A Dab of Dickens & A Touch of Twain : Literary Lives from Shakespeare's Old England to Frost's New England (Paperback)

from japaul22

This is a very fun book to read for all avid readers! The book is a collection of essays on the lives of seventeen authors ranging from Chaucer to Austen to Hemingway. The essays are humorous and clever and bring out an aspect of the author's life or writing that you may not have thought of befor...

from Whisper1

This is an insightful and interesting look at 17 famous literary authors and their fascinatingly flawed lives. From Geoffrey Chaucer through Robert Frost, Engel provides amazing insights into their lives, works and the motivations. Should you want to toss around facts at a cocktail party, or if y...

from Devil_llama

A series of essays, more like lectures, about various authors considered part of the "canon". I was pleased to find that the author had managed to move outside the "dead white male" mode and include a scattering of women. Since it was focused on English language literature and went no further tha...