I’ve written before about the delightful column in The Atlantic where Barbara Wallraff posts reader requests (and ideas) for words that don’t exist but should. I didn’t realize that she also has a book called Word Fugitives until my husband, knowing what a word nerd I am, got it for my birthday. Ms. Wallraff describes [...]
Tag Archives: Books
Have you heard of ‘tuckerized’?
Astrologers who find new stars get their discoveries named after them; so do researchers identifying new diseases. Did you know that there is at least one writer who has been similarly recognized, although for a practice rather than a discovery? I had never heard the term “tuckerization” before I encountered it reading the Mental Floss [...]
Prize-winning odd titles
This spring, I posted about the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. I recently found out that The Bookseller has crowned the Diagram of Diagrams, bestowing the title of Oddest Book Title among all the winners of the past 30 years. You may be surprised to find that Bombproof your Horse and [...]
I [heart] my local library
The library in my town has been there for me for many years. When my children were small, we joined the reading program every summer, and we were frequent borrowers of books and occasionally toys throughout the year. It’s the first place I turn when I hear of a good book (so I can try [...]
Not just a scary voice
Stephen King’s books used to be on my reading list; early in my working career, I read The Shining on the train from the suburbs into the city. I would get on the train and start reading, and suddenly I would look up, eyes wide and heart pounding, and the train had arrived. But after [...]
Oddest title crowned
In case you did not see the news, the world’s oddest book title is If You Want Closure in Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs. The winner of The Bookseller‘s Diagram Prize received what this British trade magazine calls a record 8,500 votes online. The Canadian connection: the book was nominated by Nicholas Hoare, an [...]
Remembering Joan
March 26, 1978 was a Sunday – Easter Sunday, in fact. I was awake but still in bed when the doorbell rang. It must have been something like 7 a.m. so my parents and I knew that something was wrong; we arrived at the door at the same time, throwing on robes. There was a [...]
Attention-grabbing titles
It looks like it’s not too late to cast your vote for the world’s oddest book title, which will be awarded the Diagram Prize by The Bookseller, a British trade magazine. The winner will be announced March 28, with the spotter of the winning book receiving a magnum of champagne. The authors and publishers “benefit [...]
How’s your happiness set-point?
I caught a brief part of a radio interview today with “transformational expert” Marci Shimoff, about her book Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out. Marci is also co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul and a featured expert in The Secret DVD and book. The part that caught [...]
Read on!
Yesterday (Jan. 27) was Family Literacy Day, “a national initiative that promotes the importance of reading and learning together as a family.” I celebrated by reading while Son #2 studied for exams today. I’m a big reader so it’s especially important to me that our two sons are readers, too. When they were small, I [...]
