![]() This is a popular-interest book, and Bryson is very good at providing context for his readers. Obviously, the legend is good for business. There is no proof of this at all, but many ( including the National Trust, who now manage the property) encourage the story. For example, he debunks the myth that Shakespeare was caught poaching deer, as a young man, from the nearby manor house Charlecote. Lots of scholarship (and not-so-scholarly writing) about Shakespeare has contained unregulated assumptions, surmises, and leaps of faith, some of which have entered public consciousness without a shred of evidence to support them. The main premise of this particular book is that everything we know about Shakespeare is wrong. He tackles huge topics (in the 404 years since Shakespeare’s death, thousands of pieces of scholarship have been written about the man and his work) and manages to distil them into something accessible, punchy and informative. And it is immediately obvious why Bryson has become such a heavyweight in the publishing world. ![]() ![]() ![]() This is – somewhat surprisingly, given the prolific nature of Bryson’s writing – the first of his books I’ve read. Book number 2 of the year is Bill Bryson’s ‘Shakespeare’ – a short, entertaining biography of one of the most famous people ever to exist. ![]()
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