Much to my surprise, I am experiencing “an embarrassment of riches” with this recent deep dive into reading.

The latest FICTION audio/eBook I am enjoying is The Dictionary of Lost Words.

“Set during the height of the women’s suffrage movement and with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. Inspired by actual events, author Pip Williams has delved into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary to tell this highly original story. The Dictionary of Lost Words is a delightful, lyrical, and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words and the power of language to shape the world.”

~~~~~

On my eleventh birthday, my dad gave me a special gift:  a heavy book-shaped present neatly wrapped and ribboned. I remember my eager anticipation, longing to rip the paper off yet holding back to make the suspense last as long as possible. I imagined a beautifully illustrated book with gilded edges, perhaps a collection of short stories that celebrated the adventures of young girls. Maybe it was a book about horses – about dozens of breeds, their history, and their essential role in society since the beginning of time.

This book was solid, heavy. It had to be important.

Finally, I looked up. smiled at Dad, and ripped off the wrapping paper. I eagerly flipped it over to see the cover.

 It was a dictionary.

I tried to hide my sadness, but I’m sure my eleven-year-old self failed miserably. I was disappointed but not surprised.

My dad lived for words. He had grown up an only child in an urban blue-collar family, had worked hard to enter Yale, a proud English major, graduating with the Class of 1928. He taught high school English, then entered the world of textbook publishing and never looked back. For him, words were the most exciting thing in the world.

He was also 57, more the age of a grandfather than a father. Sadly, he didn’t live long enough to witness his daughter change her mind about that birthday present. He never got the chance to nod and grin at all the times I would look up the meaning of a word and get swept away by the delicious synonyms and etymologies. The neighboring words in dictionaries (thanks only to alphabetical coincidence) were fascinating, too.

Soon I realized the neighboring books in library stacks were often even better than whatever book I had been searching for. I was surrounded by delights I hadn’t known existed, words and books discovered solely by their alphabetical proximity.

I have no interest in writing another book, not yet at least. Sometimes even a weekly essay here feels too demanding, so I have begun exploring “flash memoir” (stand-alone pieces of 1,000 words or less) with the help of Grant Faulkner’s book The Art of Brevity and his website Memoir Nation. When even that’s too much, when creating short essays feels like a daunting task, I return to my love of the single word.

I no longer own a physical dictionary, sadly, but I just downloaded the Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, and after making a pot of tea, I plan to settle in for some delightful word-wandering.

And the first word that came to mind to explore?

Inevitable.

~~~

I hope you enjoyed this essay. Click on the “Word Cloud” at the right if you’d like to read more about a specific topic. Feel free to forward any of them to friends and family members who might enjoy them.

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As always, thanks for spend some time with me “aloft.” Happy gazing and sketching!