Welcome to Litsy!

Just finished this one on Saturday. A great storyline and concept for a book with great historical accuracy but it just fell flat for me. The nararrative jumped into the future too quickly making it hard for me to stay hooked on the story. But it was an excellent book to discuss for book club. Overall 3.75 stars for me.

“Words are like stories…They change as they are passed from mouth to mouth; their meanings stretch or truncate to fit what needs to be said.”
#February2025

Disclaimer: this is not a happy book and I started reading it when the October war was raging for almost a year, making the sad narrative difficult to intake. I stopped reading and came back to it almost two months later, making a conscious effort to finish the book despite the narration going into the WWI and drawing uneasy associations for me. Maybe if I were to read this book in better times I would feel different about it.
#told_by_a_woman

3.25/4 ⭐️

Good but lots of sadness in this one.

“For my part, I think they add colour. A vulgar word, well placed and said with just enough vigor, can express far more than its polite equivalent.”

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

“Before the lost word, there was another.”

"We're designed to enjoy it," Tilda had said. "Not to avoid it or endure it. Enjoy it, just like them"

Clitoris, Nature's reminder that women are also supposed to enjoy sex, not to be here just for the pleasure of others. That's why some societies cut it off before little girls have a chance to discover it. Use this post as reminder to unashamedly enjoy yours ❤️

June #TBRTarot (Choose a book with flowers on the cover) #ReadAway2024 Do words mean different things to men and women? Are there words used by women but not by men? This is a fictional story of the writing of The Oxford English Dictionary. There were many women assistants and women volunteers but their names have been forgotten. This is a wonderful book which I highly recommend!

Esme's father is part of the team working in the Scriptorium, where the first Oxford Dictionary is being created. Raised there she learns to love words, but also that not every word makes it to the dictionary and words and meanings related to women's or lower classes experiences are left behind, so she starts collecting them.
It starts really slow and I probably would have abandoned it if it wasn't for a book club. I'm glad I didn't ⬇️

I knew I was at the emotional part of this book & had put it off for a couple of days. I should know better than to finish it in the middle of night when I‘m more likely to cry. Despite some sadness, this story is so interesting. It starts with Esme as a child spending time with her dad at work, where he‘s researching & putting together the first Oxford English Dictionary. The making of the dictionary is fascinating. 5 ⭐️

LOVED THIS! A historical fiction with our lead character set into the recreated world of where our English dictionary began. A delicately woven story with heart & grace that engages with the Suffragette movement and a feminist uprising. Really shines a fresh perspective on the origin of our words and languages, all edited and graded by the patriarchal system.

#SpringSkies Day 4 #Lost

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Currently reading this one and enjoying it. Love the cover as well. #historicalfiction #oxforddictionary

Just as it took years and thoughtful work to create the Oxford English Dictionary this novel took time to bring the story of Esme to life. Growing up in the Scriptorium, Esme learns the importance of words and their meanings. Later working for the OED, she realizes an entire lexicon is being ignored and begins to collect the words of women and the poor. Esme‘s quiet fortitude and love of words earns this slowly paced novel 3.5 ⭐️. Worth the read.

A reminder.
“You are not the arbiter of knowledge, sir. You are its librarian.” “ It is not for you to judge the importance of these words, simply to allow others to do so.”

I‘ve always wondered about the adventures of the antique suitcases 🧳 🌎 📚

#NewYearNewBooks
#LuggageCvr

4.5/5 🌟

A magnificent book - perfect for all bibliophiles seeking to revel in the beauty of words and reflect on how language shapes the world. ❤️

4.5⭐️ When I went back to see how I had reviewed this book a couple years ago, I was surprised to find that I had given it exactly the same rating as I did this time. But I think I appreciated the romance between Esme and Gareth a little more this time around than my first time reading it. #2023 #bookclub #reread #bookreview #wwi #fiction #historicalfiction #reesesbookclub

I really enjoyed reading about how the Oxford Dictionary was made. Fascinating! As was Esme's dedication to finding and collecting words that were deemed worthy of officialness. And I really enjoyed the story until I didn't.

It ran about 100 pages too long. There's still 26 pages until the end but I just. Don't. Care.

"Before the lost word, there was another."

#FirstLineFriday
@ShyBookOwl

Just started this

A story about words and the life of Esme Nicoll. A little slow to get started but I found myself wanting to know what‘s next with her. I wish the title included the lost words were women‘s words. Many people talk about wishing they‘d been born during a more simple time, but I (and this book) will tell you the turn of the 20th century wasn‘t simple for anyone. Book #56 in 2023

This historical novel is about the journey to make sure that the influence of women on words is not lost. Esme‘s father is a lexicographer working on the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Esme begins to collect, and eventually compiles her own dictionary of, words related to women‘s experiences. Inspired by actual events, the story takes place during the women‘s suffrage movement. It started slow, but became unputdownable. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This book is an invitation to think about words. Who uses them, how they are used by different people, who records them, who gets to define them, who chooses to include them in dictionaries, etc.

Well-written, with an engaging and well-constructed plot, I'm sure this book will seduce numerous word lovers.

This was a slow read, but one to be savored. I very much loved this book, and love that it‘s based on the publication of the Oxford English Dictionary (which I really knew nothing about). Thanks to @Sapphire for including this in her #ALspine list, and thanks to @monalyisha for the great match 💚

Current situation. #frontporchsitting #reading #sunshine #sundayvibes ❤️📚

Sunday vibes. #porchsitting #frontporchreading #sundayfunday 😎❤️📚

Next read is for book club! It was my pick this month, and this one piqued my interest! ❤️📚

Edged by a So-So to a be Pick, but I‘d honestly hoped for more from this one. The narrative feels uneven — with the protagonist‘s formative years seeming drawn out & thoroughly detailed, while the latter years are blurred & rushed despite having such ginormous events as an escalating suffragette movement & WWI to give it focus & weight. Still, the book‘s igniting questions of what & who determines words worthy of record is certainly interesting.

This was a great fictional account of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. What words were left out and why. It also covers what life was like for women at that time.

Next row in my #readinglogsnake is for another #rplbooksandbrews read, The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. Yellow representing historical fiction. Before the English woman's suffrage, the MC captures words in an attempt to make a dictionary of women's words, and ends up with an interesting Edwardian urban dictionary. Interesting, yet sad read. 4/5 ⭐️ #ARRCReads #BooksAndCrafts

Lovely, if slightly slow, historical fiction that includes women‘s rights, the Oxford English Dictionary, and multiple definitions of love.

A bit of a scholarly read but still fiction. Per the author‘s note, a lot of the side characters were based on actual lexicographers/editors at the Oxford English Dictionary during that time. At the root of it, this is a love letter to words, specifically those of women and other people often overlooked and underestimated. There‘s a lot of life in this story, a lot of grief and plenty of love. Words bringing it all together. Lovely story overall.

I listened to this one via BorrowBox,
It was interesting.

Read for reading challenges

4.25/5

“The war has made the present more important than the past, and far more certain than the future…”

“Words are our tools of resurrection.”

My next listen… 😊

I liked Esme and loved Lizzie! But I still think that some of the characters should have been more fleshed out. There were sad twists but they left me a bit cold.

This felt a bit claustrophobic because the setting was the same almost the whole time. It was well created but at least those scenes that happened outside could have been more vivid.

I loved how this was based on real events and this was interesting story.

You follow the life of Esme Nichols which in essence mirrors the publication of the Oxford English Dictionary. Esme starts gathering words that don‘t seemingly make it in. The author is looking at the gender and social bias reasons for this. The story itself was fine, the afterward was the most interesting part for me. Picked up because of #literarycrew Did the audiobook and enjoyed the narration.

“Words are our tools of resurrection.”

Esme‘s strength impressed me, so having the book have little redemption for her was hard. But a book with so many women who feel empowered without a husband was refreshing!

#12booksof2022 #May2022 #toppickofthemonth
This is a lyrical,evocative book.Esme spent her childhood capturing word slips that floated from the table where Lexicographers,including her Da sat,making decisions about which words merited inclusion in the Oxford English. Dictionary. Overtime,she noted that words spoken by the common people or women were not included.She spent her life chasing down those very words.🔽

For May #12booksof2022 I had a few 5 star reads, but this one stands out for me for its cover, it‘s story about the Oxford English Dictionary ( I‘m slightly obsessed about books about it) and a word that goes missing AND the main character is a girl that is allowed to follow a bit of an unconventional path

⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a well-researched and thought-provoking love letter to language. If affluent white men determine which words are “real” and “worthy”, what words and stories are lost? I am glad I read this, but I also admit that it wasn‘t a super exciting story to me personally. 🎧 #reesesbookclub

Esme's single father is one of Dr. James Murray's assistants in the compilation of the OED, so she grows up in Murray's Scriptorium. Later she comes to realise the dictionary's focus on the written word excludes the words used by those who are not members of the literary elite.

A little slow at first but draws the reader in and does a good job in the balancing act of making Esme a believable 19thC woman with a more 21stC attitude to lexicography.

#coffeeandabook

Thank you so much Amy for this awesome birthday package!! Love everything!! Can‘t wait to read these books! 📚❤️📚

#LitsyLove
#Bookmail is the best mail!!

Thank you @EadieB !! I almost bought this one yesterday! I‘ve heard it‘s really good! Thank you so much!! 📚🧡

Outdoor reading setup during a work break.

I don't know what compelled me to take notes while reading the September #LiteraryCrew #BuddyRead, but here we are! 😊

I genuinely hoped I could've contributed to the discussion in a timely manner, but I'm slowly realizing (and trying to make peace with the fact!) that I'm not a fast reader. I'm well-intentioned, I think, but I get lost in details and am also easily distracted by life.

@Librarybelle

There is much to consider in this book about words…Williams looks at the creation of the OED, but through the lens of women involved in the project. Esme‘s entire life is wrapped around the dictionary, and she becomes a collector of words. It might sound mean, but there were times in the book that I got a little tired of Esme. She has a good heart, but she was not a favorite character of mine. I loved Ditte! ⬇️⬇️⬇️