Where are we?
Where are we? Thankfully, we’re at a publishing crossroads. The article below was first published by New Zealand Book Month in August 2008, the month after Endangered Words was first published (with the title From Afterwit to...
Category: Fine words
These articles are about fascinating English words, and about books about words, such as my rare words book, Endangered Words (aka From Afterwit to Zemblanity).
Book review: Never Let Me Go
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 2010 Faber and Faber (UK paperback) ISBN: 9780571272129 282 pagesFirst published 2005 This delicate story has recently been made into a movie (which I haven’t seen), resulting...
Inspiring quotations
We quote others because their words resonate and reveal, often capturing a liberating truth or ‘bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester’ (Sydney Harris). At times quotations shock or provoke us,...
Book review: A Week in December
A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks A Sunday Telegraph endorsement on the back cover of this novel simply reads: ‘Perfectly constructed . . . a pleasure to read’, and I concur. I loved this...
Fictional dreams (updated)
I mentioned in my last post that, despite having written three non-fiction books, my first love is fiction. The very first piece of advice I received about writing fiction was that I needed to read...
And the Word Olympics winners are…
I am a firm believer that all words are not equal. Just as some athletes are able to out-perform others, some words majestically out-perform other words and I think it is both helpful and...