Thanks for the suggestion, TChem. I ordered a couple more of the Folger Shakespeares (I have to say, I think they are the BEST way for someone who is not-an-expert to read Shakespeare, with the glosses and explanations on the facing pages, and they also have lots of essays and explanatory information in the beginning and at the end. And they are NOT "Cliff's Notes" versions, or Shakespeare Made Stupid or whatever - it's the real text, just explained a bit on the opposite side so you get all the jokes and so you know the words.). They were having a 4 for 3 deal so I got As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing (I do love the comedies and I think I love them more than the histories/tragedies), Hamlet, and Henry V. (And I should rent the Olivier version of that some time to compare to the text).

So I also tossed a copy of "Will in the World" into my virtual cart, because I always like learning more about stuff that interests me.

I will say that I am finding Shakespeare Not That Hard. Once you get used to the occasionally-inverted sentence structure (and funny, but I am used to it; I find I have occasionally used similarly flexible syntax before reading Shakespeare, so it feels familiar) and recognize that words don't always mean just what they mean to us, it becomes smoother.

My new favorite word? "Welkin," meaning "sky" (Or, also used in Twelfth Night in the phrase, "'Tis out of my welkin" meaning "I don't know." Oh, how I'd love to be able to use that with a student or colleague when they ask a question that is out of my field of expertise, but I find I already get enough "Baroo?" looks in response to things I say).

I also have to say I think the contraction "'tis" is sadly underused in today's English.

More and more, I find that reading - especially reading the old, old books - is the antidote I need to what I perceive as sometimes distressing things that happen in our world. Escapism, perhaps. But at least I sleep more soundly at night after tracking my mind onto Prospero's magic or the Jarndyce and Jarndyce court case.