135. Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. 104 pages. 12.5.09.

When the usurping Duke exiles his niece Rosalind (daughter of the overthrown Duke), she and the present Duke's daughter Celia steal away to the forest of Arden to prevent their separation. Rosalind, newly infatuated with a young wrestling champion named Orlando, disguises herself as Celia's brother, and the two set up household not far from where Rosalind's father holds his Robin Hood-like court in the wilderness. Full of the accidents, cross-dressing, wit and hurried couplings that define so many of Shakespeare's comedies, As You Like It is a delightful play to read.

In 2007 my mother in law gave me a set of Shakespeare that was published in 1901. The original set is actually missing As You Like It, and somewhere along the way someone substituted a Yale publication of the play from 1965. This edition claims to make an effort to get back to the "original" format of the play, and therefore excludes almost all stage directions. This is the first time I've read the play since grad school, and I could still hear some of the lectures echoing in my head. I was personally stuck by the reliance on duality to define identity, not unlike what Becket will do centuries later in his works Waiting for Godot and End Game. It was very interesting to take another look at the play, and I enjoyed reading it on several levels.