{"id":310,"date":"2016-08-11T12:46:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T12:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/11\/book-snippets\/"},"modified":"2020-10-28T02:38:25","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T02:38:25","slug":"book-snippets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/11\/book-snippets\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Snippets"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\"book<\/a><\/div>\n

One of the interesting things about reading is the words that strike a chord, the phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that make you stop. \u00a0Sometimes you stop because they make you think, sometimes because the words say it so perfectly, sometimes just because you like the way they sound. \u00a0Here are a few things that have struck a chord with me recently.<\/p>\n

I just finished Assignment in Brittany<\/i> by Helen MacInnes. \u00a0I read all her books years ago but I don’t really remember them. \u00a0They are great spy and intrigue novels, fun and enthralling. \u00a0In this one, MacInnes writes an introduction in which she discusses how accurate her novels are in regard to history and location. \u00a0She has this to say about an author’s responsibilities to an audience.<\/p>\n

If we demand an honest statement of the ingredients of every package of food we buy, it seems odd that we should treat our minds more carelessly than we do our stomachs. \u00a0False pretenses in the world of ideas (and literature conveys ideas, or opens a new door to the view of the world outside our own lives, or discloses a different light on what we have either accepted as fact or dismissed as exaggeration) can be as deadly in their effect as the adulteration of food. \u00a0The writer who alters the facts of history, or twists events into a false pattern, to suit his own ideas, is providing his readers with his own package of particular poisoning. \u00a0The mind is more vulnerable than the stomach, because it can be poisoned without feeling immediate pain.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you have read this blog for any length of time then you have realized that I am fascinated by the British home front during WWII. Last week I read Keep\u00a0Smiling Through<\/i> by Susan Briggs. \u00a0It was a more basic overview of life during the war but I did still find it interesting. \u00a0It was filled with many more photos than some of the other books I have read. \u00a0I found this extract from a booklet given to every American soldier entering Britain to be interesting.<\/p>\n

Britain may look a little shop-worn and grimy to you. \u00a0There’s been a war on since 1939. \u00a0The houses haven’t been painted, because factories are not making paint-they’re making planes. \u00a0British trains are cold because power is used for industry, not for heating. \u00a0The British people are anxious for you to know that in normal times Britain looks much prettier, cleaner, neater. \u00a0Don’t be misled by the British tendency to be soft-spoken and polite. \u00a0They can be plenty tough, too. \u00a0The English language didn’t spread across the oceans, mountains, jungles and swamps of the world because these people were “panty-waists”. \u00a0Remember that crossing the ocean doesn’t automatically make you a hero. \u00a0There are housewives in aprons and youngsters in knee pants who have lived through more high explosives than many soldiers saw in the last war. \u00a0If your British host exhorts you to “eat up- there’s plenty on the table”, \u00a0go easy- it might be the family’s ration for a week, spread out to show their hospitality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I frequently borrow books from my dad. \u00a0 They are almost always books I wouldn’t pick up on my own, he is interested in government and history and politics. \u00a0My father is a retired newspaperman so many of his books are about writing and the newspaper field. \u00a0This time I borrowed Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style<\/i>. \u00a0I have heard of this little book, it seems to be a Bible for writers with basic information about grammar and style written in an engaging fashion. \u00a0I like this about an approach to style.<\/p>\n

The use of language begins with imitation. \u00a0The infant imitates the sounds made by its parents; the child imitates first the spoken language, then the stuff of books. \u00a0The imitative life continues long after the writer is on his own in the language, for it is almost impossible to avoid imitating what one admires. \u00a0Never imitate consciously, but do not worry about being an imitator; take pains instead to admire what is good. \u00a0Then when you write in a way that comes naturally, you will echo the halloos that bear repeating.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I also borrowed The Writer Who Stayed<\/i>, a collection of essays by the journalist William Zinsser. \u00a0This is what he said in reply to a question about his favorite word.<\/p>\n

I don’t have a favorite word like williwaw<\/b>\u00a0that I keep in a display case to moon over….Those words please me when I see (and hear) them, but unless they fill a precise need-oscillate<\/b>, <\/i>lapidary<\/b>, <\/i>filigree<\/b>-I abstain, fearful of being sucked into the bog of academic prose where monsters like adumbrate<\/b>\u00a0and ineluctable<\/b>\u00a0lurk. \u00a0My favorites are the hundreds of vivid replacements for words that are just too dull-too humdrum<\/b>-to make writing come alive. \u00a0Brazen<\/b>, used instead of bold<\/b>, not only catches the reader off guard with the fanciful z<\/b>; its sound exactly conveys its meaning. \u00a0A brazen scheme is more than merely bold; listen and you’ll hear a mountebank.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love words and phrases and paragraphs. \u00a0I love the sentences that make me stop and think, stare into the distance, and then reread. \u00a0I love the way words can be put together to touch your mind and heart and imagination. \u00a0 What words have made you stop and take a second look?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the interesting things about reading is the words that strike a chord, the phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that make you stop. \u00a0Sometimes you stop because they make you think, sometimes because the words say it so perfectly, sometimes just because you like the way they sound. \u00a0Here are a few things that have struck a chord with me recently. I just finished Assignment in Brittany by Helen MacInnes. \u00a0I read all her books years ago but I don’t really remember them. \u00a0They are great spy and intrigue novels, fun and enthralling. \u00a0In this one, MacInnes writes an introduction in which she discusses how accurate her novels are in regard to history and location. \u00a0She has this to say about an author’s responsibilities to an audience. If we demand an honest statement of the ingredients of every package of food we buy, it seems odd that we should treat our minds more carelessly than we do our stomachs. \u00a0False pretenses in the world of ideas (and literature conveys ideas, or opens a new door to the view of the world outside our own lives, or discloses a different light on what we have either accepted as fact or dismissed as exaggeration) can be as deadly in their effect as the adulteration of food. \u00a0The writer who alters the facts of history, or twists events into a false pattern, to suit his own ideas, is providing his readers with his own package of particular poisoning. \u00a0The mind is more vulnerable than the stomach, because it can be poisoned without feeling immediate pain. If you have read this blog for any length of time then you have realized that I am fascinated by the British home front during WWII. Last week I read Keep\u00a0Smiling Through by Susan Briggs. \u00a0It was a more basic overview of life during the war but I did still find it interesting. \u00a0It was filled with many more photos than some of the other books I have read. \u00a0I found this extract from a booklet given to every American soldier entering Britain to be interesting. Britain may look a little shop-worn and grimy to you. \u00a0There’s been a war on since 1939. \u00a0The houses haven’t been painted, because factories are not making paint-they’re making planes. \u00a0British trains are cold because power is used for industry, not for heating. \u00a0The British people are anxious for you to know that in normal times Britain looks much prettier, cleaner, neater. \u00a0Don’t be misled by the British tendency to be soft-spoken and polite. \u00a0They can be plenty tough, too. \u00a0The English language didn’t spread across the oceans, mountains, jungles and swamps of the world because these people were “panty-waists”. \u00a0Remember that crossing the ocean doesn’t automatically make you a hero. \u00a0There are housewives in aprons and youngsters in knee pants who have lived through more high explosives than many soldiers saw in the last war. \u00a0If your British host exhorts you to “eat up- there’s plenty on the table”, \u00a0go easy- it might be the family’s ration for a week, spread out to show their hospitality. I frequently borrow books from my dad. \u00a0 They are almost always books I wouldn’t pick up on my own, he is interested in government and history and politics. \u00a0My father is a retired newspaperman so many of his books are about writing and the newspaper field. \u00a0This time I borrowed Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. \u00a0I have heard of this little book, it seems to be a Bible for writers with basic information about grammar and style written in an engaging fashion. \u00a0I like this about an approach to style. The use of language begins with imitation. \u00a0The infant imitates the sounds made by its parents; the child imitates first the spoken language, then the stuff of books. \u00a0The imitative life continues long after the writer is on his own in the language, for it is almost impossible to avoid imitating what one admires. \u00a0Never imitate consciously, but do not worry about being an imitator; take pains instead to admire what is good. \u00a0Then when you write in a way that comes naturally, you will echo the halloos that bear repeating. I also borrowed The Writer Who Stayed, a collection of essays by the journalist William Zinsser. \u00a0This is what he said in reply to a question about his favorite word. I don’t have a favorite word like williwaw\u00a0that I keep in a display case to moon over….Those words please me when I see (and hear) them, but unless they fill a precise need-oscillate, lapidary, filigree-I abstain, fearful of being sucked into the bog of academic prose where monsters like adumbrate\u00a0and ineluctable\u00a0lurk. \u00a0My favorites are the hundreds of vivid replacements for words that are just too dull-too humdrum-to make writing come alive. \u00a0Brazen, used instead of bold, not only catches the reader off guard with the fanciful z; its sound exactly conveys its meaning. \u00a0A brazen scheme is more than merely bold; listen and you’ll hear a mountebank. I love words and phrases and paragraphs. \u00a0I love the sentences that make me stop and think, stare into the distance, and then reread. \u00a0I love the way words can be put together to touch your mind and heart and imagination. \u00a0 What words have made you stop and take a second look?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-quotes"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2807,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions\/2807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}