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Review
These are fascinating, pithy chunks of literary history. (Good Book Guide )
A splendid and enjoyable piece of work. This Christmas... if no one buys this book for you, buy it for yourself. No literary lavatory will be complete without a copy. (Spectator )
This is one literary curio that's worth having... A brilliantly unique buy. (Easy Living )
Gary Dexter's gift is not only to uncover the stories behind the titles… but actually to shed light on the mysteries of literary creation. Dexter's tone is consistently, and never irritatingly, droll. There are a few books that try to be funny about literature and don't ever really get it right; Dexter always does. He has a fondness, and a gift, for the right kind of anecdote. And that is the chief joy of the book: its meticulousness in chasing down alternative histories of literature. He does not pretend to give us definitive answers where none exists, he allows us to revel in a multiplicity of suggestions, all of which are plausible; learning about them is a delightful way of undermining our certainties. Life is often rather more complicated than we imagine it to be. And as for Catch 22 - when one learns how close that came to being called something else - well, that's just spooky. (Nicholas Lezard Guardian )
Covering everythingfrom Plato's Republic to A Clockwork Orange, this provides both a fresh literary insight and even the occasional giggle. (Maxim )
Gary Dexter's highly enjoyable book of curios makes perfect bedtime reading and will enable you to amaze and impress everyone you meet with your erudition. (www.new-classics.co.uk )
A splendid and enjoyable piece of work. This Christmas... if no one buys this book for you, buy it for yourself. No literary lavatory will be complete without a copy. (Spectator )
This is one literary curio that's worth having... A brilliantly unique buy. (Easy Living )
Gary Dexter's gift is not only to uncover the stories behind the titles… but actually to shed light on the mysteries of literary creation. Dexter's tone is consistently, and never irritatingly, droll. There are a few books that try to be funny about literature and don't ever really get it right; Dexter always does. He has a fondness, and a gift, for the right kind of anecdote. And that is the chief joy of the book: its meticulousness in chasing down alternative histories of literature. He does not pretend to give us definitive answers where none exists, he allows us to revel in a multiplicity of suggestions, all of which are plausible; learning about them is a delightful way of undermining our certainties. Life is often rather more complicated than we imagine it to be. And as for Catch 22 - when one learns how close that came to being called something else - well, that's just spooky. (Nicholas Lezard Guardian )
Covering everythingfrom Plato's Republic to A Clockwork Orange, this provides both a fresh literary insight and even the occasional giggle. (Maxim )
Gary Dexter's highly enjoyable book of curios makes perfect bedtime reading and will enable you to amaze and impress everyone you meet with your erudition. (www.new-classics.co.uk )
Echo Magazine
Writer Gary Dexter traverses the globe, the ages and the genres...a fascinating explication...Dexter's behind-the-scenes anecdotes and narratives truly amplify the works chosen.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
If Plato could be put into a time machine and brought to the twenty-first century, he would find many things to surprise him. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
If Plato could be put into a time machine and brought to the twenty-first century, he would find many things to surprise him. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
An engaging and interesting book on the history behind various literary works. The authors chooses 50 titles, from ancient Greece to modern day USA and shows how the works came to be called the way they are. As the original articles come from a regular newspaper column, one can delightfully pick and choose excerpts at random. My own favourite is the article on why it is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and not say Catch-14.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An entertaining book detailing the reasons that certain works were given the titles that they are now famous for. The range is very wide - Plato's 'Republic', 'The Postman Always Rings Twice', 'Around The World in Eighty Days', just to give some idea of the breadth of the 50 writings detailed.
A handful of pages for each makes it an easy book to dip into and out of, with a very relaxed and informative style of writing.
Well researched and entertaining.
A handful of pages for each makes it an easy book to dip into and out of, with a very relaxed and informative style of writing.
Well researched and entertaining.
6 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A fantastic read, both interestingly factual and compelling. I would reccomend this to anybody with even the slightest taste of great non-fiction. Gary Dexter's, Why Not Catch 21 is a must. This is one of the books you hsve to read before you die. I am eagerly awaiting a sequel or more of his great writing. Bravo.
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