Bernard Richards (1)

The Greatest Books You'll Never Read is a glossy, colorful, entertaining compilation of the stories behind literary works by major authors that remain either unfinished and unpublished or published in an incomplete form. Some of these works, like such as Stephen King's early novel The House on Value Street, were simply abandoned, and others, such as Christopher Marlowe's epic poem "Hero and Leander" were not finished due to the untimely death of the author. Herman Melville's elusive "The Isle of the Cross" may have been a novel, or a short story, or perhaps it never existed at all. Elements of John Updike's early coming-of-age novel Willow appear in his later works, but the only surviving manuscript is under lock and key until October 1, 2029.

Some of these orphaned works may eventually see the light of day, and others are lost forever. In each case the contributors to this volume ask themselves how likely it would be that the missing parts of the work will be found, or perhaps reconstructed by another writer. In almost every case the answer is: don't hold your breath. This may be a loss for scholars, but not for the reading public as a whole. These days, few readers are clamoring for more stanzas of The Faerie Queene.

Each brief chapter is written by one of several contributors, and is illustrated by an artfully rendered proposed cover for the work in question. I read this book straight through from beginning to end, but it would be a good choice for casual browsing as well.… (mere)