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9781916297357

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Review of LIVING WORDS by Robert Nisbet (part two included in this volume).;Literary biography can be on times be a parlous business. It is an unavoidable fact that it is usually written by scholars, professionals with reputations to make and therefore with a vested interest in saying something which will break new ground, will analyse in depth - will, if they are not careful, take some of the simple joy out of reading.;Hence some of the pleasure I gained from reading this book. It is the work of a man who freely admits to being a non academic. In the strict sense of the word, he is an amateur (in other words, a lover of books and reading) and not a hard-nosed professional. And hence his book emanates a delightful sense of being a journey through literature's many paths and by-ways, in the company of a guide who is informed, well-read (extremely well-read, in fact) and who best of all finds a genuine delight in his reading - as well as having the capacity to communicate his enjoyment freshly.;Living Words is published in Romania for the use of students working for the English Language baccalaureate. The first part consists of thirteen short critical commentarires on set texts, and in each of them the writer deftly and succintly takes on just one academic nail and hits it neatly on the head; the ironic voice in Huck Finn, the city as protagonist in Bleak House and many more.;But the body of the book lies in the second half, its nineteen essays. They were originally written for Writers' Monthly and each one takes one dimension of the writing craft (war, the Welsh experience, the value of a sympathetic spouse, writing from experience, and so forth) and looks at three or more experiences in the history of literature.;We learn, for example, of the literary and marital careers of Mrs. Gaskell, Katherine Mansfield, Edwin Muir and George Orwell. We learn of the sense of place, as it affected Jack London, J.G. Ballard, Wordsworth and Coleridge, Virginia Woolf and A.E. Houseman. It will be a very well-informed reader indeed who is not picking up little nuggets of information on almost every page.;It is a long time since I read a book which afforded me such an easy wealth of relaxation and enjoyment. It really is an absorbing read and can be strongly recommended to anyone interested in the writing craft.

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The latest publication by Tom East is the SF/Conspiracy novel THE LOWELL LETTERS. The CANALS OF MARS were observed in the late Nineteenth Century by the astronomer PERCIVAL LOWELL. His discovery was hushed up. Why should this be of deadly importance to us at the present time? Twelve books are currently available in paperback from TOM EAST or as Ebooks. Apart from the latest, these include the controversial novel THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO St JUDAS and the unsparing non-fiction of LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE, about recovery from two brain haemorrhages, Earlier Tom was the writer of many works of fiction, commercial features, essays, reviews, 'other prose' and poetry. He was also the author of six (print) books. He was born in London, although of Welsh family and has lived in Wales for many years. Still available as paperback and ebook: THE EVE OF ST ELIGIUS THE GREENLAND PARTY TOMMY'S WAR: July 1914 SCENES FROM SEASONS THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT VERSE BRIGADE THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST JUDAS LYRICS, POLEMICS AND POETICS WISH MAN'S WOOD A FIFTIES' CHILDHOOD LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE WHY WRITE HAIKU? THE LOWELL LETTERS

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