Twisted Tales from Shakespeare

Introduction by the Blog Author

Richard Armour wrote Twisted Tales from Shakespeare back around 1957.  I found it on my best High School English teacher’s personal bookshelf and started laughing at it uproariously as soon as I opened it.  Armour takes the plot summary or cheat-by-using-Cliff-Notes approach to literature and adds first rate comedy to the notion of reducing Shakespeare’s best plays to précis-like summaries the length of a short story.  If you are bored and annoyed by Shakespeare, try this humorous approach.  If you love Shakespeare, then, well, you will fully understand the insider approach of Armour and laugh even harder!

Below are three reader reviews from Amazon.com.  The average of all the reviews on Amazon is five stars.

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5 Stars
As You Like It
By Bridgette on  November 18, 2002

This book is a must read for all those who've read Shakespeare. One word of caution though: Unless you've read and understood the bard's plays vis a vis Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet etc, you won't understand the humor that comes through in Armour's witty dialogues. It helps if you knew a bit of Shakespeare's life/background as well. Chuckles at every few lines are inevitable, so get ready for some curious glances if you read this in public. Although Armour gives a comical interpretation to Shakespeare's plays, it’s obvious that he's "not come to bury Shakespeare but to honor him." :-)

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5 Stars

Making Sense of Shakespeare
By Jessica on August 26, 2000

How many times have you burst out laughing when forced to read Shakespeare for an English assignment? And how many times would you actually pick up a book with the dreaded word 'Shakespeare' on it willingly? While staying at a bed and breakfast in Newburyport, I came across the last scene of "Midsummer Night's Dream" being performed in the park. When I returned to the b&b, I was browsing through the shelves of the library when I found this book. I read the previously mentioned play and Romeo and Juliet. Armour makes them easy to understand and also hilarious! He has the rare talent of being able to take the untouchable classics, edit out the unnecessary, and add some unique pizzazz. This book receives my highest recommendation. I have also read his book of light verse, and it is just as enjoyable. This book, as well as his others, is worth the effort to find them out of print.

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5 Stars

Love Twisted Tales
By EJB on January 29, 2005

I read Twisted Tales many years ago and loved it. Richard Armour has made the Shakespeare plays a hilarious read. When my daughter was in the second grade, she mentioned something about Shakespeare and I said I had a very funny book about his plays which I would give to her when she was older. She insisted on reading the book then anyway, loved it and goes back to it frequently. She is now 16 and recently asked for the book again!

I actually came to the Amazon website to look for more books by Richard Armour. We definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves puns, jokes and great humor, all at the expense of the great Shakespeare plays. You can even follow all the plot twists and characters in Midsummer Nights Dream.

http://www.amazon.com/Twisted-Tales-Shakespeare-Richard-Armour/dp/0070022518/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406010430&sr=1-1&keywords=twisted+tales+from+shakespeare+by+richard+armour