The Sixth Gun Volume 8

It has been a while since I last read a volume of The Sixth Gun. September 2017, in fact. I needed to skim through my review of Volume 7 to remind myself of what had happened. Quite a lot, as it turned out.

Get ‘Em Young, Treat ‘Em Tough, Tell ‘Em Nothing

Get ‘Em Young, Treat ‘Em Tough, Tell ‘Em Nothing is a collection of short stories by Robin McLean, an American author who is new to me. This collection is one of my And Other Stories subscription books from last year.

The stories are snapshots of contemporary American life, taking in the confusion of beliefs and opinions, the complexities of American society, and the day-to-day and personal experiences that define what it is to be a 21st century American.

Its characters seek a path through, towards living the best life they can manage. There are hard choices and compromises, from relationships and child-rearing to healthcare and national security. There are also windows onto how others see Americans whenever a character ventures abroad, whether as tourist or military presence.

How Pale the Winter Has Made Us

How Pale the Winter Has Made Us is Adam Scovell’s second novel. It centres on Isabelle, an academic who deliberately loses herself in the history of the city she is visiting when she receives news of her father’s death by suicide.

Relationships between children and their fathers are everywhere in this novel. The fathers are mostly taken away from their children by an obsession, physically present but emotionally remote. The truth of Isabelle’s relationship to her father is buried in her attempts to distract herself from the fact of his death and where that leaves her as a person. She makes allusion to its difficult nature but we only ever hear about it through the prism of Isabelle trying not to think about it.

Troublesome Words

Troublesome Words was originally published in 1984 as The Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words. It was Bill Bryson’s first published book. My copy is the second edition, published in 1997. It is, as the original title stated, a dictionary, but it’s also a sort of style guide for writers. In it, Bryson draws on his reading around the subject of the English language and his skills as a journalist to compile a list of words that often trip us up. He explains their correct use and why incorrect usage is incorrect.