Death in the Theatre and Famous Last Words by Chris Wood

 Hello my lovely readers! 

We have a double header today as I recently finished these two books by the same author. Let's get into it.

SYNPOSIS
Britain’s theatrical wonderland has been a cornerstone of culture for centuries, delighting and thrilling audiences with an assemblage of exhilarating spectacles. Beyond the trodden boards, and tucked neatly behind the curtain however, lies a catalogue of real life destruction and grisly murder that our greatest tragedians would surely be proud to have presided over. Tread the bloodied boards of Britain’s theaters and witness the deathly dramas that have played out so dramatically within them.

Death in the Theatre collects an astonishing selection of startling tragedies from Britain’s throng of theaters. There is something especially staggering when the player exits life on their adorned stage, and yet, with this by no means an infrequent occurrence, death has made many a fearful cameo appearance – stalking the stalls and grimly reaping the galleries in its macabre and relentless fashion.

MY THOUGHTS
I'm in my "death and dying" era where I'm reading a lot more books based on...you guessed it...death and dying. I came across this book and it sounded like it'd be a good read.

The premise is very interesting, but author Chris Wood was incredibly longwinded and used such flowery language that it made it difficult to read. It's like he wanted to prove he was smart with how many adjectives he could use to describe something.

For example, if there was a death at the Globe Theater in 1719, Wood would describe what the city of London was like, the economy, the residents, the climate for two or three pages. Then he'd finally get to the history of the theater and THEN he'd get to the incident at hand. There's nothing wrong with context, but sheesh, you can talk about the surroundings of the theater in a shorter amount of time and without all of the adjectives. Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book halfway through.

On to the next book!

SYNOPSIS

Nothing focuses the mind more starkly than impending death. In this book, you can mount the scaffold and share in the final utterings of the condemned, and join the stricken in their deathbeds as their deeply entrenched secrets are finally unshackled. Famous Last Words collects a fascinating selection of destinies, culminating in their often flamboyant, always captivating comments just before they shuffled off this mortal coil. Revealed inside are tales of sangfroid bravery, astonishing ironies, and overdue confessions often betraying grave miscarriages of justice.

MY THOUGHTS

I was unaware that all the "last words" would be centered around folks from the Britain. It was no big deal, but it was just surprising. I liked it though since I got to learn about British history.

That being said, much like my previous review, the same applies for this book. Wood uses too flowery of language when it's not necessary. He gave life story of each person and then goes into the person's last words. A paragraph or two would've sufficed, but Wood was so dramatic and again droned on for pages and pages.

Ironically, this book was the opposite of I Don't Think They Heard Me. which I didn't really care for due to it's writing. Again, the premise of both books fascinate me, but the execution wasn't great.