Category: Reading

Overstrike, by CM Angus: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review2 Comments

373 pages Time Travel/Science Fiction/Alternative History Thoughtful, engaging science fiction with a real handle on a scientific topic is less common than might be expected, bearing in mind the name of the genre. But Overstrike is a great example of how it can be done well. Looking at themes of free will and ethics, and …

Continue reading Overstrike, by CM Angus: #BookReview.

Finding the #Write #Words? No. 25: Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice6 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 25: Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (2 Volumes): Hardback, 3,743 pages, plus the preface, an eighteen age article ‘A brief history of English’, a twelve page ‘Guide to the use of the dictionary’, two pages of ‘Abbreviations’, …

Continue reading Finding the #Write #Words? No. 25: Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

Finding the #Write #Words? No. 24: Roget’s Thesaurus.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice4 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 24: Roget’s Thesaurus of English words and phrases (the original): Hardback, 1254 pages, including 613 pages of ‘index’. First published in 1852 by Peter Mark Roget. Mine is the 1987 new edition published by The Bath …

Continue reading Finding the #Write #Words? No. 24: Roget’s Thesaurus.

Steps: Flash Fiction

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Photography, Reading2 Comments

For today’s weekly creative post, I’m giving you a bit of flash fiction. Considering how many people are caring for others in the current climate, I thought a touch of gentle humour on the topic might be appropriate. Enjoy! # Steps Every time! Can’t the old fool decide? If he’d make up his mind, I …

Continue reading Steps: Flash Fiction

Finding the #Write #Words? No. 23: Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Literature, Reading, Review, Word Choice2 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 23: Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English. subtitled Volume 1: Verbs with Prepositions and Particles: Hardback, 396 pages, including 2 indices. First published in 1975 by Oxford University Press. Mine is the 1984 sixth impression. I …

Continue reading Finding the #Write #Words? No. 23: Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English.

The Poop Diaries, by Abby Ross: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Reading, Review

237 pages Nonfiction This book is about plumbers and their experiences in the world of pipes, sewers, toilets, poo, and everything that impacts on their lives in that role. I’ll try to avoid scatological humour in this review, but I’m not promising anything! If you’ve ever had to invite or beg a plumber to unblock …

Continue reading The Poop Diaries, by Abby Ross: #BookReview.

Finding the #Write #Words? No. 22: Oxford Compact Thesaurus

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 22: Oxford Compact Thesaurus: Hardback, 967 pages. First published in 1997 by Oxford University Press. Mine is the 2001 second edition. I paid nothing for it; it was part of a free promotional offer from an …

Continue reading Finding the #Write #Words? No. 22: Oxford Compact Thesaurus

Somebody Else’s Troubles, by J.A. English: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Literature, politics, Reading, Review

389 Pages Literary Fiction. All serious works of fiction should carry at least one underlying message. Some manage this with such subtlety it barely makes a conscious impression on those not seeking it, others blare it out loudly, covering their story with a condescending layer of preaching. Many lie somewhere in between; a reasonable balance …

Continue reading Somebody Else’s Troubles, by J.A. English: #BookReview.

Nexus, by Joshua Grant: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

389 pages YA/Science Fiction If you enjoy science fiction packed with action, humour and credible characters, but overlain with emotional content to make you care what happens to those characters, this is for you. So many scifi thrillers concentrate on plot, action, with little attention given to the players. This book contains all the elements …

Continue reading Nexus, by Joshua Grant: #BookReview.

Finding the #Write #Words? No. 21: New Nuttall Dictionary of English Synonyms and Antonyms

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice2 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 21: The New Nuttall Dictionary of English Synonyms and Antonyms: Hardback, 442 pages. First published in 1943 by Frederick Warne and Co. Mine is the 1986 edition, revised by Editor Rosalind Fergusson and published by Viking. …

Continue reading Finding the #Write #Words? No. 21: New Nuttall Dictionary of English Synonyms and Antonyms

Finding the #Write #Words? No. 20: New Hart’s Rules

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice8 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 20: New Hart’s Rules: Hardback, 464 pages. Subtitled, The Oxford Style Guide, it was first published in 2005 by Oxford University Press. Mine is the 2014 edition and I paid £14.99 for it. The book is …

Continue reading Finding the #Write #Words? No. 20: New Hart’s Rules

Finding the #Write #Words? No. 19: Longman Companion to English Literature

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice

Continuing the description of books on words and language listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 19: Longman Companion to English Literature: Paperback, 889 pages. Carrying occasional line drawings and black and white photographs, it was first published in 1972 by Longman Group Ltd. Mine is the 1980 edition and I don’t …

Continue reading Finding the #Write #Words? No. 19: Longman Companion to English Literature

Periphery, by Michael Winter: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

383 pages First Contact Science Fiction/Horror Tense. Taut. Engaging. Absorbing. It happens to all of us, and those with imagination are especially vulnerable: the situation and/or location carry some element of unfamiliarity. There, in the shadows under the tree, near the open gate, behind the stone wall, we see, or think we see, from the …

Continue reading Periphery, by Michael Winter: #BookReview.

Finding the #Write #Words? No. 18: i before e (except after c)

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice2 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 18: i before e (except after c): Hardback, 175 pages. Subtitled ‘old-school ways to remember stuff’, and carrying occasional line drawing illustrations, it was first published in 2007 by Michael O’Mara Books Ltd. I paid £9.99 for it …

Continue reading Finding the #Write #Words? No. 18: i before e (except after c)

Finding the #Write #Words? No. 17: Hartrampf’s Vocabulary Builder

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Grammar, Reading, Review, Word Choice3 Comments

Continuing the description of books on words listed in the introductory post, which you’ll find here. Book 17: Hartrampf’s Vocabulary Builder: Hardback, 516 pages, including a substantial index. It was first published in the USA in 1929. Psychology Publishing Co. Ltd published a UK version in 1932, and my version is the revised and enlarged …

Continue reading Finding the #Write #Words? No. 17: Hartrampf’s Vocabulary Builder