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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
fast-paced
Listened to the audio version. It took me several tracks to settle into the fact that Bill Bryson's actual voice was not the voice I heard in my head while reading "A Walk in the Woods" or his other works! A nice overview of the life, world, and works of Shakespeare. It kept a very good pace and didn't get bogged down - a good literary and historical romp for the educated amateur. The audio version included a short interview about how and why Bryson wrote this book.
funny
informative
fast-paced
An honest, straight-forward, to the point, and sometimes amusing, look at the man and mystery of Shakespeare and the times in which he lived. A good biography for not only the casual fan of Shakespeare, but for the die-hards as well. I was pleased to see that Bryson was not a fan of the Anti-Stratfordian movement and he does a concise job of spelling out the controversy (and the ridiculousness of it). The pictures in this new edition are wonderful and help the reader capture a mind's image of this time in history.
If I would write a book, I would hope to write like Bill Bryson. He's engaging no matter what he's writing about. I had the misfortune of having a complacent history teacher for all four years of high school, and so in early middle age, I have decided to read bits and pieces of history writing in an effort to learn something, anything.[return][return]Bryson said as much as he could about what little is known about Shakespeare. Bryson made the connections where he could, and talked about the theories of prominent scholars as well as the theories of anti-Stratfordians--those who believe Shakespeare did not write the plays, although he gives them little credit. He's quick to point out discrepancies where they arise.[return][return]Overall, I'm not sure if I know much more about Shakespeare than I did to begin with, but I feel as though I've seen him as a human being existing in Elizabethan England. That much helps to put Shakespeare's story in perspective.
Merged review:
If I would write a book, I would hope to write like Bill Bryson. He's engaging no matter what he's writing about. I had the misfortune of having a complacent history teacher for all four years of high school, and so in early middle age, I have decided to read bits and pieces of history writing in an effort to learn something, anything.returnreturnBryson said as much as he could about what little is known about Shakespeare. Bryson made the connections where he could, and talked about the theories of prominent scholars as well as the theories of anti-Stratfordians--those who believe Shakespeare did not write the plays, although he gives them little credit. He's quick to point out discrepancies where they arise.returnreturnOverall, I'm not sure if I know much more about Shakespeare than I did to begin with, but I feel as though I've seen him as a human being existing in Elizabethan England. That much helps to put Shakespear
e's story in perspective.
Merged review:
If I would write a book, I would hope to write like Bill Bryson. He's engaging no matter what he's writing about. I had the misfortune of having a complacent history teacher for all four years of high school, and so in early middle age, I have decided to read bits and pieces of history writing in an effort to learn something, anything.returnreturnBryson said as much as he could about what little is known about Shakespeare. Bryson made the connections where he could, and talked about the theories of prominent scholars as well as the theories of anti-Stratfordians--those who believe Shakespeare did not write the plays, although he gives them little credit. He's quick to point out discrepancies where they arise.returnreturnOverall, I'm not sure if I know much more about Shakespeare than I did to begin with, but I feel as though I've seen him as a human being existing in Elizabethan England. That much helps to put Shakespear
e's story in perspective.
More about how we don't really know anything about Shakespeare than a biography, Bryson recounts the scanty physical evidence we have of his life - a few signatures on documents, a portrait that might look sort of what he looked like - and also discusses how these documents have been embellished to the point of legend.
Light, readable and enjoyable, this slim volume gleefully admits that its brevity is largely due to there being a dearth of information about England's celebrated poet-playwright, and proceeds to poke at said information with the enthusiasm that Bryson displayed for the doom of the planet in A Short History of Nearly Everything. A gleeful romp through scholarship, conjecture and outright invention.
I enjoy both Shakespeare and Bill Bryson. This could have been dull, but was actually very interesting.
I've always been a Shakespeare fan and I think that Bill Bryson is a genius, so I was sure this would be a good read... It turns out that It was, mostly. However, you fill a book with "people say Shakespeare did this, but no one really knows" and it gets a bit old. Still, Bryson is witty and paints a nice picture if England at this time and his underhanded ridicule of some theories were well-worth the read!