Customer Reviews

Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With the poet's heart, a theologian's tongue, and...I want to say, something like a surgeon's scalpel, Marilyn McEntyre tries to help us resurrect truth-telling in public discourse, in our writing and reading, thinking and praying. I found delight in her humor and her wit. (Her lively discussion of that latter word is worth the price of the book.) I cannot commend this book highly enough.

This book with its 12 chapters is a wonderful manual for reading intelligently and writing well. Replete with examples of good writing as well as being well-written itself, this book could help create a literate culture. The 12 chapters are: 1. Love Words 2. Tell the Truth 3. Don't Tell Lies 4.Read Well 5. Stay in Conversation 6. Share Stories 7. Love the Long Sentence 8. Practice Poetry 9. Attend to Translation 10. Play 11. Pray and 12. Cherish Silence. These should give you an indication of what the book contains and how useful it is.

Marilyn Chandler McEntyre's "Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies" is a beautiful meditation on words from the perspective of a Christian scholar who teaches the English language and literature.

I loved the poetry excerpts she discusses, and her thoughtful meditations on caring for words, reading, conversing, telling stories, enjoying poetry, practicing translation, praying, playing, and dwelling in silence - a needed counterpart to all our words!

My only critique is that at times, her critical words towards culture are a bit clang-y, and perhaps not in the way she intended. But overall, a book that thrills as you taste the words and read them aloud!

While I do not necessarily agree with everything Marilyn Chandler says, I find myself enjoying this book's lyrical prose and her reflections upon the importance of words. I especially enjoy her description of felicity and her exhortation to be truthful in descriptiveness.

A friend who recommended this book claimed that it "changed her life." While it has not had that great an impact on me, I will enjoy poring over it at least several more times.

Libraries strong in discussions of language literacy, and how language can be restored will find a fine acquisition in Caring for Words In a Culture of Lies, a survey of how to preserve the vibrant relevance of spoken and written language in society. Chapters provide plenty of literary references as they discuss the nature of reading and analytical thinking and draw connections between this and how the classics are written. Perfect for college-level libraries strong in language analysis.

This is a deceptively short book, but it is like a fine meal to be savored bite by bite. The author appreciates language well used and it shows glowingly on every page. Although originally written for a religious audience, it's really fine for anyone who needs reassurance that there still are people out there who care deeply about such things. To be recommended for language teachers, students and those who continue the tradition of the love affair with the English language.

This book is well written and thoughtful. I plan to use sections for my first year composition classes at Towson University.

This review has nothing to do with the content of the book, which is thought-provoking and delightfully written, but with the layout of the kindle edition. There are two major flaws:

First, you cannot change the typeface. My best guess is that it is in Times New Roman font. I don't know about you, but this overused MS default font is off-putting. Second, the layout was not designed for the smaller screen of the Kindle 3. The only way you can get an acceptable page layout is in the landscape mode. This is because in the normal upright mode the words are randomly spaced and as a result very distracting. It looks like the person who converted the manuscript to the Kindle edition simply pressed the 'justify text' button on Word and exported it as a mobi file. (I'm sure it was more complicated than that.)

For these two reasons, I don't recommend the Kindle edition.