Macbeth by Jo Nesbø

A modern retelling of Macbeth by the award-winning author of the Harry Hole series is set in a run-down industrial town in the 1970s and follows the efforts of a popular but increasingly corrupt police officer and his calculating casino owner girlfriend to work with a powerful local drug dealer to murder a professional rival and set up his best friend.

 

 

 

 

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

A successful Iowa farmer decides to divide his farm between his three daughters. When the youngest objects, she is cut out of his will. This sets off a chain of events that brings dark truths to light and explodes long-suppressed emotions. An ambitious reimagining of Shakespeare’s King Lear cast upon a typical American community in the late twentieth century, A Thousand Acres takes on themes of truth, justice, love, and pride, and reveals the beautiful yet treacherous topography of humanity.

 

 

 

Fool by Christopher Moore

In 1288, as King Lear watches his kingdom descend into chaos, the king's fool, Pocket, and Pocket's apprentice, Drool, take it upon themselves to restore order amidst the mayhem, and in the process make a surprising discovery about their own heritage.

Also check out Moore's The Serpent of Venice

 

 

 

 

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Alienated from his fellow zombies because of his dislike of having to kill humans and his enjoyment of Sinatra music, "R" meets a living girl who sharply contrasts with his cold and dreary world and who he resolves to protect in spite of her delicious appearance.

 

 

 

 

Young Adult

Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston

At cheerleading camp, Hermione is drugged and raped, but she is not sure whether it was one of her teammates or a boy on another team--and in the aftermath she has to deal with the rumors in her small Ontario town, the often awkward reaction of her classmates, the rejection of her boyfriend, the discovery that her best friend, Polly, is gay, and above all the need to remember what happened so that the guilty boy can be brought to justice.

 

 

 

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (King Lear)

A modern, sophisticated suspense tale by the National Book Award finalist author of The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks follows the revolutionary activities of four friends who turn against each other in the wake of trauma, differing political views and a devastating secret.

 

 

 

 

Saving Hamlet by Molly Booth

Excitedly embarking on her sophomore year and her assistant stage manager duties for the drama club's production of Hamlet, Emma endures social drama before being transported back to the year 1601, where she is mistaken for a boy and put to work by the bard himself.

 

 

 

 

Speak of Me As I Am by Sonia Belasco

Melanie and Damon are both living in the shadow of loss. For Melanie, it's the loss of her larger-than-life artist mother, taken by cancer well before her time. For Damon, it’s the loss of his best friend, Carlos, who took his own life. As they struggle to fill the empty spaces their loved ones left behind, fate conspires to bring them together. But when the two join their school’s production of Othello, the play they both hoped would be a distraction becomes a test of who they truly are, both together and on their own. 

 

 

The Taming of the Drew by Stephanie Kate Strohm

Cass McKay has been called stubborn, temperamental, difficult, and that word that rhymes with "witch" more times than she cares to count. But that's all about to pay off. She has finally landed the role she was born to play—Kate, in The Taming of the Shrew—in the summer apprentice program of a renowned Shakespeare theater company in the forests of Vermont.