A shelf book I've had since the 1980s, that I turn to occasionally. My favorite in the book is Macbeth.

It seems this Cambridge University Press edition is no longer in print. The content can be seen in other publishings, but the physical book I have is cherished.

Young Frankie in Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes says that "Shakespeare is like mashed potatoes; you can never have too much." It's a compliment both to the poet and the potato, and I agree wholeheartedly. To read the ol' Swan of Avon straight through has, I believe, made me legitimately smarter, and not just in a know-more-stuff-in-my-chosen-profession sense, but in a understand-the-world-around-me sense. Eliot says that Shakespeare and Dante "divided the world between them, and there is no third." So yeah, he's good.
Anyway, here's a little something I wrote for the kids in my school's creative writing club:

The Ballad of Billy S.

this is the rule: if you can kill
a guy just by dropping
someone's "Collected Works" on him,
the author is a king

because if we collect your works,
it follows that you're good
and if you're writing all that much
we'll read you (or, we should)

and Ceasars come and Ceasars go
but "et tu, Brute?" endures
and what has stood time's test must be
'gainst ipads, too, secure.

"it cannot be coincidence"
(his chant was like a seer's)
"it flows in such easy iambs:
The Bard: William Shakespeare."

If the question is "do you recommend Shakespeare?" the answer would be of course, in what universe would he not be recommended?
So I guess the one that would get any conversation whatsoever would be "would you recommend I read the complete works"? Well it certainly is a ride, a journey, there's quite a bit of stuff in here. One thing I'll say is I'm still not entirely convinced of literature's claim on Shakespeare because when I read these plays there's a yearning for performance, for interpretation, for blocking, for I suppose theatrics. Even so much as reading it aloud immediately transforms it, the wordplay comes to the forefront, sentences that seem to run on too long flow like they were meant for it, everything comes alive. Shakespeare's a theater man through and through. The bit that gets lost in reverse metamorphosis from stage to page is most apparent in the comedies. If I were to dissuade someone from reading this, a few of the comedies would be why. Not only do half of them recycle the same tropes and setups, but the wordplay, the slapstick, the puns, they're placid and lifeless on the page where on stage they would flourish. Though at worst I never thought "this is bad", just that "this isn't grabbing me".
But if I were to recommend this to someone it would be for the surprises, the things you don't think would grab you, the things you might never have read on your own if it weren't part of this whole. For me this was Measure for Measure, and Coriolanus, and the histories which read like one cohesive arc when all read at once, and the sonnets, oh lord the sonnets. The sonnets are a treat after reading the 37 plays, they are the most personal connection to Shakespeare, the most candid thoughts of his that exist in print. He muses on love and death and art and insecurity and even makes dorky puns based off of his name Will, the sonnets humanize him. They flow almost as if meant to be read in the order they're presented and they act as the perfect coda to his other works.
Overall if you feel like making the plunge, I can at least assure I'm glad I did.

As if I couldn't get any more pretentious, I've decided to mark my place using a goose feather. This becomes a narrative throughout my notes lol
I got this edition sometime around when it was first published in 2006. Borders bookstores were still a thing. I was in the 6th or 7th grade. My full name is haphazardly scrawled across the bottom: I ran out of space and my surname is squished. Much like with my edition of Moby Dick, at the time of purchase, I couldn't read this. I'm now 28 (26 when I started). I can read it without any trouble.
When I'd tell people that this is what I'd do in my free time, they'd seem bewildered. They ask for clarification. "All of it?" or "Which translation?" It wouldn't be unusual to get an "I can't understand any of that." I have my preferences but I'm not a snob. I'd tell them how I didn't get it either when I first tried and that I've spent lots of time in the dictionary because of it. And hey, if you WANT to read Shakespeare, get an edition that is easy for you to understand.
My main goals here were:
t1. Read all of Shakespeare with this translation
t2. Extract words I like
t3. Learn about structuring figurative language
I still have to work on #2. I was doing this by hand, but it was slowing down my reading progress. I'll write a python script when I get around to it.
My main complaint is how these stories have brought along with them beliefs that negatively affect our societies. There's no shortage of racism, sexism, anti-semitism, and pro-capitalist language that remains with us today. The "good guys" still remain immoral or constrained products of their author's time.
A question I obviously get a lot is whether I like Shakespeare. I usually groan and shrug. The stories can be engaging but they're not "good". Characters are nonsensical stereotypes (ugly people are villains) and the plots/conclusions are unrealistic for their respective genres (villains confess and/or die). These traits are exactly what made them work. The dialogue is witty and the rest is mostly the popular opinions of the time period, even when Shakespeare was being risqué.
My notes are over every story and poem and are too long to post here. Below is a OneDrive link you may visit to read the PDF. Be wary of my crude language and I apologize for any spelling/grammatical mistakes.
Enjoy your meal.

Celebrity Death Match Special: The Complete Works of Shakespeare versus Deep Learning

Ubergeek Andrej Karpathy had the bright idea of training a recurrent neural network on the complete works of Shakespeare. It produces remarkably good output for an algorithm which not only knows nothing about Shakespeare, but can't even tell a noun from a verb! Here is the first of the two samples he gives:

PANDARUS:
Alas, I think he shall be come approached and the day
When little srain would be attain'd into being never fed,
And who is but a chain and subjects of his death,
I should not sleep.

Second Senator:
They are away this miseries, produced upon my soul,
Breaking and strongly should be buried, when I perish
The earth and thoughts of many states.

DUKE VINCENTIO:
Well, your wit is in the care of side and that.

Second Lord:
They would be ruled after this chamber, and
my fair nues begun out of the fact, to be conveyed,
Whose noble souls I'll have the heart of the wars.

Clown:
Come, sir, I will make did behold your worship.

VIOLA:
I'll drink it.
____________________

The Karpathy article is excellent, and if you're at all geeky yourself I strongly recommend looking at it. The examples are impressive: the random Shakespeare is good, but the random algebraic geometry and random Linux kernel code are even better.

A bit heavy to hold in your hand, but here you have it all in one. Read most of the plays, but mostly with a Dutch translation next to it, with notes. For a review of the plays: see the individual titles.

Finished!!

This took me 4 years. I feel like I should get a plaque or be allowed to put this on my resume or something.

--Favorite plays:
Henry V, Macbeth, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

--Favorite lines:
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. —Hamlet

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time. —Macbeth

Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the deaths of kings. —Richard II

Sit by my side and let the world slip: we shall ne’er be younger. —The Taming of the Shrew

Everyone can master a grief but he that has it. —Much Ado About Nothing

--Favorite sonnet:
#116

Finally over.
Man, this was one hell of the ride.
When I first took this book, I thought I will read all the play written by Shakespear in 2 months, tops.
Little did I know it stretched over 8 months.
There were bad plays, good plays, and amazing plays, but overall Shakespeare is class of its own.

I strongly believe that Shakespeare is not really meant to be read, but experienced as a live production! As a compromise, I followed along with the text of each play while simultaneously watching recorded versions of performances on YouTube (Side note: thank goodness so many excellent renditions are available to watch for free online!) It’s incredible how Shakespeare can be adapted, and how uniquely creative different versions of the same play can be. It never ceases to amaze me how talented actors can breathe so many varying interpretations of feeling into a single line on the page.

Now, when it comes to the bard himself, obviously, he’s simply unmatched. The way Shakespeare played with words is truly awe-inspiring. No one can craft a sick burn or a witty double entendre like he did. His characters can go from making dick jokes to delivering profound insight into the meaning of life and human relationships, all within the same scene. UGH how can you not LOVE Shakespeare!?!

My favorite plays are Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, and Othello. Here are some of my favorite lines from various plays:

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” -The Tempest

“O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world that hath such people in’t!” -The Tempest

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.” - Measure for Measure

“O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the marketplace!” -Much Ado About Nothing

“I pray thee now, tell me, for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me? For which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me?” -Much Ado About Nothing

“The course of true love never did run smooth.” -A Midsummer Night’s Dream

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts.” - As You Like It

“Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie.” -All’s Well That Ends Well

“For where thou art, there is the world itself, with every several pleasure in the world, and where thou art not, desolation.” -King Henry VI (2nd Part)

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” -Julius Caesar

“Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” - Macbeth

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” -Hamlet

“What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculty. In form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an Angel, in apprehension how like a god. The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals. And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; no, nor Woman neither; though by your smiling you seem to say so.” -Hamlet

“Virtue! a fig! ’tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners.” -Othello

“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken.” -the Sonnets

Shakespeare does have some detractors--I suppose someone so highly lauded makes a big target--but he is a genuine favorite of mine. If your introduction to him in school put you off, I'd recommend you try renting one of the many fine films made of his famous plays. The text of a play is after all just a scaffolding--it's really not meant to be read, but seen. Here are a few suggestions, chosen not because they are necessarily Shakespeare's best plays, but among the most watchable film adaptations I've seen:

King Lear - there's a version with Lawrence Olivier that's superb.
Hamlet - I love the Kenneth Branagh version, but it clocks in at 4 hours. Shakespeare novices with less stamina might want to choose the ones with Gibson or Olivier in the title role instead.
Macbeth - Orson Welles and Roman Polanski both did versions I found very watchable.
Romeo and Juliet - I love the Zeffirelli version. He cast actors that were actually the right ages, and this film made me a fan of Shakespeare in my teens.
Henry V - I love both the Branagh and Olivier versions--though they're very different reads. Olivier's, done in the midst of World War II, heroic and patriotic, Branagh more cynical and dark.
Julius Caesar - try the one with a young Marlon Brando as Mark Anthony.
Much Ado About Nothing - Branagh again--but also his (then) wife Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington and Kate Breckinsale all bringing their A-game.
Taming of the Shrew - with wife/husband team of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Taylor chews the scenery--great actress she isn't--but I admit I find the film fun.

There's also a Othello with Lawrence Fishburne and a Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino I've heard great things about, but haven't gotten around to seeing myself.

Although the more you're familiar with Elizabethan language, the better you can comprehend and appreciate the plays, and there's something to be said for reading the plays quietly on your own, one after another. Eventually you get oriented to his world and language, and it comes easier. Precisely because the language and some of the literary and historical allusions are unfamiliar though, reading an annotated edition of the plays is a must. About the only play I don't like is the ridiculous Titus Andronicus. Even if Camille Paglia defends it, I think the best that could be said of it is that it's comforting to know even Shakespeare can flub it. As for Shakespeare's poetry, I do love the sonnets madly. But Shakespeare's longer poems, such as Rape of Lucrece and Venus and Adonis? Not so much.

There's special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.

If readiness be all, then this volume is a staple on any bookshelf. Ready to be opened for quick quote checks, ready to be heaved at home intruders (it's really heavy), it is useful in so many ways. It stays open on the window shelf, so the afternoon breeze can choose its special pages. Additionally, there are several sections dealing with Shakespeare's life, the Plague, Elizabethan art, and the people of the Great Poet's time.

The extras are worthwhile. For instance, Tudor London was a genuinely filthy place, but as editor G.B. Harrison makes clear, it was still beautiful in its own way. There was no smog to grime the buildings, half-timbered homes stood on narrow lanes, and the Thames was still clear. The old City was all but wiped out in the Great Fire of 1666. Maybe that's why I love having this huge volume on hand, so I can imagine olden times filled with silver tongues.

Confession: I also use this to come up with the many passwords I need for all of my online apps. That's because the bottom of each page has highlighted words and their meanings. It helps.

Book Season = Year Round (thitherward)

January:
1. Two Gentlemen of Verona (1589–1591) - January 1, 2017
2 The Taming of the Shrew (1590–1591) - January 5, 2017
3 Henry VI, Part 2 (1591) - February 1, 2017

February:
4 Henry VI, Part 3 (1591) - February 3, 2017
5 Henry VI, Part 1 (1591–1592) - January 21, 2017
6 Titus Andronicus (1591–1592) - February 9, 2017

March:
7 Richard III (1592–1593) - March 4, 2017
8. The Comedy of Errors (1594) - March 11, 2017
9. Love's Labour's Lost (1594–1595) - March 27, 2017

April:
10. Richard II (1595) - April 7, 2017
11. Romeo and Juliet (1595) - April 12, 2017
12. A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595) - April 21, 2017

May:
13. King John (1596) - May 3, 2017
14. The Merchant of Venice (1596–1597) - May 8, 2017
15. Henry IV, Part 1 (1596-1597) - May 20, 2017

June:
16. The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597) - June 20, 2017
17. Henry IV, Part 2 (1597-1598) - June 24, 2017
18. Much Ado About Nothing (1598-1599) - June 25, 2017

July:
19. Henry V (1599) - July 5, 2017
20. Julius Caesar (1599) - July 10, 2017
21. As You Like It (1599-1600) - July 26, 2017

August:
22. Hamlet (1600-1601)- August 12, 2017
23. Twelfth Night (1601) - August 15, 2017
24. Troilus and Cressida ((1600–1602) - August 29, 2017

September:
25. Measure for Measure (1603-1604) - September 6, 2017
26. Othello (1603-1604) - September 15, 2017
27. All's Well that Ends Well (1604-1605) - September 12, 2017

October:
28. King Lear (1605–1606) - October 19, 2017
29. Timon of Athens (1605–1606) - October 20, 2017
30. Macbeth (1606) - October 28, 2017

November:
31. Antony and Cleopatra (1606) - November 17, 2017
32. Coriolanus (1608) - November 23, 2017
33. The Winter's Tale (1609–1611) - November 25, 2017

December:
34. Cymbeline (1610) - December 11, 2017
35. The Tempest (1610–1611) - December 12, 2017
36. Henry VIII (1612–1613) - December 16, 2017

Other:
Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1607–1608) - November 21, 2017
The Sonnets (1609) - December 19, 2017
The Two Noble Kinsmen (1613–1614) - December 19, 2017
The Narrative Poems (1593-1594) - December 23, 2017