We had Julius Caesar at school and Romeo and Juliet .
The only thing that made it bearable were the records by Richard Burton reading Shakespeare
His voice was to die for :) .
I've seen Shakespeare at the theatre ( Othello) and it was superb .But as for sitting and reading it ...No :-)
not really meant to be read. The language is getting a bit archaic now, but good actors can make it all work. Try one of the Richard IIIs (Olivier or McKellen)
Definitely 8... Romeo & Juliet, Trolius & Cressida (very bad spelling!), Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Nights Dream. And a few sonnets. My favourite is Hamlet.
I've read most of them ummm, but not for quite a long time - I did A level Eng Lit at school so we ploughed through a lot. I still maintain that they are better seen not read - the language and nuances make more sense when you see it acted out.
I've studied/read/seen/acted in at least 15, maybe 20, and some of the sonnets. But I did study English at university. However, I do like Shakespeare. My A Level English teacher had to study all his works at university, as did probably a good few of my lecturers.