mulberry handbag?"

Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes

This is actually one of the books I was most excited to review. Marian Keyes is deservedly famous in the world of Irish fiction and chick-lit, but I'd never read anything of hers nor anything about her as a writer. I read this on my iPhone/iPad as I had got it as a free download from iTunes at some stage. It was an easy book to get into as Keyes' style is very chatty, easy to read and fast-paced. Rachel's Holiday, despite the dreadful title and cover art, is more serious than its title implies (although perhaps that's the point?). Rachel is a young, successful Irish woman in New York with a perfect boyfriend and perfect roommate. Oh, and she's a drug addict. The holiday in question is Rachel's stay in an Irish drug treatment centre, and the novel is an interesting exercise in the unreliable narrator. Rachel's Holiday is the best chick-lit I've read bar Bridget Jones, and I can see why Keyes gets the praise she does.

Much Ado About Nothing (2012) Dir: Joss Whedon

I've been a fan of Joss Whedon for a long time- it must be nigh on fifteen years now- and as a hard-core Buffy and Angel fan I've always liked to keep up with his latest projects; Firefly, the Avengers, and Agents of SHIELD, to name but a few. However, being an ex-literature student, Shakespeare has always been one of my great loves, so to hear that Joss was taking on one of Shakespeares' comedies, Much Ado About Nothing, was pretty exciting.

Filmed secretly whilst on a break from The Avengers, Much Ado About Nothing was done in Joss' typical incestual style, with many familiar faces from the Buffyverse and The Avengers. Amy Acker (or Fred, as she will always be to me) stars as the fiesty, and in my opinion, the feminist, Beatrice. Alexis Denisof (Wesley) is the comedic Benedick, and we also see Tom Lenk (Andrew) and Nathan Fillion (Caleb/ Malcolm) pop up as a bumbling police officer duo. These ex-Buffy actors are always a joy to watch, and filled my little shipper heart with joy to see some FredXWesley action (I'll stop with the Buffy references now).

The actors fairly new to me were Fran Kranz (it's been a long time since Dollhouse) as Claudio, and Jillian Morgese as Hero, the young lovers of the piece. Kranz was particularly believable as an alternatively lovestruck and broken hearted young man, and would make an excellent Romeo. His heartbroken speech in front of wedding attendees was very powerful, and let through a glimpse of his darker side.

Much Ado About Nothing was shot in black and white, and as a viewer it can take a little getting used to, seeing a contemporary, HD film in black and white. I thought it worked well and actually made it more stage-like; it created a focus on dialogue and movement, both of which are central to great character portrayal. The film was shot in Whedon's own home- in his words; "the film was literally a home movie"-, and the little girl's pink bedroom that the male characters stay in belonged to his daughters.

I had many favourite scenes, but my number one was the union (reunion in this adaption) of Benedick and Beatrice where they confess their love for each other. Their 'banter' throughout the play is very free, easy and funny, and this scene is the perfect mix of humour, romance and plot. Amy Acker's acting is brilliant, she really sells the mixed emotions of love, frustration, anger and helplessness. A lot of Beatrice's lines are very easy to relate to as a modern woman. We all know that sometimes Shakespeare can be difficult to understand, but Acker's delivery and body language is excellent, and makes Beatrice very relatable and easy to understand as a character. She also delivers one of my favourite lines, below:

"O that I were a man for his sake! or that I had any friend would be a man for my sake! But manhood is melted into courtesies, valour into compliment, and men are only turned into tongue, and trim ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules that only tells a lie and swears it. I cannot be a man with wishing, therefore I will die a woman with grieving." - Beatrice, Act 4 Scene 1

My only criticism would be in aspects of the comedic factor. Alexis Denisof hams up the lovestruck Benedick to a large extent, and to anyone who's seen him as Wesley on Buffy/Angel, Alexis is funnier when he's subtle and not trying so hard. Wesley was funny because he was a realistic caricature, Benedick isn't as believeable and can seem insincere. In one of the weaker scenes, Benedick spies on Don Pedro and his men gossiping about Beatrice's love for Benedick. I think this scene could have been done a lot better, both with the style of filming and the acting. For example, it would have been nice to have seen a close up on Benedick's face of a shocked reaction to the news that Beatrice still loves him (a la Susan from Desperate Housewives). I understand that physical comedy was the focus, and that in Whedon's version Benedick and Beatrice already have a history so Benedick wouldn't necessarily have been shocked to learn this information, but I still would have liked to have seen more varied facial emotions and less physical comedy in this scene.

If you're a Joss Whedon, Amy Acker, or Shakespeare fan I would really recommend this film. It has the characteristic Whedon humour, Acker's acting is excellent, and, of course, the dialogue itself is great. It's not too long either, coming in at just under 110 minutes. Much Ado About Nothing is available to buy from Amazon here and you can watch the trailer in this post- however I would recommend the longer, alternative trailer which you can view on Amazon here.