Welcome to Litsy!

After a quick run down through the life (which we don't know much about (but more than I thought)), the author looks at Elizabethan theatre and the poems, then takes us through WS's output, play by play. A short final chapter looks at WS's influence and reputation. The descriptions of the plays were too short to be useful unless you already knew the play. I think this could have been shortened and more time spent on the final chapter.

#coffeeandabook

I enjoyed this nice little intro to the study of Shakespeare. It has a biographical chapter and the rest focuses on his writings - mainly plays, but his sonnets are also discussed a little. I think it would be helpful to be familiar with his famous plays (Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello), general plots and characters. But it was interesting and I learned new things about Shakespeare and some of his works 🎭
8.5/10

I read this quickly as part of preparing for an intro to Shakespeare class I‘m teaching as a weekend side hustle. I can see why it would work for a complete beginner, with eloquent concise summaries of most of the plays including some obscure ones. But I found myself rolling my eyes a lot at very definitive statements about what Shakespeare meant or wanted with particular decisions like… what‘s your source on that mate.