Shakespeare: The World as Stage, by Bill Bryson

This is yet another book I brought with me to Mexico. As it stands, I'll read anything written by Bill Bryson; and if he happens to write about something of interest to me, all the better. Such is the case with this slim book.

Really, what's there left to say about William Shakespeare that hasn't been said already? Nevertheless, it's still fun to have everything put together by Mr Bryson who can breathe humour into a restaurant menu. The book is slim because we know scarcely anything about the greatest writer in English literature. The verifiable facts on Shakespeare will probably amount to fewer than ten pages, so Mr Bryson's volume also includes stories on Shakespearean scholars, experiences of Shakespeare's contemporaries, and the theatre life in Elizabethan days. It's a highly enjoyable and informative read.

There are those among us who wish they had been born to a different era, one filled with romance, adventure and creativity, unlike the dreary materialistic one in which we find ourselves. Perhaps a reality check is in order from time to time. When a talented playwright such as Christopher Marlowe could be charged of being "a blasphemer and atheist" and faced, "at the very least, having his ears cut off---that was if things went well", I'm afraid it wasn't all romance and adventure in the old days. Not to mention that the Elizabethan era is generally considered to be the golden age in English history...