This lovely paper-over-board book (kind of like a hardcover without the dust jacket) collects the stories behind the dedications at the beginning of a variety of books, both classic and contemporary. Sylvia Plath dedicated The Bell Jar to her friends who offered her refuge after the end of her marriage ("To Elizabeth and David"). Jacqueline Susann dedicated Valley of the Dolls to her poodle ("To Josephine, who sat at my feet, positive I was writing a sequel). And of course F. Scott Fitzgerald dedicated The Great Gatsby to his wife Zelda.
It's not exactly scholarly literature but it's an interesting concept and a breezy read, with a short chapter allotted to each story. It's somewhat troubling that most of the sources at the back of the book are from wikipedia, but if you can get past that, it's worth checking out.
Interesting read. I wonder where you buy most of your books? :-)
ReplyDeleteKrixie--I get my books from a variety of places. I work for a publisher so a lot of them come from there (this one included), but I also have many favorite bookstores: The Strand in Manhattan, Montague Book Mill in Western Massachusetts, Spoonbill and Sugartown in Brooklyn, Rainy Day Paperback Exchange in Bethel, CT (half the cover price on all books), Montclair Book Center in NJ, etc. And of course there's eBay, flea markets, and the occasional Amazon purchase.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia is pretty hard to get past...amazed it was published. But other than that it sounds cool!
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