It seems that the long-standing two-letter preposition at has been dismissed as irrelevant by these two superstars and thousands of lesser lights throughout the English-speaking world. No longer does Beyoncé play at the Rose Bowl; she merely plays the Rose Bowl, a phrase that suggests an uneven contest in the extreme. Similarly Maestro Pavarotti has ceased to…
I have long been a fan of Louise Welsh and her slightly offbeat tales – always intriguing, striding across genres and never less than enthralling and entertaining. It is, of course, all to do with the writing – economical, concise, never a wasted word and yet having maximum impact. But she really excels in the latest…
Let’s have three cheers and a quick spin of the Zimmer frame for Ms Justice Simler. The High Court judge has decreed that age alone is not a reason to remove a person’s driving licence. It is a decision for that rare quality known as commonsense. There has never been any understandable logic behind the…
Welcome note in today from a writer whose book(s) I am editing. He writes: “I’m loving what I am seeing. I think finally I’ve found an editor who understands what I’m aiming for in style and tone and who knows just how to make it shine and breathe that extra level of life into it.”…
It seems fame and fortune – like money – cannot buy happiness. Not even for an A-lister as well-heeled as Jack Nicholson. Regardless of his big bucks, big house and even bigger ego he is now just one of the lads. The ageing lads. The guys who, as the saying goes, may have snow on the…
Could this be the light at the end of the tunnel? Is this the turn-off on a long and winding road? Maybe it is one of those blips that tend to rattle forecasters before the status quo returns … but the news from the ubiquitous UK bookshop chain, Waterstones, is that sales of Amazon’s Kindle device…
Could it be that among the many words that have become overused, abused and exaggerated beyond all meaning, “bestseller” is the most misused of all? Screaming at us from the shelves, tables and remainder bins of our bookshops are covers proclaiming that what lies within is a “No.1 Bestseller” or that it has been written…
The question for today (and unfortunately almost every working day) is: how can a person progress through the education system to degree level and beyond and still not know how to use an apostrophe? This query has been provoked by tackling an enthralling and extremely well-researched biography focussing on a major player in a major…
Oh the terrible things the bureaucrats and politicians do to the English language. They are now talking of “enhanced interrogation”. Which is what the rest of us call “torture”. Such pussy-footing around with words shows how scared they are of calling a spade a spade.
Well, that was some book. And for once it lived up to all the hype and praise highlighted on its covers and frontispiece. Having earlier devoured the superb The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (and now looking forward to the much-praised stage version in a few months time), I have been even…