Not the best edition of Shakespeare's sonnets if you want exhaustive notes, but not a bad little book for the average reader. ( )

If you never read Sharkespeare but wanted to, start with this book. This book eases you into his writings. The editior and the writers of the text pre and post sonnets worked very hard to make this accessible. I read the sonnets without looking at the "dictionary references" at the bottom and I was moved. I cannot wait to read this again using the references. Once you read this book you want to read everything he wrote. A keeper. ( )

A version of the sonnets which contains almost as much commentary as a Director's Commentary special feature on a George Lucas film. ( )

Classic poetry at its best. What more can be said. ( )

My biggest piece of advice to first-time readers (like I just was): take your time. Maybe not as much time as I took, if you don't want--I read two or three sonnets at a sitting, so it took me months to finish the entire collection. I was able to discover my own favorite sonnet, which isn't one of the standard favorites (#44).
I do like the Folgers series of Shakespeare (I like the notes on the facing page), but I also consulted other references (mostly online) as I read. ( )