{"product_id":"how-to-be-well-read-by-john-sutherland-9781529157291","title":"How to be Well Read","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA guide to the best novels ever written, and why they matter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRanging all the way from \u003cem\u003eAaron's Rod\u003c\/em\u003e to \u003cem\u003eZuleika Dobson\u003c\/em\u003e, via \u003cem\u003eThe Devil Rides Out\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eMiddlemarch\u003c\/em\u003e, literary connoisseur and sleuth John Sutherland offers his very personal guide to the most rewarding, most remarkable and, on occasion, most shamelessly enjoyable works of fiction ever written.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHe brilliantly captures the flavour of each work and assesses its relative merits and demerits. He shows how it fits into a broader context and offers endless snippets of intriguing information—did you know, for example, that the Nazis banned \u003cem\u003eBambi\u003c\/em\u003e or that William Faulkner wrote \u003cem\u003eAs I Lay Dying\u003c\/em\u003e on an upturned wheelbarrow; that Voltaire completed \u003cem\u003eCandide\u003c\/em\u003e in three days, or that Anna Sewell was paid €20 for \u003cem\u003eBlack Beauty\u003c\/em\u003e? It is also effectively a history of the novel in 500 or so wittily informative, bite-sized pieces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEncyclopaedic and entertaining by turns, this is a wonderful dip-in book, whose opinions will inform and on occasion, no doubt, infuriate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Generous, enjoyable and well informed.'\u003c\/em\u003e Observer\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Anyone hooked on fiction should be warned—this book will feed your addiction.'\u003c\/em\u003e Mail on Sunday\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'500 expertly potted plots and personal comments on a wide range of pop and proper prose fiction.'\u003c\/em\u003e The Times\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47078762807532,"sku":"9781529157291","price":30.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/11994633482732.jpg?v=1765221079","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/products\/how-to-be-well-read-by-john-sutherland-9781529157291","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}