What a truly wonderful book of lists (and books of lists will always have my heart!). Things you never knew you wanted to know, but now you do, you can’t imagine a life where you don’t know them. Those sorts of things. Also provides brilliant material for bookish quizzes!
This little book of bookish lists makes the perfect gift for a bookwork, or equally for yourself. I loved it and immediately gifted it to two people, haven’t done that since The Sight of You by Holly Miller! It’s full of fascinating facts and bits and pieces about books that are probably quite useless but very very interesting. Perfect material for family gatherings, first dates (conversation starters no?!) and beyond!
About the Book
Who had birds called Death, Wigs and Spinach? How do you spell the noise of a door slamming? Whose working title was The Chronic Argonauts?
Henry Eliot – author, editor and insatiable bookworm – has ransacked the libraries and archives of world literature, compiling hundreds of bookish lists. This eclectic gallimaufry showcases his favourites: we witness the tragic ends of the Ancient Greek tragedians, learn the name of George Orwell’s pet cockerel and rummage through Joan Didion’s travelling bag; we consider the history of literary fart jokes, orbit the Shakespearean moons of Uranus and meet several pigs with wings. From the sublime to the ridiculous – and everything in between - Eliot’s lists, recommendations and nuggets of trivia will delight, inspire and surprise anyone who loves reading.
Beautifully presented with supplementary maps and illustrations, Henry Eliot’s Book of Bookish Lists is the essential gift for book-lovers.
About The Author
Henry Eliot is the author of The Penguin Classics Book, The Penguin Modern Classics Book, Follow This Thread and Curiocity: An Alternative A-Z of London. An inveterate bookworm, Henry has tackled a number of bookish adventures, such as recreating Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, leading pilgrims from Southwark to Canterbury and retelling the tales along the way; mounting a quest for the Holy Grail based on Malory’s Morte d’Arthur; swimming across the Hellespont from Europe to Asia on the bicentenary of Lord Byron’s crossing (the subject of Byron’s 1810 poem, ‘Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos’); and reading Ulysses in real-time on Bloomsday, 16 June, starting at 8am with grilled kidneys and finishing in the early hours of the following morning.
Purchase the Book/Browse our Shop
This book can be purchased in our store either on its own or in a cosy Book Box. Head to the website to find out more.
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