Shakespeare Books

Very Good Collection of Poetry. Shakespear has to be one of my favorite writer of all times and this book displays his Romantic side amoung other poets.

Excellent, easy to get into book about the Bard. For lovers or haters of Shakespeare. Fun to read no matter if you are an expert on the plays, or never heard of heard of him.

Bringing together two previously published volumes of Author and Professor of English Literature Russel Fraser's excellent scholarly works on William Shakespeare, "Shakespeare: A Life in Art" is a complete and educated look at one of the greatest writers the world has ever known. Primarily focusing on the man's art and life's work first, Fraser doesn't ignore the fact that his personal life and the current events of Shakespeare's time had massive impact on everything the bard did, and covering everything we know about the man, even his time as an actor. "Shakespeare: A Life In Art" is highly recommended for readers seeking an in depth look at the man behind the plays and for community library collections focusing on English History of Classic literature.

I'm no Shakespeare scholar, that's for sure, so I admit I was a bit apprehensive when I bought this book, thinking that perhaps it would be an "insider" book with obscure referents and references--you know, the kind that Shakespeare fanatics who write "tho" instead of "though," &tc. This book, though certainly filled with formidable scholarship, is a wonderfully readable book for everyone (or almost everyone!). I loved every page of it (or almost every page).

The serious student of Shakespeare's most popular plays cannot dispense with this superlative anthology. While not every play is present here, 20 or so of the most popular are, and each play is accompanied by the most extensive study material I've ever seen, including notes on themes, staging challenges, and film versions...way beyond the typical historical and critical introductions found in other anthologies (although those are included too). The text is richly illustrated with artwork and photography and the texts of the play themselves are in David Bevington's popular format. Best of all, the generous margins coupled with large type face make reading and personal annotating a joy. Highly, highly reccomended!

Haven't figured out a classy way to tell someone that they get on your nerves? Want to make a big impression in a heated one on one dispute? Well, this is the book for you. Potent, sarcastic yet classic quotes taken from Shakespearean plays are compiled in this tiny book. Whether you tuck this small treasure in your desk at work or place it on the nightstand at home, you must use it. You will definitely have the upper hand in your next verbal battle with the enemy. Be offensive with style!

Bill Bryson's smart style and skeptical wit lends Shakespeare, The World as Stage all the readability possible given the subject. With his usual storytelling charm, he recounts the facts of Shakespeare's life, what little we know, and debunks alternative authorship theories. Shakespeare, schmakespeare. Long live Bill Bryson! He can write about anything and make it a blast.

Although this book is out-of-print, taking the trouble to find it will be worth it. Charles Lamb gives concise summaries of the plots of three Shakespearean plays: Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. There are a few big words, so it is best to read this book along with children, but the stories are short and exciting enough to hold attention. In addition, the illustrations by Judy Mastrangelo are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Shakespeare himself would have been proud.

Stevie Davies has written the only critical appraisal of "Twelfth Night" that is as delightful to read as the play itself! Her prose is lyrical and compelling; it resonates musically. She explores the characters' thoughts and emotions in great depth and never wastes time decrying their limitations. An observant, witty and compassionate critic, she preserves the delicate magic of wistful love and homesickness of "Twelfth Night".

The Friedmans are two of the greatest figures in cryptographic history. In this book they demolish the claims of those who argue that the immortal works of Shakespeare were carefully written or printed to hide secret messages, most notably that someone other than Shakespeare wrote the works attributed to him. (In fact, the Friedmans met while working for one such crackpot; see David Kahn's _The Codebreakers_ for the story.) They do this with unfailing wit and good humor, and this book is fun to read as well as educational.

Alas, human nature being what it is, the book has not put an end to the bogus claims. People are still coming up with alleged ciphers that churn out endless strings of gibberish, substrings of which are chosen--easy enough to find when you allow thousands of variant spellings, backwards occurrences, tossing out inconvenient letters as alleged nulls or errors, and fudging the application of your cipher when it proves convenient--as evidence of a secret author of the works of Shakespeare endlessly hiding his name in the plays and poetry. Like urban legends, conspiracy theories, and the poor, what Kahn calls "the pathology of cryptology" evidently is always with us.