Pasalubong (noun) pas-a-loo-bong (Philipines) A gift or souvenir given to a friend or relative by a person who has returned from a trip or arrived for a visit. Tagalog, literally…
Ikat (noun) ee-kat Fabric made using an Indonesian decorative technique in which warp or weft threads, or both, are tie-dyed before weaving. 1930s Malay, literally ‘fasten, tie’. (more…)
The Invisible Host was co-written in 1930 by two American journalists, and strikes a remarkable similarity to Agatha Christie's debut novel And Then There Were None. In both novels a group…
Monolith (noun) mon-o-lith A large single upright block of stone, especially one shaped into or serving as a pillar or monument. / A large characterless building. Mid 19th century from…
A newly discovered short story by Tennessee Williams has been unearthed at the Harvard University archives. The previously unpublished short story by the A Streetcar Named Desire author was published for the…
In late 2018 we started a brand new blog series, documenting the last one hundred years of bestsellers. We've had a blog for every year from 1918 to 2017, each…
Crypt (noun) kr-ipt An underground room or vault beneath a church, used as a chapel or burial place. Late Middle English (in the sense ‘cavern’): from Latin crypta, from Greek…
New releases are coming thick and fast this Autumn, and many are being added to readers' TBR piles. There is a slew of hotly anticipated fiction and non -fiction arriving…
Marabout (noun) ma-ra-boot A Muslim holy man or hermit, especially in North Africa. Early 17th century via French and Portuguese from Arabic murābiṭ ‘holy man’. (more…)
Award-winning author Ian Rankin has said it was an "incredible honour" to help finish William McIlvanney's unfinished novel. The author of the Detective Laidlaw novels had died in 2015 before…
Trilithon (noun) tri-lith-on A megalithic structure consisting of two upright stones and a third across the top as a lintel. Mid 18th century from Greek, from tri- ‘three’ + lithos…
My New Year’s Resolution for 2021 is to read more poetry. So, this new series of quizzes, will take a poem by a famous poet on their birthday and ask…
Exoglossic (adj) ek-so-glo-sik Denoting or relating to a non-indigenous language that is used as an official or second language in a particular country or community. 1980s from exo-, Greek glōssa…
Brexit could cause serious issues within the UK book industry, warn authors such as Hilary Mantel and William Boyd. The proposals to tear up the EU copywriting rules were "deeply…
Wastrel (noun) way-st-rel A wasteful or good-for-nothing person. Late 16th century (denoting a strip of waste land): from the verb waste+ -rel. (more…)
The former Trump White House press secretary and aide to Melania Trump, Stephanie Grisham, will be releasing a tell-all memoir in October. I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw…
Thither (adverb) th-ith-er (archaic) To or towards that place. Old English thider, alteration (by association with hither) of thæder, of Germanic origin; related to that and the. (more…)
Hippiatric (adj) hip-ee-at-rik (historic) Of, relating to, or concerning the medical treatment of horses. Late 17th century (in an earlier sense). From Byzantine Greek ἱππιατρικός of or relating to the…
Ekdam (adj) ek-dam Completely; totally From Hindi ek ‘one’ + Urdu dam ‘breath’. (more…)
Susanna Clarke has won the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction for her second novel Piranesi. The author of her popular debut novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell beat five other books…
