When I was 5 years old, I was forced to take dancing lessons while the Brother was forced to take accordion lessons. I hated dancing class. The Knights of Columbus Hall where the classes were given had no heat or it wasn't turned on. I hated wearing the pink beginner tights. I liked clacking around in the tap shoes, but Ma wouldn't let me practice inside the house on the wood floors. I spent most of my time in class being miserable and crying. Eventually, I was taken out of class.
While the Brother still had to endure accordion lessons, Dad took me to the library. He would leave me upstairs in the children's library where I could look at the books and choose to take some books home with my own library card. As I got older, I would go downstairs to the adult library and wander among the stacks enjoying the scent of the books before going to find Dad in the reference area consulting the law books and catching up on his work.
So for the next several weeks, a list of my favorite books, some I have read as a child, others as an adult and some I have read more than once.
This week, Webster's New 20th Century Dictionary of the English Languages. Obsolete and out of print, but still a favorite.
If you haven't read this book, you can find the up to date version online at https://www.merriam-webster.com/ Besides the joy of searching the dictionary, there are Games and Quizzes, Thesaurus, Word of the Day, and more happy, little, time waster fun.
I still have my first dictionary too! (with bookmarks for the words I misspelled the most! LOL)
ReplyDeleteToo fun!
DeleteI spent many a happy childhood hour reading dictionaries and encyclopedias.
ReplyDeleteThey were the best. Always something to read and you never got bored
DeleteI have two of those very dictionaries. One is hard cover and weighs a ton and one is paperback I use in my art. My freshman lit professor explained this was the ONLY dictionary we should get. I got the hard cover that took me thought to grad school, where I started getting the information online. I picked up the paperback in a thrift shop in the late 80s, then used it for art when I started making mixed media. Great choice for the book of the week, too.
ReplyDeleteAh, the dictionary of choice when I was in college was the Oxford English Dictionary, but It was out of my budget. Glad you enjoyed the dictionary, too.
DeleteI get my word of the day in my email every day. What would we do without dictionaries, thesauruses and other language tools. It was cold here today. Hope you were warmer than we were.
ReplyDeleteWe had a lot of sun so it was perfect for the sun room
DeleteI have a very huge, old Webster's dictionary, and use it in my art and as a weight to flatten things! Valerie
ReplyDeleteI use my dictionary as a weight, too.
Deletewow, thanks for the ilnk!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome
Deletei checked it out - nice site - fun things to do
DeleteYour lead in made me feel I have read this passage before — so I checked and you use it to introduce each library post. Interesting way to do it. I guess I’m getting to know you and your accordion-playing brother.
ReplyDeletebest… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
The lead in is repeated so that any new readers will understand this is series post.
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