A Reader's Book of Days: True Tales from the Lives and Works of Writers for Every Day of the Year
Books / Hardcover
Books › Literary Criticism › Reference
ISBN: 0393239624 / Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, November 2013
A witty and addictively readable day-by-day literary companion.
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A literature-lover's almanac, of sorts, this highly entertaining collection of trivia and detail contains snippets, little-known facts, and stories from the various authors' lives (and deaths) for each day of the year. One may quibble with particular selections--influenced, doubtlessly, by the compilers' personal taste (he holds a doctorate in English, is a former editor at Amazon, and--perhaps more relevantly to the form and style of the book--is an eight-time Jeopardy! winner) but not the breadth of coverage. Birthdays and death dates are included (although, it seems, never for the same author), reading lists for each month, concentrating on books that reference it, or contain it as an integral part of their plots--and, of course, the heart of the book are the fragments themselves--stories, fictional and true, of the events that had happened on the day in question, in literature itself, or of authors' personal experiences. Browsing through the index of names is quite educational in itself--among many famous icons of literature one finds less-known but still excellent authors. In fact, the primary purpose of this book would be to introduce a person to the scale and scope of modern literature (primarily English language) and kindle their interest in it. Annotation ©2014 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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