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Mark Mason rss

Dead Sea

Kindling by the pool – the changing face of holiday reading

23 May 2013 7:57

I’m writing this by the pool in Greece. It’s not a pool I own, you understand (though give it a couple of years and we might all be able to… Continue reading

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George Lowe at the Depot 700 supply base in Antarctica, during the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, March 1958. Lowe was the last surviving member of Sir Edmund Hillary's Everest team.

George Lowe’s Letters from Everest

9 May 2013 9:35

I was hoping this was going to be a post featuring an interview with a writer. After reading a proof copy of George Lowe’s Letters from Everest, I had the… Continue reading

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Charles Moore has written the 'authorized' biography of Margaret Thatcher. Is 'authorized' correct? (PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

The Ize Have It

25 April 2013 10:05

She divided us in life, she’s dividing us in death. Baroness Thatcher was so controversial that a single letter in a single word in the subtitle of a book that… Continue reading

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The British Library has been given the right to archive the digital world from today. An estimated billion pages a year will be available for researchers to access through the new archive.

The British Library goes digital

11 April 2013 9:09

If you go down to the British Library today, you’re sure of a big surprise. Because as of last weekend, it’s archiving not just every book published in the UK… Continue reading

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Three Mitford sisters in the early thirties. Nancy Mitford (right) pinched 'U and non-U' pronunciation from Professor Ross, author of 'How to Pronounce It'. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

How To Pronounce It – U and non-U. A guide for George “innit” Osborne.

28 March 2013 11:38

Sometimes, in the joyous lotteries we call ‘secondhand bookshops’, you find a volume that takes you back to a different era because of its physical appearance. Sometimes you find one… Continue reading

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Barnes and Noble’s digital revenue (from its Nook device) has been falling even faster than its revenue from conventional sales. (Image: Getty)

The curious incident of the books on the Kindle

14 March 2013 10:20

If you had a pile of 300 books in your house waiting to be read, what would you do? Would you go out and buy any more books? I doubt… Continue reading

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Alfred Hitchcock pictured in Cannes in 1972. (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

The Last Days of Alfred Hitchcock

28 February 2013 10:14

For the last 40 years it’s been impossible to interview Anthony Hopkins without him doing his Tommy Cooper impression. He’s obsessed with the bloke, constantly interrupting Silence of the Lambs… Continue reading

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Writing books is about selling books. A book should be judged by its cover; and its index, and its subheading; and typeface; and so on. Image; Getty

Writers are tarts

14 February 2013 13:48

Tarts. That’s what we are, really, us writers. Not just in the general sense of loving attention – also in the more specific, ‘professional’ meaning of the word. Our living… Continue reading

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Children at the Natural History Museum. Image: Getty

Childishly scientific

5 February 2013 14:30

2.30pm, Tuesday, the bookshop of the Natural History Museum. Horrible Science: Blood, Bones and Body Bits is being leafed through by one of its typical readers. In other words he’s… Continue reading

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Robert Harris, author of 'The Ghost'. Image: Getty

Set down one sentence

17 January 2013 8:36

Warning: this is a very January 17th sort of thought. It’s meant to be comforting, though you may well find it the exact opposite. Try it on for size, anyway,… Continue reading

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John Lloyd, one of the QI 'Elves', who believes that there is a future for publishing trivia in the internet age. Image: Getty

The future of the trivia book

13 December 2012 10:19

It is, if Noddy Holder is to be believed, Christmas. And so those of us who pen trivia books listen for the ring of tills or, as is increasingly the… Continue reading

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A picture taken from the recent show drawing inspiration from Titian's Diana and Actaeon

Bad Sex Award

29 November 2012 9:53

Loins are girded and members tumescent, for next Tuesday sees the presentation of this year’s Bad Sex Award. The Literary Review’s annual prize for the worst description of sex in… Continue reading

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Somerset probably would have approved of NaNoWriMo, a scheme that encourages aspiring authors to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. Image: Getty

Write a novel in a month

15 November 2012 17:54

Could you write a novel in a month? Plenty of people around the world are trying to do just that right at the moment. November, you see, is National Novel… Continue reading

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Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' manuscript - the days of writing in long hand have passed, but what of correcting in long hand? Image: Getty.

Paper talk

1 November 2012 10:35

The rainforests must be jumping for joy these days. Which is ironic, as they’ve largely got Amazon to thank for it. As the e-book continues its rise, there’ll be less… Continue reading

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Charlie Croker has a new book out. Image: Getty.

To take or not to take a pseudonym

18 October 2012 14:04

Literary pseudonyms have been on my mind lately, for a couple of reasons. The first is Salman Rushdie’s revelation that he chose ‘Joseph Anton’ as his cover name when in… Continue reading

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Enid Blyton had a 6,000-a-day habit. Image: Getty

How many words are there in a day?

4 October 2012 14:37

‘Write your own name a hundred times,’ T.H. White once commented, ‘and you will be bored; seven hundred times and you will be exasperated; seven thousand times, and your brains… Continue reading

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Which of the conveniences listed in 'The Good Loo Guide' are still convenient? Image: Getty.

The Good Loo Guide

20 September 2012 9:46

Funny the ways you can learn about a book. Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones alerted me to one recently, 43 years after his death. I was at Somerset House… Continue reading

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'His thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision.' Dr. Watson describes Sherlock Holmes. Image: Getty.

Do we need to know what a character looks like?

6 September 2012 10:06

How much attention do you pay to the physical descriptions of characters in novels? Interviewed on Five Live recently about her latest book NW, Zadie Smith said that she never… Continue reading

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The Olympic Torch in London, Getty Images

The British invented the Olympics

26 July 2012 17:09

Is there any chance that you might, at any point in the next three weeks, be talking to anyone? About anything, in any setting, for any length of time? Then… Continue reading

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The mechanics of writing

31 May 2012 14:06

On Desert Island Discs the other day, Peter Ackroyd chose a pen and some paper as his luxury. ‘Do you write longhand?’ asked Kirsty Young. Ackroyd’s reply was really intriguing:… Continue reading

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