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Robert Cottrell's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Robert Cottrell recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Robert Cottrell's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1

Scoop

In "Scoop, " surreptitiously dubbed "a newspaper adventure, " Waugh flays Fleet Street and the social pastimes of its war correspondants as he tells how William Boot became the star of British super-journalism an how, leaving part of his shirt in the claws of the lovely Katchen, he returned from Ishmaelia to London as the "Daily's Beast's" more accoladed overseas reporter. less

William BoydEverybody remembers Fleet Street and journalism and Lord Copper and The Daily Beast but the novel is about a classic, almost Shakespearean, case of mistaken identity. (Source)

Robert CottrellJournalists would pride themselves on their amateurism, and Scoop shoves that back at them in spades. (Source)

William BoydEverybody remembers Fleet Street and journalism and Lord Copper and The Daily Beast but the novel is about a classic, almost Shakespearean, case of mistaken identity. (Source)

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2

The Economist Style Guide

Rare is the style guide that a person--even a word person--would want to read cover to cover. But The Economist Style Guide, designed, as the book says, to promote good writing, is so witty and rigorous as to be irresistible. The book consists of three parts. The first is the Economist's style book, which acts as a position paper of sorts in favor of clear, concise, correct usage. The big no-noes listed in the book's introduction are: "Do not be stuffy.... Do not be hectoring or arrogant.... Do not be too pleased with yourself.... Do not be too chatty.... Do not be too... more
Recommended by Robert Cottrell, and 1 others.

Robert CottrellThe job of a style guide is to set down an idealised version of the world as an editor would like it to be. (Source)

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3

The Imperfectionists

One of most acclaimed books of the year, Tom Rachman's debut novel follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters and editors of an English-language newspaper in Rome. less
Recommended by Rosie Blau, Robert Cottrell, and 2 others.

Rosie BlauIt’s the story of a newspaper founded in Rome in the 1950s and we see the lives of 11 different people who work on the paper. It’s just fantastic. (Source)

Robert CottrellThe book is a fictional history of the International Herald Tribune. All the characters are clichés of one sort or another, by intention. (Source)

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4

Towards the End of the Morning

This tale is set in the crossword and nature-notes department of an obscure national newspaper during the declining years of Fleet Street. less
Recommended by Peter Stothard, Robert Cottrell, and 2 others.

Peter StothardThe beauty of Frayn’s account is the invisibility of the editor, which in some respects is probably the best model of all. (Source)

Robert CottrellThis novel is said to be based on Frayn’s experience of working at The Observer in the 1960s. All Fleet Street life is there, at least until the mid-1980s. (Source)

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5

The Honourable Schoolboy

John le Carré's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge and have earned him -- and his hero, British Secret Service agent George Smiley -- unprecedented worldwide acclaim.

In this classic masterwork, le Carré expands upon his extraordinary vision of a secret world as George Smiley goes on the attack.

In the wake of a demoralizing infiltration by a Soviet double agent, Smiley has been made ringmaster of the Circus (aka the British Secret Service). Determined to restore the organization's...

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Recommended by Robert Cottrell, and 1 others.

Robert CottrellA terrific story, it goes without saying. For one thing, it comes from the golden age when le Carré still cared about plot. But it’s his gift for dialogue that electrifies all his books. (Source)

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