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Books

Judge a critic by the quality of his mistakes

A review of How to be Well Read, by John Sutherland. The occasional drift from accuracy shows that Sutherland is both well read and reads well, argues Christopher Howse

10 May 2014

9:00 AM

10 May 2014

9:00 AM

How to be Well Read John Sutherland

Random House, pp.576, £20, ISBN: 9781847946409

What the title promises is not found inside. It is a tease. John Sutherland says he has ‘been paid one way or another, to read books all my life’, yet he does not regard himself as well read in the genre of novels. With two million languishing in the British Library vaults, nobody could be, he insists.

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Available from the Spectator Bookshop, £16. Tel: 08430 600033. Christopher Howse, writes leaders, features and reviews for the Daily Telegraph, and ‘Portrait of the Week’  for The Spectator.

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