I don't know about you all, but I really do love words. Good Words. Colorful Words. Tasty Words! (Okay, yes, My name is Mrs. Mitty and I am a wordaholic.) I love the way they look, the way they sound and knowing or learning where they came from. I love the way it feels to say them and to know all about them.
Browsing my library, well, my scattered hoards and stashes of books, actually -- to suggest that my books are in some order resembling the tidiness of a library would be a big fat lie, not to mention putting on airs {g} -- I find that a lot of them are about words.
Here's a little sampling:
A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue
Synonyms & Antonyms
Websters New World Thesaurus
Roget's Thesaurus
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable
A 1923 edition of a huge (4" thick with teensy-tinsy print) dictionary with all kinds of good old words in it...
The New International Webster's Comprehensive Dictionary (another big fat one but only about three years old)
And the list goes on.
I suppose it's no big surprise for a writer or a reader to have this kind of stash. I will say the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue and the Brewers are my favorites, followed closely by the old, yellowed dictionary. But I'm curious to know if other readers and writers have any really special or unique favorite word-books.
Do you? And if so, what books are they? I'm always on the lookout for new goodies.
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3 comments:
Maureen:
Oh, I love dictionaries and thesaurii and general reference works too. Ever read THE MOTHER TONGUE by Bill Bryson? Or THE STORY OF ENGLISH? Both fun.
One that's been very useful for my writing is THE DESCRIBER'S DICTIONARY, by David Grambs...it's a thesaurus specifically for when you're trying to describe something, and it's sorted into lovely sections like "light and colors", "walk, gait, or carriage" and "necks". {g}
Hi Susan,
Sorry for the pokey reply. Life has been very busy the last few weeks.
No, I've not seen any of those three books, but they are now on my list! Bill Bryson sounds familiar, though. (Aha - just looked him up on Amazon. He's the author of A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, and I heard an NPR interview with him on that book.)
Anyway, thanks for the recommendations. THE DESCRIBERS DICTIONARY sounds very useful, and quite interesting. Necks? {g}
Brewers is dangerous. I glance inside to check on something. Years later I'm still there while (apparently) universes have come and gone, and the manuscript I was working on is turned to dust.
That's what addiction to words is all about. Hope you recover or keep it under control.
--Malcolm
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