Literature Recent Picks

August 2008

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How to write better essays, by Bryan Greetham. (2008)
"This book is a compulsory buy for anyone who is required to write essays on their course and who is committed to learning more about the craft of essay writing. It deals with essential essay writing skills such as interpreting questions, brainstorming, note-taking, reading and organization in exams in a practical manner. It will be presented in two-colour format and features more science and professional based questions, an increased number of illustrations and more activities to aid learning. End of chapter summaries help re-cap important points, and a new trouble-shooting helps students diagnose their problems and identify solutions. It can be used on any course, providing guidance on how best to meet specific course requirements. Revised and updated, the second edition of this book carefully tackles each stage of essay writing from interpretation of the question, to the research, planning, writing and revision, teaching students not just how to improve their study skills, but their thinking skills too." (Amazon.co.uk)

Pistache, by Sebastian Faulks.
"The word pistache (pis-tash) means a friendly spoof or parody of another's work. [Derivation uncertain, possibly a cross between pastiche and p**stake.] From Thomas Hardy's football report to Dan Brown's visit to the cash dispenser, the work of the great and the not-so-great is here sent up with little hope of coming down. Most of these pieces began their life on Radio Four's "The Write Stuff", but have been retooled for the printed page. Others, such as Martin Amis' first day at Hogwarts, have been written specially for this collection. Philip Larkin's "Lines in Celebration of the Queen Mother's 115th Birthday", first banned, then cut by the BBC, appears in its entirety for the first time. This is not a book for the faint-hearted or the downstairs lavatory. It is a book for the bedside table of someone you cannot live without." (Amazon.co.uk)

Selected essays, by Virginia Woolf ; edited with an introduction and notes by David Bradshaw.
"'A good essay must draw its curtain round us, but it must be a curtain that shuts us in, not out.' According to Virginia Woolf, the goal of the essay 'is simply that it should give pleasure...It should lay us under a spell with its first word, and we should only wake, refreshed, with its last.' One of the best practitioners of the art she analysed so rewardingly, Woolf displayed her essay-writing skills across a wide range of subjects, with all the craftsmanship, substance, and rich allure of her novels. This selection brings together thirty of her best essays, including the famous 'Mr Bennett and Mrs Brown', a clarion call for modern fiction. She discusses the arts of writing and of reading, and the particular role and reputation of women writers. She writes movingly about her father and the art of biography, and of the London scene in the early decades of the twentieth century. Overall, these pieces are as indispensable to an understanding of this great writer as they are enchanting in their own right." (Amazon.co.uk)

Book of longing, by Leonard Cohen. (2006)
""Book of Longing" is Leonard Cohen's first book of new poetry since "Book of Mercy" was published two decades ago. It collects Cohen's poetry written between the 1980s and the present, and also includes his wonderfully witty and sensuous illustrations, including numerous playful self-portraits. The illustrations interact with, and complement, the poetry in unexpected and fascinating ways. "Book of Longing" demonstrates the range and depth of Cohen's work, revealing an extraordinary gift of language and visual art that speak with rare clarity, passion and timelessness." (Amazon.co.uk)

The rough guide to classic novels, by Simon Mason.
"It is hard to identify what is most valuable about Simon Mason's Rough Guide to Classic Novels. It is, first and foremost, an astonishingly comprehensive guide to the very best in world literature, as ready to celebrate a quirky modern novel as it is to extol the virtues of a masterpiece of the past. It is also an extremely utilitarian resource: if you want to identify and track down one of the great books (which may be familiar to you only by reputation), the chances are good that it will be within these 370-odd pages (though, at times, the highly personal (even eccentric) choice of novels will surprise -- and give pause to -- some readers). But perhaps the greatest value of this compact yet information-packed guide is the absolutely irresistible impulse it stirs in the reader to grab handfuls of the books mentioned and consume them again (or, for that matter, to devour for the first time a celebrated novel that you have been feeling guilty about not reading). Mason's literary erudition is jawdropping, and the coverage broad (from Tolstoy to Doris Lessing, and from Jane Austen to Raymond Chandler - the book at times overlaps with the same publisher’s Rough Guide to Crime Fiction). Combine all this with the highly accessible (but always apposite) analyses and breakdowns of the books discussed, and it's hard to imagine the enterprise being surpassed." (Amazon.co.uk)

The selected essays of Gore Vidal, by Gore Vidal.
"Gore Vidal - novelist, playwright, critic, screenwriter, memoirist, indefatigable political commentator and controversialist - is America's premier man of letters. This volume contains some twenty-four of his forays into criticism, reviewing, political commentary, memoir, portraiture, and, occasionally, unfettered score settling." (Book jacket)

Doing your undergraduate project, by Denis F. Reardon.
""Doing Your Undergraduate Project" is a practical step-by-step guide to managing and developing a successful undergraduate project. The book covers all aspects of project management, explaining in a clear and structured way how to undertake a project and helping readers to identify and acquire the necessary skills to plan and carry out the research and writing. This practical and concise book provides: advice for preparing a project and choosing a topic; guidelines for writing a project proposal; a checklist for planning; a guide to producing a literature review; advice on choosing and implementing appropriate methodology; an awareness of ethical issues; and information for writing-up the report. Written in a lively and engaging manner, this detailed and accessible manual is an invaluable resource for students across the social sciences working on their undergraduate project." (Amazon.co.uk)

In the footsteps of the ancients : the origins of humanism from Lovato to Bruni, by Ronald G. Witt.
"Drawing upon more than 20 years of research, Witt (history, Duke U.) reexamines the origins and early development of Italian humanistic thought. He begins by showing how the renewed interest in Latin grammar and literature in the twelfth century created an intellectual climate favorable to humanism." (Amazon.co.uk)

Contemporary Russian poetry : an anthology, edited by Evgeny Bunimovich and J. Kates.
"An anthology of representative works by forty-four living Russian poets, born after 1945, features contributions from such writers as Igor Irteniev, Marianna Geide, Anna Russ, and Booker Prize winner Sergey Gandlevsky, among others, and includes many works never before published in the West." (Amazon.co.uk)

I still have it-- I just can't remember where I put it : confessions of a fiftysomething, by Rita Rudner.
"An American humourist writes of the trauma of turning fifty. "Women will try anything to stop the march of time. My aunt Sylvie just had herself laminated. I'm at an age when I don't want to be one of those women who look great from the back and then turn round and frighten people." (Book jacket)

When you are engulfed in flames, by David Sedaris. 1st. large print ed.
"David Sedaris's remarkable ability to uncover the hilarious absurdity teeming just below the surface of everyday life is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this new book of stories. Sedaris proceeds from bizarre conundrums of daily life: the etiquette of having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger or how to soundproof your windows with LP covers against neurotic songbirds: to the most deeply resonant human truths. Taking in the parasitic worm that once lived in his mother-in-law's leg, an encounter with a dingo and the purchase of a human skeleton, and culminating in a brilliant account of his attempt to quit smoking: in Tokyo: David Sedaris's sixth story collection is a fresh masterpiece of comic writing." (Amazon.co.uk)

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