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
Review
Click the cover to see this on Thames and Hudson’s website.
Review of Gothic: An Illustrated History -- Education version
in Bookshelf, Reviews, Short form
This review was first published in Teach Secondary magazine. I’ve included it here because it meets some of the requirements of the English Programme of Study.
Read MoreBooks Unseen: All of the Marvels
Apparently, the author of this book took on the gargantuan task of reading through 27,000 Marvel comics (which sounds exactly like the sort of job I’ve been looking for!).
Read MoreEnjoying the hard stuff: review of a course in hardboiled fiction
in Reviews
The least sensible thing one can do in circumstance like this is to read stuff which has absolutely no bearing on any it.
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Book review: Your Press Release Is Breaking My Heart
in Bookshelf
Most press releases are boring. Even worse, some are annoying. And the people who send them can be even more annoying.
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Click the cover to see the book on Amazon (affiliate link)
Review: The Go-Between
I also started to ponder: why the obsession throughout the book with belladonna?
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On This Day, by Terry Freedman
On this day #7: Review of Help! for Writers
in Bookshelf, On this day, Hardware, Reviews
On 22 December 2015 I published a review of Help! For Writers, by Roy Peter Clark. I liked the book back then. Do I still like it now?
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Click the cover to see the book on Amazon UK (affiliate link)
Review: Bonjour Tristesse
Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t pick up the (fictitious) memoir of a 17 year-old girl….
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Review: Alastair Humphreys' Great Adventurers
The stories in Great Adventurers are designed to help the reader believe that they can do it too, backed up by much more substantial evidence than vague and vacuous pronouncements like "You're wonderful, you can do anything."
Read MoreRevoke of the Penny Borough of Ourselves
One of the techniques employed by the Oulipo is known as N+7. This is where you take each noun, and replace it with a word that is seven words on in the dictionary. Of course, results vary according to what dictionary you use. The following article is an N+7 version of my review of the Penguin Book of Oulipo. Enjoy!
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