Check out a classic!

The Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Angle of Repose When asked about his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Wallace Stegner said, "It's perfectly clear that if every writer is born to write one story, that's my story."  Winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, it can be seen as America's story too.  Fictional historian Lyman Ward writes a book that is based on the correspondence of the factual little-known writer, Mary Hallock Foote. The book's heroes represent opposing but equally strong strains of the American ideal.  Lyman has lost his connection with his son and decides to deal with his grief by writing about his frontier ancestors.  Stegner's heavy use of Foote's letters in a fictional piece has often been criticized.

Within the books disappointments and misfortune Stegner lays bare the myth of America's west as a land of golden opportunity and cowboys. Lyman Ward is a divorced amputee with a debilitating disease that is slowly petrifying him. A retired history professor, in the early 1970s he is dictating the book, the biography of his grandmother Susan Burling Ward, to tape. Fiercely independent, he lives alone in the house where Susan Ward died and in which he spent time as a child. As he dictates, he is fighting off intrusions into his life by his son and other well-meaning people who are concerned, due to his ability level, by his being alone.

The Word Museum: The Most Remarkable English Words Ever Forgotten by Jeffery Kacirk

Word Museum As a living organism and the largest and one of the most dynamic collections of words ever collected, the English language continues to expand.  Every year hundreds of new words are added to the language.  These words may describe new technologies, migrate from other languages, come to common usage from slang, or be current words that have a new definition.  Some of the new words recognized by Merriam-Webster in the last few years include blamestorming, bromance, and ginormous.

At the same time words are being added to the language, many words fall out of usage and ultimately disappear.  These retired words are often found in literature, but are not used in common conversation.  These include words like "merry-go-sorry" (a mixture of laughing and crying), "quakle" (to choke), "bouffage" (very satisfying), "bibliothecary" (a librarian), and "dansey-headed" (giddy or thoughtless).