An amusement, not an education.

The joke here is that most of these tiny parodies assume that the reader has already read the original, so that they're in on the joke. It's not a bad idea, mostly it works. Sometimes it does give a precis of a book that you have not read (although it's often clearer to understand if you do at least know the author). But the one thing this clearly doesn't set out to do is to act as short-form Cliff Notes on anything. At most, you might be able to pass off a dinner party joke about it. And yes, this bok is certainly aimed at people who want to pass off dinner party jokes, even about books they haven't read. ( )

British newspapers hold competitions for parodists, limerick writers and other scribblers. Here, past winners were asked to summarize literary works, and Parrott, a judge of such competitions, picked the best. Most of the summaries are poems, but some are parodies of the original author's style. You have to have read the books to appreciate the commentary in the summaries. ( )

I don’t remember where I first heard about this book that prompted me to put it on my A-list wishlist. But, I was disappointed. I guess I was expecting something like a book of even more condensed cliff notes, since I knew that it contained information for quite a few books. Now that I’ve finished it, I can say that the number is 153 (in a 180 page book). Which, of course, did not do a speck of justice to any of them. For the books I had not previously read, only a handful of the entries yielded up a decent sense of the book. For the books that I HAD previously read, the entries provided a laugh.

The rules given to the participating authors were (1) length, and (2) “the summaries must be entertaining as well as enlightening. Any form could be employed – verse or prose, parody or pastiche, limerick or haiku, cautionary tale or letter – anything went so long as the desired result was achieved.” (From the introduction.) I think the desired result must have been for a favored group of British authors to see how witty they could be in brevity. I know what it WASN’T – to give the reader a real taste of the literature discussed. In no way did it live up to its title.

I give you the shortest entry. “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by D. H. Lawrence. (Encapsulation written by Wendy Cope.)

Smart girls make passes
At the working classes.

There ya go. Now you’re ridiculously well-read. ( )