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Review
This blagger’s guide is a must. Chock-full of strategies to make a little learning go a long way (The Guardian, Almee Shalan)
Hitchings is an amiable guide and includes useful tips (Telegraph Review, Sameer Rahim)
Hitching’s whistle-stop literary guide is often insightful and his advice on talking to actors is hilariously deadpan (The Observer, Emily Stokes)
I slipped into this book with immense pleasure... an excellent miniature history of books... and it’s funny too (The Scotsman, William Leith)
Opinionated, funny...its main aim is to ignite a love of reading – in as British and unmawkish a way as possible (The Daily Mail, Amber Pearson)
I won't mince words. Read it and talk about it. A very smart (and funny) book. (John Sutherland)
Entertaining (Peggy Hughes, Scotsman)
Fascinating (Dales Life)
Witty and anecdotal (Bookseller)
Hitchings is an amiable guide and includes useful tips (Telegraph Review, Sameer Rahim)
Hitching’s whistle-stop literary guide is often insightful and his advice on talking to actors is hilariously deadpan (The Observer, Emily Stokes)
I slipped into this book with immense pleasure... an excellent miniature history of books... and it’s funny too (The Scotsman, William Leith)
Opinionated, funny...its main aim is to ignite a love of reading – in as British and unmawkish a way as possible (The Daily Mail, Amber Pearson)
I won't mince words. Read it and talk about it. A very smart (and funny) book. (John Sutherland)
Entertaining (Peggy Hughes, Scotsman)
Fascinating (Dales Life)
Witty and anecdotal (Bookseller)
Product Description
Ever wondered how some people seem to have an opinion on every book ever published? Nowadays, there are so many books: how can anyone be well read anymore?
Well, help is at hand. Let Henry Hitchings educate you in the invaluable skill of literary bluffing in this survivor's guide to talking about books you haven't read. With tips on how to bluff with confidence using quotable insights and invaluable trivia, Henry Hitchings covers all the great books you ought to have read but haven't got round to yet. If you want to be able to hold your own in a debate about Stephen Hawking or Philip Roth; or perhaps you find Shakespeare or Dostoevsky intimidating, then look no further. Including literary heavyweights such as Ulysses,Bleak House and War and Peace, this guide will equip you with all the bookish information you need to bluff your way through any scenario, be it a vital exam, an in-depth conversation at the pub or chatting up the potential love of your life.
Contents include: Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Henry James, James Joyce, Proust, Homer, Virgil, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Dickens, various contemporary writers, the Bible, the Koran, fairy tales, select bestsellers and some poetry.
Well, help is at hand. Let Henry Hitchings educate you in the invaluable skill of literary bluffing in this survivor's guide to talking about books you haven't read. With tips on how to bluff with confidence using quotable insights and invaluable trivia, Henry Hitchings covers all the great books you ought to have read but haven't got round to yet. If you want to be able to hold your own in a debate about Stephen Hawking or Philip Roth; or perhaps you find Shakespeare or Dostoevsky intimidating, then look no further. Including literary heavyweights such as Ulysses,Bleak House and War and Peace, this guide will equip you with all the bookish information you need to bluff your way through any scenario, be it a vital exam, an in-depth conversation at the pub or chatting up the potential love of your life.
Contents include: Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Henry James, James Joyce, Proust, Homer, Virgil, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Dickens, various contemporary writers, the Bible, the Koran, fairy tales, select bestsellers and some poetry.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I really liked this book. The title made me stop to pick it up and I found it somewhat confusing, but at least it got me to pick it up and I'm glad I did. Easy to read and it didn't matter whether or not I had read the books discussed. Where I had read the books it was nice to be reminded, and with those I hadn't I didn't feel that I lost out. This is not an academic review but a fun romp through books we probably should have read but haven't.
8 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This covers a wide range of books and genres of literature and is full of interesting stuff. However, it appears to be aimed either at readers whose interest in and knowledge of literature is, at the most, sketchy and half-hearted or at alternative-media-obsessed teenagers who require a super-fast-track to appearing well read. If you seriously aspire to having read Nietzsche or Turgenev but simply haven't got round to them yet, you don't usually need to be told how to pronounce their names nor to have Jane Austen's irony signposted in large letters for you. Warning: some readers may feel patronised.
The original title of this has been relegated to subtitle since the hardback edition and the nod to Pierre Bayard's 'How to talk about books you haven't read' comes rather late in chapter one considering the overlap in some ideas and references there. Also, wasn't it Dr Johnson who first advised writers to strike out any passages they were particularly pleased with (advice given in the section 'How to talk about writing')?
The original title of this has been relegated to subtitle since the hardback edition and the nod to Pierre Bayard's 'How to talk about books you haven't read' comes rather late in chapter one considering the overlap in some ideas and references there. Also, wasn't it Dr Johnson who first advised writers to strike out any passages they were particularly pleased with (advice given in the section 'How to talk about writing')?
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