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Q&A | May 1, 2012

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Describe your new book: This book is the story of my life — the ups, the downs, and the music. If someone were to write your biography, what... Continue »
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eBook editions

Who the Hell Is Pansy O'Hara?: The Fascinating Stories Behind 50 of the World's Best-Loved Books

by Jenny Bond

Who the Hell Is Pansy O'Hara?: The Fascinating Stories Behind 50 of the World's Best-Loved Books Cover

ISBN13: 9780143113645
ISBN10: 014311364x
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

The captivating stories behind fifty of the greatest authors and their most famous literary creations

Before Who the Hell is Pansy O?Hara ?, there had never been a single volume that explored the backstories of so many of the greatest books in the English language. A work sure to captivate all lovers of language and literature, it reveals in short, pithy chapters, the lives, loves, motivations, and quirky, fascinating details involving fifty of the best-loved books of the Western world.

? When stacked up, the original manuscript of Gone With the Wind stood taller than Margaret Mitchell, its 4' 9 1/2" author

? Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, was part of the Allied team that cracked the Nazi?s Enigma code

? Leo Tolstoy?s wife copied War and Peace by hand . . . seven times

From The Great Gatsby to Harper Lee, from Jaws to J. K . Rowling, Who the Hell Is Pansy O?Hara? offers an entertaining and informative journey through the minds of writers and the life experiences that took these amazing works from notion to novel.

Review:

"From Stephen King's childhood fascination with gruesome comics to the famous family name behind Peter Benchley, book-lovers and first time authors Bond and Sheedy light up some intriguing angles on many popular authors. Journalists in Australia, the authors deliver their 50 profiles with reportorial vigor, moving quickly through each profile while highlighting the salient and salacious details of, for example, the role played by Mary Shelley's literary legacy (daughter of two leading British writers) and her free-love husband (poet Percy Shelley) in the genesis of Frankenstein. Surprising words from the authors themselves adorn many profiles; said Harper Lee of To Kill a Mockingbird, 'I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of reviewers.' Between the engaging information and the range of popular texts (Pride and Prejudice, The Origin of Species, The War of the Worlds, In Cold Blood, Lolita, Roots, The Cat in the Hat, The Da Vinci Code), this affectionate literary history should appeal to many readers." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

A work sure to captivate lovers of language and literature, this volume reveals in short, pithy chapters, the lives, loves, motivations, and fascinating details involving 50 of the best-loved books of the Western world.

Synopsis:

From Harper Lee to Harry Potter, "The Great Gatsby" to "Jaws," short, pithy chapters explore 50 of the greatest authors and their most famous literary creations.
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About the Author

Jenny Bond and Chris Sheedy run the freelance journalism company The Hard Word. Their work has been published in The Sun-Herald, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sunday Telegraph, Virgin Blue Voyeur, Woma‛s Day, TV Week, FHM, and Cleo.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Lisa Brown, June 30, 2011 (view all comments by Lisa Brown)
I was really excited to read this book, as nonfiction books about books is one of my new favorite obsessions. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a letdown. It's a good, entertaining enough book, I just had unfairly high expectations for it. A lot of the anecdotes are stories I'm familiar with from high school and/or college (Frankenstein, Charles Dickens' father in debtor's prison, &c), so there just wasn't enough new information for me to take much away from it. Still, makes for some fun light reading.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780143113645
Author:
Bond, Jenny
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Author:
Sheedy, Chris
Subject:
Authors, English
Subject:
Authors, American
Subject:
General
Subject:
Trivia
Subject:
Reference
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Authorship
Subject:
Authors, English -- 20th century.
Subject:
Biography-Literary
Copyright:
2008
Edition Description:
Mass Market
Publication Date:
20080831
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
from 12
Language:
English
Pages:
336
Dimensions:
7.80x5.22x.60 in. .51 lbs.
Age Level:
from 18
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Related Subjects

Biography » Literary
Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
History and Social Science » Literary History » General
Humanities » Literary Criticism » General
Reference » Books on Books
Reference » Trivia

Who the Hell Is Pansy O'Hara?: The Fascinating Stories Behind 50 of the World's Best-Loved Books Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$6.50 In Stock
Product details 336 pages Penguin Books - English 9780143113645 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "From Stephen King's childhood fascination with gruesome comics to the famous family name behind Peter Benchley, book-lovers and first time authors Bond and Sheedy light up some intriguing angles on many popular authors. Journalists in Australia, the authors deliver their 50 profiles with reportorial vigor, moving quickly through each profile while highlighting the salient and salacious details of, for example, the role played by Mary Shelley's literary legacy (daughter of two leading British writers) and her free-love husband (poet Percy Shelley) in the genesis of Frankenstein. Surprising words from the authors themselves adorn many profiles; said Harper Lee of To Kill a Mockingbird, 'I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of reviewers.' Between the engaging information and the range of popular texts (Pride and Prejudice, The Origin of Species, The War of the Worlds, In Cold Blood, Lolita, Roots, The Cat in the Hat, The Da Vinci Code), this affectionate literary history should appeal to many readers." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Synopsis" by , A work sure to captivate lovers of language and literature, this volume reveals in short, pithy chapters, the lives, loves, motivations, and fascinating details involving 50 of the best-loved books of the Western world.
"Synopsis" by , From Harper Lee to Harry Potter, "The Great Gatsby" to "Jaws," short, pithy chapters explore 50 of the greatest authors and their most famous literary creations.
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