Lisa of Troy's Reviews > As You Like It

Yep, I’m going to spar with dead authors in this review. What else is new?

As You Like It has a complex storyline involving two sets of brothers at odds with each other slapped together with a bit of politics and romance.

The play has some of the most iconic lines in literature and has some laugh-out-loud moments that have stood the test of time.

Given the structure of this play, it is easy to see how these storylines are modernized and retold by authors of every generation.

But why I enjoyed this play is intricately related to how I read this play.

Before reading each scene, I ventured to read the Cliff Notes. These summaries illuminated a path of understanding and allowed me to get much more out of each passage—it enabled me to think about setting and metaphor, freeing my mind to reach deeper.

So contrary to the advice of Mortimer Adler in How to Read a Book, I recommend reading the secondary sources first instead of fumbling around uselessly in the dark.

Additionally, I had a hard copy of the text and an audiobook, allowing myself sufficient time to pause and reexamine the text as there are many characters to keep track of and archaic language while navigating a swiftly moving plot.

You simply can’t expect to get much out of this play listening at 3X speed. Take the time to slow down on this one. Maybe write your own version of As You Like It. Who knows? Maybe I will read it!

The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – The Complete Works of William Shakespeare $16.96 from Amazon
Audiobook – $84.99 per year through Everand

2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal

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