So you're sitting in an airport, waiting for your flight and jonesing for some poetry. Guess what - there's an app for that! Touch Press has announced Shakespeare's Sonnets for Ipad. At $13.99, it's expensive, but worth it. The app includes performances of all 154 sonnets, facsimiles of the original text, notes, and commentary, along with other gadgets and functions. In other words, hours of fun for the poetry-minded.
Here's a sample: Patrick Stewart reading Sonnet 29 ("When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes").
The sonnets are read by David Tennant, Kim Cattrall, and Jemma Redgrave, among others. My only gripe with this app is that the wonderful Stephen Fry only reads one selection: Sonnet 130 ("My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun"). Here it is:
This is not Touch Press' first foray into poetry. They previously released an app for The Waste Land.
Fabulous---I love the Sonnets. I guess my only complaint is that this project appears to be platform-specific, thus excluding non-Ipad people. Or am I missing something?
Posted by: Terence Winch | July 25, 2012 at 01:24 PM
I love the Stephen Fry reading of that fabulous sonnet, one of my favorites. Thanks for posting this.
Stacey
Posted by: Stacey | July 25, 2012 at 01:36 PM
T. - it says "for Ipad" - I don't know if you can use it for other tablets. Maybe shoot them an email?
S. - I adore Stephen Fry. Why isn't he reading more of them? Grrr!
Posted by: Laura Orem | July 25, 2012 at 02:32 PM
It's not spelled "Ipad," obviously.
Posted by: LR | July 25, 2012 at 07:51 PM
Hopefully, our intrepid future will do away with the pesky task of reading altogether. We'll have Kim Karsdashian Reads Hart Crane and Jon Hamm Reads Phenomenology of Spirit. Those splotchy crumbs that make up the written word can't compete with the immersive experience of the virtual bedtime story. How merciful!
Posted by: Nobodu | August 02, 2012 at 02:35 PM