A supremely useful spelling resource for native and non-native speakers alike.
A volume examines the quirks of English in a logical, no-frills manner.
In this work, Fulford (To Reach the Sea: The Creation of Bolivia and Its Extraordinary Struggle to Survive, 2014, etc.) asserts that despite the English language’s reputation as a lawless territory, there are certainly patterns to be found and studied. He begins with a brief history of the language and notes the contributions of familiar figures such as Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, Benjamin Franklin, and Melville Dewey. The author also explains why spelling reform movements have met with varying degrees of success over the years, for reasons both linguistic and sociological. Early chapters may resurrect memories of long-forgotten school lessons on syllabification, apostrophes, plural formation, and doubling the consonant. But the bulk of the text focuses on the workings of individual letters or common letter groupings. The author identifies illogical usages, sharing a student’s understandable frustration with the more difficult spelling groups. For instance, he writes: “Without a doubt, the most annoying spellings in the English language are the ancient igh, ough, and augh. They are thousand-year-old relics that should have vanished centuries ago, but never did.” Near the end of the book, Fulford straightens out potential confusion concerning homographs, homophones, homonyms, and heteronyms. One minor quibble involves formatting issues, whereby some boldfaced passages featured in the margins of one chapter actually refer to text in a different chapter. Nonetheless, the author strikes a difficult balance, as each chapter presents a well-chosen number of examples that fit the patterns discussed alongside notable exceptions. Thus, the guide is not as dry as one might imagine. Fulford wryly remarks on the exceptional pronunciation of the NBA’s Boston Celtics (Seltics, not Keltics) and includes the following historical note: “In the overly quaint Ye Olde Tea Shoppe, the word ye was originally pronounced the. The y takes the place of an ancient letter called a thorn, now no longer used, that had the th sound.” For those who have always wondered about such matters, the mystery is solved.
A supremely useful spelling resource for native and non-native speakers alike.Pub Date: April 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9831872-1-9
Page Count: 146
Publisher: Astoria Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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