For those wanting an affordable, unabridged edition of all 37 plays and the sonnets, a good choice is William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, published by the Library of Literary Classics in 1990.

The Essential Shakespeare has updated language for Shakespeare's greatest plays and a narrative guide. It was published in 2001 by Xlibris Corporation as part of its Essential Library series for the modern reader.

Christopher Marlowe, a contemporary of Shakespeare, was also an outstanding playwright and the author of Tamburlane and Dr. Faustus. A Preface to Marlowe is an examination of his plays and poetry. Written by Stevie Simkin, it was published by Longman in 2000.

A modern-day musical version of Romeo and Juliet is West Side Story. Norris Houghton published a book with Laure Leaf in 1965 that compares the two hugely successful versions of the story.

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was a...