NB: Spoiler alert Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, New York: Little, Brown and Co. Books for Young Readers, 2005. My rating: * Twilight by Stephenie Meyer I read this book to see what all the fuss was about, which has been further amplified by the appearance of the films. Twilight and its sequels have spawned a whole …
Dan Brown (2003). The Da Vinci Code. New York: Anchor. My rating: ** The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown What irritated me about this book was not so much the much fêted hilariously bad writing style, nor the erratic pacing which meant nothing much happened until the middle of this lengthy tome, but the …
Robert Boice, Professors as Writers. A Self-Help Guide to Productive Writing, Stillwater: New Forums Press, 1990. My rating: ***** Professors As Writers by Robert Boice I have read quite a few books on writer’s block and Robert Boice’s work on this subject is by far the most helpful and practical. Even if this particular book …
Glen Creeber, The Singing Detective, London: BFI TV Classics, 2007. My rating: *** The Singing Detective by Glen Creeber Television doesn’t always age well, but Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective more than twenty years later is still just as riveting and confronting. I saw the series when it originally aired in 1986 and was completely …
Ina Rae Hark, Star Trek. London: BFI publishing, 2008. My rating: *** Star Trek by Ina Rae Hark The author of this book, Ina Rae Hark is a long-standing fan of the series, dating back to the original 1960s series. She is currently professor of English and Film Studies at the University of South Carolina. …
Kim Newman, Doctor Who. London: BFI publishing, 2005. My rating: *** Doctor Who by Kim Newman Kim Newman is a well-known and prolific author of genre novels, overviews on cult and horror film and TV and a reviewer for the film magazine Empire. This book, an entry in the excellent BFI TV classics series, is …
Janet Burroway, Imaginative Writing. The Elements of Craft. New York: Penguin Academics, 2007. My rating: *** Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft by Janet Burroway This is a large and detailed book on how to engage in creative writing. Each chapter contains explanations of various elements such as ‘image’, ‘voice’, ‘character’. It covers techniques of …
Kate Grenville, Searching for the Secret River, Melbourne: Text Publishing Company, 2006. My rating: *** Searching for the Secret River by Kate Grenville In this book the Australian writer Kate Grenville explains the process – both in terms of research and creative composition – that she went through in the writing of her award winning …
Kate Grenville, The Writing Book. A Workbook for Fiction Writers. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 1990. My rating: **** The Writing Book: A Workbook for Fiction Writers by Kate Grenville This is a really excellent work book for people who want to write or who are currently writing fiction. It is also an incredibly useful …
Henry Jenkins, Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture. New York: Routledge, 1992. My rating: **** Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture by Henry Jenkins This is the seminal foundational text in terms of academic studies of fandom. Even if it was published in 1992 before the explosion of internet fandom and a more …
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