Skakespeare by Bill Bryson

Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson is a fact-filled, short biography of William Shakespeare. Bill Bryson's books are all fact-filled and quick reads for anyone with a penchant for reading non-fiction. His books are always filled for interesting details and anecdotes that are fun to bring up at parties. I would recommend them for any teacher (kindergarten through college) looking for material to enliven their lessons.

My personal favorite Bill Bryson book is The Mother Tongue. This book offers a wonderful history of the the English language explaining the mysteries of its enormous lexicon (the largest of all languages) and truly bizarre spellings. I keep this one in my library and reread it it regularly.

I recommend all of Bill Bryson's book.






LGBT Book Watch: While no biography of William Shakespeare could ignore the controversy surrounding his sexuality, this book does its best to downplay and debunk the possibility that the bard might have been bisexual (he had a wife and two children in the country while he lived in the city). The book lends more support the the prevalence of sodomy in 16th century London than the chance Shakespeare might have wavered from the narrow heterosexual path - in spite of the evidence (sonnets, dedications, living arrangements, etc.) presented in the book.