Este sitio utiliza cookies para ofrecer nuestros servicios, mejorar el rendimiento, análisis y (si no estás registrado) publicidad. Al usar LibraryThing reconoces que has leído y comprendido nuestros términos de servicio y política de privacidad. El uso del sitio y de los servicios está sujeto a estas políticas y términos.
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 includes, 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.… (más)
The premise of this book is a man who is fed up of being cornered at dinner parties by book nerds and philosophy students. Thus, sets about writing a book which aims to teach its readers how to outsmart these types.
Its all a bit tongue-in-cheek and remarkably amusing, when you consider that it is written about a rather stuffy subject; namely high literature. Authors such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. There are even chapters about getting to grips with reading the Bible and the Qur'an. Even though the author only briefly scratches the surface of reading the classics, he does so in a very intelligent and reasonable way.
My favourite chapter was 'Can Proust change your life?'. The author does give Proust a bit of a 'ribbing' over such things as his overly long sentence structures. Quoting one example of a 177 words. But it is all done with respect.
The cover design of my copy of this book, the softback release re-titled 'Who's Afraid of Jane Austin?' (a reference to Edward Albee's 1962 play 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?') displays the title of the book made out of a stylised shredded manuscript. Bits and pieces of words and sentences caught my eye: "luck than skill,", "he simply folded himself", "..vy-handed and", "teetered", etc. which I recognised as chapter eight 'The Tortoise Hills' from Gerald Durrell's book 'My life and other animals'. Why the graphic designer had chosen that author and that book to symbolise the lettering of the name 'Jane Austin' I do not know. There may be some deeper symbolic significance that I have missed. Or perhaps it was just Something they had to hand. Who knows? But, I think that this probably classes me as a bit of a book nerd myself. :/
A quick read and a fun book that should appeal to most people. ( )
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
You are at a wedding or dinner party, and the conversation is flowing - a roiling, competitive brabble. Or perhaps it is edgy, hesitant (though still competitive). But then the subject moves on ... To books.
Citas
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
'Books are a load of crap,' - Philip Larkin
'Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but, more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.' -Jean Rhys
Últimas palabras
Aviso de desambiguación
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
The paperback version of How to Really Talk About Books You Haven't Read is renamed Who's Afraid of Jane Austen? and has the original title as subtitle.
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 includes, 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.
Google Books — Cargando...
(3.04)
1
Its all a bit tongue-in-cheek and remarkably amusing, when you consider that it is written about a rather stuffy subject; namely high literature. Authors such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. There are even chapters about getting to grips with reading the Bible and the Qur'an.
Even though the author only briefly scratches the surface of reading the classics, he does so in a very intelligent and reasonable way.
My favourite chapter was 'Can Proust change your life?'.
The author does give Proust a bit of a 'ribbing' over such things as his overly long sentence structures. Quoting one example of a 177 words. But it is all done with respect.
The cover design of my copy of this book, the softback release re-titled 'Who's Afraid of Jane Austin?' (a reference to Edward Albee's 1962 play 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?') displays the title of the book made out of a stylised shredded manuscript. Bits and pieces of words and sentences caught my eye: "luck than skill,", "he simply folded himself", "..vy-handed and", "teetered", etc. which I recognised as chapter eight 'The Tortoise Hills' from Gerald Durrell's book 'My life and other animals'.
Why the graphic designer had chosen that author and that book to symbolise the lettering of the name 'Jane Austin' I do not know. There may be some deeper symbolic significance that I have missed. Or perhaps it was just Something they had to hand. Who knows? But, I think that this probably classes me as a bit of a book nerd myself. :/
A quick read and a fun book that should appeal to most people. (