There must have been as many of them in the years of the Third Reich as there are Gideon Bibles in motel America. Where … had all these millions of books gone? …Was there a gigantic, foul-smelling landfill somewhere, like the pits where they throw and burn carcasses during a foot and mouth epidemic?
When he eventually tracked down a copy it proved a sad disappointment, turning out to be ‘an absolute dud’, and ‘in sad need of a sub-editor’, though he concedes that this might have proved a hazardous job.
The second book, the fruits of a lifetime’s voracious reading, is well described by its title, Curiosities of Literature. In fact it becomes curiouser and curiouser, as one wends one’s way pleasurably down one twisting literary path after another. Did you know that without Bulwer-Lytton we would never have heard of Bovril, or that Thackeray could inscribe the Lord’s Prayer on a dry cherry pip, or that the original title of Gone With the Wind was Tote the Weary Load? The scope and detail of Sutherland’s knowledge is enviable. But the important thing is that he wears it lightly and uses it to entice us to join him in appreciating that books are not only absorbing and rewarding but also tremendous fun. This anthology would make an excellent present — why not stock up with a few copies for Christmas?
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