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I have grown up loving Shakespeare.

I first read 'Tom Sawyer' when I was in 8th grade, 13 years old. I realised since that Mark Twain just bottled what it felt like to be a child.

I studied Shakespeare all through high school. Both of my parents teach English and history, so it has always been around my experience as a young man.

Shakespeare, Dickens, Mark Twain, and so many others were my dearest friends and greatest teachers.

For someone who made such an enormous contribution to American literature, Mark Twain has been the subject of many books but few major biographies.

I read Shakespeare when I was 14 because it's what we were taught.

I think reading Shakespeare's plays when I was young was extremely important. He had the ability to make utter strangers come alive.

I love Shakespeare and the Greeks - learned a lot studying them at one time.

I fell in love with Shakespeare when I was 12, and I read the whole works. Yes, I was precocious.

After a few drinks, my mom would recite her lines as Portia in 'The Merchant of Venice' from her high school play. But I first discovered Shakespeare properly when I was about five. I used to look for the most complicated books I could find and pretend to be reading them. I wanted people to think I was smart.