The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street Audiobook (Unabridged)

" A good piece of historical detective work on Silver Street and Shakespeare's connections with his landlady. "

" The Lodger Shakespeare takes most of its information on Shakespeare from a court case that he was involved involved with. The case has very little information, but the author stretches all he can out of it. The book becomes a history of the time that Shakespeare lived. This background I am sure will be interesting the next time I watch a play by him. Other than that this book was hard to get through with very little entertaining value. "

" I remember reading this and being impressed with the information and research. "

" I didn't expect much from this book, but the author not only did an impressive amount of research, but made some interesting observations that brought Shakespeare to life in a way no other biography has. "

" Subtle and thought-provoking, and very, very entertaining. As good as 1599 by James Shapiro for understanding Shakespeare's context, and maybe even better as a (implied) commentary on his work. "

" This book was quite readable, full of interesting detail and threw some light on one of the less explored periods of Shakespeare's life, but I found myself getting increasingly annoyed at Nicholl's flights of wild speculation and overstating his case. Every other page seemed to be marked by some highly dubious assertion, prefaced by "doubtless", "it is possible that", "we can probably assume that" etc. Nicholl is the kind of man that jumps to the conclusion that two people who happen to live on the same street at around the same time must know each other intimately, that two people who share the same (common) surname must be related or, indeed, in one extraordinary example featuring the second most common English surname, must be the same person. On no evidence whatsoever he begins to speculate that a widowed business-owner might have been enjoying sexual dalliances with her young male apprentices. He assumes a sexual relationship between Marie Mountjoy and her husband's business partner on fairly flimsy evidence and then begins to build other wild assumptions on the foundation of that. I frequently found myself wishing he had either stuck to the unembroidered facts or had chosen to write a fictionalised account, where his speculation would have been clearly labelled as fantasy, not pseudo-fact. Another annoying habit is a compulsion to forge unconvincing links to demonstrate "contemporary relevance" - cue forced analogies with the Beckhams, TV shows etc every few pages. He also can't resist going off at tangents, sometimes interestingly, but sometimes I get the impression he is just trying to show off his research, even when it's clearly not relevant, or just trying desperately to pad out a book which is quite thin (he also frequently repeats material, which might be another padding tactic - either that, or he assumes his readers have the memory of a goldfish). And (although, in fairness, he acknowledges he is doing it and openly admits that what he is doing is contrary to modern literary scholarship) he starts reading biographical significance into Shakespeare's plays in quite an unconvincing, dated way. I did enjoy it and learnt some new things about Shakespeare and the period. I thought he was particularly good on analysing Elizabethan/Jacobean plays to support his picture of the contemporary social context. The faults I have outlined above were fairly trivial ones. But annoying. "

" Maybe part of the problem is that I tried this as an audiobook. It was as interesting as listening to paint dry. Perhaps it would have been best if I'd had a hard copy I could skim through and just stop to read the parts that interested me. "

" This was absolutely enjoyable, if a bit tedious towards the end. Not much of "detective" tale (despite the reviews), but you learn a good deal about French immigrants in London and decorate headgear. "

" Not so much about Shakespeare, as about a place where he lived, and people he came in contact with. That said, it was interesting. "

" I thought this book was amazingly well researched, but you really have to be a Shakespeare nerd to love it (as I am)! "

" Interesting research and documentation with lots of speculation. "

" Whoa, some ish right here...smh. "

" Not a fan. Way too much speculation and oddly verbose fixation on certain obscure points of fact. "

" Microtopography of a tiny section of Jacobean London where Shakespeare lived for a few years. Nichols even figures out what Shakespeare's local pub would have been at the time. Only fascinating if you are geeked on the history of London, which I am. "

" Kinda dry, but interesting information... "

" Like spending an evening with a chatty Elizbethan-history geek. I would adore spending an evening with a chatty Elizabethan-history geek, so I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Mileage will vary. "

" I really enjoyed the semi-fictional aspect of this book. The story of Shakespeare's time in Silver Street was beautifully written - I could actually imagine his trip down the Thames to the theatre. "

" Like spending an evening with a chatty Elizbethan-history geek. I would adore spending an evening with a chatty Elizabethan-history geek, so I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Mileage will vary. "

" I remember reading this and being impressed with the information and research. "

" Subtle and thought-provoking, and very, very entertaining. As good as 1599 by James Shapiro for understanding Shakespeare's context, and maybe even better as a (implied) commentary on his work. "

" A remarkable book describing in great erudite detail Shakespeare's milieu in London. This is as close as anybody will ever get to the person himself. "