Wordstruck

PBS-TV Newshour presenter MacNeil coauthored the book and TV series The Story of English. Here he tells how, as a child, he began a lifelong fascination with languagethe crisp sea-words of Treasure Island , sonorous Bible phrases, Chaucer's pithiness, Shakespeare's magical syntax and, later, ``flashes of recognition'' from T. S. Eliot and Dylan Thomas, among others. Growing up during World War II in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where his naval father was based, MacNeil drank in the seacoast atmosphere but more avidly feasted on books. Later, his performances in school plays led to jobs in radio and a full-time broadcasting career, much of it in England, where he took a renewed interest in idioms and dialects. Not quite chronological, the author's account roves fondly back and forth between family memories and his love of words and language. 60,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild alternate; author tour. (Mar.)