2015 Reading

Surprisingly, determining precisely what to read among Shakespeare’s works is not a simple matter. Among the experts, he’s claimed to have written 37, 38, or 39 plays. And when you add in the plays that were believe collaborations or that are caught up in authorship controversies of one sort or another, the numbers go even higher.

For my reading project, I’ve gone with Marjorie Garber’s list of 39 plays, and I’m following her reading order (with some minor tweaks to get plays to best align with the seasons). This makes it convenient to read along, chapter by chapter, in her useful book, Shakespeare After All (2004).

Here’s the reading plan for the rest of 2015 and early 2016.

2015 READING

The Plays

  1. July 2015: Henry VI, Part 3 (1591)
  2. August 2015: Richard III (1592)
  3. September 2015: The Comedy of Errors (1594)
  4. October 2015: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595)
  5. November 2015: Love’s Labour’s Lost (1594–1595)
  6. December 2015: Romeo and Juliet (1595)
  7. January 2016: Richard II (1595)

ARCHIVE

The Plays

  1. September 2013: Two Gentlemen of Verona (1589-1591)
  2. October 2013: The Taming of the Shrew (1590-1594)
  3. November 2013: Titus Andronicus (1591–1592)
  4. October 2014:  Henry VI, Part 1 (1591)
  5. December 2014: Henry VI, Part 2 (1590–1591)

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE

The Plays

  1. Two Gentlemen of Verona (1589-1591)
  2. The Taming of the Shrew (1590-1594)
  3. Titus Andronicus (1591–1592)
  4. Henry VI, Part 1 (1591)
  5. Henry VI, Part 2 (1590–1591)
  6. Henry VI, Part 3 (1591)
  7. Richard III (1592)
  8. The Comedy of Errors (1594)
  9. Love’s Labour’s Lost (1594–1595)
  10. Romeo and Juliet (1595)
  11. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595)
  12. Richard II (1595)
  13. King John (1596)
  14. The Merchant of Venice (1596)
  15. Henry IV, Part 1 (1596–1597)
  16. Henry IV, Part 2 (1596–1597)
  17. The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597–1598)
  18. Much Ado About Nothing (1598–1599)
  19. Henry V (1598–1599)
  20. Julius Caesar(1599)
  21. As You Like It (1599–1600)
  22. Hamlet (1599–1601)
  23. Twelfth Night (1601)
  24. Troilus and Cressida (1602)
  25. Measure for Measure (1603–1604)
  26. Othello (1603–1604)
  27. All’s Well That Ends Well (1606–1607)
  28. Timon of Athens (1605–1606)
  29. King Lear (1605–1606)
  30. Macbeth (1606)
  31. Antony and Cleopatra (1606)
  32. Pericles (1607)
  33. Coriolanus (1608)
  34. The Winter’s Tale (1609–1610)
  35. Cymbeline (1610–1611)
  36. The Tempest (1610–1611)
  37. Cardenio (1612–1613)
  38. Henry VIII, or All is True (1613)
  39. The Two Noble Kinsmen (1613)

The Poems

  • Venus and Adonis
  • The Rape of Lucrece
  • A Lover’s Complaint
  • The Phoenix and the Turtle
  • The Sonnets (154)

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