Shakespeare

Bill Bryson's Shakespeare: The World as a Stage, is quite an interesting read, but not for the reasons you might expect (well, at least not for the reasons I expected). As with most things Bryson writes, it's got a wonderful pace, it's often humorous and entertaining, and quite informative to boot!

Growing up hearing about, reading, and studying Shakespeare's works, I made what I assume to be a fairly normal assumption. That assumption being that as widespread and popular as his works are, as well as the sheer volume, that he was likely a well known guy and they probably knew everything about him from the doctor's first slap at birth through to the grave crew's filling of the hole at death. This could not be further from the truth. This is, in fact, a man about whom very little at all is known. How little you ask? Well, for starters, there is hardly consensus about the correct spelling of his name to this very day. That alone speaks volumes.

It's also not known if he traveled internationally at all or in what order his plays were written (and with his sonnets, to whom they were addressed and for what purpose). They can only place Shakespeare in particular times and places for only a handful of days out of his entire life.

This particular biography discusses all of this and much much more. If you possess a passing fancy of any sort for the works of Shakespeare, you stand a good chance at enjoying this book. It's a real eye opener, even as it doesn't tell you much about the person of whom it's written!