Funny Cat

Shakespeare by Bill Bryson

“...at once the best known and least known of figures”

This slender edition may not be the best Bill Bryson has ever written and is definitely not a book to base a thesis on. But for someone, like myself, who knows the name Shakespeare (never spelt the same way twice!) from his plays and Sonnets this book is an interesting read with the usual touch of Bryson wit.

Bryson expand on the little we know of Shakespeare, remarking that he is “at once the best known and least known of figures". We don’t even know what he looked like as the three likenesses we have are so different. Even so, Bryson records everything that is known about the Bard, from the earliest scholars to the esteemed ones today, including the scholars like Delia Bacon, who tried to prove some one other than Shakespeare wrote his works.

Also he gives us a setting for the man – Elizabethan and Jacobean England. Although Shakespeare is usually associated with the Elizabethan period, Bill Bryson points out that the majority of his play writing career takes place after her death. We learn about the theatrical scene and the culture in London at the time.

Bryson deftly weaves humor and scant facts to tell Shakespeare's story that began in the sixteenth century and is still playing out today.

Medicine Road by Charles de Lint

A long time ago, Coyote Woman gave two Native American spirits, a red dog and a jackalope, the ability to shift into human form on the condition that if within 100 hundred years they can both find soul mates who love them unconditionally they get to keep her gift, but if one of them does not than both will change back into their original form forever. Alice Corn Hair has found hers, but Jim Changing Dog has not found the right one and now time is running out.

Twins Laurel and Bess Dillard are traveling musicians touring the Southwest, playing their music and selling their cds. When they get to Tucson, they meet a whole new type of people some friendly and others not so. When the man who has caught Bess’s eye offers to show them around the twins are happy to comply. Bess is fascinated by Jim’s mysteriousness and the attraction is mutual. But not everyone wants life to be easy for Jim and when Bess learns the truth, it so overwhelms her that only if her sister can take courage in her own hands and awaken her own animal spirit in time can disaster for all of them be avoided

As usual De Lint combines the world we live in and the spirit world with flawless ease. Injecting wit and romance with no loss to the mysteries of Native American mythology. (And if you come across his writing in conjunction with Charles Vess’s artwork count your self lucky indeed!)