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Curiosities of Literature: A Feast for Book Lovers Paperback – Illustrated, January 1, 2011

by John Sutherland (Author), Martin Rowson (Illustrator)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 59 ratings
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Which author had the heaviest brain? What was the original title of 1984? When did cigarettes first appear in English literature? And, while we’re at it, who wrote the first Western, and is there any link between asthma and literary genius? Sutherland’s irreverent literary exploration illuminates every topic imaginable from author advances to Civil War literature to Victorian sex to odd things eaten by literary characters (think Patrick Bateman’s girlfriend in American Psycho). This is a treasure trove of fascinating information for all book lovers.
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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Skyhorse
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.9 x 8.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1616080744
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1616080747
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Sutherland (born 1938) is an English professor, journalist, and author of over seventeen books. Currently a Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London, he specializes in Victorian fiction, 20th century literature, and the history of publishing. He lives in England.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Skyhorse; Illustrated edition (January 1, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1616080744
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1616080747
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 59 ratings

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John Sutherland

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
59 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Lauren Hahn
5.0 out of 5 stars If you love Victorian and 20th Century literature
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2010
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you will certainly enjoy this book. Sutherland, who is an English professor at University College London, has made a career of writing about oddities and conundrums in Victorian literature. This book is different in that it provides light-hearted, short articles about a wide range of literary topics such as Proust's asthma, Thomas Carlyle's wedding night, and the odd circumstances of Thomas Hardy's burial. He also provides entertaining lists, such as the most difficult literary works to read (Finnegans Wake is mentioned), books with canine first-person narrators, famous misquotes, youngest and oldest novelists, and books, according to a 2007 survey, least likely to be finished by readers. (War and Peace is included.) Sutherland wears his erudition lightly and is very funny.

Unlike the other reviewer who pronounced Sutherland pompous and arrogant, I found this book is so witty and enjoyable that I actually read part of it at the beach.
19 people found this helpful
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thess
4.0 out of 5 stars Dumb up
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2022
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The author is more erudite than a fifty year librarian with a masters in library science. He peppers the pages with so many foreign phrases in many different languages with no translation or explanation. He fills the pages with literati in jokes( unexplained). What can be understood is interesting and often amusing. He's really much too full of himself.
3 people found this helpful
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Karl Janssen
3.0 out of 5 stars A decent snack of trivia, if you like English fare
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2023
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John Sutherland is a professor of English Literature at University College London who has written several books on literature that appeal to both an academic and a general reading audience. His 2011 book Curiosities of Literature likewise has crossover potential, as it is researched with scholarly erudition yet accessible and humorous enough to appeal to the average (as the subtitle indicates) “book lover.” Curiosities of Literature is a book of trivia, plain and simple. It doesn’t claim to be anything more, and if you know that going into it then you know just what to expect. The text is comprised of brief anecdotes and unusual facts about books and authors, mostly famous authors but a few obscure and forgotten writers as well. The important question is, is it interesting and amusing trivia, or is it just a tedious assortment of minutiae? The answer, in this case, is about half and half.

The book is divided into thematic chapters on subjects like food, body parts, sex, or guns, but the boundaries between those topics are not hard and fast, as Sutherland rambles from one story to the next however they seem to strike his fancy. He clearly has an encyclopedic and arcane knowledge of literature, and he relates his anecdotes with style and wit. Sometimes a little too much style and wit, to be honest, as the prose sometimes reads like a showcase for Sutherland’s prodigious vocabulary and clever turns of phrase. As a literary raconteur, sometimes Sutherland the storyteller outshines the stories he’s telling.

Sutherland is a British author, and about 90 percent of the book’s contents pertains to British literature, much of it from the Victorian Era. I don’t fault the author for that, but you really have to be up on your English lit to fully appreciate all the information he’s offering here. Sutherland assumes the reader is well-versed in the Brit-lit canon. Thackeray, Fielding, Trollope, and Wilkie Collins garner repeated mentions, and Thomas Carlyle seems to be a constant presence throughout the text. I’m sure many Brits would probably get bored reading a book full of trivia on American authors they haven’t read, and the reverse is true here. A number of American authors are discussed in the remaining 10 percent of the text. Only a few French writers are mentioned, such as Hugo and Proust. Other nation’s literatures seem to be absent from the discussion, except for a very interesting section on German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, and how it inspired hundreds of young men to commit suicide. Sutherland takes a very humorous and flippant approach to the topics of death and suicide, so beware if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing.

Some of the most interesting items in the book relate to old products that were inspired by literature, or—vice versa—intentional product placement in recent novels. There’s an awful lot of discussion about cigarettes. World record-type entries are always interesting, such as who published the most novels (John Creasey, according to Sutherland) or what’s “the longest novel in the literary canon”? (Clarissa by Samuel Richardson). Whether or not a particular story or factoid interests you will probably depend on your literary tastes. Some bits will no doubt prove fascinating, while others merely seem to take up space. Curiosities of Literature is a rather inexpensive book, and if you truly are a lover of classic literature, then it’s certainly worth a look. You’ll likely get your money’s worth of entertainment out of it.
One person found this helpful
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Bookworm
5.0 out of 5 stars Treasures for Trivia Aficionados
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2019
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John Sutherland's compilation of obscure or false beliefs relating, mostly, to authors, is a treasure trove for Trivia Aficionados. Great bedtime reading. Lulls one to lullabies. Inspires dreams. Reader awakens refreshed and corrected, if in need of same.
One person found this helpful
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Ralph E. Vaughan
4.0 out of 5 stars Oddities of books and writers, and the bibliomaniacs who read them.
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2019
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The book is indeed a feast for those afflicted with the gentle madness, though the fare is at times difficult to digest. Astute readers will derive great personal enjoyment from the far-ranging literary potpourri, not to mention enough obscure material to inflict hours of abuse and torture on those unable to escape in time. This five-star book gets a star lopped off due to the inclusion of its index -- without links it becomes simultaneously annoying, wasteful and pointless --and for relying far too much on his collaborator, a Mr Google.
7 people found this helpful
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Kay Hudson
5.0 out of 5 stars Literary fun!
Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2020
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I gobbled this down in one Sunday. Loved it. Impossible to summarize, just a wonderful mix of literary trivia about books, writers, even readers. Funny, gossipy, and entertaining.
4 people found this helpful
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Lo
5.0 out of 5 stars A real winner
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2013
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My husband is a huge reading, writing and literature fan. He consumes books the way some people do potato chips. So imagine how pleased I was that after all these years I found something new that he really enjoyed. So much so that he is actually considering giving a copy to one of his friends. That's virtually unprecedented and very cool!
5 people found this helpful
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Dorothy
3.0 out of 5 stars Not up to what I hoped for
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2019
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It was not as amusing as I expected it to be. I'm glad I only paid $1.99 for a Kindle edition!
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

postwork
4.0 out of 5 stars will recognise the references and even better if you took subsid
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2015
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As ever John Sutherland writes with wit and erudition; this book entirely fulfils its title. Anyone who has studied English Lit. will recognise the references and even better if you took subsid. French or Latin. I really enjoyed revisiting student days. The references to American writing suggested a number of books which I might look up - and some which Sutherland warns against: the longest, heaviest least, worthy of mention. The chapter on prize winning books which were wrongly chosen confirms my view that juries are very different from real readers.
One person found this helpful
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Mr. J. Duffy
4.0 out of 5 stars Eng. lit.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2012
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A very diverse compilation of anecdotal facts and figures pertaining to the world of writers throughout the ages. Interesting, and often amusing, it provides an entertaining, and at times shocking, insight into the world of the professional scribe.. A book offering light relief to otherwise serious readers.....
One person found this helpful
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