book reviews: when you need to escape but love literature

This autumn, my reading exploits have varied, as always, but there is a returning point: William Shakespeare. Every season, a new poet, or maybe simply a new author, but my life, divided into three month skirmishes, I will invest myself in as much reading as sanely possible, exploring the intricacies of an author--their life, their words, their criticism.

And escaping with them as well. There are two books represented here: Will by Grace Tiffany, a novelization of his life, and Interred With Their Bones, a mystery whose victims mimic the deaths of famous Shakespeare characters and whose protagonist is speeding about the globe in search of Cardenio, a much referenced "Lost Play" of Shakespeare (I believe Jasper Fforde also utilizes this mythic production in his Thursday Next series, another lovely little escape gem involving much of the literary canon).

Both reads were fine--I enjoyed them. Will on the honeymoon, with the vast mountains of Alaska at the horizon, and the just-completed Interred With Their Bones, written by a Shakespeare scholar and Harvard professor.

I am still reading Will in the World, which is beautifully written, but needs weekend attention. Then, I begin re-reading the plays and sonnets.