On the surface the author is searching for two things - finding the most authentic painted portrait of William Shakespeare and whether or not Shakespeare wrote the plays and sonnets he is credited with and if he didn't wrote them.instead. The author is an odd bird often getting sidetracked especially an irrelevant trip to Japan. He also shares a never ending parade of ailments, medicines and alcohol. I think he was a bet of an hypochondriac. ( )

This book is, ostensibly, about the author trying to track down a true, authentic portrait of the bard. Apparently Shakespeare’s image is about as elusive as his credibility as the real author of the 37 plays and the sonnets. I taught high school and college English for 40 years, and during all of those years taught one of the plays and many of the poems. That said, I would never (and, in all fairness I don’t think the author of this book would either) suggest that this book qualifies as much of a source for academic research. In fact, the journey Durkee takes us on is a bit confusing. Keeping track of all of the candidate portraits takes a database spread sheet. What the book is is a hilarious adventure through the myriad of paintings and other images, written in Durkee’s amazingly clever style. In fact, I would say if you don’t care a whit about Shakespeare but you love good, and more importantly, unique writing, “Stalking Shakespeare” is worth your while. I retired seven years ago, and during that time my LibraryThing account says I’ve read 365 books, about 2/3 of those nonfiction. I would put this book in the Post-Retirement Hall of Fame for books I’ve read insofar as its entertainment value. And I wish I could think of a better adjective than “clever” to describe the author’s writing because that just doesn’t do justice to it. If you’re on the fence about this one, jump off immediately and either go to the Barnes and Noble clerk and buy it or approach the circulation desk and check it out. Oh, and I guess there is also a choice to click the “Buy Now” button on the Amazon site. ( )