Off the shelf
IN A Mouthful of Air (Vintage $94), the late Anthony Burgess presents a survey of how the English language has reached its present form and how it is likely to develop further.
Peter O'Toole proves he's more entertaining as a writer than an actor in Loitering With Intent (Pan $102). This, the first volume of his autobiography, is a joyous romp from infancy to the time he entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), taking in his thoughts on Adolf Hitler on the way.
Actress Sarah Miles also proves she can wield a pen to some effect in A Right Royal Bastard (Macmillan $288), the first of her autobiographical works. The title springs from the fact she was ''illegitimate, descended from royalty (also from the wrong side of the blanket) and a pain in the arse''.
Julia Clements has spent a lifetime introducing the joys of flowers and flower arranging to people around the world. She talks about her labour of love in My Life With Flowers (Cassell $255).
Vietnamese Buddhist monk and scholar Thich Nhat Hanh has produced two new works: Present Moment, Wonderful Moment (Rider Books $68), which is a volume of ''mindfulness verses for daily living and meditation; and Transformation and Healing ($95), a ''sutra on the four establishments of mindfulness''.
In Advance Force: Pearl Harbour (Pacific Monograph $199), Burl Burlingame reveals a little-known aspect of the Japanese attack on the US in World War II - the underwater assault by submarine. As well as detailed accounts of Japanese preparations for the attack on December 7, 1941, the book contains scores of photographs, illustrations and maps from the time.
Three more Colin Dexter mysteries have been put together in one volume to form The Third Inspector Morse Omnibus (Macmillan $170). The stories are Last Bus to Woodstock, The Wench is Dead and The Jewel That Was Ours.
Also reprinted is Melvyn Bragg's 1979 novel Autumn Manoeuvres (Sceptre $119), the story of Cumbrian Labour MP Jimmie Johnson who is fighting to keep his seat amid impending scandal and his own self-doubt.
Who first said: ''The customer is always right''? What was the Temple Dome? These and 798 other questions are asked and answered in Quiz of the Century (Warner Books $135). The book, which could make a good stocking-filler for trivia fans, is devised byTom Tickell, who compiled The Guardian Quiz of the Eighties and The Spectator Christmas Quiz.
You've heard of Watergate and Squidgygate, now read Gate, Gate (Pan $85), which sees Andrew Nickolds and Richard Stoneman unearth a worldwide conspiracy to obscure the fact that every scandal in history has been directly connected. A good giggle.
