My fondness of Kurt Vonnegut knows no bounds. I've spoken about his best-known piece of fiction, and one of the finest anti-war books (along with Catch-22), Slaughterhouse-Five previously. I've read a few other of his novels, too: the Sirens of Titan immediately comes to mind as a wonky, entertaining--and somewhat unsettling--tale of a businessman and... Continue Reading →
Mark Forsyth's non-fiction books are a treat. Erudite jaunts through the origins of the English language, every one of Forsyth's works has been accompanied with hours of laughter, and The Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language is no different. It doesn't quite measure up to my memory of The... Continue Reading →
Before I picked this up, I knew nothing about who James Wood is; having now finished it, I can tell with absolute certainty, he is one of contemporary criticism's most gifted and steadfast voices, a lover of literature through and through. How Fiction Works is among the finest examples of that particular branch of non-fiction... Continue Reading →
It's rare that you find a book on sentence construction that has so warm a tone. June Casagrande's It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Longest of Titles is an excellent guide on writing, chock-full of common and uncommon issues that plague the amateur and the intermediate writer alike. "A writer's guide to... Continue Reading →
I love listening to the autobiographies of my favourite actors and comedians. Kevin Hart, John Cleese, Felicia Day, Amanda Palmer, all have put out such engrossing, fascinating reads. I couldn't get enough of them! When I joined Twitter I described myself as “Scottish elf trapped inside a middle aged man’s body” and I still think... Continue Reading →
This novel constitutes my first experience with the non-fiction work of the great Haruki Murakami. It was a hell of a lot of fun - and now that I've read it, I feel I have a touch greater understanding of the man behind some of my favourite magical realism fiction. This book will motivate you... Continue Reading →
Has another event in European history affected the age we live in as much as the French Revolution? Hasn't every political debate, every crisis of our time been directly shaped by blood spilled and lines drawn in the sand throughout the events that unfolded in those first months, years and decades following 1789? Left and... Continue Reading →
Autobiographies haven't always agreed with me. Granted, I have attempted to read a very limited number of books in this particular genre, and have finished considerably less than I've started. So, why...So, Anyway...? I'll share a secret with you -- I really am quite fond of John Cleese. He's a brilliant comedian, a part of... Continue Reading →
Most writers come at character all wrong. They start by listing all the traits of the hero, tell a story about him and then somehow make him change at the end. That won't work. The steps we're gonna work through are the following: We look not just at our MC but at all characters together,... Continue Reading →
I've been thinking about today's blog post--quite a bit, in fact. I decided that instead of offering you some of my own hard-earned wisdom(insane laughter), I would take you on my exploration of John Truby's well-regarded, well-known book, "The Anatomy of Story." The plan is simple: Make a post about each chapter (sometimes the posts... Continue Reading →
