Washoe County Library System

"Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement. Peter Winceworth, Victorian lexicographer, is toiling away at the letter S for Swansby's multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. His disaffection compels him to insert unauthorized fictitious entries into the dictionary in an attempt to assert some sense of individual purpose and artistic freedom. In...

The dusty files of a venerable dictionary publisher ... a hidden cache of coded clues ... a story written by a phantom author ... an unsolved murder in a gritty urban park - all collide memorably in Emily Arsenault's magnificent debut at once a teasing literary puzzle an ingenious suspense novel and an exploration of definitions: of words of who we are and of the stories we choose to define us.

"Noah Webster may be best remembered the enormous and ambitious task of writing his famous dictionary, but for him, this accomplishment was a means to an end. His true goal was to streamline the language spoken in our newly formed country so that it could be used as a force to bring people together and be a source of national pride. Though people laughed at his ideas, Webster never doubted himself. In the end, his so-called foolish notions achieved...

The story of "shy young Peter Mark Roget, [for whom] books were the best companions--and it wasn't long before Peter began writing his own book. But he didn't write stories; he wrote lists. Peter took his love for words and turned it to organizing ideas and finding exactly the right word to express just what he thought. His lists grew and grew, eventually turning into one of the most important reference books of all time"--Amazon.com.

"A picture book biography of Noah Webster"--

An eerie, watery reimagining of the Oedipus myth set on the canals of Oxford, from the author of Fen. The dictionary doesnt contain every word. Gretel, a lexicographer by trade, knows this better than most. She grew up on a houseboat with her mother, wandering the canals of Oxford and speaking a private language of their own invention. Her mother disappeared when Gretel was a teen, abandoning her to foster care, and Gretel has tried to move on, spending...

A comprehensive biography of English author, poet, and essayist, Samuel Johnson, that chronicles his life and education, as well as his contribution to the fields of literature, religion, and politics. "Samuel Johnson is a writer of such significance that his era — the second half of the 18th century — is known as the Age of Johnson. Starting out as a Grub Street journalist, he made his mark on history as a poet, author, moralist, literary critic,...