Shakespeare's England

[I ended up skimming most of Unbroken - it was good, but reading about pretty much endless torture and cruelty for hundreds of pages got to me pretty fast. The end was well worth reading the book for, though. It really is an amazing story of survival - and ultimately survival of a soul freed from invisible chains, too. But to compensate I read the first two Penderwick books next. Yay, kids' lit! But now I'm back to more non-fiction.]

I've been reading Bill Brysons's Shakespeare and am greatly enjoying it, partly because he's a fun writer and partly because he says these are the facts, Jack. No making up Shakespeare's life for him, although he shares what other people have made up. I like reading about literary/historical research, because i'm super nerdy like that, and i also really like reading about this time period. Not a time i would have wanted to live in, but still an interesting one! Ever since I discovered the Paston family letter (although they started  earlier), i've been interested in c. 16th century England. Reading Shakespeare's Spy is probably more fun than most biographies of him, but this one is as much about the story of researching Shakespeare and his times as it is about the man himself, who we really know only a few facts about. 

After i finish this I think I might have to download As You Like It, once my favorite play....