*The Lives of the Novelists*
Here is a mini-review from today’s FT, from their best books of the year discussion:
Lives of the Novelists, by John Sutherland, Profile, RRP£30
The fruit of decades of reading and research, Sutherland’s quirky compendium offers selective mini-biographies of 294 English novelists including Jeffrey Archer but not, oddly, Lewis Carroll or PG Wodehouse. A witty and enjoyably wide-ranging work.
The book has a remarkable density of information, as virtually every sentence tries to teach you something. I have never read a book quite like it, definitely recommended.