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How to be Well Read
A guide to 500 great novels and a handful of literary curiosities
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Check link for latest rating. ( 104 ratings, 18 reviews)
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Format: Paperback / softback
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How to be Well Read
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
A guide to the best novels ever written, and why they matter.
Ranging all the way from Aaron's Rod to Zuleika Dobson, via The Devil Rides Out and Middlemarch, literary connoisseur and sleuth John Sutherland offers his very personal guide to the most rewarding, most remarkable and, on occasion, most shamelessly enjoyable works of fiction ever written.
He brilliantly captures the flavour of each work and assesses its relative merits and demerits. He shows how it fits into a broader context and offers endless snippets of intriguing information—did you know, for example, that the Nazis banned Bambi or that William Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying on an upturned wheelbarrow; that Voltaire completed Candide in three days, or that Anna Sewell was paid €20 for Black Beauty? It is also effectively a history of the novel in 500 or so wittily informative, bite-sized pieces.
Encyclopaedic and entertaining by turns, this is a wonderful dip-in book, whose opinions will inform and on occasion, no doubt, infuriate.
'Generous, enjoyable and well informed.' Observer
'Anyone hooked on fiction should be warned—this book will feed your addiction.' Mail on Sunday
'500 expertly potted plots and personal comments on a wide range of pop and proper prose fiction.' The Times
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
John Sutherland's How to be Well Read is praised for its generous and enjoyable approach, offering insights into a vast array of genres and styles. It presents 500 expertly summarised plots with personal commentary, providing a witty and insightful guide to essential reading. Critics commend Sutherland's capacity to engage the common reader with a mix of literary analysis and changing reading tastes, delivered in his intelligent and breezy style. Readers are warned of its addictive appeal, highlighting the temptation of its well-crafted prose and thoughtful selections.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781529157291
Publisher: Cornerstone
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 14 July 2022
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin (Cornerstone)
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 33.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 383g
Pages: 560
About the Author
John Sutherland is Lord Northcliffe Professor Emeritus of Modern English Literature at University College London and previously taught at the California Institute of Technology. He writes regularly for the Guardian, The Times and the New York Times, and is the author of many books including Curiosities of Literature, Is Henry V a War Criminal? (with Cedric Watts), biographies of Walter Scott, Stephen Spender and the Victorian elephant Jumbo, and The Boy Who Loved Books, a memoir.
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