The Story of English in 100 Words by David Crystal

 

The Story of English in 100 Words by David Crystal is my first read during the month of August! I listened to the unabridged audio version of this nonfiction book, which is nicely narrated by the author.

If you are a lover of words, linguistics, and etymology, then I think you'll love this book. The introduction is wonderful as it sets the tone of this nonfiction book. I love the short chapters that focus on a single word in the English language and how it influenced other words and cultural associations. There were plenty of surprising words that made up the list of words in this book. This is a fun read!!

Below is the publisher's summary for The Story of English in 100 Words by David Crystal found on Amazon's website:

The world's foremost expert on the English language takes us on an entertaining and eye-opening tour of the history of our vernacular through the ages.

In The Story of English in 100 Words, an entertaining history of the world's most ubiquitous language, David Crystal draws on one hundred words that best illustrate the huge variety of sources, influences and events that have helped to shape our vernacular since the first definitively English word―‘roe'―was written down on the femur of a roe deer in the fifth century. Featuring ancient words (‘loaf'), cutting edge terms that relfect our world (‘twittersphere'), indispensible words that shape our tongue (‘and', ‘what'), fanciful words (‘fopdoodle') and even obscene expressions (the "c word"...), David Crystal takes readers on a tour of the winding byways of our language via the rude, the obscure and the downright surprising.

I am giving The Story of English in 100 Words by David Crystal a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!

The Little Book of Lost Words: Collywobbles, Snollygosters, and 86 Other Surprisingly Useful Terms Worth Resurrecting by Joe Gillard

 

My dearest love apples,

Just a notekin from your favorite minkin! Do not be a ninnyhammer, go forth and purchase this adorable, hardback book, which mayhap become your favorite read of 2021! So find your favorite snuggery, bring a drink (whether you be an aquabib or prefer a homerkin) while you read... And enjoy a prandicle while you're at it.

Verily yours, Captivated Reader.

In the above written paragraph, I used ten of the words (the words are in bold) I discovered from my latest read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Little Book of Lost Words: Collywobbles, Snollygosters, and 86 Other Surprisingly Useful Terms Worth Resurrecting by Joe Gillard. I highly recommend this book to other people who love words. 

I love nonfiction, hardback books that can also double as coffee table books and feature unique topics, like words!

The Little Book of Lost Words is a really quick read, well organized, and is also a fun book to read and share with others. It contains an introduction by the author, plus 88 words listed in alphabetical order. Each word has a pronunciation guide, what part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) it is, the origin of the word, definition of the word, and a sentence using the word. 

Additionally, there is a classical looking painting positioned on the page opposite of each word listed in this book for interesting visual stimulation. The book ends with an acknowledgements section, art credits section and an 'about the author' blurb.

Do I have a favorite word I learned from The Little Book of Lost Words? No, there are too many words shared within this book for me to have a single favorite word.

Below is a summary for The Little Book of Lost Words: Collywobbles, Snollygosters, and 86 Other Surprisingly Useful Terms Worth Resurrecting by Joe Gillard from Amazon:

The founder of History Hustle presents a handy guide for expressing yourself with history's best words.

This collection features scores of unique words from history that deal with surprisingly modern issues like sleeping in and procrastination--proving that some things never change! The Little Book of Lost Words presents each term that's ready to be brought back into modern-day use, complete with definition, hilarious sample sentence, and cheeky historical art. You'll learn new words for the cozy room where you like to Netflix and chill (snuggery), for a dishonest politician (snollygoster), and for a young person who sleeps through the day and doesn't work (dewdropper). If you like Lost in Translation, Shakespeare Insult Generator, Drunk History, and Roald Dahl--and you delight in the way words like blatteroon and flapdoodle roll off the tongue--then you're the word lover this book was written for. Want to know what a fizgig or groke is? Read this book!

I am giving The Little Book of Lost Words: Collywobbles, Snollygosters, and 86 Other Surprisingly Useful Terms Worth Resurrecting by Joe Gillard a rating of 5 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!