“Shylock is My Name” by Howard Jacobson (The Finkler Question), does a contemporary take on William Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.  It is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare Project, which seeks to generate interest in the Bard’s plays by casting them in a contemporary light.  Tracy Chevalier’s “The New Boy” (Othello) is a prep sports star who will never be fully accepted by his classmates; Ann Tyler’s “Vinegar Girl” (Taming of the Shrew) refuses to be a passport bride, and Jo Nesbo’s “Macbeth” (Macbeth) is a rising mob boss.  The complete series is listed ehere. “Fools and Mortals” by Bernard Cornwell presents Shakespeare from the point of view of his far more respectable brother