The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett

This was another book I picked up at the clearance sale at B&N, $28 down to $6.  The snippet on the jacket indicated a connection to the Shakespeare authorship question, something Miss Stevens and I love to debate about.

I do not believe the actor/director William Shakespeare wrote the plays attributed to him.  There is not even proof the man wrote a letter to his long ill wife, let alone full length plays in iambic pentameter.  I believe Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford or a group comprised of de Vere, Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, and others wrote them.  That makes me an Oxfordian.

Side note: there's a theory that what's hidden on Oak Island isn't treasure, but the original manuscripts of the plays, as written by Bacon.  I am obsessed with Oak Island.


So, about this book.  I wanted to love it.

A rare book collector's wife passes away and he moves to the English countryside to escape their home.  He takes on side jobs evaluating and appraising old books.  In this work, he finds what appears to be the basis one of the plays, with handwritten notes by William Shakespeare.  It is the Holy Grail of literature.

The story is told in in 3 ways--the present, the year Peter and Amanda met, and England in Shakespeare's time and after.

I could not get into it.  I tried so hard.

Peter was wimpy, whiny, and weird.  Shakespeare was a pompous jerk.  Amanda was a rich brat.

I'm sorry to say I did not like this book!

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All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.