The Fisherman and His Soul, by Oscar Wilde: #BookReview.

I read this short story by the famous playwright in the hope it would prove a better read than his ‘The Birthday of the Infanta’. My hope was based on ‘The Sphinx Without a Secret’ and ‘The Selfish Giant’, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, this moral tale is similar to the ‘Infanta’, in …

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Finding the Write #Words? Last in the Series.

Some of the books on the list. Each week since October 2019 I’ve been posting ‘reviews’ of books on my shelves that deal with the English language, its use, and the opportunities to find and employ different words to express yourself in speech and/or writing. The complete list of books is listed below with link …

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The Birthday of the Infanta, by Oscar Wilde: #BookReview.

Very definitely a story of its time. It’s intended for children, but I seriously doubt many modern kids would read this. There are moral lessons buried here, but they are largely lost in the unnecessarily detailed descriptions of the riches of the royal family featured. Some of these are effectively lists of luxury items and …

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Finding the Write #Words? No. 38: Usage and Abusage

Completing the description of books on words and the English language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 38: Usage and Abusage Paperback, 380 pages. Published in 1947 by Hamish Hamilton and reprinted many times. I own the 1978 Penguin edition, which I bought for the princely sum of £1.10. There’s a …

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The Upside-Down History of Down Under, by Alison Lloyd and Terry Denton: #BookReview.

304 Pages Children’s Books (8-12) This book came to me as a ‘jokey’ present from my daughter, who lives in Australia. Whilst it’s clearly a book written for children, I suspect a lot of adults will find it informative, illuminating, and entertaining, as I did. I’d love to see it used by both UK and …

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Finding the Write #Words? No. 37: The Synonym Finder

Continuing the description of books on words and the English language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 37: The Synonym Finder Hardback, 1355 pages. Published in 1979 by Rodale Press, which is the edition I own. I don’t recall what I paid for it, as it was part of a collection …

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Finding the Write #Words? No. 36: The Slang Thesaurus

Continuing the description of books on words and the English language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 36: The Slang Thesaurus Hardback, 280 pages. Published in 1986 by Elm Tree Books/Hamish Hamilton Ltd, which is the edition I own. I can’t now recall what it cost me. The 1985 edition is …

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The Writer’s Body Lexicon, by Kathy Steinemann: #BookReview.

629 pages Editing Reference/Writing Reference. Subtitled ‘Body Parts, Actions, and Expressions’ this book was written by the author in response to requests from followers of her blog, where she features articles about language use and its improvement of the skillsets available to writers. Under the introductive ‘Read This First’ section, she explains how chapters are …

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Finding the Write #Words? No. 35: The Penguin Rhyming Dictionary

Continuing the description of books on words and the English language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 35: The Penguin Rhyming Dictionary Paperback, 530 pages. Published in 1985 by Viking and, in the same year, by Penguin Books, and reprinted in 1986, which is the edition I own. It cost me …

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Silent Heroes, by Patricia Furstenberg: #BookReview.

What do you know about the war(s) in Afghanistan? This remarkable story of courage, extremism, intolerance, loyalty, betrayal and love will tell you so much.The ‘silent’ heroes of the title are the sniffer dogs employed by American Marines in their hunt for IEDs (improvised explosive devices, if you didn’t know). But this story is about …

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Finding the Write #Words? No. 34: The Oxford Spelling Dictionary

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 34: The Oxford Spelling Dictionary Hardback, 299 pages. Published in 1986 by Oxford University Press, I own a BCA edition published in 1987, which I bought as part of a bundle offered by a book club, …

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That Moment of Epiphany.

Yesterday, I spent around 40 minutes talking to a stranger online. It changed my attitude. It changed my life. I had what Gabriela Blandy calls ‘an Extraordinary Conversation’ with her, online. Gabriela is a writer’s coach, among many other things. The experience was good right from the start. This is a woman who understands how …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 33: The Oxford Manual of Style

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 33: The Oxford Manual of Style Paperback, 1033 pages. Published in 2002 by Oxford University Press, this is the edition I own. I bought it as part of a bundle offered by a book club, so …

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Love Your Fear, by Joel Schueler: #BookReview.

I came across Joel Schueler via a post on LinkedIn. From that, I went to look at his work on Amazon and discovered ‘Love Your Fear’. As usual, I used their useful ‘Look Inside’ feature to gain an insight into the style and content. I suffered ME/CFS for ten years and, although now rid of …

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Finding the #Write #Words? No. 30: The Last Word

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 30: The Last Word. Hardback, 312 pages. Published in 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. This is the edition I own and I can’t recall what I paid for it, because it was one of a bundle …

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