PC

This is a humourous little book, packed full of what are for the most part witty synopsis of some of the greatest works of literature (mostly English literature) ever written, but don't be fooled by the title: the synopsis are so short that you get little flavour of the novels covered. Indeed, I found that the more familiar I was with the novel forming the subject of the synopsis, the more enjoyable the book was whereas those of works I didn't know at all gave very little insight whatsoever. Sadly, then, I have to remain lamentably under-read, the book failing to fulfill it's promise of making me well-read in an evening. It seems there's no alternative but to read the books themselves. Even so, I loved reading this and spent much of the time laughing out loud. My favourite was the metered verse retelling the story of Mansfield Park in little more than a dozen lines.