Tales from Shakespeare

I accidentally discovered a hardbound version of this work in a used bookstore perhaps twenty years ago, and recently gifted it to my oldest granddaughter, who has a love for Shakespeare's world. I then discovered the identical work -- for free! -- on Kindle. The plays are presented in a prose, short story format, written for young people. They are delightfully detailed and the language and style of writing, although somewhat dated, is smooth and fun reading. This is a definite recommendation for anyone wanting to discover The Bard's works without having to wade through the plays. For anyone needing a quick knowledge of a particular play, or just wanting to immerse themselves in the genius of Shakespeare's work, this is the book to get. And it's free!

Every lover of Shakespeare should have this book. If you want to refresh your memory of a particular Shakespeare play, here it is. Strangely, very occasionally, it is not always one hundred percent accurate. Originally written for children but mostly enjoyed by adults. I would not be without it.

In his time, Shakespeare was the playwright to Everyman. Think Neil Simon.Just as with theater -goers today, it was usual for the audience to know ahead of the performance what they expected to witness. Shakespeare's genius was in many things, but as with most great artists, he stole from the best!! NOT PLAGIARIZING AS WE MEAN IT TODAY.. He retold ancient myths and sometimes more recent legends. He combined plot and sub-plot as any great chef combines ingredients. AND, he did it with wonderful language that was witty and fresh and provoking! Shakespeare broke the then-current rules of language: he verbed nouns!!! (Remember the language arts teacher who instructed that "contact" is not to be used as "John contacted his boss."? Shakespeare increased English enormously: some say 50% of words in ordinary use today are due to him!SO, if you read Lamb, you will be able to pick up a play, or enter a theater with a background similar to the original audience.p.s. Reading the great Greek and Roman myths will help you see many inside jokes and references; Bullfinch is still my favorite source - one rarely finds this level of language on WWW.

This is helpful if one wants to introduce kids or if you want to read the "Cliff-notes" before you go see a Shakespeare play. Then you can sound intelligent ;)That said, however, the formatting is weird like someone just cut a pasted without checking afterwards to make sure everything made sense. There are places where sentences just end and beginnings of paragraphs that don't seem to go with what was just said.

When I was 10 or 12 my parents got this book for me and I found it very boring and after a short while stopped reading it. Now I realize that a well-rounded person should at least have some knowledge of what is happening in some of the major Shakespeare plays. This is a book that simply summarizes Shakespeare plays, often using actual quotes from the Shakespeare plays being discussed. It does not spend time analyzing the psychological reasons that cause characters to take the actions they take. I read the summary of Taming of the Shrew, then I watch the Taylor Burton movie about the Taming of the Shrew and as I watched the movie I also followed along with a full copy of the play.The introduction to the book provides interesting insight into British culture at the time the book was written.

This is an essential to children and grown ups alike as a way to comprehend the stories of Shakespeare, which as prose are as brilliant as the plays. I received this book (when it was actually a paper book!) when I was a child, and it aided me in understanding of all the great plays since the Lambs have converted the plays into short stories. Of course the well crafted dialogue and incredible insights and observations made famous in the plays can only be appreciated in the plays, but at least this book lays the ground work. But this is a highly valuable source.

For your child or grandchild in middle school, this is a perfect introduction to Shakespeare before they tackle the real deal in high school. Knowing the stories ahead of reading the actual plays allows a young person to concentrate on the beauty and cleverness of the language. (An added plus, those adults who have not studied the plays or who slept through them in school can successfully pretend they have read them after reading this!)

A wonderful way of engaging with the immortal classics of Shakespeare for those who love literature but find Shakespearean language an insurmountable hurdle. The stories are related well and with a good amount of detail and those who have read the original will vouch for the fact that a lot of expressions in the original are present to give on the flavour of the original itself. Lamb's own language is removed from modern English to some extent and for the Lamb fan that is another merit of this collection- getting the taste of Lamb's inimitable style.

This is useful as a companion to reading, understanding and enjoying Shakespeare, but is also enjoyable in itself. The language of the stories seems formal and archaic to modern readers, but it's beauty is a delight. This collection is good to read in small doses, one story at a time , in order to savour the lovely language and the delicate renditions of Shakespeare's original plots.

Helpful summary of some of Shakespeare's plays.Written many ears ago when it was thought that young ladies might have difficulty in reading the original plays in their father's library.I find it helpful

Hamlet was excellent, Midsummer's Night dream less so. Any child with a reasonable vocabulary should have no problems. Free free free in this format.

What a good way to learn these great plays. I can think of no better way of making a start on Shakespeare than this good little book.

This is my go to simple reference when I want an understandable synopsis of a Shaspeare play.I have lost my original book so have downloaded onto my Kindle for easy access.There ware some of the plays eg Richard 111 which are not covered however.