The Accidental Pastor's Wife

Though originally written for children and published in 1807, this book retells twenty of Shakespeare's plays. I will admit a certain ignorance of most of them, though I had a fantastic English teacher in ninth grade who made Julius Caesar come alive for me ("Beware the Ides of March!!"). I have thoroughly enjoyed this book and have found myself drawn to it instead of my chores. I've been taking it with me to work out, too, which says a lot. Each play, written in prose form, is relatively short so it's a good one to pick up off and on. I just finished A Winter's Tale, which is a play I had never even heard of before. I found myself captivated and surprised by the ending!

If you're looking for something that's a classic, but not so cumbersome to read (when you have young children that's important!), I'd recommend this. You could probably find it at any library, but I got mine from www.paperbackswap.com (By the way, have you checked that out yet, book lovers? I've mailed over 20 books!).