Reading Like An Australian Writer by Belinda Castles (Editor)

$34.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

This is an ode, a love letter, to the magic of reading. To the spark that's set off when the reader thinks ... I can do this too. Here, twenty-six writers take us through these moments of revelation through the dog-eared pages of their favourite Australian books. These writers come together to draw kno wledge from the distinctive personal and sensory stories of this country: its thefts and losses, and its imagined futures. Australian fiction shows us what it is possible to say and, perhaps, what still needs to be said. Reading Like an Australian Writer is a delightful, inspirational and heartfelt collection of essays that will enrich your reading of Australian stories and guide you in your own writing.  ...Show more

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark

$65.00 AUD

Category: Memoir & Biography

The highly anticipated new biography of Sylvia Plath that focuses on her remarkable literary and intellectual achievements, while restoring the woman behind the long-held myths about her life and art. With a wealth of never-before-accessed materials--including unpublished letters and manuscripts; court, police, and psychiatric records; and new interviewsmHeather Clark brings to life the brilliant daughter of Wellesley, Massachusetts. Sylvia Plath had poetic ambition from a very young age and was an accomplished, published writer of poems and stories even before she became a star English student at Smith College in the early 1950s. Determined not to read Plath's work as if her every act, from childhood on, was a harbinger of her tragic fate, Clark here evokes a culture in transition, in the shadow of the atom bomb and the Holocaust, as she explores Plath's world: her early relationships and determination not to become a conventional woman and wife; her conflicted ties to her well-meaning, widowed mother; her troubles at the hands of an unenlightened mental-health industry; her Cambridge years and thunderclap meeting with Ted Hughes, a marriage of true minds that would change the course of poetry in English; and much more. Clark's clear-eyed sympathy for Hughes, his lover Assia Wevill, and the other demonized players in the arena of Plath's suicide promotes a deeper understanding of her final days, with their outpouring of first-rate poems. Along with illuminating readings of the poems themselves, Clark's meticulous, compassionate research brings us closer than ever to the spirited woman and visionary artist who blazed a trail that still lights the way for women poets the world over. ...Show more

The Little Green Grammar Book by Mark Tredinnick

$29.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

What really goes on inside a sentence? What is your subject, where is your verb, what is its tense, where is your modifier, and why does it matter? Where do you need a comma, and where do you not? Why are dashes and semicolons so misunderstood? When is it which and when is it that? In The Little Green G rammar Book, Mark Tredinnick asks and answers the tough grammar questions, big and small, with the same verve and authority readers encountered in The Little Red Writing Book. The Little Green Grammar Book does for grammar what The Little Red Writing Book did for style. It will have you writing like a writer in no time. ...Show more

The Little Red Writing Book by Mark Tredinnick

$29.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

"The Little Red Writing Book" is a book on technique, style, craft and manners for everyone who writes and wants to do it better. It is a manual of good diction, composition, sentence craft, paragraph design, structure and planning. Enriched by examples of fine prose from great writers including Tim Win ton; flush with exercises informed by the author's expertise in both creative writing and functional prose; and written with flair, "The Little Red Writing Book" is a lively and readable guide to lively and readable writing. ...Show more

The Penguin Book of Oulipo - Queneau, Perec, Calvino and the Adventure of Form by Philip Terry (Editor)

$22.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling | Series: Penguin Modern Classics Ser.

'Lovers of word games and literary puzzles will relish this indispensable anthology.' - The Guardian 'At times, you simply have to stand back in amazement.' - Daily Telegraph 'Philip Terry's collection is packed with fabulous, wide-ranging work that displays the full ingenuity, brio and originality of O ulipian ideals in action. An exhilarating feat of in-depth reading, and translating, it takes its place as the definitive anthology in English for decades to come.' - Marina Warner Brought together for the first time, here are 100 pieces of 'Oulipo' writing, celebrating the literary group who revelled in maths problems, puzzles, trickery, wordplay and conundrums. Featuring writers including Georges Perec, Raymond Queneau and Italo Calvino, it includes poems, short stories, word games and even recipes. Alongside these famous Oulipians, are 'anticipatory' wordsmiths who crafted language with unusual constraints and literary tricks, from Jonathan Swift to Lewis Carroll. Philip Terry's playful selection will appeal to lovers of word games, puzzles and literary delights. ...Show more

Watsonia: A Writing Life by Don Watson

$49.99 AUD

Category: Memoir & Biography

No other writer has journeyed further into the soul of Australia and returned to tell the tale... Watsonia collects the fruits of a writing life. It covers everything from Australian bush humour to America gone berserk; from Don Bradman to Oscar Wilde; from Animal Farmto the Australian parliament. Wher ever Watson turns his incisive gaze, the results are as illuminating as they are enjoyable. Artfully arranged, Watsonia showcases the many sides of Don Watson- historian, speechwriter, commentator, humourist, nature writer and biographer. It also features several previously unpublished lectures and a wide-ranging introduction by the author. This comprehensive anthology - replete with wit, wisdom and diverse pleasures - is essential reading. ...Show more

Down in the Valley - A Writer's Landscape by Laurie Lee

$22.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling | Series: Penguin Modern Classics Ser.

A moving portrait of the landscape that shaped the life of Laurie Lee, the beloved author of Cider With Rosie 'Before I left the valley I thought everywhere was like this. Then I went away for 40 years and when I came back I realized that nowhere was like this.' Laurie Lee walked out of his childhood village one summer morning to travel the world, but he was always drawn back to his beloved Slad Valley, eventually returning to make it his home. In this portrait of his Cotswold home, Laurie Lee guides us through its landscapes, and shares memories of his village youth - from his favourite pub to winter skating on the pond, the church through the seasons, local legends, learning the violin and playing jazz records in the privy on a wind-up gramophone. Filled with wry humour and a love of place, Down in the Valley is a writer's tribute to the landscape that shaped him, and where he found peace. ...Show more

Dreyer's English by Benjamin Dreyer

$19.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

''An utterly delightful book to read, Dreyer''s Englishwill stand among the classics on how to use the English language properly.'' ELIZABETH STROUT ''A complete joy. For those who care about words - and for those who don''t - Dreyer''s English is the book we have all been waiting for. Wise, funny, no-n onsense, stylish and brilliantly practical. Ditch the beach books this year; take this instead.''RACHEL JOYCE _______________________ An indispensable, New York Times-bestsellingguide to the craft of writing from Random House''s long-time copy chief and one of Twitter''s leading language gurus. We all write, all the time- books, blogs, tweets, emails, emails, emails - and we all want to write better. Benjamin Dreyer is here to help. As Random House''s copy chief, Dreyer has upheld the standards of the legendary publisher for more than two decades. He is beloved by authors and editors alike - not to mention his followers on social media - for playfully, brilliantly deconstructing the English language. Dreyer''s English is the distillation of everything he has learned from copyediting thousands of books, the perfect guide not just for writers but for everyone who wants to put their best prose foot forward. Both authoritative and amusing, Dreyer''s Englishoffers lessons on punctuation, from the underloved semicolon to the enigmatic en-dash; the rules and non-rules of grammar, including why it''s OK to begin a sentence with ''And'' or ''But'' and to confidently split an infinitive; and why it''s best to avoid the doldrums of the Wan Intensifiers and Throat Clearers, including ''very'', ''rather'', ''of course'', and the dreaded ''actually''. And yes- ''Only godless savages eschew the Oxford comma.'' Stuffed with advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts, this book will prove to be invaluable to everyone who wants to shore up their writing skills, mandatory for people who spend their time editing and shaping other people''s prose, and - perhaps best of all - an utter treat for anyone who simply revels in language. _______________________ This book is written in British English._______________________''A fascinating guide to grammatical "rights" and "wrongs" - practical and useful''SUNDAY TIMES ''Benjamin Dreyer''s brilliant, pithy, incandescently intelligent book is to contemporary writing what Geoffrey Chaucer''s poetry was to medieval English- a gift that broadens and deepens the art and the science of literature by illustrating that convention should not stand in the way of creativity, so long as that creativity is expressed with clarity and with conviction.'' JON MEACHAM ''Meet the guardian of grammar who wants to help you be a better writer. Benjamin Dreyer sees language the way an epicure sees food. And he finds sloppiness everywhere he looks.''THE NEW YORK TIMES ''A fascinating guide to grammatical ''rights'' and ''wrongs'' - practical and useful'' SEBASTIAN FAULKS,SUNDAY TIMES ''If learning about the pillars of punctuation and grammar doesn''t excite you, let Benjamin Dreyer change your mind ... he analyzes the English language without dipping into the drab technicalities, crafting a pleasing read for anyone who has an appreciation for the written word.''TIME MAGAZINE,BEST 10 NON-FICTION BOOKS OF 2019 ''Witty and piquant ... full of jokes - and equally full of deliciously deprecating footnotes.'' JEWISH CHRONICLE ''Playful, smart, self-conscious, and personal . . . One encounters wisdom and good sense on nearly every page of Dreyer''s English.''WALL STREET JOURNAL ''Destined to become a classic.''THE MILLIONS ''A mind-blower--sure to jumpstart any writing project, just by exposing you, the writer, to Dreyer''s astonishing level of sentence-awareness.'' GEORGE SAUNDERS, author of Lincoln in the Bardo ''Pleasurable and instructive ... You can read Dreyer''s Englishright through with unalloyed enjoyment, and learn a lot from it- not only from its rulings but from its attitude ... Benjamin Dreyer is wise and bitterly experienced and fantastically good company. You should buy his book and read it.'' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT ''Dreyer can help you . . . with tips on punctuation and spelling. . . . Even better- He''ll entertain you while he''s at it.''NEWSDAY ''Boisterously well written ... I recommend it highly.'' INDEPENDENT ''It is Benjamin Dreyer''s intense love for the English language and his passion for the subject that make the experience of reading Dreyer''s Englishsuch a pleasure, almost regardless of the invaluable and practical purpose his book serves in such dark and confusing times for grammar and meaning.'' AYELET WALDMAN & MICHAEL CHABON ''An informative and entertaining handbook on how to write clearer English. It''s pithy, witty and a near perfect example of the kind of writing it advocates'' STING ''Dreyer promises to reveal "some of the fancy little tricks I''ve come across or devised that can make even skilled writing better", and does so with accuracy, style, and humour'' GUARDIAN ''This work is that rare writing handbook that writers might actually want to read straight through, rather than simply consult.'' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ...Show more

Emigres - French Words That Turned English by Richard Scholar

$29.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

English has borrowed more words from French than from any other modern foreign language. French words and phrases-such as a la mode, ennui, naivete and caprice-lend English a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that would otherwise elude the language. Richard Scholar examines the continuing history of untranslated French words in English and asks what these words reveal about the fertile but fraught relationship that England and France have long shared and that now entangles English- and French-speaking cultures all over the world. Emigres demonstrates that French borrowings have, over the centuries, 'turned' English in more ways than one. From the seventeenth-century polymath John Evelyn's complaint that English lacks 'words that do so fully express' the French ennui and naivete, to George W. Bush's purported claim that 'the French don't have a word for entrepreneur,' this unique history of English argues that French words have offered more than the mere seasoning of the occasional mot juste. They have established themselves as 'creolizing keywords' that both connect English speakers to-and separate them from-French. Moving from the realms of opera to ice cream, the book shows how migrant French words are never the same again for having ventured abroad, and how they complete English by reminding us that it is fundamentally incomplete. At a moment of resurgent nationalism in the English-speaking world, Emigres invites native Anglophone readers to consider how much we owe the French language and why so many of us remain ambivalent about the migrants in our midst. ...Show more

Essays by Lydia Davis

$45.00 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

Lydia Davis's writing is a masterclass in control- wry, lucid, penetrating, every word placed deliberately. Here she presents a dazzling collection of literary essays, each one as beautifully formed, thought-provoking, playful and illuminating as her critically acclaimed short fiction. Ranging across he r many creative influences, including Thomas Pynchon, Michel Leiris, Maurice Blanchot, Lucia Berlin and Joan Mitchell, she returns again and again to her own writing process, joyfully interrogating the limits of literature and the ways in which we can challenge and reinvent it. ...Show more

Footnotes - A Journey Round Britain in the Company of Great Writers by Peter Fiennes

$22.99 AUD

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

'The premise of this book is simple, or that is what it seemed when I started.' Peter Fiennes follows in the footsteps of twelve inspirational writers, bringing modern Britain into focus by peering through the lens of the past. The journey starts in Dorset, shaped by the childhood visions of Enid Blyton , and ends with Charles Dickens on the train that took him to his final resting place in Westminster Abbey. From the wilds of Skye and Snowdon, to a big night out in Birmingham with J. B. Priestley and Beryl Bainbridge, Footnotes is a series of evocative biographies, a lyrical foray into the past, and a quest to understand Britain through the books, journals and diaries of some of our greatest writers. And as Fiennes travels the country, and roams across the centuries, he wonders- 'Who are we? What do we want? They seemed like good questions to ask, in the company of some of our greatest writers, given these restless times.' ...Show more

In Search of Lost Books - The Forgotten Stories of Eight Mythical Volumes by Giorgio Van Straten; Simon Carnell (Translator); Erica Segre (Translator)

$5.00 AUD

$19.99 (74% off)

Category: Reading, Writing & Storytelling

The gripping and elegiac stories of eight lost books, and the mysterious circumstances behind their disappearances.   They exist as a rumour or a fading memory. They vanished from history leaving scarcely a trace, lost to fire, censorship, theft, war or deliberate destruction, yet those who seek them are convinced they will find them. This is the story of one man's quest for eight mysterious lost books.   Taking us from Florence to Regency London, the Russian Steppe to British Columbia, Giorgio van Straten unearths stories of infamy and tragedy, glimmers of hope and bitter twists of fate. There are, among others, the rediscovered masterpiece that he read but failed to save from destruction; the Hemingway novel that vanished in a suitcase at the Gare du Lyon; the memoirs of Lord Byron, burnt to avoid a scandal; the Magnum Opus of Bruno Schulz, disappeared along with its author in wartime Poland; the mythical Sylvia Plath novel that may one day become reality.   As gripping as a detective novel, as moving as an elegy, this is the tale of a love affair with the impossible, of the things that slip away from us but which, sometimes, live again in the stories we tell. ...Show more