John Humphrys: Lost for Words

"The Mangling and Manipulating of the English Language" is the subtitle, and that is indeed what Humphrys, seasoned BBC radio journalist, writes about. In most cases I can share his point of view, but in others I think he is too strict and just leans against the change in language that happens with him leaning against it or not. Not spectacularly interesting.

Read mostly in October after I had freed myself from the crosswords.

Brüder Grimm: Kinder- und Hausmärchen

This is the original collection of fairy tales by the brothers Grimm. Decades ago I had a children's edition, which has got lost. I have been wanting to read the original texts for some time, curious if there would be more sex and crime to discover, and now in the vacation I could finally find out.

Well, there isn't. The cruelty I found in this edition pretty much matches what I can remember from the children's edition -- here as well as there witches are burnt and evil stepmothers are tortured to death at the end.

Still interesting reading. The main difference of the tales compared to the children's edition is their sheer number, there are many I didn't know at all. There is lots of repetition of themes and motives between different tales, though -- this may be the main thing edited out in the children's edition.

I bought Reclam's lovely three-volume edition. Unfortunately the third volume, containing the Grimms' comments and annotations, is in gothic print. While I can read it fine, it changes my perception of the text -- a text in gothic print always seems ancient and old-fashioned to me.

Samuel R. Delany: About Writing

Read Russ Allbery's excellent review at <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/books/0-8195-6716-7.html>; it is what brought me to reading this book.

Since early childhood I haven't written anything resembling fiction, and probably won't for the rest of my life. But I am interested in literature and in language, and I am curious how they work. This book gives some answers. Hell, is it really that hard? Or is it only if you do it all consciously, and is it not if you are just talented enough and let it flow, save a few rewrites? I'll never know, probably, but I will read fiction more consciously in the future.

This is, as Russ said, not an easy read, and I am still only half through. (Did I mention the vacation was too short? :-) But the book has already satisfied quite some curiosity.