The Broken Teaglass, by Emily Arsenault, spoke to me for some reason, even before I read it. Something about the title attracted me. And then I found out it was about a lexicographer (who works at a dictionary publisher, my dream job…though I didn’t know it until I read this book).

If you’re looking for fast-paced, this isn’t for you. Not that it’s slow, but it is subtle, and witty, and plays with words like a well-fed cat.

Most of all, I grokked Billy, who took the job because it was a job and because he loves words — essentially the same reason I’ve ever taken any of the non-writing jobs I’ve ever had. There is a mystery, and it is a good one, though easily unraveled before Billy and his colleague Mona finally figure it out. And yet, there is a nice reluctance in them that was echoed in me — I enjoyed putting the mystery together, lingering over the (literal) pieces of it, savoring them, hoping they would go on forever.

But nothing does, as Billy, Mona, and I all know.

Kelly