Ye shall know them by their similes and metaphors…good writers, that is.

The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say. ~Anaïs Nin

I’m starting a list of perfect similes and metaphors, ones that stopped me in my tracks. They are the words and phrases that delight, emphasize, and stun a reader and add to the joy of reading. Here are the first three:

John Seabrook’s description in The New Yorker, Dec.21 and 29, 2009 issue of architect Zaha Hadid’s hands as chilled as cutlery in an airplane’s galley."

Joseph O’Neill in his novel Netherland: “The yellow commuter train ran through canal-crossed fields as dull as graph paper.”

Colum McCann, on The New York Times Opinion Page, December 27, 2009 “I would walk the length of Dun Laoghaire pier - a moving corduroy of sea waves in front of me."

I’d love to have you add to this list simply by responding to this post or by e-mail to barbara1037@gmail.com.

84, Charing Cross Road

Any book lover with a fondness for first editions, rare books, and leather bindings is probably familiar with 84, Charing Cross Road. The address is the title of a true story told in a series of letters between Helene Hanff, a writer living in Manhattan, and Frank Doel, seller of rare and secondhand books at Marks and Co. in London.

The letters started in 1949 when Ms. Hanff sent Marks and Co. a list of secondhand books she wanted. She says, “I am a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books and all the things I want are impossible to get over here except in very expensive rare editions, or in Barnes & Noble’s grimy, marked-up school-boy copies.”

Through the twenty-year correspondence the reader watches the development of a delightful and often poignant friendship between Hanff and Doel. I was reminded of the book last night as I caught the end of the movie on television which featured Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins as Helene Hanff and Frank Doel and Judi Dench as Mrs. Doel. When I took my yellowed paperback version from my bookcase, I saw that I’d bought my copy in June of 1987 at a bookstore in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Helene Hanff’s dream was to visit London. Like her, it had been one of my wishes, too.

(Note: Editions published in the U.S. omit the comma after 84.)

Same language, different vocabulary

I pulled out the dictionary today when I came across the word ”kerb” in an English novel. From the context, I knew it meant “curb,” the stone separation between a street and a sidewalk.

Had I been using “curb” all these years when I should have written “kerb?” Or are the two words just another example of the differences between British English and American English?

According to the Oxford Concise Dictionary, “curb” is a check or restraint; “kerb” is a stone edging to a pavement or a raised path,

The Random House College Dictionary, however, defines “curb” as a rim of concrete or joined stones forming an edge for a sidewalk. It defines “kerb” simply as a curb. Nothing further.

Lately, I’ve been watching quite a few old BBC television shows and find the differences in the British and American versions of the English language quite interesting.

If you’re now thinking “She ought to get a life,” I might say, “Don’t be so cheeky!”