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How does anyone know what a person growing up a farm region knew? Presumably, the Shakespeares made their money selling sheep but had their own farm to provide food, since subsistence farming was pretty much the way of life for those who didn't live in the city. It's far more likely that he was...

I heard about this on another book forum and decided to give it a try, even though I generally stay away from self-published fiction. I'm glad I didn't this time, because The Wellbaby is one of the best and most thoughtfully written novels I've read in a long time. It's not an easy read. Its...

Shakespeare CAME from an agricultural community. His father was a sheep shearer. So farming would not have been a 'part time' occupation for him growing up. He would have been 'hands deep' in it every day, and even if he never visited a farm once he went to London he still would have remembered...

I recommend reading the book Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt. Although speculative, he assumes that the penny pinching, litigious, provincial farmer-cum-actor-businessman is the same person who wrote the plays. He uses many examples from Shakespeare's work to illustrate the influence of...

Haven't read Irving's book and I wouldn't unless I wanted to know how a semi-contemporary perceived the first president. Instead, I'm reading Ron Chernow's Washington: A Life. It's a one-volume book that is far superior to the Joseph Ellis Washington biography that came out a few years ago...

Nearly everything Winchester writes is a joy and this one is no exception. I think I did prefer The Professor and the Madman because that story took place over a shorter period of time.

Probably like many people I read the books long after I saw the TV series. I thought Graves did a good job with what is essentially speculation at best. I probably would have liked the books less if I had read them first. It is certainly difficult to keep up with all of the many characters...

I absolute love Pratchett, but The Long Earth seems to have far more Baxter than Pratchett in it. The premise is interesting, but the whole "alternative earth" thing has been done to death. The ending was particularly unsatisfying. I'm now reading its sequel, The Long War, and its just plain...

Okay, I'm new here and this is an old thread and I haven't read every response so forgive me for repeating what others have said, BUT: I don't understand all of the "The Guy Named Shakespeare Didn't Write It" arguments. These arguments are based on elitism--the notion that a man from a...