Books That Boost Your Mood Instantly
There's a reason why we call these books "uplift-erature." The right novel—or non-fiction read—can turn your whole day around in just a few pages.
By Leigh Newman
6 of 6
Wordbirds
By Liesl Schillinger
224 pages;
Simon & Schuster
The Book of Short, Sweet Delights
The Oxford English Dictionary adds a short list of new words once a
year (
"squee" and "selfie" recently made the cut). Writer Liesl Schillinger
finds such a change of pace "glacial," and has written an entire
delightful book packed with fresh additions to our language, each illustrated by
a bird. Some examples: "polterguy" (an ex-boyfriend who continues to
wreak havoc on a person's future relationships), the "elevexer" (that
person who tries to squeeze into an elevator just as the doors are closing) and
the "chromazone" (that funny occurrence when a large number of people
show up wearing the same color on the same day). The result is a collection of
neologisms that resonates. Why? Underneath Schillinger's wit lies a more
pointed commentary on how rapidly our society is changing, so much so that not
even language has time to catch up. Anyone whose gotten "parking
spaced"—also known as losing you
car in a sprawling multitiered lot after a long, brain-numbing day of shopping
at a mall—can relate.
— Andrea Walker
Published 10/09/2013