John Sutherland has written several books of ephemera that he has extracted from works of literature. This book is unlike the others, in focusing on very obscure and trivial details that were primarily taken from little-known works. Sutherland specializes in noting unusual connections and unexpected parallels of a kind that could only be made by a scholar who has devoted his life to the study of literature. Whereas I found the book to be of minor interest (and something of a bore to read), bibliophiles and English literature majors may well find it to be very much to their liking. ( )

Ragbag of literary (ish) anecdata. Slightly interesting. ( )

Basically a collection of anectodes about writers, books, and readership. Great tongue-in-cheek observations, though I believe most of the humor would be more appreciated by Book Lovers, if you know what I mean. ( )

Some fun facts, but a little too Brit Lit major for me. ( )

Modeled on Isaac D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, John Sutherland's Literary Curiosities (Skyhorse, 2009) is a loose compendium of short pieces about literature and its characters. Sutherland writes in the introduction "Some of the pieces may be considered too unserious for even unserious readers; some boring; some already stale; some codswallop. Most, I hope, will divert. Driving the enterprise is less the intention to instruct, or inform, then to communicate the random pleasures which may be found in reading literature, and reading about literature."

Fair enough. If one takes Sutherland at his word, and sees this book as a bit of brain candy, to be amused (and possibly intrigued) by, it does the job. The essays are generally interesting, and there are some intriguing questions examined. There are no references cited, which of course always bothers me (at least a bibliography would be helpful, in case anyone is struck by the need to delve further into a topic).

Overall - fine for the occasional browse, or an afternoon's diversion.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2009/07/book-review-curiosities-of-literature.ht... ( )