We welcome back University of Illinois linguist Dennis Baron, who reflects on some disturbing news that emerged recently about Amazon.com's e-book reader, the Kindle.

In a move worthy of George Orwell's Big Brother, Amazon.com sent its thought police into Kindles everywhere to erase copies of 1984 and Animal Farm.  Continue reading...

Frank McCourt, the Irish-American schoolteacher whose poignant memoirs earned him a Pulitzer Prize, has passed away at the age of 78. He leaves behind a gripping set of life stories.

Angela's Ashes

'Tis

Teacher Man

Surely the most unexpected success in the literary world this year has been Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith, a campy mashup pitting Jane Austen's Bennet sisters against legions of the undead. Since its publication in April, P&P&Z has sold more than 600,000 copies, inspiring a number of other zombified takes on classic literature. Now comes word that the publisher of P&P&Z, Quirk Books, is cashing in on the trend with a new title, Sense and Sensibility and (wait for it) Sea Monsters.  Continue reading...

Matthew Baldwin has challenged fiction lovers to spend this summer reading the late David Foster Wallace's gargantuan novel Infinite Jest. Think you're up to reading 1,079 pages of Wallace's inimitable prose? Join in on Baldwin's blog, Infinite Summer.

A Sweet, No-Bake Tale of Success

"You are a lover of words. One day, you will write a book."

That fortune, cracked free of a cookie after eating my favorite Chinese meal of chicken and broccoli (extra spicy), resonated with me. I did love words. I did want to write a book.  Continue reading...

With this column we welcome Bob Greenman, author of Words That Make a Difference and More Words That Make a Difference, as a regular contributor to the Visual Thesaurus. Here Bob uses words from the latter book, with illustrative passages from The Atlantic Monthly, to muse on a great love of his life.  Continue reading...