The Lovers Dictionary

How does one talk about love? Is it even possible to describe something at once utterly mundane and wholly transcendent, that has the power to consume our lives completely, while making us feel part of something infinitely larger than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this age-old problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan's The Lover's Dictionary constructs the story of a relationship as a dictionary. Through these sharp entries, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of coupledom, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “You wouldn’t expect a comic novel about a dictionary to be a thriller too, but this one is. In fact, [it] is also a mystery, love story (two of them) and cliffhanging melodrama.” —The New York Times Book Review An award-winning novel that chronicles the charming misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in the world. Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement. In the final year of the nineteenth century, Peter Winceworth is toiling away at the letter S for Swansby’s multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. But his disaffection with his colleagues compels him to assert some individual purpose and artistic freedom, and he begins inserting unauthorized, fictitious entries. In the present day, Mallory, the publisher’s young intern, starts to uncover these mountweazels in the process of digitization and through them senses their creator’s motivations, hopes, and desires. More pressingly, she’s also been contending with a threatening, anonymous caller who wants Swansby’s staff to “burn in hell.” As these two narratives coalesce, Winceworth and Mallory, separated by one hundred years, must discover how to negotiate the complexities of life’s often untrustworthy, hoax-strewn, and undefinable path. An exhilarating, laugh-out-loud debut, The Liar’s Dictionary celebrates the rigidity, fragility, absurdity, and joy of language while peering into questions of identity and finding one’s place in the world.

From one of our most important contemporary Chinese authors: a novel of language and love that tells one young Chinese woman's story of her journey to the West—and her attempts to understand the language, and the man, she adores. Zhuang—or “Z,” to tongue-tied foreigners—has come to London to study English, but finds herself adrift, trapped in a cycle of cultural gaffes and grammatical mishaps. Then she meets an Englishman who changes everything, leading her into a world of self-discovery. She soon realizes that, in the West, “love” does not always mean the same as in China, and that you can learn all the words in the English language and still not understand your lover. And as the novel progresses with steadily improving grammar and vocabulary, Z's evolving voice makes her quest for comprehension all the more poignant. With sparkling wit, Xiaolu Guo has created an utterly original novel about identity and the cultural divide.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “Delightful . . . [a] captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded.”—The New York Times Book Review “A marvelous fiction about the power of language to elevate or repress.”—Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of People of the Book Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means “slave girl,” begins to collect other words that have been discarded or neglected by the dictionary men. As she grows up, Esme realizes that words and meanings relating to women’s and common folks’ experiences often go unrecorded. And so she begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: the Dictionary of Lost Words. To do so she must leave the sheltered world of the university and venture out to meet the people whose words will fill those pages. 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. WINNER OF THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARD

Take a trip to Italy in this “introspective, moving, and honest” (Publishers Weekly) novel by bestselling author David Levithan (Every Day; Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green) in which fledgling family bonds are threatened by new love. Sixteen-year-old Elijah is completely mellow and his 23-year-old brother Danny is completely not, so it's no wonder they can barely tolerate one another. So what better way to repair their broken relationship than to trick them into taking a trip to Italy together? Soon, though, their parents' perfect solution has become Danny and Elijah's nightmare as they're forced to spend countless hours together. But then Elijah meets Julia, and soon the brothers aren't together nearly as much. And when Julia suddenly decides that maybe it's Danny she's really interested in, Danny has a decision to make: does he honor his relationship with the brother he thinks hates him, or does he follow his heart, which sorely needs some repairing of its own?Elijah and Danny don’t think they have anything in common except their parents. Danny thinks Elijah is a lazy, slacking, clueless dreamer who doesn’t know how to make a living. Elijah thinks Danny is a workaholic, stuck-up, soulless drone who doesn’t know how to make a life. Yes, they’re brothers. Then their parents trick them into taking a trip to Italy together. Nine days of escape. Nine days of somewhere else. Elijah and Danny aren’t sure it’s going to work. Until they each meet a girl—the same girl. Julia. And nothing will ever be the same again. AN ALA BEST BOOK FOR YOUNG ADULTS

"Comprehensive...will enhance your gin appreciation" - The New York Times An A-Z compendium of everything you need to know about gin, from botanicals to the perfect G&T. Includes 20 gin cocktail recipes. Gin is the spirit of the moment, the discerning drinker's tipple of choice. But with a gin revolution currently sweeping the world, it has never been a more fascinating - and complex - subject. The Gin Dictionary is the gin-drinker's guide to this special spirit. With hundreds of entries covering everything from history, ingredients and distilling techniques to flavour notes, cocktails and the many varieties of gin around the world, award-winning gin expert David T. Smith explores the key factors behind your drink.

Definitions of all the terms used in the history of the tender passion, with rare quotations from the ancient and modern poets, plus specimens of curious model love letters, and many other interesting matters about love.

In its more than three hundred pages, The Dictionary of Love gets to the heart of the matter: To rusticate is to get out of town with one's lover. A ballabust is a controlling wife or girlfriend. Bob Hope had the longest Hollywood marriage. Kinkalicious is your girlfriend in a teddy. Tahiti is an island where lovers do the 'upa'upa. From "afterglow" to "zipper," "Ikea" to "Twister," The Dictionary of Love is chockablock with everything you ever wanted to know about love but couldn't find in your Funk & Wagnalls. The book draws from all areas of life: love songs, poems, history, law books, sex manuals, medical and psychology texts, folklore, modern science, cookbooks, classical literature, Internet dating sites, TV shows, and today's slang. What famous people best define love? According to The Dictionary of Love, they include Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Bill Clinton, Casanova, Lana Turner, Nefertiti, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Don Quixote, Ben & Jerry—even Flipper and Lassie! Included, too, are charts, graphs, and illustrations, plus a G-spot directional map for women to give their boyfriend or lover. An indispensable tool for anyone who is composing a love sonnet, breaking up over e-mail, writing a romance novel, planning a romantic getaway, or just looking for something juicy to whisper in their lover's ear, The Dictionary of Love is a first-of-its-kind compendium of all things amorous.

From the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Young Writer Award and the Crossword Book Award for FictionShortlisted for The Hindu Prize for Literature 2015 ‘Explores with sharp beauty the mystery at the centre of loving anyone’ Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure

New in Paper! Featuring an introduction by megabestselling author Terry Brooks, The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference is an A to Z coverage of the realm of the fantastic, offering writers of science fiction , fantasy, horror and historical fiction vivid and detailed descriptions of the legendary humans, animals, societies and religions that make this genre exciting and imaginative. Using comprehensive lists, charts, illustrations, and timelines, writers can access complete information on: pagan orders, secret societies, witchcraft and magic; profiles of ancient European, South American and Far Eastern civilizations; medieval trades, occupations, laws and punishments; dragons, kelpies, naiads and other creatures of myth and fantasy; legendary races, including elves, dwarfs, giants and more; a detailed "anatomy of a castle," describing the forms and functions of everything from barbicans to trebuchets. This one-of-a-kind guide also offers advice on style and structure, with tips on how to weave these elements into a narrative that is compelling, fresh and wildly fantastic. The perfect reference for fans of the increasingly popular fantasy genre. Includes an introduction by Terry Brooks, author of the #1 national bestseller Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. s an introduction by Terry Brooks, author of the #1 national bestseller Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.