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Beowulf On The Beach: What To Love And What To Skip In Literature's 50 Greatest Hits (2009)

by Jack Murnighan(Favorite Author)

3.59 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0307409570 (ISBN13: 9780307409577)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Broadway Books

review 1: This book is recommended if you are looking for reasons to read some more classic novels. I enjoyed the author's enthusiasm for literature. There was, however a definite masculine bias. Would anyone really pick 50 novels from the history of western literature and only come up with 6 female writers? And I didn't care for the disparaging comments about romance novels especially when they are so uninformed. Anna Karenina is Not like a romance novel. Books about adultery are pretty much the opposite of a romance novel. But still a book worth reading.
review 2: This book offers a great way to learn about classic books that you've always meant to read, but never got around to. The author clearly loves literature, and makes you enjoy it along with him. He gives... more a synopsis as well as cute features like "famous lines from the book", and "naughty bits" from each book he discusses. I'm not sure I'd agree with his inclusion of some of the books, since he doesn't always pick the most well-known of an author's works, but he does know the books inside and out...and after all, a "best of" list is always subjective. He's been a literature professor for long enough to have earned the right to pick his favorite 50 classic novels. Read and get some ideas of which ones you might already own, to read after this one. I've gotten my copy of Canterbury Tales down just to read "The Wife of Bath" section! less

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