If you’re like me, who got an English degree in an underfunded, underappreciated department in a liberal arts college, then you will love The Shakespeare Requirement not just because it’s fabulous but also because of the memories.

Jason Fitzger is one of those overworked, underpaid members of the English faculty at a small liberal arts college , and he is about to face his worst nightmare. In a strange twist of fate, he finds himself the chair of the department. Suddenly, aside from tackling his usual classes filled with mostly apathetic students, now he also has to battle with the Economics department, which is attempting to take over all the office space in their shared building. He has to battle with the quirky long-standing assistant to the chair, who holds all the information about running the department but has to take a lot of time off to care for her menagerie of needy pets. And he has to find a way to get all of his colleagues to agree on a single vision for the English department. Oh, and his ex-wife is dating the dean, who has to approve all his plans for the department.

So it’s just another year at school for Fitzger.

Julie Schumacher’s The Shakespeare Requirement is a hilarious, heartfelt satire of academic life. Her first novel with these characters, Dear Committee Members, won a much-deserved Thurber Prize. In that novel, Fitzger struggles with a difficult year as he tries to save his marriage, help his students, and try to keep the English department afloat. Told entirely through letters, it shows one man starting to unravel under the pressure he put himself under.

While I loved the ingenuity of using only letters for the entirety of Dear Committee Members, for The Shakespeare Requirement Schumacher abandoned the form and told this story in prose. While it’s not as clever, it gave her a lot more room to tell a really good story, and at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.

You don’t have to read Dear Committee Members to enjoy The Shakespeare Requirement, but why wouldn’t you? It’s a beautiful book and a quick read, and I recommend it just as highly.