Joe Kraus
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Member Since
June 2009
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https://www.goodreads.com/joekraus
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Joe Kraus
and
89 other people
liked
Manny's review
of
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English:
"A fantastic book! I have not come across anyone, not even Steven Pinker, who does such a good job of showing you how exciting linguistics can be. His bold and unconventional history of the English language was full of ideas I'd never seen before,..."
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Joe Kraus
rated a book it was amazing
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I am a nerd, of course, but not even I expect to find linguistics riveting and funny. That’s what happens, though, when you find yourself reading something by a brilliant thinker who’s not afraid to challenge many of his field’s presuppositions and ...more | |
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Thanks, Nat. One of the jokes within the novel is that Big Angel's father has a second family and names his later son Angel -- nicknamed Little Angel.
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Joe Kraus
rated a book really liked it
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This one has a majestic premise: we get to see as many as six generations reflected in the single month between the deaths of two members of an extended family. Their different stories telescope around the gathering(s), and we get backstory piled on ...more | |
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Sorry you didn't like this more (and sorry if I misled you). Paula wasn't a huge fan either. I loved it, though.
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This was a lot of fun in English. I had a very nice edition that, I fear, some student borrowed and forgot to return to me.
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Good to hear, Tom. I think Vonnegut answers that existential question "why go on living" in a pretty Golden-Rule fashion: he declares that, in our own
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“You can't choose where you belong, and where you don't. But what if the place you don't belong is the only place you have left?”
― The Ghosts of Belfast
― The Ghosts of Belfast

“"Wonderful things can happen", Vincent said, "when you plant seeds of distrust in a garden of assholes."”
― Glitz
― Glitz

“Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing
1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
―
1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
―

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