Faker's Guide to the Classics: Everything You Need To Know About The Books You Should Have Read (But Didn’T)

With a chatty voice and sarcastic style, The Faker's Guide to the Classics condenses the great—but long and often complicated—novels, plays, and poems into bite-size nuggets of info that are easy to digest, cutting out the bloated analysis and nauseating debate of other reading guides. From Anna Karenina and Beowulf to Ulysses and Wuthering Heights, each of the 100 books profiled here is a classic that everyone talks about but only hardcore lit majors have actually read. Now, with The Faker's Guide to the Classics, you, too, can: Reminisce about books you were supposed to read for class but didn't; fudge literary discussions at fancy parties; impress a date with your incredible knowledge and wit; and cut through the ivory tower of world letters to read like a ninja! Each entry contains: a quick and dirty narrative description of plot points and overall story, including significant twists and surprise endings, told with humorous brevity; famous quotes from each work, accompanied by smartass responses; the original cover or an illustration conveying the work's tone (or lack thereof). Brief author bios, including misdeeds and scandals, add illuminating and occasionally disgusting background to each work. All of the text appears in simple, contemporary English, so it's easy to understand—and short enough to tweet. With this must-have guide, there's no more need to worry whether a reference to Miss Havisham is an insult or to wonder what happened to Moby-Dick. Not reading the classics has never been easier!

About the Author :
Michelle Witte is the author of The Craptastic Guide to Pseudo-Swearing (Running Press, 2012). A former associate editor at Gibbs Smith, she is now a literary agent and writer. She lives in Utah.

Review :
"Seriously fun. Using an inviting, conversational style, Michelle Witte makes doorstops like War and Peace and Great Expectations sound like rollicking romps. I wish I had The Faker's Guide to the Classics instead of those boring old Cliffs Notes guides when I was in high school and college. Maybe I would have been inspired to read some of the classics I was assigned."-Andrew Shaffer, author of Literary Rogues"This entertaining, informative, and pop-culture-reference-laden take on literature will completely replace that to-read pile of books collecting dust on your desk. Once your home is tidy and all the important characters and plot points are in your brain, book club hosting duties will be a breeze!"-Robb Pearlman, author of Spoiler Alert"Michelle Witte's dazzlingly charming summaries will give you both hilarious knowledge and plenty of time to send Beowulf a friend request. If you don't have room on your bookshelf for this, you need a bigger bookshelf."-Rachel Eddey, author of Running of the Bride"Cliffs Notes, Schmiffs Notes, give me Michelle's notes! She makes the cool books even cooler and the crappy books considerably less crappy. I mean, she even made reading about Middlemarch enjoyable, and if you've read it-which I haven't and now don't have to, thank goodness-you know that's saying something."-Alan Goldsher, author of Paul Is Undead and My Favorite Fangs