John Crace, creator of the Guardian's 'Digested Read' column, hilariously summarises the great -- and not so great -- classics of modern literature.
John Crace's 'Digested Read' column in the Guardian has rightly acquired a cult following. Each week fans avidly devour his latest razor-sharp literary assassination, while authors turn
tremblingly to the appropriate page of the review section, fearful that it may be their turn to be mercilessly sent up.
Now he turns his critical eye on the classics of the last century, offering bite-sized pastiches of everything from Mrs Dallowayto Trainspottingvia Lolitaand The Great
Gatsby. Those who have never quite got around to reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Manwill be delighted to find its essence distilled into a handful of paragraphs. Those
who have never really enjoyed Lord of the Flieswill be pleased to find it hilariously parodied in an easily swallowable 982 words. And those who find all such works a little highbrow
will be relieved to discover, between the covers of this book, John Crace's take on the likes of Ian Fleming, P. G. Wodehouse and the Highway Code.
Witty and sharp, this is essential reading both for those who genuinely love literature and for those who merely want to appear ridiculously well read.
