A new novel, utterly convincing and haunting

Room by Emma Donoghue. Jack, our 5-year-old narrator, and his mother are being held captive in an 11' by 11' room. His mother struggles to give him as close to normal a childhood as possible under these desperate circumstances, with "Outside" being a made-up world he sees only on TV. But when Ma's daily struggle against insanity becomes too much to bear, Jack must bear the burden of a drastic escape plan. Donoghue's ability to portray Jack's understanding of his world and Ma's determination to keep him safe is both poignant and heart-wrenching. It's been a long time since I've read a book that has affected me as much as this one has--it's absolutely haunting. This title was the #1 choice among independent booksellers for the month of Septemer (you can see the entire list here). It's out this week in hardcover from Little, Brown.
~Emily Crowe

David Foster Wallace Vocabulary

Thanks to @kentmeusemarian for today's post! (Follow me on Twitter: @rebf)

David Foster Wallace was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer, whose most famous work, Infinite Jest, was included in Time magazine's All-Time 100 Greatest Novels list.

Hardcover: 9780316920049, Little, Brown & Co., $35
Paperback: 9780316066525, Little, Brown & Co., $17.99

In his work, he had much occasion to check out his favorite American Heritage Dictionary, and while he was there, circled a multitude of words. Though this article doesn't really go into detail about why DFW circled all these words, this is, apparently, a complete list of the words he did circle.

Were they his favorites? His most-used? Words he could never remember the definitions for? Words he most-loved to use at dinner parties? Was he studying up for an adult spelling bee? We may never know, but you should check them out.

-Rebecca

Check out this post on my personal blog.