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Friday 30 November 2012
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Focusing on the OED's missing words is missing the point
The Oxford English Dictionary's first editor, James Murray. Photograph: PA
Like all authors, I have a simple plea: read my book before talking about it. It is clear that few of those discussing it in newspapers and on the web in the past few days have actually done so.
Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary tells the story of how the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary has been, since its beginnings in the mid-19th century, a truly global dictionary. By this, I mean two things. First, that the earliest editors, James Murray and others, admitted surprisingly large numbers of "loan words'" (words borrowed into English from other languages) and "World Englishes" (words from varieties of English around the world) into the dictionary. Secondly, that Murray called on readers from all around the world to provide those words for his team to consider, edit, and include in the dictionary. Murray was ahead of his time: OED was the original Wikipedia. Continue reading...
Posted bySarah Ogilvie11.21 GMT -
Thursday 29 November 2012
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Why I can't find my favourite books
Shelf effacement. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian
A fatal compulsion to press them on other people undermines any progress constructing my ideal library
Continue reading...Posted byClaire Armitstead13.38 GMT -
Wednesday 28 November 2012
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Our Twitter fiction festival reviews
Photograph: Alamy
We attempt to review the #twitterfiction festival in no more than 140 characters
Continue reading...Posted byGuardian books15.28 GMT -
Tips, links and suggestions: Our review list and the books you are reading today
French translations of Joyce's "Stephen Hero" and "A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man" Photograph: Mr_Anchovy/guardian.co.uk
Your weekly space to tell us what you're reading and what you'd like to see covered on the books site, plus our review list
Continue reading...Posted byGuardian readers11.43 GMT -
Tuesday 27 November 2012
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Choose December's Reading Group book
Scene depicting Christ in the manger with the Three Kings at Tierra Santa - a religious theme park in Buenos Aires. Photograph: Danita Delimont/Alamy
When I was in the first form at secondary school, at about this time of year, a poster went up offering free mince pies and philosophical discussion in the classrooms where lessons in "Divinity" (it was that kind of grammar school) were taught. Still wet around the ears, a few friends and I went along. Of course, there were pitifully few pies – and of course before we could get our hands on them, we had to sit through a lecture.
Fortunately, however, the proceedings were interesting. The organisers (the LRGS Christian Union) had invited a guest speaker who turned up carrying a giant suitcase and an outraged expression on his face. He opened the case, pulled out a parcel and shouted, "PRESENT-MAS?", before ripping the paper up with a flourish. Next he produced an advent candle, shouted "CANDLE-MAS?" and slammed it down on the table. Next a bit of a pine tree: "TREE-MAS?" Next a bauble, which sadly I don't recall him smashing. Continue reading...
Posted bySam Jordison10.14 GMT -
Monday 26 November 2012
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Against type: Writers with other careers
Boarding the Titanic by Beryl Bainbridge. Photograph: © The Estate of Beryl Bainbridge, 2012. Kindly reproduced by Thames and Hudson Ltd
Last weekend, at the Cambridge Wordfest, I had the great pleasure of listening to Salley Vickers discuss her new novel, The Cleaner of Chartres. In the course of her remarks, Vickers reflected on the important creative dividend she has gained from her work as a psychoanalyst.
There is a lot to be said for writers who don't just write. The literary press is full of the life and work of professional writers, but the English literary tradition is sustained by men and women who did not give up the day job, and led double lives. Continue reading...
Posted byRobert McCrum15.30 GMT -
Have you got an early Beryl Bainbridge on your walls?
At home with painting: Beryl Bainbridge in the wonderful clutter of her nest in Camden Town. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/Rex Features
The late Dame's emergence as a painter, with an exhibition due in Liverpool next month, prompts a search for her early work
Continue reading...