Customer Reviews

O Thou Improper, Thou Uncommon Noun: A Bobtailed, Generally Chronological Listing of Proper Names That Have Become Improper ...

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book begins with a warning from the author: "Taken massively, Improper, Uncommon Nouns are dangerous to the health. Try one here, one there. If there are no disagreeable side effects, such as breaking out in a rash, taste again, but sparingly and at intervals. Otherwise you may become seriously ill." Perhaps I have an unusually strong tolerance for nouns, but my only symptom upon reading the first hundred pages at once was a difficulty in putting it down.
Espy divides his book into subjects instead of working alphabetically, which allows a natural flow from one definition to the next. This ease of progression, combined with Espy's wit, makes the book read more like a novel than a dictionary.

A happy story: I started The Lightning Thief, a children's book,and then received this book. The first chapter of O Thou deals with words taken from Greek gods, and each entry in the chapter tells a little about each god and why he was important. The Lightning Thief is the story of a boy who is half-god and he is being sought by many other Greek mythological creatures. O Thou gave me enough info about each god and mythological creature mentioned in The Lightning Thief to help me anticipate events in the story. Very nice.