Why does most writing about the classics have words like 'seminal' or 'oeuvre' in it? What does postmodernism mean? Can I get away with just reading the introduction? This title guides you through the Western literary canon, century by century: from Ancient Greek drama to the modern novel, via Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and Proust.

Newman, co-author of "How Not to Write a Novel," takes readers on a sidesplitting tour that makes it a blast to read the Western literary canon, from the ancient Greeks to the Modernists. Packed with pop culture gems, stories of literary hoaxes, ironic day jobs for authors, bad reviews of books that would later become classics, and more. ... from the American paperback edition

Christoph Baumer

    

Central Asia today rarely seems central to much of anything aside from geography. Its vast steppes, deserts and mountains are places usually passed over, often from 10,000 meters up.

But it was not always... [ Read full review ]