Oliver Tearle

Scots playing tricks on an Englishman, resulting in linguistic misunderstandings. A ‘’poet’’ in love with himself, unaware of a frightful lack of any talent whatsoever publishing his ‘’gems’’ until his death. A book that practically predicted 80% of future inventions. The tremendous influence of Robert Burns in Literature and Culture and the impact of Sir Walter Scott that shaped an entire genre from scratch. Did you know that Tolkien did NOT invent the term ‘Middle - Earth’ or that the great Dr Johnson wanted to make amends for denying his father help? Discover the mysteries of haunting Whitby, the moors adored by Emily Bronte, the nostalgia of Beatrix Porter’s world, the seventeen days on Morecambe pier that have us John Osborne’s masterpiece Look Back in Anger.

Trace the bond between Ivanhoe and Robin Hood, witness the premiere of Christie’s The Mousetrap in Nottingham and the origins of the British National Anthem. I was amazed to learn about Marie Corelli in a chapter where Oliver Tearle skins the idiots who refuse to accept that Shakespeare IS actually…Shakespeare and I am SO here for it! Discover little stories about the pub where Christopher Lee met Tolkien, how Bletchley Park gave us our freedom from the Nazi monsters, how Anna Sewell’s mother, Mary, contributed to the creation of one of the finest books in Children’s Literature.

What is Britain’s most unfortunate town? Why is Fleet Street so laden with dark stories? Who was Anne Anskw, a prisoner in Newgate and one of the first female poets to compose in the English language? We will walk through London from Paternoster Square, Westminster Abbey, and Brick Lane. What were the secrets of Robert Browning’s haunting poetry?

From Applegarth and Burgess’s home to Milne’s Hartfield, the Welsh coast and Dylan Thomas, to Austen’s Bath. From Lady Charlotte Guest and The Mabinogion to the tragic life of Thomas Chatterton, John Aubrey’s love for Stonehenge and Avebury, Winston Churchill’s affinity for ‘kisses xxx’. Walk with Thomas Hardy into his Wessex, visit Stinsford where his heart lies and discover Cecil Day-Lewis’s final resting place. Find out how crazed fans exasperated Tolkien and the rumblings of a ‘prophetess’ who actually thought she was the real deal. Marvel at du Maurier’s Cornwall and finish your journey looking for King Arthur as his voice echoes through the mists.

This is only a handful of the places Oliver Tearle calls us to discover in his beautiful book, on a journey in the land of Literature. Written with vividness, gusto and utmost respect, you need this book in your life if you want to be called a true lover of books.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/… (mais)

This started off super-slow for me for the same reason any overview of history does: it starts with ancient history. I know it's important. I know it influences just about everything today, but it's, forgive me, a bit dull.

Once we got through The Classical World and the Middle Ages though, things picked up. For each age, Tearle selects a few texts that can, or should, be considered significant. Some of them are the no-brainers we've all heard of (Shakespeare) and some are names or titles that have unjustly fallen into oblivion (Mary Elizabeth Braddon, whom he argues might be the author of the first English detective novel. Trail of the Serpent). Whether widely known or not, Tearle tries to focus on thoughts, ideas, or facts that aren't widely known so that there's something new here for likely anyone, no matter how well read.

Informative, readable, and once past the Middle ages, very enjoyable.… (mais)

Snappily written blog-type entries on a range of miscellaneous literary tidbits. For example, our national motto comes from Virgil, apparently in a pesto recipe. That factoid raises a shortcoming of this work: there are no references. Anyone with a mind to follow up on a particularly interesting fact will be disappointed that the author does not provide his sources. Presumably he had them in front of him at the time, so it would not have been too very difficult to include them as endnotes. So enjoy the trip, but unfortunately it cannot provide the jumping off point for further inquiry.… (mais)

The author states that the aim of this book is to "bring to light the lesser-know aspects of well-known books, and to show how obscure and little-known books have surprising links with the familiar world around us". The book has generally managed to accomplish the stated aims. This book is a collection of bits of information and commentary (with toilet humour attached) about the best-known and the least-known books ever written in English, European and American literature. At first I found this book amusing and interesting, after a while it got rather tedious.
… (mais)