A Book for all reasons and a book for every reader who cherished words. A MUST READ.
591172
A Readers reader! Please don't miss this read. The stories will take you to places you have wanted to go to but didn't, and to places, you will be thrilled you went to forever.

Each story is unique; there is not one micro-second of boredom between the pages of One Hundred Voices: Volume 2. I laughed, I cried and more than enjoyed being carried away.
Brooklyn Barbra
1080134
The scenery painted with words is exquisite. The story touching, uplifting, and sad all at the same time. Couldn't stop reading, and when I wasn't reading, I was thinking about it. Officially one of my favorite books of all time.
794856
This book is a must read for everyone.  Once I started reading, I didn't want to put the books down.  The writing allows you to picture all the characters and what life was like growing up during this time period.  I can't wait to see what Billy will write next.
4548529
An outstanding book, and one you will want to read more than once. It deserves all the accolades one can give. You won't regret this purchase.
2280237
A great read. The best I have read in a very long time. I would say a must read, for everyone. It might help give a better understanding and tolerance  to all people, perhaps wishful thinking.
4398095
An amazing book.  I would suggest an excellent read for everyone.  It was a very emotional story.  There are many  out there who will be able to relate to what their family members may have lived through and come away with a loving positive attitude about life and living.  A book I will always remember.
534805
There are at least six million reasons to read, to treasure and to fully absorb the messages of this book so movingly brought to life by survivors, their families and their loved ones. Jews and non-Jews need this eternal reminder to insure that the evils of the past generation will never again blacken our world. An absolutely must purchase.
4745199
This book is an inspiration.  A must read!  It reads fast and is memorable.
721301
I just LOVED reading this book.

A few years ago I read Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson and I enjoyed it thoroughly. But I bet that this tiny little tome will have a longer-lasting effect on my appreciation of the English language.

Not only is the author the consummate master of his topic, he's also head over heels in love with it. No exaggeration, you get the feeling he narrowed it down to 100 from his favorite 10,000 words. He weaves in the Celtic, the Anglo-Saxon, the Viking, the Latin and the Norman / French, but does not forget the American, the Indian or even the Pidgin and he goes looking for the medical and the Internet terms that have crept into the language too. As a Greek, and one who speaks five languages, I'm rather miffed he never refers to the Greek roots of several English words, but I regardless thought this was a masterpiece.

What we have here is a celebration of the English Language, rather than a mere story, basically. Reading this book is a bit like having the curator of the British Museum take you through his favorite ten exhibits. You get the history, the context, the evolution, everything.

I'm jealous of David Crystal. He gets paid to share his life's biggest passion.
377677
Once in a great while, a book is written that makes us feel deeply the power, beauty, and majesty of the written word...a story that reminds us of the privilege and great value of sharing a book with each other, with all of humanity.  A CHILD OF BOOKS is such a story.  I had the great privilege of witnessing the creation of this book as it unfurled, along with a number of other librarians.  The awe and raw emotion I felt was echoed by everyone lucky enough to be privy to the inspired mindsets of Jeffers and Winston as they went through their creative process.  To say that this book is a work of heart is an understatement; it is a living, breathing, beautiful representation of the power of so many of the wonderful words that have been written and read in literature through the ages...all shown, and told, through the journey of a young boy who is taken on adventure by a young girl, a child of books.

From the end papers to the epigraphs to the stunning conclusion, the spare and powerful word choices and the glorious art, entirely comprised of words presented in a typographical landscape which builds illustration from the text of master classic literature--this story reaches the hearts, indeed the souls, of readers young and old in a profound, lyrical, even organic, way.

If there is only one book which you give as a gift this year, or buy for yourself, make it  A CHILD OF BOOKS, and relish the gift to literature and humankind which truly is this inspired story.
184360
A great book to read.  It left me full of thoughts and not one that's going to go away.  It will be planted so deep in my mind that it will always be there.  A book that I can read and read again, and. Again.
656098
First and foremost, this is a great book.  Anyone who enjoys literature will fall in love with Fitzgerald's examined manipulation of the English language that can be called nothing else but art.  Every word speaks volumes in this tale of minimal pages but endless emotions.  It is a book to be savored and one that continues to get better with age.
2386563
This book will leave you full of love. Open to any page and find inspiration and joy through the trials you may be experiencing. A book to share with all your loved ones and the perfect gift.
2940719
This book is not just for the those who wish to find lyrics, or inperation for them. It is a book that is for anyone who can enjoy emotion played out in a few words. A great read for all.
2286208
I spent much of the summer between 5th & 6th grade reading Webster's Third New International Dictionary  a pursuit even my parents found, well, odd.  It was a rough go but, as a budding writer, it was hard to imagine a more worthwhile pursuit.
If instead Id had a copy of Joe McKays Crazy About Words back then, task would have turned to pure joy. McKays exploration of language takes the reader on a journey around the world, through history, and into the nether realms of mystery and myth. What a delightful read.
It is a book every lover of the written word will enjoy, and one that every writer of those words must have. But writers, you won't want to put it on a shelf next to the dictionaries, thesauruses, and compendiums of quotes. Youll want to keep it close at hand so that if ever you're a bit stuck, you can open it for a quick foray into an inspirational world of words that will set your imagination free.
2165319
I loved the writing and the vocabulary.  It had historical facts, anecdotes, quotes.  All beautifully tied together.  I would recommend this book to anyone who has a love of words and who loves to read.  Bryson is brilliant and funny.  Tongue in cheek humor abounds
676062
As an English professor who finds excellent vocabulary usage a thing of the past, this book provides the ultimate language high.  The words, strung together like lights on a Christmas tree, give exuberance and thought to a novel that reads exquisitely.  Reading many of the sentences over and over again to give myself the pleasures not often able to be achieved in this time period, I became lost in London, then at Blackwater Park, and everywhere in between.  A true Anglophile and bibliophile's dream.

Because the book is written from the various persons involved in the drama, the reader is able to gain insight into each's personality, and oftentimes I found myself a little too sympathetic to characters who I felt may not deserve such recognition.  (Count Fosco, for one...so revolting yet at the same time his enamor of Marian and his obvious detail to the care of his "pets" gave the reader a sense of humanity in an otherwise disgusting and subhuman man).

It took me a long, long time to read this book.  However, I relished it like the final bits of cake... slowly and methodically, savoring every moment.  On the one hand, the ending of the book would provide me with the answers I so emphatically desired, yet that would also determine the finality of the enjoyment of each word and sentence I came to treasure throughout the hours I spent curled in my bed, late into the early hours of the morning, drifting off to the picture of a dark lake surrounded by trees and a boathouse, with the whispering voices of the ghosts of all who live in the book.

A tremendous, tremendous joy to read.  All hail Wilkie Collins.