Roy Blount Jr., Alphabet Juice (New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2008).

I like Roy Blount, Jr. So I picked up his book. And I found out one of the reasons I like Roy Blount, Jr. He is in love with words. This book tracks through the alphabet, not mentioning every word in the English language, but bouncing from word to word and concept to concept in a joyous fashion. He goes through etymologies, takes us on a trip through a variety of different dictionaries and makes this wondrous language we speak fun. It makes you want to read it out loud, especially the comments about southern accents.

This isn’t a dictionary, but I’m sure I’ll be coming back to the words again and again. I am amazed that he could write a book that reads in alphabetical order. This book is a delight to read and a delight to own.