Under the Covers and between the Sheets: Facts and Trivia about the World's Greatest Books

by C. Alan Joyce

Bibliophiles, grab your glasses! Here is a compendium of interesting--and often scandalous--facts and quips about the literary world. Featuring authors and tomes of yesteryear and yesterday, from Tolkien's Middle- earth to Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex, you'll sections such as:
You Don't Say?: Commonly-used words and phrases that were coined or popularized in classic words of fiction--sometimes with very different meanings. Gruesomely Ever After: The original endings of some of the world's most cherished fairy tales--"Snow White," "The Little Mermaid," "Cinderella," and more. Parental Guidance Suggested: Banned works of fiction and the controversy surrounding them. Lions and Tigers and Bears (Oh My!): The real-life stories and inspirations behind beloved "leading creatures." Time to Make the Doughnuts: Odd jobs of famous authors. Tell Me a Story: Dahl's short stories, Seuss's political cartoons; the lesser-known, and sometimes shocking, adult writings of beloved children's authors. The Long Con: Shocking (and sometimes shockingly long-lived) literary hoaxes: Frey, JT Leroy, The Education of Little Tree, The Day After Roswell, etc. Science Fiction, Science Fact: If alien monoliths are ever found on the moon, the safer bet is that they would be translucent crystal; Sir Arthur C. Clarke is celebrated for making accurate predictions of various technologies, years ahead of their time. A look at which of his predictions held true and the same feats of other authors. Yes, But is it Art?: The weirdest books ever written: books without verbs, without punctuation...or without the letter "e".
Make this and all of the Blackboard Books(tm) a permanent fixture on your shelf, and you'll have instant access to a breadth of knowledge. Whether you need homework help or want to win that trivia game, this series is the trusted source for fun facts.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Humor, Reference, History, Trivia, Writing

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2009

About the author

C. Alan Joyce works for WolframAlpha, a computational knowledge search engine. Alan was previously the Editorial Director for World Almanac Books, serving as chief editor for the #1 bestselling The World Almanac and Book of Facts. He created the new World Almanac blog in 2006.

Alan was a freelance writer and editor, with years of experience in reference publishing-and a lifelong addiction to reference books of all kinds. He is the former Executive Editor of The New York Times Almanac and The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge.

He lives with his wife and son in Illinois.

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun literature fact-book, and I'll probably forget most of it by the end of the week! But I'll probably always remember the very last fact--that Tennessee Williams died choking on the top of his eye drops, or that C.S. Lewis wrote poems about how much he hated T.S. Eliot.

[Rachael I · Rating 5 out of 5]

My name is in the book, I was an editorial assistant.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book brings up a lot of things you probably knew about writers. But there are always little nuggets of trivia that may come as a complete surprise. I knew that Stephen King struggled with drugs and drink for many years before his wife staged an intervention. I knew that a lot of his books were created while he was in a drug- and/or drink-induced haze. I didn’t know his wife rescued his first horror novel after he threw it in the trash. That’s right, King fans. We nearly didn’t get that shocking story about a pubescent girl’s struggle with her religion-crazed mother and her fantastic mutant superpower! Thank you, Mrs. King!

The rest of the book is just that fascinating and touches on a lot of subjects about many of your favorite or not-so-favorite writers. Which writers are part of a band? Which ones were grinding along at low-salaried jobs before making it big? Who had the most ludicrous nom de plume (that one is highly subjective; pick your favorite!)?

This is one fun trivia book about authorship. Read it and recommend it to the dedicated bibliophile in your life.

[Grace]

Easy beach read, similar to those bathroom readers full of factoids. Although some facts are already well-known, there's enough interesting, lesser-known information in there to keep you turning the page. The best thing about the book is that it serves a list that reminds you of all the books you haven't read, but really should.

[Maurice · Rating 5 out of 5]

A treasure trove of factoids about contemporary writers, which occasionally borders on rumormongering, good for beach- or potty-reading. If you're at a loss on what to read next or if you'd like to build your new to-read list, this is the best source for book titles with casual backgrounders that may spark your interest in looking at the writer's personal context.

[Bryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not exactly sure why I read this, except that I was bored and sort of between books and I wanted something that wouldn't engage me in particular ways. It was a lot of short anecdotes about books and authors, a lot of them fairly unkind or 'scandalous' and of course very focused on famous white men. It wasn't terrible or anything, but not memorable or a great use of my time.

[Rudy Seifert · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun literary stuff, some of it even true

[Belle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! I want facts and tidbits about even more authors. I bookmarked so many passages and will be leafing through the book again from time to time.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful tidbits about many authors and their books!

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 3 out of 5]

Under the cover--inside the front cover, actually--lies the key to the purpose of this book: a preprinted presentation plate declaring this "A gift for" [insert name here] "Presented by" [insert name here]. Another clue is the publisher: Reader's Digest, the popularizing publisher which has made a (quite good) living from condensing books and ideas into palatable chunks for many years. With this key and clue in hand, I can safely predict that this book will post good gift sales for Christmases (and graduations, too, I expect) for years to come, probably available as an upsell next to the cash register in book and gift stores everywhere ("Just $4.99 with any purchase of $25 or more!).

That said, it is a serviceable collection of fun facts about books, authors, words, and the life they all take on above the printed page. Anecdotes are funny or poignant as the story demands, and the organization and index makes it useful as a source for speakers or writers looking for that light lead to start a speech or paper.

However, the absence of a bibliography or sourcing for the facts limits the usefulness of this as a reference book or as a guide for further serious research. Enjoy it for what it is--smile politely and say "thank you" when your aunt gives it to you for Christmas, and wrap it up proudly (it is nicely printed and will make a good-looking gift) with that graduation check for your niece.

[Al Bità · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather delightful compilation of literary trivia which is great fun to read. It purports to let the reader in on "the inside story behind classic characters, authors, unforgettable phrases, and unexpected endings.'

It is published under the Reader's Digest imprint — so that should tell you how it reads: clear and simple. It is not limited to specific literary classics, but also includes modern fiction, 'guilty pleasures' such as pulp fiction, science fiction etc.; but also experimental novels; and various other oddities, interesting quotes, lists, etc. There are too many such tidbits to mention, and all are interesting. Unfortunately, for the pedantic among us, the authors (or was it their proof readers?) refer to Joyce's Finnegans Wake as Finnegan's Wake! Tch! Tch!

Other entries refer to novels written without the letter 'e'; a one sentence 40,000 word novella using only commas and no other punctuation; a 233 word novel which does not use any verbs; etc.

Light, and much fun to be had.

[Tina Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thouroughly enjoyed reading "Under the Covers and Between the Sheets: Facts and Trivia about the World's Greatest Books", and I think it would be the perfect gift for avid readers and writers. This cool book gives a behind the scenes peek at all things literary, from modern works to some of the first written tomes. Famous authors, their pennames, book trivia, background on characters they created, and juicy info about their life and lovelives fill the pages, making a great weekend read.

This one is on the top of my recommend list.

[Michele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Under the Covers didn’t go into any depth at all in their stories. After reading biographies of several of the authors mentioned in the book, it was easy to spot where the editors didn’t address the actual issues mentioned, glossed over facts, or in certain cases (The William Burroughs/Joan Vollmer Incident) got the facts incorrect. Astute book readers will not enjoy this book.

For a full review visit http://ireadalotofbooks.com/under-the...

[Susan Oleksiw · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightful, small book about oddities of writers and their work--little known facts or bits of information. I enjoy dipping into it every now and then and getting a more rounded view of writers from Emily Dickinson to Vladimir Nabokov. One entry includes a few cliches from Shakespeare, including one that has an entirely different meaning from the one we now attribute to it (sweets to the sweet). There's a paragraph on the origins of the verb bowdlerize and a section on literary hoaxes. There's a section on writers' diaries, and another on writers who were known for their letters.

[Carra Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great compilation of trivias of world renown books and authors. One will trully enjoy reading it, approached with a sense of humor that will entise you to finish it right that moment. With this book, one would love to read, re-read and /or continue loving the books said.

It takes a great author to create great stories; but it takes intrigue for one to read that great story.

Joyce and Janssen really did a great job with this one. Overall, definitely a good read that will be shelved as "awesome book". :D

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was buckets of fun!

If you enjoy the "behind the scenes" stories about authors and the books they write, you will enjoy this. Filled with cool, odd, unusual, and sometimes downright disturbing factoids, this book is a treasure trove for literary geeks, like me, who absolutely love learning all the little-known stuff behind most of the beloved and well-known authors and their books.

At just 165 pages, this is a fast, easy read, but if you get into peeking behind the curtain of literature and its creators, be sure to check this out.

[Sandi Layne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title sounds RACY, but the book really isn't. ;-) It's a collection of the behind the scenes information about books and authors that you might not know. Backstories, biographical surprises, trivia.

It's a quick read, something you can pick up and put down after reading a bit here or there. Recommended for people who, like me, read a lot and wonder about the "WHY???"

And fans of famous authors, too. :)

[Dianne Landry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It is a fun compilation of useless, literary trivia. I learned that there is a book out there written as one sentence and another that was written without the letter e. I learned how some authors hated each other and how some children's authors wrote not so childlike works.

All in all I would say that any fan of literature, I'm looking at you, Kristen, would really enjoy this fun little romp.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun read filled with (little known) facts about various authors and the works they created. There were times when I wished there had been a little more information about the book or author but that's what research is for. The irreverent tone will allow non-voracious readers to feel as well-informed as those who devour books.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this little book. I saw it on a bookstore’s “New and Notable” table, read the back and instantly fell in love. It’s full of fun factoids and tales about famous books, writers, and characters such as Mark Twain, Kilgore Trout, Nora Roberts, and so much more. This is the perfect book for book lovers, however, everyone who isn’t might not find it as fun.

[Heather]

It's really interesting look at both the authors of all different books and not only their lives, but what they thought of other well known novels. I recommend it to my teacher friends and anyone who just loves to read. I started reading it, but stopped because I had to pick up some of these books mentioned

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun. As a huge literary trivia lover, I found the tidbits in here to be highly entertaining. I was disturbed to read, for instance, that Stephen King abused other drugs in addition to alcohol (apparently it was cocaine; a lot of it.) I also loved reading the long, long list of famous novels that were rejected by publishers right off the bat (including Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth.)

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book on sale and I'm very glad I picked it up. It has all kinds of facts about famous (and some infamous) writers. Things that will surprise you, delight you and maybe make you blush. Above all, it reminds me that writers are people too and that they had hard times as well. That even well-known and well-liked authors got rejected before making it.

[Kathy Manus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! Not only did I get a list of "to read" books, but I found out all kinds of trivia about the authors,the works themselves and what the inspiration was behind it all. It is something only a book nerd would enjoy though!

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

so far a very fun, easy, and interesting read.

_____

It's a good read for the train. Theres lots of short stories and passages that don't involve complicated story plots that require lots of attention. Just get on the train, jump into a story, jump out, get off the train.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tidbits of info on all sorts of authors. I liked the way the chapters are arranged. It's the sort of book where you can start reading on any page and be just fine. Maybe I'm not into the current authors enough, but I didn't know lots of them and wanted more on the ones I do.

[Susan Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good gift for any bibliophile, this book contains amusing and unexpected facts about writers and there works. It's a really good pick-up-put-down sort of book as the sections are really short.

[Cora Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun book! Easy to read, interesting facts (some of which I already knew, but quite a few that I didn't). I breezed right through it in just a few hours, though, so if you're looking for deep insight you won't find it here. But definitely worth a read.

[Lynde Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this in one sitting.
Reading it made me feel like a book expert for an hour.
Some of the facts made me laugh out loud, there were those that blew my mind, and those that inspired me.

I recommend this book for all book lovers.

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read for book nerds! ( ;