As I browsed through the books at my local Waterstones, a striking green book caught my eye. Not only did I find its luxurious cover
inviting, but the subtitle ‘How to turn the perfect English phrase’ gave me
that momentary flicker of hope that only self-help books can afford, with their
unrealistically positive titles like ‘How to be rich’, and ‘How to be popular’.
I sincerely hope I’m not the only one whose unwavering trust of book-knowledge momentarily
leads them to think that these things can actually work. And although my brief
lapse of judgment never results in actual purchase of said self-help books, I
decided this doesn’t fall into that category. After all, rhetoric is the “art
of discourse” and it’s not a long shot for a writer to know about methods of
writing…
I know a book on rhetoric sounds like a bit of a snooze, but
hear me out! Mark Forsyth blends literary devices with anecdotal humor
seamlessly, and the result is a surprisingly fun book. It’s an easy read,
despite having scary chapter titles with unpronounceable words such as
‘Epizeuxis’. Each chapter takes you through the use of a rhetorical figure, peppered
with plenty of examples, from Shakespeare to Hollywood movies. By nature, this
book is never going to be the type you just can’t put down and have to read in
one sitting, but I found it was the perfect book to have on your nightstand, to
read a chapter or two before going to bed (and no, not because it puts you to
sleep).
And did I mention it’s really pretty?
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