George Bernard Shaw's Plays: Mrs. Warren's Profession, Pygmalion, Man and Superman, Major Barbara: Contexts and Criticism Book

I only read Pygmalion, and have been familiar with the story since I saw the popularized version of the play in movie form as well as a staged version. I was surprised (though I guess I shouldn't have been) to find that it was very true to form (or, I suppose, that the versions I've seen are true to the play's written form), which was nice--no surprises!

It's never been my favorite story for its own sake--I'm not a fan of the way Higgins treats Eliza, and I find Eliza grating, though I'm on her side throughout the story. The only character I like unreservedly is Pickering, and he is far better when he's not being influenced by Higgins. Still, making a linguist a main character must not have been a natural choice for a story, so I appreciate the novelty of it. Also, there are some pretty un-subtle feminist themes running through the story that are interesting to consider, given the author and the time, to say nothing of the spot-on social commentary.

This particular book, which is a compilation of Shaw's plays, has a lot of "extras" that are just as interesting as the stories themselves--critical essays on the content, for example. It's always a bonus to be able to read an analysis of a work, and here you don't have to go looking for them. There's also information on Shaw himself, which is equally intriguing.