Another Review at MyShelf.Com

The New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes

Edited by John Gross



      A Reference that Entertains as Readily as It Informs

This book, The New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes, is a temptress.

I am tempted to simply spew back trivia and humor about the literary denizens that populate its pages rather than give you a solid review. I am tempted to read it clear through rather than use it as a reference. Its entries tempt (and inspire!) me to write an essay, a rant, even this review!

I have a poetry mentor, Suzanne Lummis, who appreciates all things "witty." She will love this book. Edited by critic John Gross, this book is a veritable assembly of wit from Chaucer to J. K. Rowling. I liked that it moved along in time, more or less in a direct line. That enabled me to place the cleverness in context with its time, both in terms of the culture at large and the literary peers of the person being oh, so ably, tattled upon.

Gross also manages to include much that is new (to me at least) rather than refrying the same old Churchill stories however appropriate they might be for a volume like this. He also manages to combine the nearly-straight reporting style of a journalist but, in the tradition of the writer that he is, also make the tart entries entertaining.

This book is a bit pricey at $29.95 (those of you who know me, know my own writing propounds frugality as an asset essential for starving authors). Because I see how essential this book is for writers, I strongly recommend it anyway. I also suggest you check out Amazon.com, using the link above, where it is discounted by 37% and also available used at a little less than that.

The Book

Oxford University Press
May 25, 2006
Hardback
0192804685
Nonfiction/Writing/Reference
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
NOTE: Five of Five

The Reviewer

Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Reviewed 2007
NOTE: Reviewer Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the award-winning author of This is the Place, Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, and a chapbook of poetry titled Tracings, winner of the Military Writers Society of America's Award of Excellence and named Top Ten Best Reads by the Compulsive Reader. She is also the author of the HowToDoItFrugally Series of books including The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't, the 2004 winner of USA Book News' Best Professional Book of the Year and Irwin awards.
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