8 books about word nerds Archives

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters

by Mark Dunn

Hugely popular among readers who love books about language, this inventive story takes on a big challenge. In the quaint, imaginary island of Nollop a special council of government bans the use of specific letters from the alphabet, leaving its citizens to hilariously and courageously find new ways to communicate. As each letter falls from grace amongst the council, so do they fall out of the novel completely. You read that right: the author tasked himself with a seriously tough obstacle in writing entire chapters without certain letters. Within these creative constraints lies a lovely tale of freedom, linguistics, and epistolary fun.

The Dictionary of Lost Words

by Pip Williams

In this historical novel, Esme spends her childhood in Oxford where her father is a lexicographer helping create the first Oxford English Dictionary. As the team of men debate which words should be included or omitted, Esme gathers the discarded words and discovers that words associated with women are often left out. While she publicly works on the Oxford English Dictionary, she secretly starts another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words. With a backdrop of the suffrage movement and looming war, this inventive story explores the power of words and what we all lose when history is only recorded by men.

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution

by R. F Kuang

When MMD Book Club hosted Peng Shepherd in August to discuss The Cartographers, Peng raved about this new fantasy release from the author of The Poppy War trilogy. It's a cool 545 pages in hardcover, and WOW does she put every one to good use. The publisher calls it “a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal response to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell”—if that sounds a little cerebral for you, don’t worry, it’s easy to get swept up in the story. I've found myself talking about it ALL THE TIME to all sorts of readers. Kuang's historical fantasy takes place primarily in 1830s Oxford, where the workers at the translation institute Babel literally fuel the British Empire by combining their language skills with precious silver bars. While I loved the academic setting and band of four fast friends, her engagement with the complexities of race, power, and privilege are what really ground the novel. There's also a lot of philosophizing about the art of translation and discussion of what the practice actually involves, which I found insightful and fascinating.

The Marlow Murder Club

by Robert Thorogood

Not all heroes wear capes. Some of them create crossword puzzles for The Times newspaper. Between the crosswords and the freedom living alone brings, 77-year-old Judith Potts loves her life. When she witnesses a murder while swimming in the Thames, the local police don’t believe her so she decides to do her own investigation instead, along with some help from her friends Suzie and Becks. They form the Marlow Murder Club, just in the nick of time as another body shows up. They’ll need to solve this puzzle before it’s too late. A fun start to the series.

The Twyford Code

by Janice Hallett

After a stint in prison, Steven Smith can’t stop thinking about the day his English teacher Miss Isles disappeared during a class field trip to author Edith Twyford’s home. She’s never been found and he’s missing memories of what happened while they were away. Shortly before his teacher’s disappearance, he gave her a copy of Twyford’s book that he’d found. Miss Isles believed the manuscript, filled with annotations and markings, was a secret code. Now Steven wonders whether she was right. With the help of old classmates and voice memos on his old iPhone, he sets out to learn the truth of the Twyford Code.

The Puzzler: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life

by A. J. Jacobs

It’s no surprise the author behind The Know-It-All, which detailed his quest to read all 32 volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, decided he wanted to figure out why we’re drawn to all manner of puzzles and what their benefits may be. Already a nightly crossworder, he enters competitions, tries to solve the hardest puzzles whether a corn maze or jigsaw, and talks with fellow enthusiasts. As entertaining to read as it is insightful about problem-solving and how our brains work.

A Five Letter Word for Love

by Amy James

Wordle draws two people together in this workplace romance. Receptionist Emily wants more than her small town life on Prince Edward Island. Instead, she’s stuck with irritating coworkers at the auto shop where she works. Until one day, at a loss for what that day’s World answer is and only one shot to keep her 300+ day streak going, she learns John does Wordle too and that there might be more to him than she realized. (Open door.)

The Word Exchange

by Alena Graedon

This dystopian novel is set in the not-too-distant future, when print is dead and and much of the population relies on implantable devices called "memes" to consume information and communicate with each other. That sounds unsettling enough, but things get really scary when a virulent "word flu" is unleashed upon the population: the infected lose their ability to produce or understand speech. Much of this book is written in the form of diary entries that the characters write in their efforts to first fight off, and then recover from, the linguistic illness. A fun ride from start to finish.

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