John Crace's 'Digested Read' column in theGuardianhas rightly acquired a cult following. Each week fans avidly devour his latest razor-sharp literary assassination, while authors turn tremblingly to the appropriate page of the review section, fearful that it may be their turn to be mercilessly sent up.
Now he turns his critical eye on the classics of the last century, offering bite-sized pastiches of everything fromMrs DallowaytoTrainspottingviaLolitaandThe Great Gatsby.Those who have never quite got around to readingA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Manwill be delighted to find its essence distilled into a handful of paragraphs. Those who have never really enjoyedLord of the Flieswill be pleased to find it hilariously parodied in an easily swallowable 982 words. And those who find all such works a little highbrow will be relieved to discover, between the covers of this book, John Crace's take on the likes of Ian Fleming, P. G. Wodehouse and theHighway Code.
Witty and sharp, this is essential reading both for those who genuinely love literature and for those who merely want to appear ridiculously well read.
John Crace is the Guardian's parliamentary sketch writer and author of the Digested Read columns. He is also author ofBaby Alarm: A Neurotics Guide to Fatherhood,Vertigo: One Football Fan's Fear of Success,Harry's Games: Inside the Mind of Harry Redknapp,Brideshead Abbreviated: the Digested Read of the Twentieth CenturyandThe Digested Twenty-first Century. He lives in London.
