Under the Covers and Between the Sheets: The Inside Story Behind Classic Characters, Authors, Unforgettable Phrases, and Unexpected Endings

Books, books, books. If you aren't a bibliophile, you may as well stop reading right this minute. Years ago in the New Yorker there was a cartoon, I believe, by George Booth. There was an eccentric looking old woman selling a few books outside her doorway on a porch. There was a smattering of books at a reasonable price on a table. She beckoned to a passerby, who just happened to take note of the pile, and said, "There's plenty more books inside." An upward glance at her ramshackle house gave a glimpse into her house ...there were thousands of books hanging out the windows and looked as if they were coming out of the woodwork. If you are a bibliophile or just happened to love little literary anecdotes and would like to know the inside scoops about your favorite authors or books, you've come to the right place when you look Under the Covers and Between the Sheets. This is one of those books that can be read from cover to cover or browsed at will if you please. Flipping this way and that way finding out little vignettes such as the fact that "mainlining caffeine" helped Honoré de Balzac "maintain an incredibly prolific output," but also shortened his life considerably, will make your eyebrows curl. Apparently getting a buzz from raw beans may be one of the reasons the man wrote more than ninety books. Shame on the authors for not using the accent aigu on his name, but that is being a tad petty. Speaking of the letter "e," Ernest Vincent Wright "challenged himself to write a complete novel without using the letter `e.'" Just imagine a 50,110 word lipogram! There were other ones that made my eyes widen or roll, but I'll refrain from discussing them or I'll become a spoiler. I loved the writers as reviewers section, especially when Truman Capote, commenting on Jack Kerouac's On the Road, quipped, "That's not writing, that's typing." It goes to show that even writers, who in reviewing a colleague's book, not only use critical analysis, but are sometimes just plain old critical, cruel and curmudgeonly. This book takes many leaps and bounds through literary history and takes a look at unfinished works of genius, works that almost hit the circular file (or did), literary greats who battled with addiction, obsessive and odd ways writers write, weird books, literary hoaxes, great rejection slips, who sued who for plagiarism, and much more! Did you know that Shel Silverstein won a songwriting Grammy for a Johnny Cash Song? That he did. If you enjoy tidbits like this you might just want to pick up a copy of this book! When I read this book I didn't read it from cover to cover in a day, which is something that can be done, but rather read a bit at a time to savor it. Many of the facts and stories I was familiar with as they are "common knowledge" in the literary world, but many of them were WOW moments. For example there was one childhood memoir discussed, which will remain unnamed in this review (no spoilers please!), that had been debunked as a total frau

I loved reading this book, a collection secrets and little-known facts about classic authors of Western literature and their works. At a quick 165 pages, it would make the perfect gift for an avid bibliophile, well-read friend, or English/literature professor (in fact, inside the front cover is a dedication page that says "A Gift for [blank] Presented by [blank]"). The book is thoughtfully arranged into themed chapters: - Shot Out of the Canon (the best and most "tantalizing" secrets) - Guilty Pleasures (all the dirt on romance, mystery, and sci-fi writers, including the "worst writers ever") - Young at Heart (trivia about children's authors/books) - Stranger than Ficiton (real-life hoaxes, diary entries, and books that changed the world) - Off the Page (strange facts about authors and their characters) Thankfully, there is also a comprehensive index in the back of the book, including author names and aliases, broad topics, key words, and literary titles. Although the book is entirely a collection of trivia and fun facts, the authors do interject a bit of their own style, with frequent humor, metaphors, and double-entendres, which most readers will appreciate. The one thing I found particularly odd was that the book ends abruptly with a section on writers who committed suicide or died under bizarre circumstances. What a strange and morbid way to end such a jolly romp through the suspenseful and intriguing trivia surrounding the literary works we all know (and sometimes love)! Several parts of this book had me laughing out loud and sharing the details with others. I highly enjoyed it and would recommend it to avid readers, trivia buffs, and English/lit teachers.

"Under the Covers and Between the Sheets" is an ambitious, well-researched book featuring the inside story behind classic characters, authors, unforgettable phrases and unexpected endings by C. Alan Joyce (Editor-in-Chief of "The World Almanac and Book of Facts") and Sarah Janssen (Editor of "The World Almanac and Book of Facts"). For those who have passion of reading popular books (including poetry) of well-known writers, this book does a great job in introducing the reader to things that they may have not known about. In fact, from the moment I started reading this book, I literally didn't want to put it down because it was so intriguing and quite enjoyable to read. Chapters in the book include: CHAPTER I: Shout Out of the Canon - Tantalizing trivia of the greatest works in Western literature Have you ever wondered about certain writers who indulged in alcohol or drugs in order to write? Writers who had an a certain style of writing (such as lying down) or have you wondered where such common expressions such as "All Well that End's Well", "All the world's a stage?", "Green-eyed monster", "Wild-goose chase", etc. came from? An intriguing chapter filled with trivia. * The Greatest books Never Written * Waste Not, Want Not * Writing Under the Influence * The Methods of Their Madness * The Blind Reading the Blind * Yes, But Is It Art? * You Don't Say? * Everyone's a Critic CHAPTER 2: Guilty Pleasures You know how many people look at television shows such as "Star Trek" and see today's modern technology and wonder how much has derived from that show? Well, in this chapter, you can learn how in original writings, certain writers have predicted certain things that will be common place in modern society. Such as Edward Bellamy's discussion of credit cards back in his 1888 novel "Looking Backwards", sure enough the cards came true in 1950. Jules Verne writing about a trip to the moon in "From the Earth to the Moon" back in 1865 and sure enough nearly 104 years later it became a reality. Also, for those into vampire books, detective or spy books will find interest in this chapter. Personally, I did not know Sherlock Holmes injected himself with cocaine. But I found that quite intriguing. * The Roots of Pulp Fiction * Science Fiction, Science Fact * Scare Tactics * The Thrill of a Lifetime * Romancing the Tome * It's Criminal * The Bad and the Ugly CHAPTER 3: The Young at Heart - The books you loved as a kid Those childhood stories that have been Disney-fied but for those who read the original books by the Brothers Grimm would see another tale for the characters of Snow White, Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin. But also for other dark stories written by other writers such as Pinocchio and the Little Mermaid. And of course, books that many of us have grown up with as a child but are being challenged/banned from school libraries. * Gruesomely ever After * Lions and Tigers

I thouroughly enjoyed reading "Under the Covers and Between the Sheets: Facts and Trivia about the World's Greatest Books", and I think it would be the perfect gift for avid readers and writers. This cool book gives a behind the scenes peek at all things literary, from modern works to some of the first written tomes. Famous authors, their pennames, book trivia, background on characters they created, and juicy info about their life and lovelives fill the page, making a great weekend read. This on is on the top of my recommend list.