Books make the most thoughtful presents. Here are some of my favourites I’ve read this year, either before I started this blog, or books I couldn’t squeeze into the running ‘Book of the Month’ feature.
Category Archives: Book of the Month
Short Stories
Short stories are my absolute favourite form of literature (and writing – joint with poetry!). Utterly cluttered are the marginalia of every short story I consume/inhale. The gentle and explosive rhythm of the narrative; the way the plot unravels in the story; the twist potential; the preoccupation with time and the ability to give the impression of time expanding as the story is contracting; the heavy, heady significance of every carefully chosen word; the fact that you can be absorbed in several stories within an hour of reading…
‘Lists of Note’ Review
Marilyn Monroe was frequently very late to arrive when filming on set. So it may come as a surprise that she explicitly told herself, in her list of New Year’s Resolutions for the year 1956, that there are ‘No excuses for ever being late’. She was 29 years old at the time and had starred in many successful films (The Seven Year Itch for example) and she had just been accepted as a student at a renowned drama school in New York called the Actors’ Studio. Judging by her other resolutions (‘Work whenever possible’) she was clearly very driven and committed to try and continue her success as an actress.
The Adventure of English
My favourite word of the moment is ‘Mountweazel’. My curious fingertips stumbled across this short article in the New Yorker from 2005 which explains Mountweazels more succinctly than I ever could. Did you know that dictionaries often add in fictitious words as a copyright trap? The article states that the 2005 edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary contains a made-up word beginning with ‘E’ and a shortlist of six possible Mountweazels surfaced and the list was sent to various lexicography experts and they (correctly) agreed that the word ‘esquivalience’ was the imposter (I admit, of the list, that’s not the one I would have chosen!). I summoned my Dictionary programme that lies in the dock area of my Mac and typed in ‘esquivalience’ and there lies a definition consistent with the false entry from the NOAD:
The Paying Guests Book Review
Sarah Waters is a brilliant story teller. We’re in Camberwell in 1922 for her latest novel The Paying Guests. Our protagonist is Frances Wray, a spinster in her mid-twenties who lives with her mother in their large house. They have divided it up to rent out some of the rooms to a young married couple, Mr and Mrs Barber, to help pay for the running of the property. So far, so straightforward.
‘Letters of Note’ Review
You will have heard of Letters of Note. It has been an online sensation that has divulged the secret thoughts of significant figures in history by publishing their clandestine letters. A collection of otherwise undisclosed feelings and ideas between fascinating characters and interesting people. Now there’s a book, a beautiful, illustrated, hardback book.
Will In The World Book Review
Dog Will Have His Day review
Louis Kehlweiler knows something is wrong. He has a naturally inquisitive mind and he is predisposed to finding everyday things interesting. But since he got sacked from the Ministry he has trouble being taken seriously. He is seen as someone who simply lets his mind wander and who allows his imagination to play tricks on him.
Dept. of Speculation book review
Any review of the Dept. of Speculation is going to fall spectacularly short of successfully conveying what the book is about, simply because the pleasure of the story lies in the poetry of Jenny Offill’s words. A couple get married and have a baby in Brooklyn, New York. They manage the inanities of everyday life but relationships become complicated. We read it through the thoughts of the narrator / heroine, who always “thinks of saying” and whose forces are internalised.
World Book Day
Happy World Book Day! To celebrate, I’ve chosen five of my favourite books. I think each one represents a different point in an evolving literary canon and highlights the way that literature has the power to change us as people.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Everyone must read this book. It is significant as it marks the start of the rise of the novel in the eighteenth century and sets out various literary conventions value in novels today. A brilliant story.
The American by Henry James
Beautiful and eloquent. If you love learning new words read it with a notebook to make your own mini dictionary!
The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
My favourite Conrad book: if you enjoy modern espionage, you’ll want to read this one.
Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
By far the funniest book I’ve ever read.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Just read it.