was intrigued to discover that a popular news magazine of the sixties had been anticipated by Defoe.
Read MoreReview: The Newsmongers -- two reviews in one!
in Bookshelf, Journalism, Reviews
Bookshelf
Review: The Shortest History of Music
The Music Programme of Study requires students to have an understanding of the music that they perform and to which they listen, and its history, and an appreciation of different musical styles.
Read MoreReview: How to think like a poet (two reviews in one!)
In all, twenty three poets are considered, and they constitute a wide variety: alongside the usual ones like Milton and Chaucer, we find Sappho and Basho. Each chapter is a mixture of biography and quotations.
Read More
Click the image to see this book on Amazon (affiliate link)
Quick looks: The Oxford Book of Caribbean Stories
in Bookshelf, Quick looks, Reviews
One of the things I think can add to one’s enjoyment and also improve one’s writing is to read stories from other cultures.
Read MoreMy reviews published in Teach Secondary magazine in 2024
This pdf contains the reviews of mine that were published in Teach Secondary magazine in 2024.
Read More
Click the image to see this book on Amazon (affiliate link)
Compare and contrast: Literary Journeys: Mapping Fictional Travels across the World of Literature
Here are two versions of the same review: the one I submitted to Teach Secondary magazine, and the edited one they published.
Read MoreCompare and contrast: Hitler’s People – The Faces of the Third Reich
Here are two versions of the same review: the one I submitted to Teach Secondary magazine, and the edited one they published.
Read MoreCompare and contrast: Review of How to Teach Literature – and Still Love Reading
Here are two versions of the same review: the one I submitted to Teach Secondary magazine, and the edited one they published.
Read MoreCompare and contrast: Review of Dickens: The Funny Bits
Here are two versions of the same review: the one I submitted to Teach Secondary magazine, and the edited one they published.
Read MoreCompare and contrast: Picture Perfect
As indicated by the title, the first thing to know about this anthology is that it comprises both poetry and prose, rather than one or the other. Many of the pieces are quite unusual...
Read MoreCompare and contrast: Nuts and bolts
It's rather disconcerting when one considers that buildings like The Shard are essentially held together by nuts, bolts and washers.
Read MoreCompare and contrast: Love Triangle
Like, I suspect, many people, I have never knowingly come across an isosceles triangle in my life, and wouldn’t know what to do with it if I did. However...
Read MoreReview: Waterhouse on newspaper style
This book may be thirty years old, but its advice is still pertinent. If you want to have a blitz or crackdown against, or shake-up of, bad writing (all examples of 'tabloidese'), then this is the book for you.
Read MoreCan writers learn from computer programmers?
in Bookshelf, Reflections
Introducing and applying Conway's Law, Gresham's Law and the sunken cost fallacy to the practice of writing.
Read MoreThe Notebooks of Sonny Rollins
A fascinating glimpse into the mind and development of a true virtuoso.
Read MoreGeoffrey Chaucer's Complete Works: which edition do YOU prefer?
in Bookshelf, Reflections
We visited the William Morris Gallery at the weekend, and Chaucer’s Complete Works was one of the books Wm Morris published.
Read MoreThe art of writing originated from a very prosaic need, not a creative impulse
The art of making paper was kept secret for hundreds of years.
Read MoreBooks I'm reading or about to read
in Quick looks, Reviews, Bookshelf
I’ve been sent the following books by publishers, and will review them in due course. Here is some information about them.
Read MoreIf you learnt how to write well at school, maybe you're lucky
The typical school writing assignment involves working in a way that no real writer does.
Read MoreLet's hear it for the introverts!
This review was originally published in Teach Secondary magazine, and so is aimed at teachers rather than writers, but as writers are often called upon to speak in public I thought this might be useful for them too!
Read More