http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
a literary miscellany of novels & novelists
288 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm.
Readers rejoice! From Mental Floss, an online destination for more than a billion curious minds since its founding in 2001, comes the ultimate book for lovers of literature. From Americanah to War and Peace, from Chinua Achebe and Jane Austen to Jesmyn Ward and George R.R. Martin, learn surprising facts about the world's most famous novels and novelists. The Curious Reader will delight bookworms everywhere. This literary compendium from Mental Floss reveals fascinating facts about the world's most famous authors and their literary works. Readers will learn about George Orwell's near-death experience during the writing of 1984, meet the real man who may have inspired Pride and Prejudice's Mr. Darcy, discover which famous author kept her husband's heart after he passed away and learn about the influence of psychedelics on Dune. The Curious Reader also contains the most-loved book-related articles from twenty years of Mental Floss, including "Cat-Loving Writers," "Famous Authors' Unfinished Manuscripts," "Literary Characters Based on Real People" and "Books You Didn't Know Were Self-Published." This literary miscellany is certain to inspire book lovers, aspiring writers, students and teachers alike to discover a diverse selection of curated literary works, leading to an expansion of their library!
Introduction / by Erin McCarthy -- 1984 / George Orwell + the origins of famous authors' pen names -- A game of thrones / George R. R. Martin + ways the show is different from the novel -- A prayer for Owen Meany / John Irving + writing advice from novelists -- Americanah / Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie -- As I lay dying / William Faulkner + books that have been banned -- Beloved / Toni Morrison + amazing books by Black writers -- Brave new world / Aldous Huxley -- Catch-22 / Joseph Heller + classic novels most often abandoned by readers -- Crime and punishment / Fyodor Dostoevsky + famous novels penned in less than a month -- Don Quixote / Miguel de Cervantes + the best-selling books in history minus religious texts -- Dune / Frank Herbert + books that have won both the Hugo and Nebula awards -- Fahrenheit 451 / Ray Bradbury + famous authors' favorite books -- Frankenstein / Mary Shelley + her dead husband's heart -- Giovanni's room / James Baldwin -- House made of dawn / N. Scott Momaday + Native American novels you shouldn't miss -- In search of lost time / Marcel Proust + what writers would have bought to a literary potluck -- Infinite jest / David Foster Wallace -- Invisible man / Ralph Ellison + authors on overcoming writer's block -- Jane Eyre / Charlotte Brontë + cat-loving writers -- Kindred / Octavia Butler + novelists who won the MacArthur "genius grant" -- Little women / Louisa May Alcott + ruthless rejection letters -- Lolita / Vladimir Nabokov + when Nabokov met Dr. Seuss -- Lord of the flies / William Golding + harsh early reviews of classic novels -- Midnight's children / Salman Rushdie + famous author feuds -- Moby-Dick / Herman Melville + inspirations for five famous literary animals -- Murder on the Orient Express / Agatha Christie + the Agatha Christie book linked to real murders -- My brilliant friend / Elena Ferrante + book series to binge read -- Never let me go / Kazuo Ishiguro + Nobel prize-winning authors + what's the difference between a novella and a short story -- On the road / Jack Kerouac + young Kerouac's reading list -- One hundred years of solitude / Gabriel García Márquez + magical realism books you need to read -- Outlander / Diana Gabaldon + other great love stories in novels -- Pride and prejudice / Jane Austen + the real Mr. Darcy + Pride and prejudice's greatest critics -- Salvage the bones / Jesmyn Ward + national book award winners -- Slaughterhouse-five / Kurt Vonnegut + Vonnegut quotes -- Sons and lovers / D. H. Lawrence + Lawrence quotes -- The adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Mark Twain + things Twain didn't really say -- The adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Arthur Conan Doyle -- The alchemist / Paulo Coelho -- The bell jar / Sylvia Plath + important novels about mental illness -- The call of the wild / Jack London + homes of famous novelists you can visit -- The catcher in the rye / J. D. Salinger + authors who hated movie versions of their books -- The color purple / Alice Walker + quotes from The color purple -- The girl with the dragon tattoo / Stieg Larsson -- The god of small things / Arundhati Roy + why do we love old book smell? -- The grapes of wrath / John Steinbeck + Steinbeck's template for dumping a bad friend -- The great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald -- The handmaid's tale / Margaret Atwood + Atwood quotes -- The haunting of Hill House / Shirley Jackson + women horror writers you need to read -- The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy / Douglas Adams + literary characters based on real people -- The joy luck club / Amy Tan + more famous authors' favorite books -- The jungle / Upton Sinclair + reader-in-chief + books you didn't know were originally self-published -- The kite runner / Khaled Hosseini -- The lord of the rings / J. R. R. Tolkien + facts about the elves of Middle Earth -- The lowland / Jhumpa Lahiri + Pulitzer prize-winning novelists -- The metamorphosis / Franz Kafka + famous authors' unfinished manuscripts -- The old man and the sea / Ernest Hemingway + Hemingway's guide to life in quotes -- The road / Cormac McCarthy + punctuation marks disliked by famous authors -- The stand / Stephen King + books that will (probably) never be printed again -- Things fall apart / Chinua Achebe -- To kill a mockingbird / Harper Lee + amazing things Lee did after Mockingbird -- To the lighthouse / Virginia Woolf + Woolf quotes -- Ulysses / James Joyce + literary fart jokes -- Uncle Tom's cabin / Harriet Beecher Stowe -- Waiting / Ha Jin -- War and peace / Leo Tolstoy + terms every book lover should know -- Our favorite novels that didn't make the cut.
edited by Erin McCarthy and the team at Mental Floss.