I like to call my budding writing career a "Menopausal Epiphany." I had not written a single creative word (other than school and college essays) until I hit 50 -- a landmark year that brought home the ravages of menopause and then some. Fighting Mother Nature was a losing battle, so I decided to put those yo-yoing hormones to creative use instead.  Continue reading...

Fred Shapiro, the editor of The Yale Book of Quotations we interview in this week's "Behind the Dictionary" feature, recommends these books on the history and importance of quotations:

The Quote Sleuth by Anthony W. Shipps

Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations by Ralph Keyes

They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions by Paul F. Boller

The World in a Phrase: A History of Aphorisms by James Geary

Sparrow, a pundit poet from Phoenicia, New York, graciously contributed the following column.

People who love gourmet food are called "foodies" (perhaps derived from "hippies," referring to people who love hipness.) What about people who love books?

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Gelett Burgess. Rings a bell? This irrepressible early 20th century figure was at once a linguistic inventor, humorist, poet and creative powerhouse who today is... almost forgotten. Which is a shame, and which is why we celebrate the re-release after a long, long slumber of his classic Burgess Unabridged: A Classic Dictionary of Words You Have Always Needed. We spoke to lexicographer Paul Dickson, who wrote a new foreword to the book, about this remarkable man and his work.  Continue reading...

We asked author Michelle Richmond, whose latest novel is The Year of Fog, about books that inspire her writing. She graciously sent us these picks: (Thanks, Michelle!)

The Death of a Beekeeper, by Lars Gustafsson
"This beautifully humane and intellectually playful novella about disease, death, and the noble desire to 'begin again' is in my annual rotation. I love Gustafsson's use of lists to reveal his protagonist's most intimate self."

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Want to get your students (or children) excited about reading? We thought so. So we called up Georgia Scurletis, the amazing curriculum expert -- and veteran New York City high school English teacher -- who puts together our Visual Thesaurus lesson plans, for her advice. Georgia's picks:

A classic: Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
"A love story that even a feminist can love... This novel turns the Cinderella tale on its head and allows students to see the Victorian Age through the eyes of the young impish narrator Jane. It's chock full of challenging and rich vocabulary, but the kids are motivated to keep reading since the narration is so compelling."

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