Monday, May 31, 2021

Neuerwerbungen

Marina Abramović (with James Kaplan): Walk through walls. A memoir. Penguin Book 2017

Zana Hart: Bad Weather, Bad Man. 2. ed. Hartworks 2018 (The curious librarian cozy mystery, 2)

Camilla Chafer: Jeopardy in January (Neuauflage unter dem Titel "Murder in the Library"). Selbstverlag 2021 (A Calendar Mystery, 1)

Laurie Cass: Checking out Crime. Berkley Prime Crime 2021 (A bookmobile cat mystery, 9)

Michael Campeta: The late Mr. Cary. A 1920s Mystery. Eigenverlag 2021 (Hauptfigur ist "young and stylish librarian")

Matt Haig: The midnight Library. Canongate 2021

Editors of the New York Times Magazine: The Decameron Project. 29 new Stories from the Pandemic. Scribner 2020

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Sex appeal in dictionaries

Diese "Perle" aus dem Jahr 1969 habe ich gerade in der Zeitschrift Reference Quarterly (RQ) entdeckt. Ich frag mich, wie das heute aufgenommen würde :-D

Objective criticism of a new dictionary is difficult, because a dictionary is secretive, like a woman. At first glance she may look beautiful, smell good, and have tremendous sex appeal. And then her apparent virtues may peel like the skin of a Spanish onion. Only after months or even years of living with her can we discover the intrinsic good points; and bad. And balance them out. What we see at first glance may be the hairdo, the length of the skirt, and the essential dimensions. Whether or not the lexicographic love affair ends happily or in bookswitching depends a great deal on complicated editorial factors.

Quelle: Edward R. Brace: "Sex Appeal in Dictionaries". In: RQ 9 (1969) 2, S. 168-170