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Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
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Author Lynne Truss
You know the scene! You are sitting in splendid isolation amongst many others in the train or plane. Your neighbor guffaws intermittently, looks sheepishly at you, and says “Sorry, but this is very funny.” It is quite likely she is reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves which is a truly enjoyable, educational read. Continue reading
Mark Twain: ADDRESS AT THE PILGRIMS’ CLUB LUNCHEON
Mark Twain Speeches presented by Conor Cunneen, a Chicago based humorous, motivational speaker who has learned from, and delights in the funny, (sometimes inspirational, sometimes poignant) humorous messages from possibly the finest and most famous motivational humorist ever.
Conor’s new book – What Mark Twain Learned Me ’bout Public Speakin‘ provides wit and wisdom from the great man to help you craft better speeches and presentations.
PRE-ORDER Today: What Mark Twain Learned Me ’bout Public Speakin‘
ADDRESS AT THE PILGRIMS’ CLUB LUNCHEON,GIVEN IN HONOR OF Mr. CLEMENS AT THE SAVOY HOTEL, LONDON, JUNE 25, 1907.
Pilgrims, I desire first to thank those undergraduates of Oxford. When a man has grown so old as I am, when he has reached the verge of seventy- two years, there is nothing that carries him back to the dreamland of his life, to his boyhood, like recognition of those young hearts up yonder.
And so I thank them out of my heart. I desire to thank the Pilgrims of New York also for their kind notice and message which they have cabled over here. Mr. Birrell says he does not know how he got here. But he will be able to get away all right–he has not drunk anything since he came here. I am glad to know about those friends of his, Otway and Chatterton–fresh, new names to me. I am glad of the disposition he has shown to rescue them from the evils of poverty, and if they are still in London, I hope to have a talk with them. For a while I thought he was going to tell us the effect which my book had upon his growing manhood. I thought he was going to tell us how much that effect amounted to, and whether it really made him what he now is, but with the discretion born of Parliamentary experience he dodged that, and we do not know now whether he read the book or not. He did that very neatly. I could not do it any better myself.
My books have had effects, and very good ones, too, here and there, and some others not so good. There is no doubt about that. But I remember one monumental instance of it years and years ago. Professor Norton, of Harvard, was over here, and when he came back to Boston I went out with Howells to call on him. Norton was allied in some way by marriage with Darwin. Continue reading
Grant and Twain: A Wonderful Friendship
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Author: Mark Perry
An interesting little book about an interesting relationship. Grant, the hard-bitten Union general and Twain, the humorous Confederate deserter who ensured the former president did not die in penury. Twain (Samuel Clemens) published Grant’s memoirs and paid record royalties to the general’s family after he passes away from throat cancer.
The book tends to be more of a mini-biography of the last years of Grant’s life and his dreadful suffering with the throat cancer that killed him. Grant’s persona takes up much more of the book than Clemens who although incredibly witty and helpful to many, did not suffer fools gladly and rarely forgot a slight. The world does owe Clemens a debt of gratitude for publishing Grant’s memoirs because they are truly interesting and very well written.
Author Perry highlights some really tenuous connections between Grant and Mark Twain’s characters e.g. the remarkable similarities between Huckleberry Finn’s descent of the Mississippi to free the slave Jim and Grant’s descent of the same river to free Vicksburg. Indeed his suggestion that Huck Finn might be an alter ego for Grant borders on the – well, not very sensible.
The abiding memories from the book are the horrible painful death that throat cancer brought to Grant, how so many of Grant’s former West Point friends became Confederate enemies and the wonderful gesture of Grant’s wife who requested two of those Confederate generals to be pall bearers. It is nuggets like that which make this such an enjoyable read.
It is well written with excellent source notes and bibliography.
Grant and Twain: The Story of a Friendship That Changed America is available at Amazon
Book review written by Conor Cunneen who is a Chicago based keynote speaker, Emcee / Master of Ceremonies, motivational humorist and business humorist.
Book review written by Conor Cunneen who is a Chicago based keynote speaker, motivational humorist and business humorist. In his ongoing and never ending effort to attract search engine queries, this inspirational, funny, motivational, humorous keynote speaker on business, foodservice, cancer and customer service apologizes profusely for the ridiculous level of repetition as he describes himself as a:
* Humorous keynote speaker
* Inspirational keynote speaker
* Business keynote speaker
* Irish keynote speaker
* Award winning humorous keynote speaker etc.
* Keynote speaker – Cancer
* Keynote speaker – Healthcare
* Keynote Speaker – Foodservice
* Keynote Speaker – Pharma
The fact is this type of consistent reference to humorous keynote business speaker – foodservice, pharma, cancer etc. (oh, give over Conor) helps you – through search engine queries – find this Irishman who can regale your conferences and events with a true Gift of GAB and very thought-provoking material.
You can contact humorous keynote speaker and Chicago based Irishman Conor Cunneen at 630 718 1643. He will be delighted to provide you with additional reasons why he can justify all the ramblings about being a humorous keynote speaker – business, pharma, foodservice etc.
Mark Twain
Mark Twain was a….