The Guardian Book of English Language edited by David Marsh and Amelia Hodson

Is it sad to like reading guides to grammar and spelling? Probably!

This one is a 100-page extract from Guardian Style, as used by the paper's journalists. Wisely, the editors admit to the "Grauniad" image of misprints and misspellings straight away, and then get on with the job of giving guidelines to their journalists. Fifers will be happy to know that the correct spelling of Kirkcaldy is included (thanks to Gordon Brown, we presume). This isn't as easy to read as The Elements of Style, but it does have some funny moments. For example there's this entry (which I should probably heed) for Exclamation marks: Do not use! Or when spelling this singer's name: Meat Loaf sings, meatloaf doesn't. They also reckon that the prejudice against split infinitives goes back to 19th century Latin teachers who felt that as the Latin infinitive was all one word, the English one shouldn't be split by another word inbetween. They give another couple of examples then say, "As the Guardian is written in English, rather than Latin, do not worry about any of this even slightly".

Day 149; Book 147

On the Perils of Buying Second-Hand Books

My book about ice skating has arrived! It looks promising, with section one covering how to keep your balance and also how to fall (presumably if you fail at keeping your balance). However somebody (and I'm guessing somebody male and adolescent) had "improved" the line illustrations with anatomical details! Ooh er! Now where is that eraser?

Language I love

After yesterday's disappointment with The Cave, I consoled myself with a copy of Heat. It doesn't count for my stats but it is so cleverly written. I don't think its writers invented these words but they have certainly popularised moobs, muffin top, weird crush and the dreaded camel toe! Other inferior magazines have tried to copy Heat but they don't realise abuse on its own is just cruel, not amusing. By contrast, here Heat comments on a dress made out of ties (!) : "We’re all for a bit of recycling, but surely rooting through the wardrobes of some newly unemployed bankers and turning the findings into a red carpet frock is a bit much?" Harsh but fair and cleverly incorporating a topical reference!

AND Heat World has footage of THAT Robert Webb Flashdance performance!

The Cave by Kate Mosse

I pounced on this to give myself a break because it was labelled a "quick read" - and only £1.99! Well, the story was well-constructed but unfortunately it was very predicable. You knew everything that was going to happen just about from the first few pages. Cliches abounded as well. Loyal readers, you will know that I am not a stranger to the use of the cliche myself, but when you find yourself looking out for the next tired phrase you know that the writer has overdone it. From "spin like a top" to "noisy enough to wake the dead" to "crack like a whip" they were all there. It serves me right for choosing a book by length!

I believe this series is intended to appeal to people who have not read many books before, but I'm not sure if this is the way to attract them.

Day 147; Book 146

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

This looked promising and it was well-written, but I just didn't like it! The hero and heroine obviously loved each other but I couldn't join in with thinking how wonderful they were when there really wasn't much evidence of it. Our hero loves nature (fair enough) but also thinks nature is much more "real" than man-made objects. How, exactly? However, this is a best-seller and was made into a film so it obviously appeals to a lot of people.

Edited to add: I checked out people's comments about the film on IMDB and people either seem to love it or hate it. Most love it, it has to be said, but there are a few hard-hearted old cynics out there too - hooray!

Day 146; Book 145

From Tolstoy to True Crime

Will I read any more Tolstoy short stories? I might! However my Tolstoy-fest was followed by a weekend of very different books.

First I borrowed and read LeNae's Scrapbooking Basics by LeNae Gerig. This took me several hours to read, which to me is an indication of a good scrapbooking book - one with plenty of text and information and not just pictures. I picked up several good tips, which will no doubt be coming to a scrapbook near you very soon. For the unconverted, here is a link to the UK's most popular scrapbooking website.

Next was Widows by Lynda La Plante. I remembered this as a TV series so I wanted to see what the book was like. The series had several very striking plot twists, which unfortunately for my reading I remembered clearly. The book was still an exciting crime thriller though, even though the author was too fond for my taste of using commas instead of conjunctions. That distracted me from the story a bit.

Finally I read Finding Shannon: the Inside Story. This account of the recent kidnap case was well-written by a journalist with a conscience. He points out the sweeping generalisations which were made by national newspapers about "sink estates" and "the underclass". In fact the estate where Shannon lived had 80% employment. He gives credit to the local community for organising a campaign to find Shannon, even though they were later to be betrayed by the very woman they were trying to help. He sticks purely to the facts but it would have been very interesting to know more about the personalities of Karen and Mick and what could have led them to act as they did. He does give some fascinating asides from the local courtroom, including where you hide pills that you want to take into prison - ewwww! (And it's not where you might think).

Day 145; Book 144

In which I read some Tolstoy (in translation of course)

I was given a book of Tolstoy stories yesterday. The first story was Father Sergius, which has one completely shocking scene but for the rest is rather dull with its emphasis on religion and duty (most of which is self-imposed). The next story was Master and Man which was excellent. It really gives you a feel for the time and the place and concludes with an amazing transformation. Lastly was Hadji Murat, which I am still reading. It's set in the 1850s and it's rather depressing to learn that even then the Russians and the Chechens were fighting. I'm not sure yet where the story is going but apparently it is based on a historical character.

Hadji Murat was preceded by an introduction provided by the translator. I've left that till after I've read the story though as I think that if it's well written the story will provide you with enough of the context to be able to understand it. I'll read the introduction later to fill in any gaps I was wondering about.