books that means

• Daily Crossword
• Word Puzzle
• Word Finder
• Word of the Day
• Synonym of the Day
• Word of the Year
• Language stories
• All featured
• Gender and sexuality
• All pop culture
• Writing hub
• Grammar essentials
• Commonly confused
• All writing tips
• Pop culture
• Writing tips

Advertisement

noun as in published document

Strongest matches

album , booklet , brochure , copy , dictionary , edition , essay , fiction , magazine , manual , novel , pamphlet , paperback , publication , text , textbook , tome , volume , work , writing

Strong matches

atlas , bestseller , Bible , codex , compendium , dissertation , encyclopedia , folio , handbook , hardcover , leaflet , lexicon , monograph , nonfiction , octavo , offprint , omnibus , opus , periodical , portfolio , primer , quarto , reader , reprint , roll , scroll , speller , thesaurus , tract , treatise

Weak matches

opuscule , preprint , softcover , vade mecum

noun as in account; diary

album , list , notebook , record

agenda , pad , register , roster

verb as in register, arrange for

enter , hire , line up , organize , schedule , set up

bill , charter , engage , enroll , make reservation , order , procure , program , reserve

bespeak , pencil in , preengage , sew up

verb as in arrest

accuse , charge

prefer charges , take into custody

Discover More

Example sentences.

She waited for my rant to finish and then reminded me that the book, still in my hand, was one I had pulled from her own bookshelf.

I defy you to read the book—or, worse, review the Twitter commentary about it—and come away feeling good about the prospects for American comity.

Such deals aren’t typically part of Warren Buffett’s play book, although in 2018 Berkshire invested in the initial offering of Brazilian fintech StoneCo Ltd.

On the other side, in March everyone who booked a trip cancelled it.

More than two decades ago, I wrote a book with my New York Times colleagues Judith Miller and Bill Broad called “Germs” that looked at the modern history of biological warfare.

Yet this, in the end, is a book from which one emerges sad, gloomy, disenchanted, at least if we agree to take it seriously.

Submission is less a novel of ideas than a political book, and of the most subversive kind.

Her latest book, Heretic: The Case for a Muslim Reformation, will be published in April by HarperCollins.

At some point during his busy schedule, Israel found the time to write a book, titled The Global War on Morris.

My publisher had asked, “If you wanted to write another book, what would you want to write about?”

The supernaturalist alleges that religion was revealed to man by God, and that the form of this revelation is a sacred book.

But Mrs. Dodd, the present vicar's wife, retained the precious prerogative of choosing the book to be read at the monthly Dorcas.

A small book, bound in full purple calf, lay half hidden in a nest of fine tissue paper on the dressing-table.

She did not need a great cook-book; She knew how much and what it took To make things good and sweet and light.

Again the sallow fingers began to play with the book-covers, passing from one to another, but always slowly and gently.

Related Words

Words related to book are not direct synonyms, but are associated with the word book . Browse related words to learn more about word associations.

noun as in record of finances, fees, or charges

• computation

verb as in take into authorized custody

• incarcerate
• put the arm on
• put the cuffs on
• take prisoner
• toss in jail

verb as in advertise

• give advance notice

noun as in directory

Viewing 5 / 60 related words

On this page you'll find 155 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to book, such as: album, booklet, brochure, copy, dictionary, and edition.

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

21 of the Most Popular Book Genres, Explained

Trust us, this is interesting.

Our editors handpick the products that we feature. We may earn commission from the links on this page.

But when you're a major reader, it's easy to get caught up in what seems to be an endless array of genres that sometimes seem to box you in. Do you prefer sci-fi or fantasy? (But wait, are they the same thing?) What are the key differences between a thriller and a mystery ? Oh, and what does "literary fiction" even mean?

For all you bibliophiles who would like these burning questions answered, we've listed—and defined—the most popular book genres in both fiction and nonfiction so you'll know exactly what to look for during your next visit to the bookstore .

Fiction : " Something invented by the imagination or feigned" - Merriam-Webster

Action and Adventure

Action and adventure books constantly have you on the edge of your seat with excitement, as your fave main character repeatedly finds themselves in high stakes situations. The protagonist has an ultimate goal to achieve and is always put in risky, often dangerous situations. This genre typically crosses over with others like mystery, crime, sci-fi, and fantasy. ( Harry Potter anyone? )

The Three Musketeers

The Call of the Wild

You may think of these books as the throwback readings you were assigned in English class. (Looking at you, Charles Dickens .) The classics have been around for decades, and were often groundbreaking stories at their publish time, but have continued to be impactful for generations, serving as the foundation for many popular works we read today.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Little Women

Vintage Beloved

Comic book or graphic novel.

The stories in comic books and graphic novels are presented to the reader through engaging, sequential narrative art (illustrations and typography) that's either presented in a specific design or the traditional panel layout you find in comics. With both, you'll often find the dialogue presented in the tell-tale "word balloons" next to the respective characters.

The Walking Dead: Compendium One

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

Detective and mystery.

The plot always revolves around a crime of sorts that must be solved—or foiled—by the protagonists.

The Night Fire

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

And Then There Were None

While usually set in a fictional imagined world—in opposition, Ta-Nehisi's Coates's The Water Dancer takes place in the very real world of American slavery— fantasy books include prominent elements of magic, mythology, or the supernatural.

The Water Dancer

Ninth House

Historical fiction.

These books are based in a time period set in the past decades, often against the backdrop of significant (real) historical events.

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Vintage Memoirs of a Geisha

Meant to cause discomfort and fear for both the character and readers, horror writers often make use of supernatural and paranormal elements in morbid stories that are sometimes a little too realistic. The master of horror fiction? None other than Stephen King .

The Haunting of Hill House

Literary Fiction

Though it can be seen as a broad genre that encompasses many others, literary fiction refers to the perceived artistic writing style of the author. Their prose is meant to evoke deep thought through stories that offer personal or social commentary on a particular theme.

Where the Crawdads Sing

Olive, Again

The Dutch House: A Novel

Oh romance, how could we ever resist you? The genre that makes your heart all warm and fuzzy focuses on the love story of the main protagonists. This world of fiction is extremely wide-reaching in and of itself, as it has a variety of sub-genres including: contemporary romance, historical, paranormal, and the steamier erotica . If you're in need of any suggestions, we've got a list of the best romances of all time and the top picks of the year.

Brazen and the Beast

Royal Holiday

Science Fiction (Sci-Fi)

Though they're often thought of in the same vein as fantasy, what distinguishes science fiction stories is that they lean heavily on themes of technology and future science. You'll find apocalyptic and dystopian novels in the sci-fi genre as well.

Nan A. Talese The Testaments

The Hunger Games Trilogy

Short Stories

Though they encompass many of the genres we describe here, short stories are brief prose that are significantly, well, shorter than novels. Writers strictly tell their narratives through a specific theme and a series of brief scenes, though many authors compile these stories in wide-ranging collections, as featured below.

This Is How You Lose Her

How Long 'til Black Future Month?

Suspense and thrillers.

While they often encompass the same elements as mystery books, the suspense and thriller genre sees the hero attempt to stop and defeat the villain to save their own life rather than uncover a specific crime. Thrillers typically include cliffhangers and deception to encourage suspense, while pulling the wool over the eyes of both the main character and reader.

The 19th Christmas

The Guardians

Women's fiction.

Another genre that encompasses many others, women's fiction is written specifically to target female readers, often reflecting on the shared experiences of being a woman in society and the protagonist's personal growth.

My Sister, the Serial Killer

The Queen of Hearts

Red at the Bone

Nonfiction : "Writing or cinema that is about facts and real events" - Merriam-Webster

Biographies and Autobiographies

Serving as an official account of the details and events of a person's life span, autobiographies are written by the subject themselves, while biographies are written by an author who is not the focus of the book.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Traditionally penned by professional chefs or even your favorite celebs , cookbooks offer an appetizing collection of recipes, specific to a theme, cuisine, or experience chosen by the author.

Cravings: Hungry for More

The Jemima Code

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1

Typically written in the first-person, writers use their own personal experiences to reflect on a theme or topic for the reader. Many acclaimed authors—like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison—combine these pieces into collections of social commentary.

Notes of a Native Son

Bad Feminist

The Source of Self-Regard

These books chronicle and layout a specific moment in time, with a goal to educate and inform the reader, looking at all parts of the world at any given moment.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

While a form of autobiography, memoirs are more flexible in that they typically don't feature an extensive chronological account of the writer's life. Instead, they focus on key moments and scenes that communicate a specific message or lesson to the reader about the author.

Born a Crime

The Glass Castle

With poetry—a form of written art— authors choose a particular rhythm and style to evoke and portray various emotions and ideas. Sometimes the message is clear (like a straight-forward love poem ) while with others, the meaning is hidden behind a play on words—it all depends on the writer's style, intent, and chosen theme.

Sylvia Plath: The Collected Poems

The Sun and Her Flowers

There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé

Whether the focus is on emotional well-being , finances, or spirituality, self-help books center on encouraging personal improvement and confidence in a variety of facets of your life.

Harper Everything Is F*cked

Dare to Lead

Like its much-loved television counterparts, true crime books chronicle and examine actual crimes and events in exacting detail, with many focusing on infamous murders, kidnappings, and the exploits of serial killers.

Catch and Kill

I'll Be Gone in the Dark

Helter Skelter

For more ways to live your best life plus all things Oprah, sign up for our newsletter !

McKenzie Jean-Philippe is the editorial assistant at OprahMag.com covering pop culture, TV, movies, celebrity, and lifestyle. She loves a great Oprah viral moment and all things Netflix—but come summertime, Big Brother has her heart. On a day off you'll find her curled up with a new juicy romance novel.

Why I Reconnected with My Estranged Sister

David Wroblewski on His Unexpected Path to Writing

The Self-Help Book That Actually Saved My Life

Life-Changing Quotes from Oprah’s 106th Book Club

Read the Opening to Oprah’s 106th Book Club Pick

Taraji P. Henson: Books That Made a Difference

The Author of “Familiaris” Reveals His Inspiration

3 Fun and Meaningful Ways to Celebrate Juneteenth

Big Queer Love Stories

Oprah Announces Her 106th Book Club Pick

Celebrate Father’s Day with These 20 Books

• Craft and Criticism
• Fiction and Poetry
• News and Culture
• Lit Hub Radio
• Reading Lists

• Literary Criticism
• Craft and Advice
• In Conversation
• On Translation
• Short Story
• From the Novel
• Bookstores and Libraries
• Film and TV
• Art and Photography
• Freeman’s
• The Virtual Book Channel
• Behind the Mic
• Beyond the Page
• The Cosmic Library
• The Critic and Her Publics
• Emergence Magazine
• Fiction/Non/Fiction
• First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing
• The History of Literature
• I’m a Writer But
• Lit Century
• Tor Presents: Voyage Into Genre
• Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast
• Write-minded
• The Best of the Decade
• Best Reviewed Books
• BookMarks Daily Giveaway
• The Daily Thrill
• CrimeReads Daily Giveaway

A Century of Reading: The 10 Books That Defined the 1950s

We have reached the halfway mark of this series.

Some books are flashes in the pan, read for entertainment and then left on a bus seat for the next lucky person to pick up and enjoy, forgotten by most after their season has passed. Others stick around, are read and re-read, are taught and discussed. sometimes due to great artistry, sometimes due to luck, and sometimes because they manage to recognize and capture some element of the culture of the time.

In the moment, you often can’t tell which books are which.  The Great Gatsby  wasn’t a bestseller upon its release, but we now see it as emblematic of a certain American sensibility in the 1920s. Of course, hindsight can also distort the senses; the canon looms and obscures. Still, over the next weeks, we’ll be publishing a list a day, each one attempting to define a discrete decade, starting with the 1900s (as you’ve no doubt guessed by now) and counting down until we get to the (nearly complete) 2010s.

Though the books on these lists need not be American in origin, I am looking for books that evoke some aspect of American life, actual or intellectual, in each decade—a global lens would require a much longer list. And of course, varied and complex as it is, there’s no list that could truly define American life over ten or any number of years, so I do not make any claim on exhaustiveness. I’ve simply selected books that, if read together, would give a fair picture of the landscape of literary culture for that decade—both as it was and as it is remembered. Finally, two process notes: I’ve limited myself to one book for author over the entire 12-part list, so you may see certain works skipped over in favor of others, even if both are important (for instance, I ignored  Dubliners  in the 1910s so I could include Ulysses  in the 1920s), and in the case of translated work, I’ll be using the date of the English translation, for obvious reasons.

For our sixth installment, below you’ll find 10 books that defined the 1950s. (Head here for the  1910s ,  20s ,  30s , and 40s ).

Whether you consider Holden an egotistical whiner or a melancholy boy genius , and even if you really,  really  hate it , there’s no denying that this novel, which has sold more than 65 million copies since its publication (though this number is a few years old and certainly soft), and continues to sell at a healthy clip, was a crucial cultural touchstone in America in the 1950s.  David Shields and Shane Salerno go further in the introduction to their biography  Salinger , writing that the book “redefined postwar America and can best be understood as a disguised war novel.”

Salinger emerged from the war incapable of believing in the heroic, noble ideals we like to think our cultural institutions uphold. Instead of producing a combat novel, as Norman Mailer, James Jones, and Joseph Heller did, Salinger took the trauma of war and embedded it within what looked to the naked eye like a coming-of-age novel.

It may have even influenced the way we think about teenagers to this day. “It absolutely speaks to that moment the teenager emerges as a recognizable social group,” Salinger scholar Sarah Graham told the BBC . “Before that people went through their teenage years with no sense it was a particular kind of identity. It is the first novel of the modern teenage years.” Indeed, it was only after WWII that a distinctive youth culture began to emerge: in part because more teenagers were in high school and fewer were working to support their families. They had time on their hands and angst in their hearts. “Leisure gave teenagers time to reflect on where they were going,” Dr. Graham said. “The idea of existential angst in some way draws from Catcher in the Rye as much as the novel reflects it. There is a strong dialogue between the book and the teenage experience—they are mutually shaping.” As Adam Golub has pointed out , Holden was the first teenager Americans really knew who refused to grow up, and was celebrated for it. This of course despite the fact that Salinger did not at all write the book for teenagers, and that it was well received—called “brilliant” by reviewer after reviewer —as a novel for adults.

Famously, the contemporary hype around  Catcher  was so great that it forced Salinger into the reclusiveness he’s now known for—he was looking, primarily, for privacy, and didn’t mind perpetuating a myth around himself in the process.

“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me,” Ellison writes in the opening lines of this much-read, much-assigned, and highly influential novel. (So influential that President Obama modeled  Dreams of My Father  on it.) The novel was awarded the National Book Award in 1953. In his acceptance speech, Ellison said: “If I were asked in all seriousness just what I considered to be the chief significance of Invisible Man as a fiction, I would reply: Its experimental attitude and its attempt to return to the mood of personal moral responsibility for democracy which typified the best of our nineteenth-century fiction.”

When I examined the rather rigid concepts of reality which informed a number of the works which impressed me and to which I owed a great deal, I was forced to conclude that for me and for so many hundreds of thousands of Americans, reality was simply far more mysterious and uncertain, and at the same time more exciting, and still, despite its raw violence and capriciousness, more promising.

To see America with an awareness of its rich diversity and its almost magical fluidity and freedom I was forced to conceive of a novel unburdened by the narrow naturalism which has led after so many triumphs to the final and unrelieved despair which marks so much of our current fiction. I was to dream of a prose which was flexible, and swift as American change is swift, confronting the inequalities and brutalities of our society forthrightly, but yet thrusting forth its images of hope, human fraternity, and individual self-realization. A prose which would make use of the richness of our speech, the idiomatic expression, and the rhetorical flourishes from past periods which are still alive among us. Despite my personal failures there must be possible a fiction which, leaving sociology and case histories to the scientists, can arrive at the truth about the human condition, here and now, with all the bright magic of the fairy tale.

The novel manages to be many things at once; this is one of its many strengths. “Evenhandedly exposing the hypocrisies and stereotypes of all comers,” Lev Grossman wrote in TIME , “ Invisible Man  is far more than a race novel, or even a bildungsroman. It’s the quintessential American picaresque of the 20th century.”

Fahrenheit 451  is one of those books we all think we understand—probably because we’ve all had to “analyze” it in high school—but even its author wavered on the point. In a 1956 radio interview, Bradbury explained it in the context of government censorship:

I wrote this book at a time when I was worried about the way things were going in this country four years ago. Too many people were afraid of their shadows; there was a threat of book burning. Many of the books were being taken off the shelves at that time. And of course, things have changed a lot in four years. Things are going back in a very healthy direction. But at the time I wanted to do some sort of story where I could comment on what would happen to a country if we let ourselves go too far in this direction, where then all thinking stops, and the dragon swallows his tail, and we sort of vanish into a limbo and we destroy ourselves by this sort of action.

When asked in 2005 what inspired the book burning in the novel, Bradbury had a pithier response : “Well, Hitler of course.”

When I was fifteen, he burnt the books in the streets of Berlin. Then along the way I learned about the libraries in Alexandria burning five thousand years ago. That grieved my soul. Since I’m self-educated, that means my educators—the libraries—are in danger. And if it could happen in Alexandria, if it could happen in Berlin, maybe it could happen somewhere up ahead, and my heroes would be killed.

He also spoke against McCarthyism in his lifetime, and the novel has frequently been interpreted of a criticism of the same, but in later life Bradbury denied this and claimed that it was “a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature,” despite the fact that television was relatively new at the time, just becoming popular. Whatever it means, it remains an enduring classic.

Initial reviews were mixed when the first volume of Tolkien’s fantasy epic was first published, but the ones that knew, really knew. None other than W. H. Auden reviewed the book in the  Times , praising Tolkien’s  The Hobbit  as “one of the best children’s stories of this century” and writing of his new volume for adults:

On the primitive level of wanting to know what happens next, The Fellowship of the Ring is at least as good as The Thirty-Nine Steps . . . . [But] if one is to take a tale of this kind seriously, one must feel that, however superficially unlike the world we live in its characters and events may be, it nevertheless holds up the mirror to the only nature we know, our own; in this, too, Mr. Tolkien has succeeded superbly, and what happened in the year of the Shire 1418 in the Third Age of Middle Earth is not only fascinating in A. D. 1954 but also a warning and an inspiration. No fiction I have read in the last five years has given me more joy than The Fellowship of the Ring .

With the second two books (Tolkien originally meant the three books of  The Lord of the Rings  to be published as a single volume) it steadily gained readership, exploding in popularity particularly in the 1960s with the publication of the paperbacks, and has become one of the best-selling literary works of all time. It is also generally agreed to be the best literary epic ever written, and has had untold influence on the genre ever since its publication. Tolkien’s worlds have been re-immortalized in the songs of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Rush, etc. , and more recently drawn out into increasingly unnecessary films (The Hobbit , I’m looking at you) .  Less widely known were  J. R. R. Tolkien’s rap battle skills .

Nabokov’s most famous novel was originally published in Paris (in English) in 1955 by a publisher whose other titles included   Until She Screams ,  Tender Thighs , and  There’s a Whip in My Valise , and generally ignored until Graham Greene called it one of the best books of the year. Then it was roundly disparaged and dismissed as trash, and banned by the French government—no wonder that smuggled-in copies were already being sold for $20 a pop when it was finally published in the US by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, kicking off what Nabokov called in his journal “Hurricane  Lolita .” As Steve King writes :

Within four days of publication in the U.S. the book was into a third printing; by September 13th it had become the first book since  Gone with the Wind  to sell 100,000 copies in its first three weeks; by the end of September, it was #1 on the bestseller lists. By the time Nabokov appeared on the cover of  Newsweek  in 1962, it seemed that the only one who hadn’t read the book was Groucho Marx, who quipped, “I plan to put off reading Lolita for six years, until she’s eighteen.”

Since then, of course, the novel—along with its eponymous character—has become iconic, though more contemporary readers understand the way the image of Humbert’s nymphet has been twisted as the years have worn on. “With the possible exception of Gatsby, no twentieth-century American literary character penetrated the public consciousness quite like Lolita,” Ira Wells noted in The New Republic .

Her very name entered the language as a common noun: “a precociously seductive girl,”  according to  the  Merriam-Webster  dictionary. (Gatsby, by contrast, had to settle for a mere adjective: “Gatsbyesque.”) . . . [But] we have forgotten Lolita. At least, we’ve forgotten about the young girl, “standing four feet ten in one sock,” whose childhood deprivation and brutalization and torture subliminally animate the myth that launched a thousand music videos. The publication, reception, and cultural re-fashioning of  Lolita  over the past 60 years is the story of how a twelve-year-old rape victim named Dolores became a dominant archetype for seductive female sexuality in contemporary America: It is the story of how a girl became a noun.

But the fact that we’re still talking about, going over the contents and the form and the way its been misunderstood and the way we failed Nabokov and the way Nabokov failed us is only proof of the novel’s significance. It is certainly a book about rape, though it does not invite us to accept rape. It is certainly a book about erotic obsession, though we are meant to pity the obsessed. It is certainly an enduring literary masterpiece.

All three of Baldwin’s most famous works— Go Tell It On the Mountain ,  Notes of a Native Son , and  Giovanni’s Room —were published in the 50s, the decade that he established himself as an essential intellectual, social, literary, and moral voice in this country. All of these were defining books of the decade, but I’ve chosen to highlight the essay collection above either of the two novels because of Baldwin’s importance as an activist and social critic. That is, with these ten essays, as well as much of his other writing and speaking, he helped haul America into the second half of the twentieth century. We’re not quite there yet, but much of the ground we’ve gained is due to Baldwin. He also influenced a whole generation of American writers. “Speeches will be given, essays written and hefty books will be published on the various lives of James Baldwin,” Maya Angelou wrote after his death.

Some fantasies will be broadcast and even some truths will be told. Someone will speak of the essayist James Baldwin in his role as the biblical prophet Isaiah admonishing his country to repent from wickedness and create within itself a clean spirit and a clean heart. Others will examine Baldwin the playwright and novelist who burned with a righteous indignation over the paucity of kindness, the absence of love and the crippling hypocrisy he saw in the streets of the United States and sensed in the hearts of his fellow citizens. I will speak of James Baldwin, my friend and brother. . . . [who] set the stage for me to write I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , encouraged me to take a course in cinematography in Sweden and told me that I was intelligent and very brave.

I can’t tell you how much it pains me that Ayn Rand is the only woman on this list. I would love to have replaced her (and/or some of the others here, cough, Kerouac, cough) with Hannah Arendt, or Flannery O’Connor, or Patricia Highsmith, or Barbara Pym. But there’s no denying the influence of  Atlas Shrugged  on America—horrible and damaging and Paul Ryan-producing as it may be. Atlas Shrugged  is Rand’s treatise on Objectivism (read: “the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute”), her love letter to capitalism, her libertarian rant, and her magnum opus. It was a bestseller in the week of its release and for 22 weeks in total, and sales rose again after the 2007 financial crisis. It has remained popular among high school students and conservatives (an apparently odd paring, though I can think of a few other qualities that unite them), the former likely in part because the Ayn Rand institute donates 400,000 copies of her novels to high schools every year.

“I know from talking to a lot of Fortune 500 C.E.O.’s that Atlas Shrugged has had a significant effect on their business decisions, even if they don’t agree with all of Ayn Rand’s ideas,” bank executive John A. Allison told  The New York Times . “It offers something other books don’t: the principles that apply to business and to life in general. I would call it complete.”

Since its publication it has spurred many, many slobbering tributes that include lines like  “ Atlas Shrugged  has shaped the worldview of many devotees of liberty,” and again, given us Paul Ryan—not to mention Alan Greenspan, who didn’t exactly prevent the recession that readers ran to his idol Ayn Rand to assuage.

“That’s not writing; that’s typing,” said Truman Capote. “It changed my life like it changed everyone else’s,”   said Bob Dylan . Whatever you may think of it (and I think it has . . . not held up well), On the Road  is without a doubt the most important book, indeed the defining text, of the much-mythologized American “Beat Generation.” It’s not only in retrospect, either—we knew this as soon as the novel was published. “ On the Road    is the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as “beat,” and whose principal avatar he is,” wrote Gilbert Millstein in his 1957  New York Times  review, flying in the face of much critical response at the time. “Just as, more than any other novel of the Twenties ,  The Sun Also Rises  came to be regarded as the testament of the “Lost Generation,” so it seems certain that  On the Road  will come to be known as that of the “Beat Generation.” He was correct. “After 1957 On The Road sold a trillion Levis and a million espresso coffee machines, and also sent countless kids on the road,” William S. Burroughs once remarked.

This was of course due in part to the media, the arch-opportunists. They know a story when they see one, and the Beat movement was a story, and a big one . . . The Beat literary movement came at exactly the right time and said something that millions of people of all nationalities all over the world were waiting to hear. You can’t tell anybody anything he doesn’t know already. The alienation, the restlessness, the dissatisfaction were already there waiting when Kerouac pointed out the road.

Upon its publication, this novel, a massive chronicle of the founding of the State of Israel, instantly became a huge international phenomenon. The hardcover was on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year , with a cool 19 weeks in the top spot. The paperback was “the fastest-selling work every published by Bantam,” according to Ira B. Nadel’s Leon Uris: Life of a Best Seller , and by 1965 was among the top 10 bestsellers of all time. The popularity of the novel, and of the 1960 film adaptation, shaped American perception of Israel, immediately after its publication and beyond. As Uris himself said : “My greatest accomplishment is Exodus . It changed peoples lives, it changed the conception of the Jewish people in the international scene.” For his part, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, said : “As a literary work, it isn’t much. But as a piece of propaganda, it’s the greatest thing ever written about Israel.”

The novel, Bradley Burston wrote in Haaretz , “transformed American Jews as no other work has done, before or since . . . it was savaged by critics and academics, and resoundingly ignored by literary prize committees. When the book appeared in 1958, however, it sold in the millions. It was said that it was nearly as common to find a copy of Exodus in American-Jewish households as to find the Bible—and, of the two, not a few Jewish households apparently had only Exodus .”

Needless to say, this American sympathy for Israel and the American Jewish community changed the face of the country and has had lasting effects—both positive and negative, particularly, in the latter case, due to its gross demonization of Arabs. Also, not for nothing, but many Americans could use the reminder that this novel is a work of fiction.

“The genius of Chinua Achebe, like all genius, escapes precise analysis,” Kwame Anthony Appiah wrote in the introduction to a Penguin Classics edition of the text.

If we could explain it fully, we could reproduce it, and it is of the nature of genius to be irreproducible. Still, there has been no shortage of attempts to explain his literary achievement, an achievement that starts with the fact that  Things Fall Apart  (1958), the first of the novels in his “African trilogy” defined a starting point for the modern African novel. There are, as critics are quick to point out, earlier examples of extended narrative written in and about Africa by African writers. Some of them—Amos Tutuola’s  Palm-Wine Drinkard  (1952), Cyprian Ekwensi’s  People of the City  (1954), to name but two also written by Nigerians—remain eminently worth reading. But place them beside the work of Achebe and you will see that in his writing something magnificent and new was going on.

One reason for this, which often passes without notice, is that Achebe solved a problem that these earlier novels did not. He found a way to represent for a global Anglophone audience the diction of his Igbo homeland, allowing readers of English elsewhere to experience a particular relationship to language and the world in a way that made it seem quite natural—transparent, one might almost say. Achebe enables us to hear the voices of Igboland in a new use of our own language. A measure of his achievement is that Achebe found an African voice in English that is so natural its artifice eludes us.

Achebe introduced African literature to the rest of the world—and opened the door for a whole host of African writers in the UK and America, both by his success and as an editor of the African Writers Series, published by Heinemann. His first novel has sold over 20 million copies and been translated into 57 languages, and has been taught ever since its publication as a text essential for understanding decolonization and mid-century Africa.

Isaac Asimov, I, Robot (1950), Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles (1950), Patricia Highsmith, Strangers on a Train (1950), C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950), Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha (first English translation, 1951), Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory (1951), Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time (1951), Isaac Asimov, the  Foundation  Trilogy (1951-1953), Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea (1952), Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl (first English translation, 1952), Patricia Highsmith, The Price of Salt (1952), Bernard Malamud, The Natural (1952), Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood (1952), Barbara Pym, Excellent Women (1952), John Steinbeck, East of Eden (1952), Kurt Vonnegut, Piano Player (1952), E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web (1952), Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye (1953), James Baldwin, Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953), Alfred Kinsey, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female  (1953), Ian Fleming, Casino Royale (1953), Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (1953), Gwendolyn Brooks, Maud Martha (1953), William S. Burroughs, Junky (1953), Arthur Miller, The Crucible (1953), J. D. Salinger, Nine Stories (1953), Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim (1954), William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954), Wallace Stevens, Collected Poems  (1954), Richard Matheson, I Am Legend (1954), Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955), J. P. Donleavy, The Ginger Man (1955), Graham Greene, The Quiet American (1955),  The Guinness Book of Records (1955), Françoise Sagan, Bonjour Tristesse (first English translation 1955), Flannery O’Connor, A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories (1955), John Ashbery, Some Trees (1956), Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals (1956), Dodie Smith, The Hundred and One Dalmatians (1956), James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room (1956), Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems (1956), John Cheever, The Wapshot Chronicle (1957), Roland Barthes, Mythologies  (1957), Dr. Seuss,  The Cat in the Hat  (1957), Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Towards Freedom (1957), Bernard Malamud, The Assistant (1957), Nevil Shute, On the Beach (1957), Vladimir Nabokov, Pnin (1957), Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago  (first English translation 1958), Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958), Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana (1958), Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (1958), Yukio Mishima, Confessions of a Mask (first English translation, 1958), Americo Paredes, With His Pistol in His Hand (1958), T. H. White, The Once and Future King (1958), Robert Bloch, Psycho (1959), Günter Grass, The Tin Drum (1959), Philip Roth, Goodbye, Columbus (1959), Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959), William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch (1959), Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House (1959), John Knowles, A Separate Peace (1959), Strunk & White, The Elements of Style (1959), D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover (unexpurgated U.S. version released 1959)

• Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)

Emily Temple

Previous article, next article, support lit hub..

Join our community of readers.

to the Lithub Daily

Popular posts.

Follow us on Twitter

"Who We Are"

• RSS - Posts

Literary Hub

Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature

Sign Up For Our Newsletters

How to Pitch Lit Hub

Advertisers: Contact Us

Privacy Policy

Support Lit Hub - Become A Member

Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member : Because Books Matter

For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for a donation, you’ll get an ad-free reading experience , exclusive editors’ picks, book giveaways, and our coveted Joan Didion Lit Hub tote bag . Most importantly, you’ll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving on the internet.

Become a member for as low as $5/month

• Daily Crossword
• Word Puzzle
• Word Finder
• Word of the Day
• Synonym of the Day
• Word of the Year
• Language stories
• All featured
• Gender and sexuality
• All pop culture
• Writing hub
• Grammar essentials
• Commonly confused
• All writing tips
• Pop culture
• Writing tips

Advertisement

• a handwritten or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers.

Your child can listen to or read the book online.

• a number of sheets of blank or ruled paper bound together for writing, recording business transactions, etc.
• a division of a literary work, especially one of the larger divisions.
• the Book, the Bible.
• Music. the text or libretto of an opera, operetta, or musical.
• books. books of account .
• Jazz. the total repertoire of a band.
• a script or story for a play.
• a record of bets, as on a horse race.
• Cards. the number of basic tricks or cards that must be taken before any trick or card counts in the score.
• a set or packet of tickets, checks, stamps, matches, etc., bound together like a book.

The petrified tree was a book of Nature.

The White Sox book on Mickey Mantle cautioned pitchers to keep the ball fast and high.

• the customers served by each registered representative in a brokerage house.
• a loose-leaf binder kept by a specialist to record orders to buy and sell stock at specified prices.
• a pile or package of leaves, as of tobacco.
• Mineralogy. a thick block or crystal of mica.
• a magazine: used especially in magazine publishing.
• book value .
• Slang. bookmaker ( def 1 ) .

The solution was not according to the book but it served the purpose.

I've looked him up, but he's not in the book.

verb (used with object)

• to enter in a book or list; record; register.

We booked a table at our favorite restaurant.

The travel agent booked us for next week's cruise.

Synonyms: program , slate , bill , schedule , reserve

Antonyms: cancel

• to enter an official charge against (an arrested suspect) on a police register.

The Philadelphia syndicate books 25 million dollars a year on horse racing.

verb (used without object)

• to register one's name.
• to engage a place, services, etc.

He left the party early to book.

I'm bored with this party, let's book.

He started a restaurant with money he got from booking.

the book department;

a book salesman.

a book knowledge of sailing.

The firm's book profit was $53,680.

verb phrase

• to sign out, as at a job.

The hotel is booked up for the Christmas holidays.

• to sign in, as at a job.
• a number of printed or written pages bound together along one edge and usually protected by thick paper or stiff pasteboard covers See also hardback paperback
• a written work or composition, such as a novel, technical manual, or dictionary

book reviews

the book trade

• a number of blank or ruled sheets of paper bound together, used to record lessons, keep accounts, etc
• plural a record of the transactions of a business or society
• the script of a play or the libretto of an opera, musical, etc
• a major division of a written composition, as of a long novel or of the Bible
• a number of tickets, sheets, stamps, etc, fastened together along one edge
• bookmaking a record of the bets made on a horse race or other event

in bridge, six of the 13 tricks form the book

• strict or rigid regulations, rules, or standards (esp in the phrases according to the book, by the book )

the book of life

• a telephone directory (in the phrase in the book )
• the book sometimes capital the Bible
• an open book a person or subject that is thoroughly understood

chemistry is a closed book to him

• bring to book to reprimand or require (someone) to give an explanation of his conduct

we have closed the book on apartheid

• close the books accounting to balance accounts in order to prepare a statement or report
• cook the books informal. to make fraudulent alterations to business or other accounts
• in my book according to my view of things
• in someone's bad books regarded by someone with disfavour
• in someone's good books regarded by someone with favour
• keep the books to keep written records of the finances of a business or other enterprise
• enrolled as a member
• registered or recorded
• read someone like a book to understand a person, or his motives, character, etc, thoroughly and clearly
• to charge with every relevant offence
• to inflict the most severe punishment on

to book a band

to book a flight

he was booked for ignoring a traffic signal

• tr (of a football referee) to take the name of (a player) who grossly infringes the rules while playing, two such acts resulting in the player's dismissal from the field
• archaic. tr to record in a book

Discover More

Other words from.

• book·less adjective
• book·like adjective
• pre·book verb
• re·book verb
• un·booked adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of book 1

Idioms and Phrases

• book it , Slang. book it .

Someday he will be brought to book for his misdeeds.

an unimaginative individual who does everything by the book.

• close the books , to balance accounts at the end of an accounting period; settle accounts.
• cook the books , Informal. cook 1 ( def 13 )

He's in the boss's bad books.

In my book, he's not to be trusted.

• in one's good books , in favor; liked by someone.

She knew the area like a book.

• to accept or place the bets of others, as on horse races, especially as a business.

You can make book on it that he won't arrive in time.

Much of his work as a night watchman is done off the books.

He claims to have graduated from Harvard, but his name is not on the books.

The daring rescue was one for the book.

• to sentence (an offender, lawbreaker, etc.) to the maximum penalties for all charges against that person.
• to punish or chide severely.
• from memory.

to punish without book.

So far as investment banking is concerned, they wrote the book.

More idioms and phrases containing book

Example sentences.

She waited for my rant to finish and then reminded me that the book, still in my hand, was one I had pulled from her own bookshelf.

I defy you to read the book—or, worse, review the Twitter commentary about it—and come away feeling good about the prospects for American comity.

Such deals aren’t typically part of Warren Buffett’s play book, although in 2018 Berkshire invested in the initial offering of Brazilian fintech StoneCo Ltd.

On the other side, in March everyone who booked a trip cancelled it.

More than two decades ago, I wrote a book with my New York Times colleagues Judith Miller and Bill Broad called “Germs” that looked at the modern history of biological warfare.

Yet this, in the end, is a book from which one emerges sad, gloomy, disenchanted, at least if we agree to take it seriously.

Submission is less a novel of ideas than a political book, and of the most subversive kind.

Her latest book, Heretic: The Case for a Muslim Reformation, will be published in April by HarperCollins.

At some point during his busy schedule, Israel found the time to write a book, titled The Global War on Morris.

My publisher had asked, “If you wanted to write another book, what would you want to write about?”

The supernaturalist alleges that religion was revealed to man by God, and that the form of this revelation is a sacred book.

But Mrs. Dodd, the present vicar's wife, retained the precious prerogative of choosing the book to be read at the monthly Dorcas.

A small book, bound in full purple calf, lay half hidden in a nest of fine tissue paper on the dressing-table.

She did not need a great cook-book; She knew how much and what it took To make things good and sweet and light.

Again the sallow fingers began to play with the book-covers, passing from one to another, but always slowly and gently.

Related Words

• publication

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Look up a word, learn it forever.

Other forms: books; booked; booking

For a lot of kids, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was their first experience of really falling in love with a book , or a collection of printed words or illustrations bound together.

Book is a widely-known word with a whole lot of less well-known meanings. The noun book can refer to a bunch of pages bound together, as in a book you read, but also a book of tickets or stamps, a section of a larger work of literature (like a book of the Bible), or the written script of a stage play. Book can also be a verb meaning "to record information about a criminal suspect" or "to reserve," which you could use to say, "Let's book a room at the nicest hotel in Maui this winter."

• noun physical objects consisting of a number of pages bound together “he used a large book as a doorstop” synonyms: volume see more see less types: show 23 types... hide 23 types... album a book of blank pages with pockets or envelopes; for organizing photographs or stamp collections etc coffee-table book an elaborate oversize book suitable for displaying on a coffee table folio a book (or manuscript) consisting of large sheets of paper folded in the middle to make two leaves or four pages hardback , hardcover a book with cardboard or cloth or leather covers journal a record book as a physical object novel a printed and bound book that is an extended work of fiction order book a book in which customers' orders are entered; usually makes multiple copies of the order paper-back book , paperback , paperback book , soft-cover , soft-cover book , softback , softback book a book with paper covers picture book a book consisting chiefly of pictures sketch block , sketch pad , sketchbook a book containing sheets of paper on which sketches can be drawn notebook a book with blank pages for recording notes or memoranda autograph album an album for autographs coloring book a picture book with line drawings intended to be colored with crayons by children daybook , ledger an accounting journal as a physical object diary a personal journal (as a physical object) phonograph album , record album an album for holding phonograph records photograph album an album for photographs pocket book , pocket edition , pocketbook pocket-sized paperback book scrapbook an album into which clippings or notes or pictures can be pasted stamp album an album for stamps commonplace book a notebook in which you enter memorabilia jotter a small notebook for rough notes playbook a notebook containing descriptions and diagrams of the plays that a team has practiced (especially an American football team) type of: product , production an artifact that has been created by someone or some process
• noun a number of sheets (ticket or stamps etc.) bound together on one edge “he bought a book of stamps” see more see less type of: product , production an artifact that has been created by someone or some process
• noun a written work or composition that has been published (printed on pages bound together) “I am reading a good book on economics” see more see less examples: Das Kapital a book written by Karl Marx (1867) describing his economic theories Erewhon a satirical novel written by Samuel Butler (1872) describing a fictitious land Utopia a book written by Sir Thomas More (1516) describing the perfect society on an imaginary island types: show 44 types... hide 44 types... authority an authoritative written work curiosa books on strange or unusual subjects (especially erotica) formulary , pharmacopeia (pharmacology) a book containing a compilation of pharmaceutical products with their formulas and methods of preparation trade book , trade edition a book intended for general readership bestiary a medieval book (usually illustrated) with allegorical and amusing descriptions of real and fabled animals catechism an elementary book summarizing the principles of a Christian religion; written as questions and answers pop-up , pop-up book a book (usually for children) that contains one or more pages such that a three-dimensional structure rises up when a page is opened storybook a book containing a collection of stories (usually for children) tome a (usually) large and scholarly book booklet , brochure , folder , leaflet , pamphlet a small book usually having a paper cover school text , schoolbook , text , text edition , textbook a book prepared for use in schools or colleges workbook a student's book or booklet containing problems with spaces for solving them copybook a book containing models of good penmanship; used in teaching penmanship appointment book , appointment calendar a book containing a calendar and space to keep a record of appointments catalog , catalogue a book or pamphlet containing an enumeration of things phrase book a book containing common expressions in a foreign language along with their translations playbook a book containing the scripts of one or more dramatic plays prayer book , prayerbook a book containing prayers book of facts , reference , reference book , reference work a book to which you can refer for authoritative facts review copy a copy of a newly published book that is sent for review to a writer or periodical songbook a book containing a collection of songs yearbook a book published annually by the graduating class of a high school or college usually containing photographs of faculty and graduating students last word an authoritative statement best seller , bestseller a book that has had a large and rapid sale cookbook , cookery book a book of recipes and cooking directions instruction book a book of directions for using or operating some piece of equipment blue book a blue booklet used in universities for writing examinations ticket book a book of tickets that can be torn out and used crammer a textbook designed for cramming introduction a basic or elementary instructional text primer an introductory textbook reader one of a series of texts for students learning to read breviary (Roman Catholic Church) a book of prayers to be recited daily certain priests and members of religious orders missal (Roman Catholic Church) a book containing all the prayers and responses needed to celebrate Mass throughout the year Book of Psalms , Psalter a collection of Psalms for liturgical use hymnal , hymnary , hymnbook a songbook containing a collection of hymns source book a collection of historically important documents published together as a book wordbook a reference book containing words (usually with their meanings) enchiridion , handbook , vade mecum a concise reference book providing specific information about a subject or location directory an alphabetical list of names and addresses annual , yearbook , yearly a reference book that is published regularly once every year atlas , book of maps , map collection a collection of maps in book form cyclopaedia , cyclopedia , encyclopaedia , encyclopedia a reference work (often in several volumes) containing articles on various topics (often arranged in alphabetical order) dealing with the entire range of human knowledge or with some particular specialty course catalog , course catalogue , prospectus a catalog listing the courses offered by a college or university type of: publication a copy of a printed work offered for distribution
• noun a major division of a long written composition “the book of Isaiah” see more see less examples: show 59 examples... hide 59 examples... Book of Genesis the first book of the Old Testament: tells of Creation; Adam and Eve; the Fall of Man; Cain and Abel; Noah and the flood; God's covenant with Abraham; Abraham and Isaac; Jacob and Esau; Joseph and his brothers Book of Exodus the second book of the Old Testament: tells of the departure of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt led by Moses; God gave them the Ten Commandments and the rest of Mosaic law on Mount Sinai during the Exodus Book of Leviticus the third book of the Old Testament; contains Levitical law and ritual precedents Book of Numbers the fourth book of the Old Testament; contains a record of the number of Israelites who followed Moses out of Egypt Book of Deuteronomy the fifth book of the Old Testament; contains a second statement of Mosaic law Book of Joshua a book in the Old Testament describing how Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan (the Promised Land) after the death of Moses Book of Judges a book of the Old Testament that tells the history of Israel under the leaders known as judges Book of Ruth a book of the Old Testament that tells the story of Ruth who was not an Israelite but who married an Israelite and who stayed with her mother-in-law Naomi after her husband died 1 Samuel the first of two books in the Old Testament that tell of Saul and David II Samuel the second of two books of the Old Testament that tell of Saul and David 1 Kings the first of two Old Testament books telling the histories of the kings of Judah and Israel II Kings the second of two Old Testament books telling the histories of the kings of Judah and Israel 1 Chronicles the first of two Old Testament books telling the history of Judah and Israel until the return from the Babylonian Captivity in 536 BC II Chronicles the second of two Old Testament books telling the history of Judah and Israel until the return from the Babylonian Captivity in 536 BC Book of Ezra an Old Testament book telling of a rabbi's efforts in the 5th century BC to reconstitute Jewish law and worship in Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity Book of Nehemiah an Old Testament book telling how a Jewish official at the court of Artaxerxes I in 444 BC became a leader in rebuilding Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity Book of Esther an Old Testament book telling of a beautiful Jewess who became queen of Persia and saved her people from massacre Book of Job a book in the Old Testament containing Job's pleas to God about his afflictions and God's reply Book of Psalms an Old Testament book consisting of a collection of 150 Psalms Book of Proverbs an Old Testament book consisting of proverbs from various Israeli sages (including Solomon) Book of Ecclesiastes an Old Testament book consisting of reflections on the vanity of human life; is traditionally attributed to Solomon but probably was written about 250 BC Canticle of Canticles an Old Testament book consisting of a collection of love poems traditionally attributed to Solomon but actually written much later Book of Isaiah an Old Testament book consisting of Isaiah's prophecies Book of Jeremiah a book in the Old Testament containing the oracles of the prophet Jeremiah Book of Lamentations an Old Testament book lamenting the desolation of Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC; traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah Book of Ezekiel an Old Testament book containing Ezekiel's prophecies of the downfall of Jerusalem and Judah and their subsequent restoration Book of the Prophet Daniel an Old Testament book that tells of the apocalyptic visions and the experiences of Daniel in the court of Nebuchadnezzar Book of Hosea an Old Testament book telling Hosea's prophecies Book of Joel an Old Testament book telling Joel's prophecies Book of Amos an Old Testament book telling Amos's prophecies Book of Obadiah an Old Testament book telling Obadiah's prophecies; the shortest book in the Christian Bible Book of Jonah a book in the Old Testament that tells the story of Jonah and the whale Book of Micah an Old Testament book telling the prophecies of Micah foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem Book of Nahum an Old Testament book telling Nahum's prophecy of the fall of Nineveh Book of Habakkuk an Old Testament book telling Habakkuk's prophecies Book of Zephaniah an Old Testament book telling the prophecies of Zephaniah which are concerned mainly with the approaching judgment by God upon the sinners of Judah Book of Haggai an Old Testament book telling the prophecies of Haggai which are concerned mainly with rebuilding the temples after the Babylonian Captivity Book of Zachariah an Old Testament book telling the prophecies of Zechariah which are concerned mainly with the renewal of Israel after the Babylonian Captivity Book of Malachi an Old Testament book containing the prophecies of Malachi Gospel According to Matthew one of the Gospels in the New Testament; includes the Sermon on the Mount Gospel According to Mark the shortest of the four Gospels in the New Testament Gospel According to Luke one of the four Gospels in the New Testament; contains details of Jesus's birth and early life Gospel According to John the last of the four Gospels in the New Testament Acts of the Apostles a New Testament book describing the development of the early church from Christ's Ascension to Paul's sojourn at Rome Revelation of Saint John the Divine the last book of the New Testament; contains visionary descriptions of heaven and of conflicts between good and evil and of the end of the world; attributed to Saint John the Apostle Additions to Esther an Apocryphal book consisting of text added to the Book of Esther Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Children an Apocryphal book consisting of text added to the Book of Daniel Book of Susanna an Apocryphal book consisting of text added to the Book of Daniel Bel and the Dragon an Apocryphal book consisting of text added to the Book of Daniel Book of Baruch an Apocryphal book ascribed to Baruch Epistle of Jeremiah an Apocryphal book consisting of a letter ascribed to Jeremiah to the Jews in exile in Babylon warning them against idolatry Book of Tobit an Apocryphal book that was a popular novel for several centuries Book of Judith an Apocryphal book telling how Judith saved her people 1 Esdras an Apocryphal book consisting of a compilation from I Chronicles and II Chronicles and Ezra and Nehemiah II Esdras an Apocryphal book of angelic revelations Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach an Apocryphal book mainly of maxims (resembling Proverbs in that respect) Wisdom of Solomon an Apocryphal book consisting mainly of a meditation on wisdom; although ascribed to Solomon it was probably written in the first century BC 1 Maccabees an Apocryphal book describing the life of Judas Maccabaeus II Maccabees an Apocryphal book describing the life of Judas Maccabaeus types: Epistle a book of the New Testament written in the form of a letter from an Apostle type of: section , subdivision a self-contained part of a larger composition (written or musical)
• noun a compilation of the known facts regarding something or someone “his name is in all the record books ” synonyms: record , record book see more see less types: show 4 types... hide 4 types... logbook a book in which the log is written won-lost record (sports) a record of win versus losses card , scorecard (golf) a record of scores (as in golf) bell book a logbook in which all orders concerning the main engines of a ship are recorded type of: fact a statement or assertion of verified information about something that is the case or has happened
• noun a collection of rules or prescribed standards on the basis of which decisions are made “they run things by the book around here” synonyms: rule book see more see less type of: accumulation , aggregation , assemblage , collection several things grouped together or considered as a whole
• noun a written version of a play or other dramatic composition; used in preparing for a performance synonyms: playscript , script see more see less types: show 9 types... hide 9 types... prompt copy , promptbook the copy of the playscript used by the prompter continuity a detailed script used in making a film in order to avoid discontinuities from shot to shot dialog , dialogue the lines spoken by characters in drama or fiction libretto the words of an opera or musical play scenario an outline or synopsis of a play (or, by extension, of a literary work) screenplay a script for a film including dialogue and descriptions of characters and sets shooting script the final detailed script for making a movie or TV program teleplay a script adapted or written for television duologue a part of the script in which the speaking roles are limited to two actors type of: dramatic composition , dramatic work a play for performance on the stage or television or in a movie etc.
• noun a record in which commercial accounts are recorded “they got a subpoena to examine our books ” synonyms: account book , book of account , ledger , leger see more see less types: show 4 types... hide 4 types... cost ledger ledger showing the accumulated costs classified in various ways general ledger the ledger that contains all of the financial accounts of a business; contains offsetting debit and credit accounts (including control accounts) subsidiary ledger details of an account supporting the amount stated in the general ledger daybook , journal a ledger in which transactions have been recorded as they occurred type of: record a document that can serve as legal evidence of a transaction
• verb arrange for and reserve (something for someone else) in advance “The agent booked tickets to the show for the whole family” synonyms: hold , reserve reserve obtain or arrange (for oneself) in advance see more see less types: hold open , keep , keep open , save retain rights to type of: bespeak , call for , quest , request express the need or desire for; ask for
• verb engage for a performance “Her agent had booked her for several concerts in Tokyo” see more see less type of: schedule plan for an activity or event
• verb register in a hotel booker see more see less type of: register record in writing; enter into a book of names or events or transactions
• verb record a charge in a police register see more see less types: fine , ticket issue a ticket or a fine to as a penalty amerce punish by a fine imposed arbitrarily by the discretion of the court type of: enter , put down , record make a record of; set down in permanent form
• noun a collection of playing cards satisfying the rules of a card game see more see less type of: accumulation , aggregation , assemblage , collection several things grouped together or considered as a whole

Vocabulary lists containing book

From amanuensis to author , foreword to frontispiece , there's more to books than just reading them. Here are some of the words we use to talk about books, book parts, and book people.

Here's your cue: Put this list in the spotlight and learn all about theater. Review genres of drama, parts of a play, stage directions, and more. Set the stage for vocabulary and you're sure to steal the show.

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement..

This abbreviated glossary covers only the most commonly encountered terms. There may be exceptions to some of our definitions - our main concern is to provide you with general concepts relative to commonly used book jargon. Abbreviations appear alphabetized at the beginning of each respective letter; only the most common abbreviations are included.

Additional resources

For a more extensive list the following books are very useful:

Advance copy

Advertisements, all published, binding copy, book club edition, book formats, book jacket, cancel leaf, conjugate leaves, deckle edge, dust jacket, dust wrapper, edition & printing edition, extra-illustrated, first appearances, first books, first edition, frontispiece, full binding, full binding, half binding, large paper copy, leaf (leaves), marbled edges, marbled paper, out-of-print, pre-publication price, presentation copy, quarter binding, reading copy, salesman sample, self-wrappers, sewn-as-issued, solander case, three quarter binding, three-decker, tell a friend about the abaa glossary a.e.g..

TRY OUR FREE APP

Write your book in Reedsy Studio. Try the beloved writing app for free today.

Craft your masterpiece in Reedsy Studio

Plan, write, edit, and format your book in our free app made for authors.

Blog • Understanding Publishing

Posted on Dec 29, 2020

The Ultimate List of Book Genres: 35 Popular Genres, Explained

Authors need to have a firm grasp on all the different genres of books in order to find the perfect home for their own. The tropes and expectations of a book’s genre will inform its content and style during the writing process, as well as fundamentals such as word count . But it’s also central to the marketing of a book , determining its target audience, and those all-important Amazon categories . Get your genre wrong, and you could be waving goodbye to book sales and hello to unsatisfied reader reviews!

How many book genres are there?

Though we’re only covering 35 of the most popular in this post, there are around 50 genres in total — the exact number depends on who you ask. If you take subgenres into account, over on Reedsy Discovery we have 107 different categories, while Amazon has over 16,000! 

That can be a lot to take in. So if you'd like some personalized guidance, we recommend taking this 1-minute quiz that will point you towards your genre (and subgenre). 

Which genre (or subgenre) am I writing?

Find out which genre your book belongs to. It only takes a minute!

For an overview of all of the genres, that's what the rest of this post is for. There’s bound to be a genre that’s the perfect fit for your book — all you have to do is find it!

Fiction genres

“Writing fiction is the act of weaving a series of lies to arrive at a greater truth.” — Khaled Hosseini

This book genre is characterized by elements of magic or the supernatural and is often inspired by mythology or folklore. In high fantasy — one that’s set in an entirely fictional world — these magical elements are at the forefront of the plot, as in Trudi Canavan’s  Black Magician trilogy. In low fantasy or magical realism, however, magic is subtly woven into an otherwise familiar, real-world setting. You can delve into  fantasy’s many subgenres to get to know your Arcanepunk from your Flintlock, and find your book’s home!

Pro tip for writing fantasy : To make your world feel real and functional, make sure it’s grounded in rules — an internal rationale, so to speak, encompassing everything from the workings of your society to your magic system.

Science Fiction

A popular genre of science fiction, dystopian novels offer a bleak and frightening vision of the future. Authors writing dystopias imagine a grim society, often in the aftermath of a disaster, facing things like oppressive governments, Black Mirror -esque technology, and environmental ruin. From widely popular series like The Hunger Games to critically-acclaimed classics like Nineteen Eighty-four , the enduring appeal of dystopian fiction lies in our burning desire to know where mankind is headed — and our perverse enjoyment of dark stories, so long as they aren’t actually happening to us. 

If you struggle to write consistently, sign up for our How to Write a Novel course to finish a novel in just 3 months.  

NEW REEDSY COURSE

How to Write a Novel

Enroll in our course and become an author in three months.

Action & Adventure

If you’re writing adventure, then chances are your book follows the structure of the Hero’s Journey . Your protagonist has a very important goal to achieve, but they’re really going to have to go through the wringer first! You throw up obstacle after obstacle, putting your hero in downright dangerous situations but eventually, they triumph and return home transformed. The action and adventure genre also complements a huge range of others, which means it has its fingers in everything from fantasy novels like The Hobbit to classic romance like J ane Eyre .

Also called detective fiction, this book genre is characterized by a gripping plot that revolves around a mystery — but hopefully, you’ve cracked that clue! The setting, characters, and tone of your book will determine precisely which category it falls under: cozy mystery , hardboiled, or something in between. But at the core of any mystery is a crime that must be solved by the protagonist. To get a sense of the clever trail of clues that’s so vital to this genre, check out Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie — the grande dame of mystery fiction.

Pro tip for writing a mystery : When planning your novel, consult the Fichtean curve , a narrative structure that emphasizes mini-crises, ratcheting up the tension to keep readers anxious to reach the climax.

What unites the books in this genre is not theme, plot, or setting, but the feeling they inspire in the reader: your pulse quickens, and your skin prickles as you turn the page with bated breath. Of course, this feeling of dread only comes about if the author creates the right atmosphere — an essential feature dependent on the subgenre. Gothic horror, for example, sends a shiver down your spine with spooky settings and paranormal elements, while gross-out horror shocks the reader with hacked-up flesh and buckets of blood. The master of horror fiction in all its guises? Stephen King , of course.

Pro tip for writing horror : Make the stakes plain and straightforward — survival, the death of a loved one, etc. — and clearly establish them for the reader, so they are in no doubt about the character’s motivation.

Thriller & Suspense

A horror story can also be called a thriller, if it employs psychological fear to build suspense . But not all thrillers are horror stories . So what are they? While this book genre encompasses many of the same elements as mystery, in a thriller the protagonist is usually acting to save their own life, rather than to solve the crime. Thrillers typically include cliffhangers, deception, high emotional stakes, and plenty of action — keeping the reader on the edge of their seat until the book’s climax . Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is a masterclass in the dark, mysterious thriller. 

Pro tip for writing a thriller : Avoid anything that bogs down the pacing. If you notice that a scene is getting tied up in everyday details, or doesn’t add enough excitement to the plot, rewrite it or cut it altogether!

Historical Fiction

This book genre encompasses fictional stories in a historical setting , carefully balancing creativity and facts. In most cases, the characters and events are imagined by the author and enriched with historically accurate details from a specific time period. Take The Help by Kathryn Stockett, for example — a fictional story set in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement. But occasionally, as is the case with Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy, the author builds the main story around real historical figures and events. 

Like almost all of these genres, it's crucial that historical fiction works in exposition and historical detail subtly. Want to learn more about how to do this? Check out our free course on the golden writing rule, Show, Don't Tell.

FREE COURSE

Show, Don't Tell

Master the golden rule of writing in 10 five-minute lessons.

Romance is so frequently used as a subplot that it can sometimes be tricky to know whether or not you’re writing in this genre . The key thing to remember is that the romantic relationship must be the center point of the plot. (Other giveaways include a “happily ever after” ending and the warm fuzzies.) If your novel has a romantic relationship at its heart and is perfectly at home in another genre, it probably falls into one of romance’s many subgenres , including but not limited to: young adult romance, paranormal romance, and historical romance.

Women’s Fiction

Women’s fiction is an umbrella term for books written to target a female audience, generally reflecting on the shared experience of being a woman or the growth of a female protagonist. Because of this rather broad definition, authors will quite often write a romance novel or mystery, for example, that could also be labeled women’s fiction. Despite the connotations of one alternative name for this genre (“chick-lit”), many critically acclaimed bestsellers, including Jaqueline Woodson’s Red at The Bone, fall under its purview. 

Contemporary Fiction

Literary Fiction

Like contemporary fiction, books considered literary fiction can’t be neatly filed under any other genre. What distinguishes this genre from contemporary fiction is that works of literary fiction are thought to have considerable artistic value. If your prose is meant to engage the reader in thought, if your narrative is character-driven and introspective, and if you provide personal or social commentary on a “serious” theme, then chances are you’re writing lit-fic. Modern classics by the likes of Virginia Woolf or Ali Smith would be labeled literary fiction.

Like we mentioned, lit-fic is heavy on character, and lighter on plot. If you're interested in writing a character-driven story, try out our profile template for developing well-rounded, fully realized ones.

FREE RESOURCE

Reedsy’s Character Profile Template

A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours.

Magical Realism

You may remember us mentioning magical realism under the umbrella of fantasy — but considering its highbrow style and literary prestige, magical realism is often considered a genre in its own right. Its hallmarks include a real-world setting, a cast of run-of-the-mill characters (no vampires, fairies, or sorcerers), a fluid and non-linear timeline, and supernatural happenings — a baby born with feathered wings, or an egg hatching a ruby — left unexplained. Authors like Isabel Allende and Toni Morrison have used this literary style to grapple with serious social ills, from colonialism to fascism and slavery.  

Graphic Novel

Short Story

Though they can belong to any of the other book genres on this list, short stories are frequently grouped together in their own genre because they’re, well, so much shorter than novels. Often the author will compile a collection linked together by a narrative thread or, more commonly, a shared theme. The stories in A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin, for example, follow a series of women in different occupations — from cleaning women to ER nurses — all struggling to survive.

Young Adult

Young adult fiction , or YA, targets readers aged 12-18 and reflects its readership by following teenage characters as they grapple with the unique challenges of adolescence. Most works of YA fiction can be labeled “ coming-of-age novels ”, in which the characters exit childhood and enter adulthood — a transition that results in a loss of innocence and a shifting sense of identity. Some of the biggest bestsellers in recent years have belonged to this genre, including The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and anything by John Green. 

Pro tip for writing young adult fiction : Though your teen character’s voice should be true to her life experience, you should never “dumb down” the language, story, or style choices in a YA novel.

The shiny new penny on this book genres list, new adult is like young adult aged-up: coming-of-age stories after the messiness of adolescence. Its college-age protagonists are walked through the gauntlet of becoming fully-fledged grownups, ditching the stress of the SATs and senior prom for college exams, career transitions, and more mature first times. Big names in New Adult , like Cora Carmack, tend to write steamy romances set in dorm rooms. But this genre isn’t all about collegiate love stories — your gritty urban fantasy or immersive historical fiction could find its home here, too. 

Books in this genre are written with readers under the age of twelve in mind. Of course, kids will do a lot of growing between the ages of zero and twelve, which is why children’s books range from baby board books all the way up to middle grade ‘epics’ of 50,000 words. Hopefully, if you’re writing children’s literature , you already know you are. But it’s crucial that you also know which age group you’re trying to target, as this will impact the themes, characters, and complexity of your book.

Nonfiction genres

This is a broad category encompassing a number of nonfiction subgenres . From memoirs and biographies to books to self-help and true crime books, there's a type of nonfiction for every kind of reader.

Memoir & Autobiography

Both memoirs and autobiographies provide a true account of the author’s life. They differ in that an autobiography provides a chronological account of your life’s events and accomplishments, whereas a memoir puts the emphasis on only the most defining, emotional moments. Generally, these moments are drawn together by a single theme — or a significant time, place, or relationship — to communicate a message you wish to share with readers. The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson is a popular example of a memoir .

Pro tip for writing a memoir : Treat yourself as an interview subject and ask yourself questions that will trigger those life-defining stories — the ups and downs, the events that shaped you, what you sacrificed, what you learned.

Like autobiographies, biographies provide readers with a person’s life story; but they’re written in the third person by someone other than the subject. Generally, the subject of a biography is (or was) well-known — somebody whose life can teach readers an interesting lesson worth learning. Biographies, memoirs, and autobiographies differ from the rest of the nonfiction on this list, in that they weave a narrative in almost the same way a novel does. A great biography , like Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton , isn’t a laundry list of events, but a life-giving tribute. 

Food & Drink

Food and drink is one of nonfiction’s hottest book genres, making it a crowded and highly competitive market. As a result, today’s cookbooks tend to cater to specific cuisines, dietary, and/or lifestyle needs. If you’re writing a cookbook , you might consider pairing recipes with nutritional information, short autobiographical narratives, or even workouts. Jo Wicks’s 30 Day Kickstart Plan and Less Fuss No Waste Kitchen by Lindsay Miles are excellent examples of modern cookbooks. 

Art & Photography

Some of the bestselling books in nonfiction, self-help books encourage personal improvement and confidence. Whether the focus is on relationships, emotional well-being, or finances, if you’re writing a book that aims to uplift and empower the reader, then you’re probably writing self-help .

The books in this genre lay down the known facts about a historical era, event, or figure. And since this is nonfiction, all the facts have to be accurate (though that doesn’t mean there’s no room for inference or opinion). The goal of these books is to educate and inform the reader, so this genre does include all those textbooks you used in school. But many history books ditch the play-by-play format to chronicle the past in a way more akin to storytelling. One of our favorite history books is Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind by Yuval Noah Harari. 

Travel memoirs and travelogues, like Jonathan Glancey’s The Journey Matters , take us all over the world, giving even the most devoted homebodies a tantalizing taste of adventure, wildlife, and the great outdoors. These pocket-sized books — featuring destination reviews, lists of where to eat and what to see, and tips for traveling on a budget — are without a doubt some of the most useful titles on the shelves.

Laugh-out-loud memoirs by the funniest celebs, satirical essays from the likes of David Sedaris, or gag gifts like How to Adult — all the books in this rib-tickling genre are written with one thing in mind: making readers laugh! So if you’ve compiled a collection of all your favorite dad jokes or penned a cathartic brain-dump of your most cringe-worthy memories, then your book may also belong in the humor genre. 

An essay may sound like a boring assignment from your school years, but the books in this genre are among some of the most moving and inspirational works of literature there are. Many powerful voices — like James Baldwin and Roxane Gay — have used these short works to reflect on their own personal experiences and views, combining them into a collection that serves as an eye-opening social commentary on a particular theme or subject. 

Guide / How-to 

Religion & Spirituality

From histories of the Catholic Church to spiritual guidebooks and memoirs of the Eat, Pray, Love variety, this genre has a place for anything and everything related to the topics of religion and spirituality. 

Humanities & Social Sciences

Got something wise to say? Then your book might just belong among the books of this eclectic genre — as long as it discusses a topic related to (deep breath): philosophy, history, literature, language, art, religion, music, or the human condition. This might seem like a pretty wide net to fall into, but keep in mind that books in this genre are typically quite academic; if you’ve written more of a free-flowing spiritual guide, it probably belongs in the previous genre. 

Parenting & Families

Parents and families struggling with discipline, education, bonding, the care of a newborn baby, or a child with special needs, can turn to this well-stocked genre of books when they need to bring in the reinforcements. If you’ve written a memoir that’ll have families whole-heartedly nodding in agreement, or a guide brimming with advice for frazzled parents, then you can find a place for your book in the parenting and families section. 

Science & Technology

The job of science nonfiction is not to predict the future, but to make sense of the world we’re currently living in — which, quite honestly, can feel like science fiction to some of us! Readers of this genre range from complete beginners trying to understand the things around them to technophiles whose brains are whirring to keep up with the pace of change, so there’s bound to be a niche for your book, however advanced it is. 

As much as kids love fairytales and talking animals, they’re often just as happy to pick up a nonfiction book at storytime. Whether it’s an activity book to keep them busy, a powerful true story like Malala’s Magic Pencil , or a children’s encyclopedia to feed their brains, children’s nonfiction is all about making learning fun. And the wildly popular Horrible Histories series has proven that this genre can compete with wizards and superheroes at every age!

There you have it: 35 of the most popular genres of books. Hopefully, this list will help you get your foot in the right door. But if your book doesn’t slot neatly into any of these categories (though there are quite some more types of nonfiction to consider), don’t be afraid to declare it a hybrid, or to dig a little deeper into the subcategories that you’ll find in the shade of these umbrella genres.

And no matter what kind of book you're writing, check out our book development template to get started.

Get our Book Development Template

Use this template to go from a vague idea to a solid plan for a first draft.

Continue reading

Recommended posts from the Reedsy Blog

How to Format a Book in Google Docs in 7 Simple Steps

While there are much better alternatives, here's how you can format a book in Google's popular writing app.

The 6 Best Ghostwriting Companies to Write Your Book

Learn which companies you can trust if you want to find a ghostwriter to write your next book.

How to Publish a Book For Free: The 7 Best Sites

If you want to publish your book without spending a single dime, check out this handy list of 7 free self-publishing services.

5 Ways to Save on Your Self-Publishing Budget

If you want to self-publish a book without breaking the bank, here are 5 tips to ensure you still get the best result possible.

30 Great Book Dedication Examples to Inspire Your Own

A list of 30 of the best book dedications in the business that'll have you crying, laughing, and crying laughing.

Expository Writing: The Craft of Sharing Information

Expository writing is a fundamental part of how we learn and make sense of the world. Learn all about it in this post.

Join a community of over 1 million authors

Reedsy is more than just a blog. Become a member today to discover how we can help you publish a beautiful book.

We made a writing app for you

Yes, you! Write. Format. Export for ebook and print. 100% free, always.

1 million authors trust the professionals on Reedsy. Come meet them.

Enter your email or get started with a social account:

• Browse Rare Books
• Search Rare Books
• Browse Signed Books
• Search Signed Books
• Browse First Editions
• Search First Editions
• Saul Bellow
• Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Charles Dickens
• Umberto Eco
• Ian Fleming
• Gabriel García Márquez
• Ernest Hemingway
• Rudyard Kipling
• Doris Lessing
• Arthur Miller
• V.S Naipaul
• Harold Pinter
• Philip Pullman
• Philip Roth
• John Steinbeck
• J. R. R Tolkien
• John Updike
• Elie Wiesel
• Business Partner
• Father's Day
• Mother's Day
• Valentine's Day
• Book Search

blogis librorum. A blog about books. Rare books.

Rare Book Terminology You Should Know

Topics: Rare Books , Book Collecting

When you first enter into the world of rare books, you might think you’ve encountered a new language in some ways. Rare booksellers, collectors, and archivists use many words and phrases that can be difficult to parse. In addition, there are simply a lot of those words and phrases to learn. Some refer to the condition of the book, others refer to the way the book was made or to its style and aesthetic, and yet others still reference information about the book’s publication or ownership. And in many cases, there are multiple terms in use that refer to the same thing! We couldn’t possibly provide you with every word or phrase you might see used in a description of a rare book, but we can certainly get you started. We’ve separated some of those words and phrases into distinct categories to help you get acquainted with the language of the rare book trade.

Rare book dealers, buyers, and collectors rely on a wide variety of words and phrases to describe the condition of a book or object. First, there are terms used to describe the condition the book is in—usually ranging from “as new” or “fine” down to “poor” or “reading copy” or “binding copy.” We want to tell you a little bit about these terms to start. The best possible condition in which you can find a rare book is “as new” condition, but this kind of condition in itself is relatively rare. For most booksellers, “as new” means the book looks just like it did when it was originally published and sold. For any rare books that are older, you’re unlikely to find a copy in “as new” condition. Indeed, for most older rare books, the best condition you’ll see listed is “fine.” When a book is in “fine” condition, it has some signs of handling, but there are absolutely no imperfections present. For example, the book will not have any tears or marks, and will generally look like a book in perfect condition aside from the fact that it has been handled or opened.

Books that are in “very good” condition typically might have some very minor imperfections, such as a small mark, but the dust jacket will not have any tears, the pages of the book will not have any tears, and any defects will be limited. Once a rare book is described as being in “good” condition, it may have some clear imperfections such as a small tear or stain, and it may look worn, but the book will be intact and will not have major issues. Then, a book that is listed as being in only “fair” condition likely means that the book has some obvious imperfections. For example, it might be missing its dust jacket or the dust jacket might be damaged, the binding may be quite loose, and even endpapers could be lacking. (You might be wondering: what’s an endpaper? Don’t worry—we’ll get there in just a little while.)

Now for the categories that suggest that book really has some problems in terms of its condition. A book that is listed as being in “poor” condition likely will have significant aesthetic imperfections like tears or stains, missing portions, loose bindings, and no dust jacket (if the book initially came with one). You might also see condition notes of “reading copy” or “binding copy.” These are not necessarily worse than a book in “poor” condition, but they have major defects. The term “reading copy” is typically used to describe a book that is in fair or poor condition, but that has no defects to any of the text pages—i.e., you can still read it perfectly. A book described as a “binding copy” is typically one that is in fair or poor condition because the binding is so damaged, but all of the pages (including plates or maps, for example) still exist. For collectors, there’d need to be a pretty good reason to buy a book that is in “fair” or worse condition. For most collectors, buying a book in “fair” or worse condition means that there’s something so special about the book that it makes sense to add it to the collection.

Those are just the terms that people in the rare book world use to classify the condition of a book or object. There are also some terms that concern condition. Most often, you might see a reference to “foxing” in the description of a book that’s for sale. It probably doesn’t mean what you think it means. It’s a term that’s typically used to refer to spots of discoloration on a book that are often a dark brownish red color, but they can also appear in other colors. It’s important to be clear that foxing does not refer to spots caused by mold or to marks caused by water damage. You might also see reference to “yellowing” or “yellowed” pages. Typically, a rare bookseller will use this term to refer to damage resulting from sunlight and fading, color changes as a result of dust, or fading caused by paper acids. Some booksellers will use the term “sunned” to describe this damage. You might also see reference to a “dampstain,” which refers to damage caused by a liquid (water or otherwise). Booksellers can also use the term “browning” to describe discoloration that’s often due to age or decomposition of the paper, and “bumping” to describe slight damage to the corners of a book (often caused by poor handling or shelving).

Beyond staining to the book, you might see a reference to “fraying” in a bookseller’s ad or at auction. This term describes damage to the cloth covering the book boards, sometimes resulting in the book. You could also see a bookseller reference a “chipped” dust jacket. This term means what you’d probably guess: little pieces of the dust jacket have chipped off. Sometimes the term is also used to refer to book pages, or even to the book binding. And finally, you might read that a book is “dog-eared,” which means that someone has folded down one or more of the pages (often while reader as a place keeper), with the fold resembling a dog’s ear.

Physical Aspects of the Book

When it comes to the format and aesthetics of rare books , there are many different terms that are used to describe the physicality of the book, its style, and the way it was crafted. We’re going to start with the physicality of the object. Let’s begin with the cover of a book. You might see a reference to “boards,” which is a term that’s sued to describe the covers (both front and back) of a hardbound book. What this term means is that the book’s cover was made with—typically—bookboard that has been covered in cloth prior to being bound. Differently, the term “wraps” is used to describe the paper cover on a paperback book. The “spine” is the part of the book the cover the binding of the pages inside and it’s sometimes described as the “back” of the book. The “tail” is the heel or bottom of the spine. The “hinge” is the part of the book adjacent to the spine that allows a handler to open and close the book.

How about rare book formats ? You might see a reference to a “folio,” a “quarto” or “4to,” an “octavo” or “8vo,” and in some cases a “duodecimo” or “12mo” or “sextodecimo” or “16mo.” What do they mean? Generally speaking, when the word “folio” is used to describe the size of a book, the term means a book with sheets (or pieces of paper) that have been folded only once, producing a book that is larger than 13 inches. You’ll sometimes see this term abbreviated as “fo.” Depending upon the book, you might see larger folios described with the terms “elephant folio,” “atlas folio,” or “double elephant folio.” Yes, you’ve guessed it—the double elephant folio is extremely large and is a term that’s often used to describe folios that are larger than 50 inches high. When pages are folded only once as in a folio, the book is made up of groupings of two leaves or four pages. A “quarto” or “4to” is one of the most common sizes or formats for books. These two terms, which can be used interchangeably, refer to a book that has been created by folding a sheet two times so that you have four leaves.

Imagine you have a single piece of paper that you fold in half, and then you fold it in half again—a quarto or 4to is made up of groupings of these folded pieces sheets. Usually they’re around 12 inches in height, but the size is not determinative. Now onto the “octavo” or “8vo.” This is a term that describes a book that has been made by folding a sheet three separate times so that you have eight leaves. An octavo is made up of multiple groupings of these folded sheets. An octavo is usually about 9 or 10 inches in height, but again, the sheer size of the book is not determinative.

Now onto aesthetics and style. When it comes to rare book bindings , there are a lot of different styles. Some of the styles that are used currently to make books have been used for hundreds of years, while other binding styles are quite new and rely on contemporary technologies. In the present, “saddle stitching” refers to books that have been bound with staples, while a “perfect binding” refers to a book that has been bound with an adhesive. They’re not common in the rare book world, but “coil” or “spiral” bindings are those that have been bound with a spiral wire or piece of plastic by a machine (like a spiral-bound notebook). Some pieces of ephemera or artist’s books are bound with a “metal screw post” or “plastic screw post” binding. These are what they sound like—there’s a single post that goes through the leaves and binds them together, typically in one of the corners. There are a variety of Japanese bookbinding styles, with “stab binding” techniques used most commonly. With stab bindings, the outer edges of a book are literally stabbed and sewn in a particular pattern with embroidering or other threads.

Historically, in terms of bindings, you may see references to “calf” bindings, which are leather bindings using calf hide. There are many different types of calf bindings, including “diced” (where square or diamond designs are scored into the leather), “marbled” (where the leather has been stained so that it has a marbling effect), “mottled” (where the leather has been stained to produce more random designs than marbling), “paneled” (where there’s some sort of framing on the leather cover that’s typically made by leather tooling or gilt, and we’ll get to gilt shortly!), and Speckled (where the leather has been stained to intentionally have specks or spots). There are other examples of calf binding, too. “Morocco” bindings are another type of binding that have been used since the 1500s. They often have colorful dyes and are made of goatskin. Like calf bindings, there are many different types of Morocco bindings. You can have “crushed” Morocco bindings (where the leather has been flattened so that you cannot see the leather grain), “Levant” (large and refined), “Niger” (rubbed leather named for the region in West Africa where the style originated), and “straight grain” (a leather styled through moistening the skin). You might also read about “Cosway-style” bindings (which have portraits within the covers), “vellum” (one of the oldest bindings—used since medieval times—originally made from calfskin and now often made from lamb or goat), “Roan” (a sheepskin that is designed to look like a Morocco binding but is less elegant), “metallic” (bound with metals), or “jeweled” (bound with gemstones).

Now onto the paper inside the book. Many rare books have “deckle edges,” which is a term that describes book edges that look rough. Until the nineteenth century, nearly all books had deckle edges, while they are now a design choice. They are often untrimmed and may be described simply as “untrimmed” pages. However, you should be sure to distinguish between “untrimmed” and “uncut” pages—the latter refers to a book made up of a folded leaf that has not been cut. Accordingly, all of the pages of an “uncut” book cannot be opened. In many descriptions, this is referred to as an “unopened” book. When it comes to page styling and aesthetics, endpapers also tend to be styled significantly. Many, like we mentioned above, are from handmade papers, but endpapers can also be made up of silk and other exquisite fabrics, or other textiles. You might also see references to “glassine paper” in a description for a book. This is a particular kind of translucent paper that can be used as a dust jacket or as wraps, and can even contain printing.

We didn’t come close to cover anywhere near the total number of terms that could be used to describe the physical aspects of a rare or collectible book or the ways in which books are made and styled, but we hope you have a good starting point based on the above information. Now, we want to turn to some of the terms that are used to describe publication and ownership.

First, we’ll focus on all those different copies you might see referenced: “advance copy,” “association copy,” “dedication copy,” “inscribed copy,” “presentation copy,” and “signed copy.” That’s a lot of copies, but there’s some good news if you’re trying to learn these terms: they’re relatively easy to distinguish among once you know what they mean. Let’s start with the “advance copy.” This is a term that’s used to describe a book that’s printed before an official publication date. It usually is printed with a different cover or even in a different format, and it’s printed to send to reviewers, authors, and others to look at ahead of time. Advance copies are different from first editions (they are not a first edition), but they are often quite collectible. Now onto the “association copy,” which has been inscribed by the author to a friend, family member, or another important person to the author. You should note that an “association copy” is different from an “inscribed copy,” which is a book that has been inscribed by the author to the owner of the book (who may or may not be a person or significance). A “signed copy” means there’s no inscription, but the author signed the book. A “presentation copy” is similar to an “association copy” or an “inscribed copy” but are still distinct—presentation copies are those that have been given as a gift by the author to another person (with an inscription and signature from the author inside). Finally, a “dedication copy” is a book that has been inscribed by the author to the person to whom the book was dedicated. Dedication copies are especially rare, as are association copies and presentation copies. Certain inscribed copies can also be extremely valuable, especially when they are inscribed to significant figures.

The term “advance copy” brings us to the commonly used terms “galleys” and “first edition.” The term “galleys,” or a “galley proof,” is a term that is used to describe one of the first publications of the book that is typically used for in-publishing house purposes. It’s distinct from an advance copy in that it’s not printed with the intention of sending it out to readers. Instead, a galley proof will be printed before an “advance copy.” How about the elusive “first edition”? The term “first edition” is used to describe the first (ever) printing of a book by the first publisher. It is distinct from a “first impression” and a “first edition thus” and a “first trade edition.” When a publisher plans to have multiple printing runs of a book, it will distinguish the various “impressions” of the book, meaning the printing runs. A first edition, first impression is usually the most valuable book for collectors, although there are a number of exceptions. A “first edition thus” means it’s the first edition for that publisher , but it’s not the first edition of the book. And finally, a “first trade edition” refers to the first time a book has been printed with the intention of releasing it to a wide audience, or to the general public. Most first trade editions appeared beginning in the 1970s, and they all have ISBN numbers.

Whew—that’s a lot of information! Do you want to learn more? Or do you have a specific word or phrase you’re trying to understand when it comes to rare books and manuscripts? In the short term, you can check out a glossary of rare book terms . Yet you should also keep in mind that your rare book vocabulary will grow as you continue to collect and to learn.

• There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.

About this blog

Get blog notifications per email:.

Recent Posts

Posts by Topic

• American History (123)
• American Literature (261)
• Awarded Books (119)
• Baseball (1)
• Biographies (47)
• Bond Dossier (1)
• Book Care (34)
• Book Collecting (419)
• Book History (84)
• Book Making (42)
• Book News (85)
• Books collecting (7)
• Caldecott Medal (83)
• Charles Dickens (19)
• Children's Books (281)
• Christmas Books (30)
• Civil War (3)
• Collecting guide (10)
• collectors (4)
• Condition (1)
• Dust Jackets (9)
• Fine Press (54)
• First Editions (5)
• Fishing (12)
• History (154)
• Horror (43)
• illustrations (4)
• Interviews (17)
• J. R. R. Tolkien (24)
• James Bond (62)
• Learn About Books (38)
• Legendary Authors (400)
• Legendary Illustrators (60)
• Libraries (7)
• Libraries & Special Collections (73)
• Literary travel (85)
• Literature (482)
• Magical Realism (1)
• Mario Vargas Llosa (1)
• Mark Twain (26)
• Modern First Editions (82)
• Movie Tie-Ins (149)
• Mystery, Suspense & Crime (49)
• Newbery Award (39)
• Nobel Prize Winners (198)
• Poetry (148)
• Pulitzer Prize (67)
• Quizzes (9)
• Rare Book Gift Ideas (48)
• Rare Books (176)
• Science (37)
• Science Fiction (52)
• Thomas Harris (1)
• travel guides (1)
• Umberto Eco (14)

Blog Archive

• June 2024 (3)
• May 2024 (4)
• April 2024 (3)
• March 2024 (1)
• February 2024 (4)
• January 2024 (3)
• December 2023 (3)
• November 2023 (3)
• October 2023 (5)
• September 2023 (4)
• August 2023 (3)
• July 2023 (1)
• June 2023 (4)
• May 2023 (4)
• April 2023 (5)
• March 2023 (6)
• February 2023 (7)
• January 2023 (9)
• December 2022 (4)
• November 2022 (3)
• September 2022 (1)
• June 2022 (2)
• March 2022 (1)
• February 2022 (1)
• January 2022 (2)
• July 2021 (1)
• May 2021 (1)
• April 2021 (2)
• March 2021 (1)
• February 2021 (5)
• January 2021 (8)
• December 2020 (9)
• November 2020 (6)
• October 2020 (9)
• September 2020 (9)
• August 2020 (10)
• July 2020 (3)
• June 2020 (3)
• May 2020 (6)
• April 2020 (16)
• March 2020 (16)
• February 2020 (16)
• January 2020 (16)
• December 2019 (16)
• November 2019 (15)
• October 2019 (17)
• September 2019 (16)
• August 2019 (15)
• July 2019 (20)
• June 2019 (16)
• May 2019 (18)
• April 2019 (16)
• March 2019 (16)
• February 2019 (14)
• January 2019 (18)
• December 2018 (18)
• November 2018 (18)
• October 2018 (16)
• September 2018 (15)
• August 2018 (16)
• July 2018 (16)
• June 2018 (15)
• May 2018 (18)
• April 2018 (16)
• March 2018 (17)
• February 2018 (15)
• January 2018 (14)
• December 2017 (18)
• November 2017 (21)
• October 2017 (21)
• September 2017 (23)
• August 2017 (21)
• July 2017 (22)
• June 2017 (21)
• May 2017 (23)
• April 2017 (23)
• March 2017 (23)
• February 2017 (20)
• January 2017 (21)
• December 2016 (23)
• November 2016 (22)
• October 2016 (23)
• September 2016 (22)
• August 2016 (23)
• July 2016 (22)
• June 2016 (22)
• May 2016 (23)
• April 2016 (30)
• March 2016 (32)
• February 2016 (29)
• January 2016 (29)
• December 2015 (29)
• November 2015 (27)
• October 2015 (30)
• September 2015 (29)
• August 2015 (31)
• July 2015 (29)
• June 2015 (29)
• May 2015 (32)
• April 2015 (30)
• March 2015 (29)
• February 2015 (25)
• January 2015 (31)
• December 2014 (27)
• November 2014 (26)
• October 2014 (28)
• September 2014 (27)
• August 2014 (26)
• July 2014 (24)
• June 2014 (28)
• May 2014 (25)
• April 2014 (21)
• March 2014 (18)
• February 2014 (18)
• January 2014 (26)
• December 2013 (22)
• November 2013 (23)
• October 2013 (27)
• September 2013 (8)
• August 2013 (10)
• July 2013 (9)
• June 2013 (8)
• May 2013 (13)
• April 2013 (10)
• March 2013 (9)
• February 2013 (6)
• January 2013 (4)
• December 2012 (6)
• November 2012 (6)
• October 2012 (8)
• September 2012 (7)
• August 2012 (7)
• July 2012 (7)
• June 2012 (5)
• May 2012 (7)
• April 2012 (7)
• March 2012 (4)
• February 2012 (3)
• January 2012 (4)
• December 2011 (2)
• November 2011 (4)
• October 2011 (2)
• August 2011 (4)
• July 2011 (2)
• June 2011 (3)
• May 2011 (4)
• April 2011 (4)
• March 2011 (1)
• October 2010 (1)
• September 2010 (2)
• June 2010 (4)
• May 2010 (2)
• April 2010 (6)
• March 2010 (8)
• February 2010 (5)
• January 2010 (15)

• Books Tell You Why, Inc.
• Fulfillment Operations:
• 1050 Johnnie Dodds Blvd. #1805 Mt. Pleasant, SC 29465
• Administrative Offices:
• 1283 Heron Nest Ct. Columbus, OH 43240
• Signed Books
• First Editions
• New Arrivals
• Featured Books
• Key Categories
• Advanced Search
• Job Opportunities
• Selling Books
• Autographs & Signatures
• Collector's Resources
• Shopping Cart
• Create an Account
• Store Policies
• Privacy Policy
• Loyalty and Rewards
• Scholarships
• Phone: +1 (843) 849-0283
• [email protected]
• Content Marketing by Aspiration Marketing

• Basket  

Glossary of book terms

Our handy glossary will help you understand unfamiliar book-related terms ranging from first editions to fore-edge paintings and foxing. don't let the jargon get in the way of finding and buying books..

A copy for reviewers and/or booksellers, usually bound in paperwraps and usually with either the finished cover art or possibly trial cover art. Generally, this copy is as it will appear in the bookstores and differs from the Uncorrected Proof. Find advance reader copies

Advertisements placed in the binding of the book.

The top, fore-edge and foot of the book are colored in gold. See Gilt Edges .

The top, fore-edge and foot of the book are colored with a decorative stain.

A loose term implying collectible books rather than used books. Refers to old, rare, and out-of-print books . Some sellers say antiquarian books are published before 1900.

A work whose authenticity or authorship is in doubt.

Additional or supplementary material generally found at the end of a book.

A term indicating a given book is in the same condition as when originally published.

A book that belonged to or was annotated by the author, someone close to the author, a famous or noteworthy person, or someone especially associated with the content of the work. Should have documentary evidence of its association, such as the author's bookplate. Find association copies

The book is in the exact condition as when it left the print shop. See Mint .

A favorite term to describe defects that probably occur only on copies of the book the particular dealer often handles, such as "lacks endpapers, as usual".

A cassette, LP, CD, audio file or other recording of a voice actor reading the text of a book.

A handwritten letter.

A handwritten letter signed by the writer.

A manuscript handwritten by the author.

The covering on the book's spine.

The page carrying nothing but the title of the book, usually preceding the title page. Also known as: Mock Title, Fly title, half-title.

From the Greek; signifying or pertaining to books.

A destroyer of books.

Having a deep knowledge of books.

A systematic list of books and other works that pertain to a certain subject. Find bibliographies

A book thief.

A bibliophile in whom the love of books has become an obsession; includes many bookdealers and certain collectors.

A lover of books.

A fear of books.

A dealer of rare books.

The cover of the book surrounding the book block. Learn more about book bindings.

A book that needs to be rebound and is worth rebinding. In a copy like this the leaves are intact and the book block itself is still square but the binding may be in tatters.

An impressed mark, decoration, or lettering, not colored or gilded, usually appearing on the binding. One way that the Book Clubs have marked their editions when they are otherwise identical to trade editions is to use a small square, round or sometimes leaf-shaped blind stamp in the bottom right corner of the rear board.

Books made around the mid-1400s in Germany and the Netherlands in which pictures and explanatory text were printed from woodblocks; not to be confused with a "Book Block".

A comment from a review (often by another author praising the particular book) printed on the dust wrapper or covers of a proof copy, or on a wrap-around band.

The stiff binding material for most modern books.

A book that has been printed, folded, gathered and sewn, but not yet bound; not to be confused with "Block Books". See Text-block .

A separate edition of a book usually printed especially for a book club such as "The Book of the Month Club" or "The Literary Guild." These copies will usually have the words "Book Club Edition" printed on the bottom right corner of the front flap of the dust wrapper. Occasionally, if the book club does not wish to do a separate edition they will have a publisher blind stamp on the rear board and print a supply of dust wrappers without a price on the front flap and now without the bar code on the rear panel. Book Clubs are not solely an American phenomenon as there have been numerous British Book Clubs over the years. Find book club editions.

A label indicating the ownership of a book. Generally smaller than a bookplate .

A pasted-in sign of ownership. Modern bookplates are pressure sensitive (peel-and-stick) as opposed to the older bookplates that were made with water-activated adhesive (lick-and-stick). Some bookplates from the 19th century were quite elaborate with engravings. › Watch Bookplate Video

A book with a cover of any type, or a periodical that has a cover other than its published wraps.

A condition of the covers or boards of a hardcover book. Bowed covers may turn inward toward the leaves or outward away from the leaves. The condition generally results from a rapid change in the level of moisture in the air and is caused by different rates of expansion or contraction of the paste-down and the outer material covering the board.

A person who breaks up books to sell the plates separately, or the book itself when the covers are so bad that it either has to be rebound or broken up.

A single sheet of paper usually printed on one side only.

A tipped-in (i.e., pasted in) page to replace a page removed after a book has been bound.

A case-bound book is a hardcover book where the boards have been covered before being adjoined with the text block as opposed to afterwards; which is defined as bound.

A cheaply printed book sold by street vendors in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Used to describe where small pieces are missing or where fraying has occurred on a dust jacket or the edge of a paperback.

A cloth-bound book. The covering can be linen, buckram or another textile.

Also shelf-cocked. A condition resulting from storing a book on a shelf so that it leans and rests against its neighbor or the side of a bookcase. Gravity deforms the book binding. Cocked also refers to a book where the spine no longer remains at right angles to the covers.

The gathering of leaves of paper, parchment or  other similar material; or a book by another name.

Technically, the examination and notation of the physical make-up of a book. By checking for the presence of every leaf or page originally in the volume when issued, a book may be collated as complete.

An identifying inscription or emblem from the printer or publisher appearing at the end of a book. Also the emblem at the bottom of the spine on both the book and dust wrapper as well as a logo on the title or copyright page.

A book binding similar to a spiral binding but using a round tubular plastic piece with many teeth which fit through small rectangular holes punched into the binding edge of the book. The plastic piece, if laid flat, would resemble a comb.

The un-severed second half of a printed page.

Refers to the time at which an action happened to the book in relation to its printing. For instance, a contemporary binding is a book that has been re-bound shortly after being published.  A contemporary inscription would have been signed and dated in the year of publication.

The right angles on the unbound edges of the front and back covers of a hardcover book.

Cosway Bindings are beautiful books with miniature paintings inset into fine leather bindings. They are named after miniaturist portrait painter Richard Cosway. Bookselling firm Sotheran's invented the concept with Miss C.B. Currie providing the art. Learn more about Cosway Bindings .

The binding of the book, particularly the front and back panels.

The original cloth covers, usually including the spine, bound into the book when a new binding is made. Normally they are mounted as pages at the end of the book. Also refers to the covers of books originally issued in boards or paper wraps, but in these cases the covers are usually bound in their proper positions.

A permanent bend to a page or dust jacket.  Somewhat common from times when collectors used to remove the dust jacket and fold it for safe storage.  When these jackets have been resurrected, they will contain a crease.

The very top edge of the spine.

Many modern books are smooth-trimmed after binding so that all edges are even, or flush. This is described as having been cut.

Illustrations printed in the text pages are called cuts, whole page illustrations that have been printed separately are called Plates.

A light stain on the cover or on the leaves of a book caused by moisture such as a piece of food or perspiration. Generally not as severe as waterstains .

When book covers are exposed to light, the color darkens or becomes more intense. See Fading .

Another term for uncut or untrimmed edges. › Watch Deckle Edges Video

A highly detailed impression stamped into the cover and/or spine of a book.

The copy of the book inscribed by the author to the person to whom the book is dedicated.

The most authoritative version of a work.

Damage to the edges of the cover of hardcover books.

A printer's ornament. Also an insignia that is the publisher's identifying mark. Now interchangeable with colophon .

A process where shapes are cut out of paper allowing publishers to put "windows" or change the shape of a page/book.

This term refers to a book or pamphlet, once bound, from which the binding has been removed.

Book pages that have been folded over in the corners. Some readers do this to mark their place in a book.

Two separate books bound together so that each cover represents the cover for a different title. Ace paperbacks and many science fiction books were issued this way.

A mock-up of a book used by salesmen in the late 19th and early 20th century to show prospective buyers what the book would look like. It usually had a title page, 10 or 20 pages of text, and then blank pages to fill out the rest of the binding.

A book approximately seven to eight inches tall. › Guide to Book Formats

A term synonymous with Dust Wrapper, indicating the usually decorative paper wrapper placed around a book to protect the binding. See vintage dust jackets .

See Dust Jacket .

Short for Electronic Book, this is a computer file that contains the entire text of a book. There are many different types of e-book files and some can be read only with a specific e-reader (Amazon's Kindle etc) while others can be read on any computer, personal digital assistant or e-reader.

The outer surfaces of a book's leaves.

Wear along the edges of hardback book covers.

Prepared for publication, a book that has been worked on by an editor.

All the copies of a book printed from the same plates or typesetting. Additions, changes and revisions are made with each new edition. Also see Reprint .

A person who gathers material for a book, oversees text written by others, and/or makes the text more readable.

A large book about 23 inches tall. › Guide to Book Formats

The sheets of paper pasted onto the inner covers, joining the book block to the covers. One side of the sheet is pasted to the inside cover, the other is left free.

Printed or written items produced with a short intended lifetime that are now collectible. Examples include posters, postcards, tickets, maps and pamphlets.

Loss of paper or cloth caused by a slow and steady wear, as opposed to a chipping or tearing.  See Loss .

Mistakes or errors. Generally encountered in the term "errata slip," a small sheet of paper laid into a book by a publisher who discovered errors prior to publication.

A particular copy of an edition.

A term used to indicate a book was once in a public library. Ex-library books are usually identified with one or more markings of the library such as stampings, card pockets, cataloging numbers, etc. Frequently they are marked as "discarded" or "withdrawn" when sold by a library. › Watch Ex-Library Video

A bookplate printed with the owner's name or initials. Latin for "From the library of..." › Watch Ex-Libris Video

A copy of a book with additional illustrations.

The page opposite the page being referred to.

The color of some book covers fade or become less intense when exposed to light. See Darkening .

A cloth binding decorated with embossed patterns.

This indicates the publisher was successful in promoting the book and had more orders before the actual publication date than the first printing quantity would cover, therefore a second printing was ordered. Not a first edition.

Generally used by book dealers and collectors to mean the first appearance of a work in book or pamphlet form, in its first printing. Search for first editions . › Watch First Editon Video

The first appearance as a complete book or pamphlet of a work that has previously appeared as part of another book.

Means not a first edition, but something that is new. It may be revised, have a new introduction by the author or someone else, be the first publication in paperback form, or first by another publisher.

The edition produced for general commercial sale, as distinguished from a limited edition.

Direct translation from Latin is "a gathering of flowers". In the literary sense, a florilegium (plural florilegia) is a volume of writing gathered from other sources; a compilation of full pieces or passages from other works.

A blank leaf, sometimes more than one, following the front free endpaper or at the end of a book where there is not sufficient text to fill out the last few pages.

The page carrying nothing but the title of the book, usually preceding the title page.  See Bastard Title .

A plate or illustration that is too big to fit into the book and therefore has been folded neatly into the book. › Watch Folding Plates Video

Has several meanings: (1) a leaf numbered on the front; (2) the numeral itself; and (3) a folio-sized book. › Guide to Book Formats

The front edge of the text block, which opposes the spine or bound edge.

The front page edges of the book are bent back to expose a greater area and a watercolor painting is applied to this surface. After completion the book is closed and the painting cannot be seen. The opposite is also true. The painting is done on the edge of the pages so it can be seen when the book is closed but is not visible when the book was open.

Brown spotting of the paper caused by a chemical reaction, generally found in 19th century books, particularly in steel engravings of the period.

(also Front Free Endpaper ffep and Rear Free Endpaper rfep) - The first or last movable leaf of paper in a book aka Front or Rear Fly; often blank.  See End Papers .

When the pages for an American/Canadian edition of a book that was originally published in the UK have been imported from England. (If an English book were bound with American pages, it would read "From American Sheets", etc)

An illustration at the beginning of a book, usually facing the title page.

The pages preceding the text of a book, in the following order:

Sometimes called "galley proofs" or "loose galleys" to distinguish them from bound galleys. Long sheets of paper bearing the first trial impression of the type.

A group of sheets folded together for sewing or gluing into the binding.

An 'engraved' design on the edges of a book.

A thin application of gold decoration or lettering has been applied. Gilt can be applied to the boards, spine, and even edges.

The application of gilt to various edges on a book. The abbreviation ge means gilt edges; aeg means all edges gilt; gt means gilt top; teg means top edge gilt.

A transparent paper dust wrapper.

The inner margin of the leaves of a bound book.

A book in which the spine and corners are bound in a different material (frequently leather) than the rest of the covers.

Paper-covered boards with the spine bound in cloth.

A term indicating that the spine and the corners of a book are bound in leather, while the rest of the binding may be cloth or paper. See Quarter Leather.

The page carrying nothing but the title of the book, usually preceding the title page.  See Fly title

Term used to describe a type of fiction, usually crime, where the tone is gritty, pessimistic or hard.

The upper margin of a leaf, cover or endpaper. Also referred to as the top.

A decorative cloth band, sometimes colored or multi-colored, appearing inside the backstrip at the top (and sometimes bottom) of the spine of a book.

A decorative type ornament found at the start of a chapter or division of a book.

The use of transparent and brightly colored markers to draw attention to particular text. Frequently done by students. See Underlining .

The inside portion of the flexible area where book cover meets the book spine.  Often used in conjunction with the term Joint which describes the exterior portion.

A term indicating the handwriting of the author. See Autograph .

"Hors texte" is French for "outside of the text," and the term usually refers to plates, without printing on the reverse sides. The plates may be tipped in to paper of a different stock from that of the text.

Collected first editions published within last 10 years or so. Most were published so recently that there is no track record for the author or book.

Referring to polychrome illustrations. It usually means an illuminated manuscript.

Decoration applied by hand in gold, silver or colored paint.

A design, picture, plate, plan, diagram, chart, or map printed within the text. See 40 influential illustrated books .

A much misused term, but one that, when accurately employed, means the number of copies printed during any given press run.

A term that can refer either to the place of publication or to the publisher.

Books, pamphlets, calendars, and indulgences printed, not handwritten, before 1501 in Europe. The date 1501 holds not distinct significance other than being a convenient round figure directly after Johannes Gutenberg's development of the printing press in mid 15th century, as such works printed shortly after the 1501 cut-off are often described as "post- incunable". Find incunabula .

An alphabetical listing of names or topics mentioned in the book, with their page numbers. For serials and journals, the index is usually published after the volume is completed and is found in the last issue.

An extremely thin, yet relatively opaque paper, used to help reduce the bulk of what would otherwise be a book of unwieldy size.

Usually indicates a book signed by the author with a personalized message, either with an inscription to a specific person or bearing some brief notation along with his signature. (ie: "John, Had a whale of a time in Portland. Herman Melville")

A leaf or page is said to be integral when it is one that was sewn and bound into a book during its manufacture.

When blank leaves alternate with the printed leaves a book is said to be interleaved.

A textbook that has been published outside of the USA. The publishers of international editions generally do not authorize the sale and distribution of international editions in the United States and Canada and such sale or distribution may violate the copyrights and trademarks of the publishers of such works. Learn more

Synonymous with State, referring to the priority of copies within the first edition.

Noted changes between various copies of the same book. Since collectors generally prefer the earliest issue they often use small changes (such as a spelling correction) to determine priority, any such difference is described as an issue point.

The printed or unprinted cover, usually paper, placed around the bound book. Sometimes called Dust Jacket (dj), Dust Wrapper (dw), dust cover or book jacket.

A smooth, glossy paper, made in imitation of vellum, generally a light tan color. Also called Japon or Japanese Vellum.

The exterior flexible portion where the book cover meets the spine. Often used in conjunction with the term Hinge which describes the interior portion.

Books originally or primarily written to be read by (or to) children.

Work written when an author was extremely young, often as a child. For example Eragon was written by Christopher Paolini when he was a school-age teenager.

A letter or other sheet(s) inserted but not glued into a book.

Paper that was originally made in a frame or mould. The paper paste is spread out on sieves whose bottom is tightened with wires which leave a mark on the paper, the laid. These lines are called wire lines or chain lines and are visible on the finished paper when held up to the light.

A type of special edition typically printed in smaller quantities and sold at a higher price than the standard print run. In these runs a larger paper (often of superior quality) was used. In the 17th and 18th century these copies were often called "Fine Paper Copy", "Royal Paper Copy", "Imperial Paper Copy", "Thick Paper Copy" or some other variation of special paper copy.

A book printed with large type for the visually impaired. Find large print books

A single sheet in a book; each leaf contains two printed pages, one on each side.

A label or memo slip projecting from a book's pages.

Reinforced bindings used by many public libraries.

Any book whose publication is deliberately restricted to a comparatively small number of copies, usually numbered and often signed by the author and/or illustrator. › Watch Limited Edition Video

An adjective describing a flexible binding in suede or imitation leather such as that used on the early titles of the Modern Library.

The binding of a new book is very tight; that is, the book will not open easily and generally does not want to remain open to any given page. As the book is used, the binding becomes looser until a well-used book may lay flat and remain open to any page in the book.

Parts of the paper of cloth that has worn away. A lighter form of erosion .

A copy of a book whose parts have been assembled from one or more defective copies.

The original form of a work as it was created by the author. This could be typed, handwritten, or computer generated.

Paper or bindings decorated with an imitation marble pattern. › Guide to Bindings page

The space surrounding the text on a page. In antiquarian book collecting, bindings often have a wide range in margin sizes due to variant bindings, often copies with wider margins are deemed more desirable.

Notes written in the margins of a page around the text. Frequently used by students and others when studying a text. See Highlighting .

When a dust jacket from one copy of a book is used with another copy of a book.

The most common paperback book, about four inches wide and seven inches high. Seen most often as mystery, science fiction and romance. See Trade Edition .

An absolutely perfect copy, As New; as perfect as the day it was issued. › Book Conditions

Pages or signatures sewn together in an improper order.

All books published since 1901 but this date is not fixed in stone - a rule of thumb.

A work, generally short, dealing with a single subject and usually issued in pamphlet form.

A type of leather made from goatskin, especially suitable for book bindings because of its durability and beauty. › Guide to Bindings page

No date of publication mentioned within the book.

No place of publication listed in the book.

An issue of a periodical.

The right-hand page of a book, more commonly called the Recto .

A book of about five inches wide and eight inches tall to about six by nine inches. Octavo is the most common size for current hardcover books. To make octavo books, each sheet of paper is folded to make eight leaves (16 pages). › Guide to Book Sizes page

A separate printing of a section of a larger publication; i.e, a periodical.

The transfer of ink from one page to another, either as a printed page or an engraving.

The original binding that the book was published in, as opposed to contemporary binding or rebound. › Guide to Book Bindings page

A book no longer being printed. It is worth noting that an OOP book can be brought back into print at any time. Find out-of-print books

Refers to overruns or extra copies of limited editions.

A bound book where the soft covers (or wraps) extend beyond the edges of the text block.  These extended covers are more susceptible to wear. See Yapped .

See Bookplate .

One side of a leaf. The front side of a leaf is called the recto or obverse and the back side of the leaf is called the verso or the reverse.

A small separate work issued in paperwraps.

The front or back of a dust jacket, as opposed to the spine or flaps.

There are many different kinds of paper of various qualities. › Guide to Paper

Books in paper wraps published since the 1930s, although paperback can describe any book with a paper cover. Find paperback books

A letter grade system is sometimes used for describing the condition of a paperback:

A paperback that is a real genuine first edition of a particular title. William Burrough's Junkie was a paperback original.

Stiff cardboard covered in paper.

The practice of publishing novels in separate monthly instalments in magazine format.

The portion of the end-paper pasted to the inner cover of a book.

Used in paperback books, trade paperbacks and magazines that have too many pages to be stapled. The page edges are glued together, then placed in the covers. This is a less expensive process than traditional bookbinding and stapling.

Describes a book with a picture on the cover.

Any edition of a work issued without permission of the author and without payment of royalties to the author or copyright holder.

Whole-page illustrations printed separately from the text. Illustrations printed in the text pages are called cuts. › Watch Plates in Illustrated Books Video

Distinguishing characteristics, usually errors, that occur within a first edition and indicate the priority of copies.

Author's introductory statement.

A copy of a book actually given by the author to someone of his acquaintance, usually with an inscription of some sort testifying to this. "Presented by the Author -- Houdini -- to the Magician Artist who made all the drawings, Oscar S. Teale."

The price has been cut off from the corner of the dust jacket.

Used to describe a dust wrapper or paper cover that is only lettered.

A digital printing technology that allows a complete book to be printed and bound individually, as opposed to traditional publishing that produces several hundred or thousand books in a lot. Print on Demand books are printed when the order is placed. In this photo the book on the left is an original copy and the book on the right is a POD.

Another word for Impression

The last person to own the book wrote their name in it.

A small press, often operated by one person, usually devoted to the production of small quantities of finely printed books.

This term refers to a book or pamphlet whose printing was paid for by an individual or a group, and which is meant for private circulation, not public sale.

Precede the published book. The normal course of events would be galley proof, uncorrected bound proof and advance reading copy bound in paperwraps.

A publisher's announcement of a forthcoming book, set, or periodical, with information about the price, contributors or authors, date of publication, and binding.

The history of ownership or possession of a given book.

The date a book is formally placed on sale.

A book whose spine is covered in a different and generally fancier material than the covers.

A book with a leather spine. See Half Leather .

A book between octavo and folio in size; approximately 11 to 13 inches tall. To make a quarto, a sheet of paper is folded twice, forming four leaves (eight pages). › Guide to Book Formats

The raised areas on the spine concealing a cord that is attached to the covers. In earlier leather books cords were rarely used. In some modern books the raised bands are purely decorative and conceal no underlying cord.

Implies the book is extremely scarce.

A complete and readable copy of a book that is worn or used to such a degree that it is not considered to be collectible.

A book that has been repaired by replacing the spine and mending the joints.

A book that has been glued back into its covers after having been shaken loose.

A small positive review from an author or commentator. Recommendations can also act as a way to determine the edition or printing. See Issue Point .

When the boards of a book have been replaced. This can occur as a result of damage or because the owner simply likes the new boards better.

Means the book has been repaired preserving the original covers, including the spine.

When a book has ceased to sell, a publisher may get rid of his overstock by "remaindering" the title to booksellers who specialize in selling this kind of book.

The publisher will mark the bottom edges of books sold as remainders with a stamp, a black marker, or spray paint, which speckles the bottom.

A subsequent press run of an edition of a book. The text usually remains unchanged for each re-print, but may be updated for a new edition. See Edition .

The rear side of a leaf in a bound book; in other words, the left-hand page of an opened book. Also called the Verso .

A piece of paper that is attached or tipped in to a book that includes a note from the publisher to a potential reviewer in an effort to drum up interest in the book.

Wear caused to the edges of the book or dust jacket as a result of shelf friction.  See Shelf Wear .

Like rubbed, but more damage has occurred.

A signature that was made by someone other than the author. This however differs from a forgery in that the signature was made with the author's knowledge and usually by a secretary or some other agent.

Wrappers that have vestigial flaps that imitate a dust jacket.

A group of volumes with a common theme issued in succession by a single publisher.

A small book, approximately four inches wide and six inches tall. To make it, each sheet of paper is folded four times, forming 16 leaves (32 pages). › Book Formats page

A discoloration of a leaf or cover caused by the use of stickers, tape, etc. The discoloration can be caused by a chemical reaction from the adhesive or from a difference in sun exposure. This is sometimes referred to as Tape Shadow or Sticker Shadow.

An adjective describing a book whose pages are beginning to come loose from the binding.

The wear that occurs as a book is placed onto and removed from a shelf. It may be to the tail (bottom) edge of the covers as they rub against the shelf, to the dust jacket or exterior of the covers (when no dust jacket is present) as the book rubs against its neighbors, or to the head of the spine which some use to pull the book from the shelf. See Rubbing .

The piece of paper on which the printer prints. The sheet is folded one or more times to form the leaves of the book.

A book that the author has autographed. See Inscribed. Find signed copies

In bookmaking, this does not mean the author's name written in his hand. It refers rather to the group of pages produced by folding a single printed sheet, ready for sewing or gluing into a book

A cardboard case covered in paper, cloth or leather that holds a book(s) with only the spine exposed.

A small narrow chip, nick or tear usually at the edge of a dust jacket.

A gathering of dust or dirt usually caused by handling.

A book that has been restored or worked on in order to increase its apparent value, this is often seen as a undesirable quality among collectors.

The book's backbone, where the signatures are gathered. The spine is covered with the backstrip.

A book that is held together at the spine by a metal or plastic spiral which is threaded through holes punched though the leaves.

A book which has kept its original shape and shows no rounding of the spine.

Closely allied to the definition of Issue . State generally refers to a change other than a correction of a misprint.

A narrow strip of paper usually remaining where a leaf has been cut away.

Faded from exposure to light or direct sunlight.

The lower margin of a leaf, cover or endpaper. Sometimes referred to as the bottom.

Decorative typography ornament on the lower part of a page at the end of a chapter or a poem.  See Headpiece , and then place it at the end.

See Fading .

A darkening of the book's gilt though oxidation.

If you take a book and remove the binding, you are left with the text-block. See Book Block .

Some publishers in the 19th century added a notice on the title page stating, for instance "Eighth Thousand" to indicate a later printing. These are not first editions .

A reissue of a book that contains new material or is published by a new publisher. Often seen as "First Edition Thus"

A book in three volumes, almost exclusively used to describe Victorian novels of the late 19th century.

A thin, protective sheet laid over an illustration.

Means the plate , autograph, letter, photo, etc., is actually attached to the book but is not integral to the binding.

French for "a printing." Usually used for a limited edition, often numbered and dated.

The title page, near the beginning of the book, lists the title and subtitle of the book, the authors, editors, and/or contributors, the publisher or printer, and sometimes the place and date of publication. The title page information should be used for cataloging (not the half-title page or covers).

Used in describing periodicals to indicate that the title page and index are present; without a title page and index, the volume is incomplete.

Work or ornamentation done with tools, especially stamped or gilded designs on leather. › Watch Tooling on a Book Video

Usually abbreviated teg, it means that the top edges of the pages have been covered with gold leaf or gilt material.

The edition of a book intended for the public, as opposed to a limited edition.

An adjective indicating that the pages have been cut down to a size smaller than when originally issued.

The correct first edition for any given title, usually denoted by the original country of origin the earliest publishing date.

A typewritten letter signed by hand.

The pages of the completed book have not been shaved down to a uniform surface.

Using a pencil or pen to underline passages in a book to draw attention to the underlined text. See Highlighting .

The leaves of the book are still joined at the folds, not slit apart.

The pages are not numbered (although each signature may be designated by letter).

Pure, genuine, unrestored. If a book is so described, it can mean trouble as far as condition is concerned.

A book that differs in one or more features from others of the same impression, but a positive sequence has not been established. Taschen is famous for producing variants of its art books.

A thin sheet of specially prepared skin of calf, lamb, or kid used for writing or printing, or for the cover.

The second, or rear, side of a leaf in a book; in other words, the left-hand page of an opened book. Also called the Reverse.

A single book in a series (ie volume two of six).

During WWII conservation of materials was encouraged and publishers opted towards highly acidic (cheaper) paper. Books made with this cheaper material tend to degrade faster and subsequently are harder to find in fine condition.

A distinguishing mark incorporated into Laid Paper, it is created by incorporating a design into the wire mesh tray which the pulp settles into. The watermark is then visible when the paper is held up to the light (much the same way that Chain Lines or Wire Lines are visible in Laid Paper).

Stain on a book cover or leaves from water or other liquids. May cause discoloration and perhaps actual shrinking, has also been known to be referred to as Tidemark.

Small holes resulting from bookworms (the larvae of various beetles).

The band of printed paper the length of the dust wrapper of a book. Wrap-around bands contain favorable reviews and are put around some copies of books. Obviously fragile, they are of interest to collectors.

The outer covers of a paperbound book or pamphlet. Not to be confused with Dust Wrapper .

Refers to the edges of the cover of a book bound in paper or another soft material. These yapped edges are not flush with the pages but extend beyond the edges of the book and are fragile by nature.  See Oversized Wraps .

More beautiful books

What's the opposite of Meaning of the word Words that rhyme with Sentences with the word Translate to Find Words Use * for blank tiles (max 2) Use * for blank spaces Find the of Pronounce the word in Find Names     Appearance ✓ Use device theme   ✓ Dark theme ✓ Light theme ? ? Here's a list of from our that you can use instead. ▲ ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ▲ about art movements in the 19th century.” ) A written work released periodically .” .” ) A set of records or accounts .” ) A religious book made up of the writings as accepted by Christians .” ) Information that is available only to a select few on the team's new player?” our flights early before seats run out.” a number of well-known speakers for the event.” ) To leave a place, often for another .” the details of my car which was double-parked.” ) To check into a place of accommodation into our hotel as soon as we arrive at our destination.” him for assault.” ) To have rented ) To occupy Use * for blank tiles (max 2) Use * for blank spaces Related Words and Phrases Bottom_desktop desktop:[300x250]. go Word Tools Finders & Helpers Apps More Synonyms Copyright WordHippo © 2024 19 Names For Book Lovers There are tons of baby names inspired by literature — for example, did you know that the perennially-popular Jessica originated with Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice? There’s Holden, popularized by J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, and Harper, practically synonymous with Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird. For avid readers, a good book can make an impact for life, and within those well-loved, dog-eared paperbacks is a treasure trove of inspiration from the characters and authors alike. But why limit yourself to one specific tale when you could pay homage to literature in general? There are plenty of actual, literal literary terms that sound just as melodic and on-trend as some of today’s most loved baby names. This one’s obvious, but a good choice if you want a more mainstream name. You can spell it “Page” if you want to be more literal — or more unisex. Nappy/Pexels The word cadence means “rhythm” or “flow” and is used to describe the changes in rhythm, pitch, and pace as a literary piece is read. It can also be used in reference to music, or in its Italian form, Cadenza. RELATED: 20 Musical Baby Names That Will Make Your Heart Sing Ella is currently #15 on the Social Security baby name popularity charts . Nova is #56 (and one of the fastest risers). So if those two names, and those that sound like them — Bella or Novalee , for example — can be among the darlings of the baby naming world, why not Novella? It means a short novel (or a long story). 4. Eloquence Meaning “fluent or persuasive speaking or writing,” the word eloquence actually makes a great literary name choice. Again with that beloved “El-” sound, like Ella or Eleanor, Eloquence can fit right in while still standing out. You could even go with Quen as a “Quinn-adjacent” diminutive, though it would be kind of a shame to shorten such a pretty name … unless Eloquence someday decides she’d like something that sounds a little less formal. RELATED: 135 Adorable Nicknames For Your Girlfriend That’ll Make Her Swoon A sonnet is a 14-line poem, made most famous by William Shakespeare. Whether you’re a fan of Shakespeare himself or just poetry in general, Sonnet makes an adorable name. Daria Shevtsova/Pexels Every family has a story, and now yours can have a Story too. Not only is this the perfect literary name, but it’s culturally-relevant and truly unisex: actor Aaron Paul (of Breaking Bad ) gave it to his daughter, while Soleil Moon Frye ( Punky Brewster herself) gave it to her son. A short story with a moral theme, kids love fables — and Fable is a name they can love. It isn’t much of a stretch considering that the soundalike names Abel and Mabel are numbers 146 and 436 on the popularity charts, respectively. If a sonnet is a lyrical poem, an elegy — meaning “a poem of serious reflection” — is more somber. When used as a name, much like Eloquence, it’s got that well-loved “El-” sound at the beginning. But one could argue that this is even more “name-like” than Eloquence, since it also boasts the proven combo of three syllables and a Y-ending, like Emily, Emery, and Avery. From truth-bomb slam poetry to epic professions of undying love, poets have been beautifully putting feelings into words for centuries. And if you’re a fan of one of history’s most famous poets, Edgar Allan Poe, this unisex name provides a double whammy, as Poe could be a cute nickname . Poetry isn’t confined to paper when it’s sung, and Lyric is one of those neat names that’s a nod to both the literary and the music world. Darby S/Reshot A saga is “a long story of heroic achievement.” As a name, it’s short and sweet, and has a bit of a dramatic flair. Surnames-turned-first-names are big right now, and Booker is an English occupational surname referring to someone who (unsurprisingly) made books. The term “epic” is virtually interchangeable with “saga” in meaning; it’s a lengthy poem about the deeds of a hero. But these days it’s also used as slang to mean “extremely awesome” — so that ups its coolness quotient. Whether quill or ballpoint, the literary connotations with this name are obvious. And our bets are that it might even enjoy a bit of a surge in popularity, thanks to actor Penn Badgley and his (albeit creepy) role in the Netflix hit You. RELATED: Netflix And Chil … dren: 20 Baby Names Inspired By Netflix Faves Initially seen most often as a diminutive of the name Dashiell, but this name has gained traction in its own right. As a literary reference, it can be used as a punctuation — see? — or meaning to write something in a hurried way, i.e., “She dashed off a quick note.” No matter the intention or meaning behind the name, it has a definite energetic feel. This name can be used as a standalone, or as a diminutive of a longer name like Quiller or Quillan. But, like Penn, it can pay homage to the literal strokes of genius that transfer words to paper. Could you find a better name for a bookworm-to-be?! You could spell it “Reid” or “Reed,” but in this case, Read is the only way to go. Like Dash, this is another word-name that conveys an explosive sort of energy, thanks to its proximity to the word “cannon” and everything that evokes. But in the literary world, canon is a term for the most important or influential pieces of literature of a particular place or time period. First and foremost, a legend is a literary genre, but it has also come to refer to a person who is so great at something that he or she will go down in history. So if you name your little one Legend, be sure to remind him regularly that he’s already reached that status in your eyes. Who says these beautiful, melodic, descriptive terms should be confined to literature? We think they fit in just as well on a birth certificate. Bestow one of these literary baby names on your future reader, and they’ll live happily ever after. For a comprehensive baby name database, answers to your biggest baby naming dilemmas, and fun inspiration, check out Scary Mommy’s baby name section ! This article was originally published on Feb. 5, 2020 Cambridge Dictionary +Plus Meaning of books in English account The company's accounts show a loss in the first quarter. the books I let our accountant do the books. bank statement I receive a monthly bank statement. statement The bank sends me a statement every month. books | American Dictionary Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio Translations of books Get a quick, free translation! Word of the Day sink or swim If you are left to sink or swim, you are given no help so that you succeed or fail completely by your own efforts. Fakes and forgeries (Things that are not what they seem to be) Learn more with +Plus Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}} Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English English–Dutch Dutch–English English–French French–English English–German German–English English–Indonesian Indonesian–English English–Italian Italian–English English–Japanese Japanese–English English–Norwegian Norwegian–English English–Polish Polish–English English–Portuguese Portuguese–English English–Spanish Spanish–English English–Swedish Swedish–English Dictionary +Plus Word Lists English    Phrase American    Plural noun Translations All translations To add books to a word list please sign up or log in. Add books to one of your lists below, or create a new one. {{message}} Something went wrong. There was a problem sending your report. Dictionaries home American English Collocations German-English Grammar home Practical English Usage Learn & Practise Grammar (Beta) Word Lists home My Word Lists Recent additions Resources home Text Checker Definition of book noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary printed work His desk was covered with piles of books. hardback/paperback books a book of short stories Her name was inscribed in the book. one of the earliest printed books flick through flip through be out of print in a/​the book Want to learn more? Find out which words work together and produce more natural-sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app. Try it for free as part of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app. What is a Fiction Book and Why Do People Love Them? Have you ever asked yourself, what is a fiction book and why do people read so many of them? We have the answer for you today!  A fiction book is a broad term that can include a wide range of books . However, many different points can help differentiate fiction books from other types of books. Fiction books differ from non-fiction books simply because they are not true. Non-fiction books tell real stories about real people, while fiction books tend to be written solely for entertainment purposes. Although a fiction book can be based around real events, the actual story-line and characters are completely made up by the Authors imagination.  Fiction books are wide-ranging in that some tend to be just a bunch of short stories, while others can be long novels. Many of the classic stories, such as Alice in Wonderland and Pride and Prejudice are considered fiction books. There are many types of fiction genres. Some of the more popular genres of fiction include:  Romance Fiction Action Adventure Fiction  Science Fiction Suspense/Thriller Fiction Fantasy Fiction Young Adult Fiction Urban Fiction Historical Fiction Women’s Fiction Literacy Fiction Escape From Reality to a Fiction World Fiction books are designed to help us escape from the world that we live in. They are meant to take us on an adventure in a foreign world and keep us there. However, due to their popularity, many of these made-up worlds can start to come true. While many fiction books are made up, these books can serve an important part in society. There may be an underlying message behind the story that could give us some insight into our society and the problems we are facing —a great example of this is in George Orwell’s book titled Animal Farm . A Book With Political Commentary Animal Farm takes readers into a world where farm animals gather together and rebel against their master. The goal of the animals was to create a place where all were created equal with the same social status and wealth. A socialism world where none were greater than another. But the principles quickly changed when reality stepped in and the farm soon became a police state. The animals realized that treating everybody equally wasn’t a possibility. Individuality, evil, deceitfulness, and other character traits—good and bad—were too overpowering.  This classic fiction book, written decades ago, is today considered a crucial political commentary and one that can change the perspective of the reader.  That is what a great fiction book can do. Thought-provoking. Life teaching. Stories that captivate and expand our world.  Fiction books have entertained countless generations with their stories. This genre of books is great in helping us escape the world that we live in. While these books are not real, the stories often captures us, and we may end up thinking that we are living in the story ourselves.  That is the true sign of a great book. No matter what type of stories you enjoy reading, there are plenty of fiction books out there that you would enjoy.  Like it? Share it! Get Updates Right to Your Inbox Further insights. Privacy Overview Five Books for People Who Really Love Books These five titles focus on the many connections we can form with what we read. My dad likes to fish, and he likes to read books about fishing. My mom is a birder; she reads about birds. There are plenty of books on both subjects, I’ve found, when browsing in a gift-giving mood. These presents don’t just prove I’m familiar with their interests. They’re a way to acknowledge that we read about our pastimes to affirm our identity: Fly-fishers are contemplative sorts who reflect on reflections; birders must cultivate stillness and attention. What we choose to read can be a way of saying: I am this kind of soul. For my part, I like reading more than I like almost anything else. And so, in the manner of my parents, I like to read books about books . Writers who write about writing, readers who write about reading—these are people I instantly recognize as my kind. We’re people who are always in the middle of a chapter, who start conversations by asking, “What are you reading right now?” For us, a meta-book is like coffee brewed with more coffee. It’s extra-strength literature. If you really love books, or you want to love them more, I have five recommendations. None of these are traditional literary criticism; they’re not dry or academic. They take all kinds of forms (essay, novel, memoir) and focus on the many connections we can form with what we read. Those relationships might be passionate, obsessive, even borderline inappropriate—and this is what makes the books so lovable. Finishing them will make you want to pick up an old favorite or add several more titles to your to-read list. U and I , by Nicholson Baker I can now say that I’ve been reading Baker for more than 20 years, or more than half my life. But I didn’t know that would happen when I found U and I in a college friend’s car, borrowed it, and never returned it. The subject, not the author, appealed to me then—I loved John Updike. And so did Baker, though love is probably not the right word. This book-length essay is not quite, or not merely, an appreciation of Updike; it’s a hilarious confessional “true story” of Baker’s anxieties, ambitions, competitive jealousy, and feelings of inadequacy in the face of Updike’s abundant body of work. It’s rich too, with wonderful observations on reading and writing in general, as in a passage considering how much more affecting a memoir becomes once the author is deceased: “The living are ‘just’ writing about their own lives; the dead are writing about their irretrievable lives , wow wow wow.” A poem by John Updike: 'Half Moon, Small Cloud' Dayswork , by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel I almost prefer to keep certain books on my to-read list forever, where they remain full of magical possibility and cannot disappoint me. Moby-Dick is one of them. What if, God forbid, I chance to read it at the wrong time or in the wrong place and it doesn’t change my life? So I turn to Dayswork instead, which feels like cheating—you get some of the experience of reading Moby-Dick without any of the risk. This very novel novel, written collaboratively by a novelist and a poet who happen to be married, is sort of a sneaky biography of Herman Melville, framed by a meta-narrative about a woman writing a book during lockdown. This narrator delivers a parade of delightful facts and quotes and anecdotes, which she’s been collecting on sticky notes. You could think of it also as a biography of Melville’s most famous novel, which has had its own life after his death and touched so many other lives. Dayswork is fragmentary, digressive, and completely absorbing. Read: The endless depths of Moby-Dick symbolism Written Lives , by Javier Marías, translated by Margaret Jull Costa Marías is one of my favorite novelists, but I only recently encountered this work, a collection of short, dubiously nonfictional biographies in a very specific style. In the prologue, Marías explains that he had edited an anthology of stories by writers so obscure, he was forced to compose their biographical notes using odd, scanty evidence that made it all sound “invented.” It occurred to him that he could do the same thing for authors much more famous (Henry James, Thomas Mann, Djuna Barnes), treating “well-known literary figures as if they were fictional characters, which may well be how all writers, whether famous or obscure, would secretly like to be treated,” he explains. The result is marvelously irreverent, packed with unforgettable details (Rilke, supposedly, loved the letter y and used any excuse to write it) and endearing patterns (Marías would have us believe that many writers loathe Dostoyevsky). Written Lives immediately earned a spot on my shelf of most treasured objects, and every friend I’ve recommended it to has been equally enchanted. Read: An introverted writer’s lament Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life , by Yiyun Li This sad and incredibly beautiful memoir from a writer best known for her fiction takes its title from a line in a notebook by the New Zealand author Katherine Mansfield. For Li, correspondence, diaries and journals, and literature in general are forms of consolation and companionship that make life worth living even in times of overwhelming despair. The memoir is a record of the reading experiences that saved Li from a dangerous depression. It made me want to dig more deeply into the work of all her favorite writers—Thomas Hardy, Ivan Turgenev, Elizabeth Bowen, William Trevor—because she describes them so warmly and affectionately, as if they were friends. Here, as in her novels, Li is philosophical, with a gift for startling aphorisms: “Harder to endure than fresh pain is pain that has already been endured,” she writes. And “One always knows how best to sabotage one’s own life,” or “What does not make sense is what matters.” Li’s work is so moving and so very wise. Madness, Rack, and Honey , by Mary Ruefle The American poet Mary Ruefle is one of those writers people like to call a “national treasure,” which always has to do with something beyond brilliance or talent, an additional spectacular charm that makes you wish you knew them in “real life.” This collection of lectures on poetry and topics adjacent to poetry (sentimentality, theme, the moon) is the perfect introduction to Ruefle’s particular charisma. She’s unabashedly devoted to poets and poems, but you don’t have to love poetry to fall in love with her voice. She’s plainspoken yet mysterious, always asking curious questions, about death and fear and secrets, and then answering herself with surprising authority. Ruefle is inclined toward quirky asides, but all roads lead back to books: “I offer my dinner guest, after dinner, the choice between regular and decaf coffee, when in fact I don’t have any decaf in the house,” she writes. “I am so sincere in my effort to be a good host that I lie; I think this probably happens all the time in poetry.” Ruefle offers a beautiful example of how a life filled with reading opens and alters the mind. ​When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic. In 10 Years, Superman Will Be in the Public Domain. That May Not Mean What You Think It Does Yes, you'll be able to put your justice league iphone fan film on youtube... eventually.. “When Superman and Batman Copyrights Expire in a Decade, Will It Be Kryptonite for DC?” asked a headline in Variety earlier this year. As dictated by Betteridge’s Law , the answer in a broad sense is no. But in the wake of Steamboat Willie-era Mickey Mouse going public domain at the beginning of this year — here he is promoting the new season of Last Week Tonight for HBO, a division of Disney rival Warner Bros. Discovery — an inkling that the sky may soon start falling has been creeping around a Hollywood staking its value on IP portfolios. With several of DC’s major copyrights set to lift in the ‘30s (Superman and Lois Lane in 2034, Batman in 2035, the Joker in 2036, and Wonder Woman in 2037), the Variety item imagines a future flooded with unauthorized comic books featuring these household names. A quoted comics expert predicts that “100 of them” will be “ready to go” as soon as the law allows, and the article carries that logic over to the silver screen, suggesting that studios may be eager to mint their own versions of characters as they’ve previously done for public domain characters like Robin Hood or Dracula. The mind pictures a dystopian marquee advertising a given weekend’s offerings as a choice between Warner’s Superman Rising, Universal’s Tale of the Superman, and Disney’s Superman and Friends. The likelier outcome, as some legal scholars are countering, won’t be so dire for DC nor so flattening for the multiplex. The law will leave a handful of important guardrails in place to prevent a market clogged with indistinguishable duplicates of the same icons, the intended function being specifically to avoid consumer confusion among identical rip-offs. In the best-case scenario, in fact, these developments could usher in an era of legally mandated creative refreshment. “That Superman is entering public domain doesn’t mean you can go and write your own Superman comic,” says Brian Frye, a professor at University of Kentucky’s Rosenberg College of Law. (He’s also the producer of the documentary Our Nixon, which flexed quite a few fair-use muscles in sampling footage of Tricky Dick.) “It means that you might be able to use the Superman character in your own story without infringing on anything that belongs to DC.” In theory, copyright law serves a just and useful purpose, ensuring that the labor of artists can’t be sold by some other entity as their own. For the duration of the author’s life and then another 70 years (or, for corporate works, 95 years after publication), they own the rights to their work; to cite perhaps the most well-known example, this is why DC can’t get in the Spider-Man business. A significant difference separates Amazing Fantasy #15 itself from the character of Spidey as he’s known and loved, however. “Copyright law protects things that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression, so traditionally, that’ll mean a photo, a painting, a sculpture, an episode of TV, a comic book, a novel,” explains Alexandra Jane Roberts, a professor of law and media at Northeastern University. “The idea of protection for characters comes out of that, but it can be a bit nebulous. We have some case law saying that characters who are well-defined over the course of numerous works can become protectable, things like James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Rocky. James Bond likes his drink a certain way, he dresses a certain way, he says certain lines, and from this, we get a recognizable character that can be protected by copyright.” Because this is a cumulative process that happens over time, these copyrights expire piecemeal. Superman as a concept becomes available long before his weakness to kryptonite or ability to fly, Wonder Woman will be fair game one year prior to her Lasso of Truth, etc. So with each intellectual property dealt with on a case-by-case basis and strewn with grey areas, the question becomes, rather, what is allowed? And in terms of studio protocol, what’s likely to actually happen? Will it be good for characters like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to fall into the public domain? Any answer hinges in large part on the difference between a copyright (which protects a creative work) and a trademark (which protects phrases or iconography that makes up a business’ brand). A trademark has no expiration date, in essence meant to preclude companies from passing off their products as another’s. “It’s one thing to use a character in a copyrighted way, for example, Mickey Mouse or Superman or Wonder Woman in another story,” says Frye. “It’s another thing entirely to use these characters in a way that communicates something to consumers about the source of what’s being produced. The closer you get to making consumers think that the source of whatever you’re producing is Disney or DC, the more likely it is you’re moving into trademark rather than copyright territory.” For a studio hoping to make the next big blockbuster, this poses an obstacle: Anyone attempting to capitalize on the familiarity of Superman would have to sand off a lot of what makes him familiar. The law encourages use of an idea’s broadest contours, its general outline more than the particulars contained within. This can start to create wiggle room for characters identified less by their biography than their image. Dracula, for one, is understood as a vampire of exceptional power; everything beyond that is up to filmmakers, who have translated the character across genres , settings , and even racial lines . “People have been behaving as though the later versions of Mickey Mouse included in works not yet part of the public domain are off-limits, when I’m not 100% confident that that’s what the law requires,” says Roberts. “The way copyright law works says that you can only claim copyright ownership insofar as what you’re claiming is an original element, in a significant aspect,” Frye adds. “Are subsequent Mickey characters different from Steamboat Willie? Yes. But are they that different, that you wouldn’t recognize the new one? The big differences are he’s in color, he has gloves and a red shirt — those aren’t really copyright-worthy elements. These are trivial, I think. Mickey in specific is kind of one-dimensional. Wonder Woman and Superman, they have a fair amount of backstory, additional elements added over the years.” Frye charts one possible path forward through a case study from 1978, when Disney brought legal action against the underground comix collective known as the Air Pirates. They’d used Mickey Mouse for satirical purposes, corrupting the icon of wholesome pop culture Americana with drug use and foul language, and Disney argued that this had damaged the reputation of the company. The courts ruled that the Air Pirates had infringed on the then-active copyright of Mickey Mouse, and that Disney’s points about trademark were moot. But today, with copyright no longer an issue, this case would’ve fallen in favor of the Air Pirates, because they’d used solely the appearance of Mickey in a context that was a clear, drastic departure from the established character. “Now, could you do something similar with Superman or Wonder Woman?” Frye asks. “Probably! If you make them look like the old characters, or draw them in your own way.” What would Wonder Woman be like as a government peacekeeper in an alternate America? How about Superman as a hardboiled noir detective? The characters we know can supply a jumping-off point for an infinite galaxy of revisions, remixes, and deconstructions. Copyright law is intended to benefit the artists as well as the public, the people who enjoy their work and want to see them compensated fairly for it. It’s by design that these impending copyright expirations will do the most good for smaller, independent outfits, those looking to do something radically revisionist or even heretical with our graven idols. For the big corporate studios, avoiding trademark infringement means putting enough distance between themselves and Superman as we know him that the commercial appeal may not be as built-in as they’d hope. But creators with a sincere interest in using these narrative building blocks — in actually turning superheroes into the modern-day myth figures they’re so often described as — to construct something wholly novel will gain bracing new freedoms. “The speculation is that these things will look and feel fake or knockoff-y,” Roberts says. “But what we’ve seen with Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey and Mickey Mouse is that there’s almost a hunger for that; people have a curiosity about it. People get excited about the possibility of off-beat things being done with a character they know, so my guess — and maybe hope — is that studios do some more creative things here, make some more interesting choices. Change things up, less like a knockoff and more like a sly wink.” Illustrations by Danielle Jones In This Article IGN Recommends Log in/Log out (Opens in new window) All content Rural Alaska Crime & Courts Alaska Legislature ADN Politics Podcast National Opinions Letters to the Editor Nation/World Film and TV Outdoors/Adventure High School Sports UAA Athletics National Sports Food and Drink Visual Stories Alaska Journal of Commerce (Opens in new window) The Arctic Sounder The Bristol Bay Times Today's Paper (Opens in new window) Legal Notices (Opens in new window) Peak 2 Peak Events (Opens in new window) Educator of the Year (Opens in new window) Celebrating Nurses (Opens in new window) Top 40 Under 40 (Opens in new window) Alaska Spelling Bee (Opens in new window) Alaska Craft Brew Festival Best of Alaska Spring Career Fair (Opens in new window) Achievement in Business Youth Summit Awards Highland Games VIP Experience Giveaway Teacher of the Month 2024 Alaska Summer Camps Guide (Opens in new window) 2024 Graduation (Opens in new window) Alaska Visitors Guide 2024 (Opens in new window) Bear Paw Festival 2024 (Opens in new window) 2023 Best of Alaska (Opens in new window) Alaska Health Care (Opens in new window) On the Move AK (Opens in new window) Senior Living in Alaska (Opens in new window) Youth Summit Awards (Opens in new window) Alaska Visitors Guide ADN Store (Opens in new window) Classifieds (Opens in new window) Jobs (Opens in new window) Place an Ad (Opens in new window) Customer Service Sponsored Content Book review: Pulling traditional legends into the modern world, ‘Chickaloonies 2′ is a giant leap forward A page from from "Chickaloonies 2: Watering Ways" from Dimi Macheras and Casey Silver “Chickaloonies 2: Watering Ways” Dimi Macheras and Casey Silver; 80% Studios, 2024; 268 pages; $39.99 “You locked away your stories,” Drasco, a bear warrior who is a central character in “Chickaloonies 2: Watering Ways,” tells the mayor and citizens of a post-apocalyptic Palmer, Alaska. “You locked away your language, you locked away your culture. You’ve severed the source of your strength.” Pointing at the exhibits in a shuttered Ahtna cultural center, Drasco continues, “These items are not meant to be locked away. They are alive!” It’s the pivotal scene in a story that hinges on the recovery of culture as a means of overcoming challenges. In this action-packed fantasy story set in a Palmer that has been laid to waste by giant flying creatures called “moose-quitoes,” the challenge is getting to the source where the plague of monstrous insects is hatching from, and finding a way of stopping them. This will require looking finding guidance in the accumulated lore of the Ahtna. “Chickaloonies,” an Alaska Native-rooted graphic novel series, is the brainchild of Dimi Macheras and Casey Silver. Macheras grew up in Chickaloon, enthralled by the traditional stories his late grandmother, revered elder Katherine Wade, and his late mother Patricia Wade — both Ahtna culture bearers — told him in his childhood. Growing up, he aided his mother in her work by illustrating the legends she preserved. Silver, originally from Rhode Island, is a talented artist and storyteller himself. Macheras and Silver share a comics partnership called 80% Studios, and “Chickaloonies” is their flagship work. A page from from "Chickaloonies 2: Watering Ways" from Dimi Macheras and Casey Silver. The first volume in the series, “First Frost,” was published in 2021 and introduced the primary characters. Sasquatch E. Moji is a 13-year-old behemoth of a child who speaks solely in emojis. Mister Yelly, a year younger and considerably smaller, is a bit of a scamp who depends on his older pal in a pinch but isn’t lacking in bravery himself. The opening tale, which was fairly brief, took place in Chickaloon Village at a time when light had gone from the sky. It ended with Moji and Yelly, counseled by their grandmother, embarking on a quest atop a berry-powered snowmachine named Boba to find their missing cousin Vally. It was a brief and fun little fantasy, well-conceived with expressive and colorful manga-inspired art, but it merely set the stage. “Watering Ways” is a giant leap forward for Macheras and Silver. It’s significantly longer and far more ambitious than its predecessor. The story opens with Moji and Yelly crossing a snow-covered landscape under a darkened sky as they come across ice creatures standing rigidly in a valley with human forms contained within them. Frightened by the sight, they hurriedly make for Palmer, where they find the city all but shut down. Quickly they learn of the moose-quitoes — giant, flying moose-mosquito hybrids spreading an unknown sickness among the residents — and are drawn into the mystery of where the creatures come from and how to combat them. After encountering a storyteller named Baca, they visit Drasco for help finding their cousin. Initially reluctant, though not for long, Drasco instead sends them on their way and they return to the besieged Palmer. There these four and other key players assemble, and the story takes form as Moji and Yelly join in the quest to defeat the moose-quitoes. “Watering Ways” is a standalone episode within the broader story arc of the series. It’s a fast-paced adventure that weaves Ahtna legends into an action-packed quest to save Palmer from the insect infestation that has overrun the town. It’s a tale filled with excitement, humor, entertaining characters, conflicts, camaraderie and a welcoming spirit that will appeal not just to the young readers who will make up its primary audience, but also to adults looking for a good yarn to escape into. Macheras and Silver share both writing and artistic duties, which leads to a strong fusion of imagery and words. Often, and especially toward the end, the artwork alone tells the story. As artists, the duo use manga as their launching point, but their style reaches well beyond the form. Their use of deep colors creates a mood perfectly suited for the events occurring on the page. Echoes of the seminal 1960s and 1970s work of famed Marvel and DC artist Jack Kirby also surface subtly in a few panels, tastefully so and not as mimicry, connecting the duo’s work to the long, storied history of American comics. “Chickaloonies” is a lot of fun, and it’s instructive along the way. Macheras and Silver draw from Ahtna lore to create an Alaska Native epic of their own. Stories passed through generations surface throughout the two books, offering key insight at critical points as the plot line unfolds. This knowledge is central to the narrative, and by including it, Macheras carries forward the work of his mother and grandmother, updating and adding to a tradition of oral literature and making it vibrant for modern readers. The duo are working as part of a collective of Alaska comics producers operating under the name Luk’ae Tse’ Taas Comics (Fish Head Soup Comics) that is focused on bringing both Alaska themes and Native cultures to the world of graphic fiction. As a work geared toward younger readers, the “Chickaloonies” series is the most accessible of those being produced and provides an easy entry point for readers just getting acquainted with the shared universe that the creators are contributing to. It’s a new direction for Alaska arts and literature, and as this book makes clear, its potential is only beginning to be explored. [ With the Luk’ae Tse’ Taas Comics collective, Alaska visual artists help build a broader universe ] “When you embark on the journey of rediscovering the knowledge of your culture, listen for the voices of the ancestors,” Macheras and Silver write in a brief afterword to the book. “And remember the watering ways, as a beacon to help you find your way back home.” It’s the perfect coda for “Chickaloonies 2,” which pulls traditional legends into the modern world and crafts something at once both deeply rooted and intriguingly new. David James David A. James is a Fairbanks-based freelance writer, and editor of the Alaska literary collection “Writing on the Edge.” He can be reached at [email protected]. Despair in the air: For many voters, the Biden-Trump debate means a tough choice just got tougher For many voters in the United States, there's despair in the air after the presidential debate this past week WASHINGTON -- The sound you might have heard after the presidential debate this past week was of voters falling between a rock and a hard place. Apart from the sizable and pumped-up universe of Donald Trump's supporters, the debate suddenly crystalized the worries of many Americans, a portion of President Joe Biden's supporters among them, that neither man is fit to lead the nation. Heading into the first debate of the general election campaign, voters had faced a choice between two strikingly unpopular candidates. They then watched as Trump told a stream of falsehoods with sharpness, vigor and conviction, while Biden struggled mightily to land debating points and even to get through many sentences. It added to doubts about the 81-year-old Democratic president's fitness to be in office for four more years. Now, the options are even more dispiriting for many Democrats, undecided voters and anti-Trump Republicans. More than a few people came away from watching the debate very conflicted. Outside a Whole Foods in downtown Denver on Friday, registered Democrat Matthew Toellner tilted his head sideways, mouth agape, in an imitation of his favored candidate, Biden, who was seen doing that at times on the split screen when Trump was talking Thursday night. “I’m going to vote for Biden," said Toellner, 49, leaning against the wood siding of the grocery store. “Actually, I might not.” A few minutes later, Toellner looked out to the street and rethought again. “I’m going to vote for Biden, I think I’d be a fool not to. But I just hate that I have to.” His appeal to Biden and Democrats: “Please step down, get somebody electable." On a Detroit park bench, Arabia Simeon was left feeling politically homeless after voting Democratic in the past two presidential elections. “It just feels like we’re doomed no matter what," she said. Trump's disregard for the facts suffused his arguments, though he was rarely challenged on the specifics during the debate. On abortion, for example, one of America's most divisive issues for generations, the former Republican president claimed there is universal agreement that states should decide on the legality of it. There is ferocious argument about that. But did that matter? The public reaction, in dozens of interviews across the country, brought to mind Bill Clinton's post-presidency assessment of what voters want in fraught times: “When people feel uncertain, they’d rather have someone strong and wrong than weak and right." The debate unmoored Simeon just as it did Toellner. The 27-year-old owner of a Detroit start-up went into debate night deciding between Biden and an independent candidate, the most prominent of whom is long shot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Now she's leaning against Biden. “I think it just kind of validated the feeling that I was having that this election is going to be extremely hectic, and it’s no longer the conversation of the lesser of two evils for me,” she said from a park bench on a work break. “It’s more like both of these candidates don’t feel like viable options.” Simeon said that as a Black and queer person, “It’s really disheartening to know that no matter how far we come as a country, we’re still going to factory reset when it comes to president and have to make a choice between two white men.” In large part, Democratic lawmakers in Washington and party officials across the United States closed ranks around Biden despite the panic that gripped many of them from his debate performance. But their remarks were measured, seeming to leave an opening if Biden were to make the extraordinary decision to have Democrats find another nominee. “It’s President Biden’s decision what he wants to do with his life," said Sharif Street, chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and a state senator. .“So far, he’s decided he’s our nominee, and I’m with him." To be sure, plenty of Biden supporters saw nothing to throw them off, as much as they tended to think he blew it. “Worrisome,” Jocardo Ralston of Philadelphia said of Biden's turn on the stage. Yet, Ralston said, "I’m not conflicted, nor do I feel that I am choosing the lesser of two evils. ... Biden is not the ideal choice for many, but he is the only choice for me, without regrets or hesitation.” The third-year doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, whose work focuses on the experiences of queer Black and Latino boys in special education classrooms, watched the debate in a Cincinnati bar while visiting the city. “All the work that I do and everything that I fight for is in direct opposition to Trump, his values, and his policies," he said. Biden turned in a more spirited performance Friday at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he acknowledged he is not the debater he used to be. “I know how to do this job,” he said. "I know how to get things done.” He assailed Trump in ways that eluded him the night before. “I thought ‘Well Joe, why didn’t you say that last night?’” said Maureen Dougher, 73, who found Biden “strong,” “definite” and “very clear” in his rally remarks. In a debate watched by an estimated 51.3 million people, according to a preliminary estimate by the Nielsen company, Biden’s showing “didn’t come across as well as it did today.” Amina Barhumi, 44, of Orland Park, Illinois, is affiliated with Muslim Civic Coalition and is sizing up Biden and Trump in part on how she expects each will act on the interests of American Muslims. Count her as demoralized about the candidate choices, too. She's hearing “essentially the same rhetoric” from both. “We have not-so-great options that are front-runners on the ticket,” she said. "Yesterday was an affirmation of exactly that.” “Quite frankly, I think it was very difficult to watch,” she said of the debate. “I have teenagers and it felt like a bunch of bickering and nonsensical name-calling. And I think the American public expects more.” Associated Press journalists Jesse Bedayn in Denver; Mike Householder in Detroit; Carolyn Kaster in Cincinnati; Melissa Perez Winder in Bridgeview, Illinois; and Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report. Trending Reader Picks LGBTQ+ books sent to states where they're banned Jun 29, 10:09 AM Police fatally shoot a teen carrying a replica handgun in upstate New York, authorities say Jun 29, 12:49 PM Driver charged with DWI after New York nail salon crash that killed 4 and injured 9 Jun 29, 10:07 AM Biden makes appeals to donors as concerns persist over his presidential debate performance Jun 29, 11:00 AM Photo Gallery: Americans watch Trump and Biden in election debate Jun 28, 12:33 AM ABC News Live 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events Parts of a Book: Quire, Colophon, and More A quire was originally a small medieval book or pamphlet, especially one constructed of a set of four sheets of paper folded in two, forming eight leaves. The quire grew in time, and it came to be a collection of 24 (sometimes 25) folded or unfolded sheets, which makes a ream of 480 sheets of paper 20 quires, and a quire one twentieth of a ream. ( Ream in this sense is from Arabic rizma , which literally means "bundle"; the verb ream with the slangy sense of "reprimand" may come from a Middle English word meaning "to open up," but that's an educated guess so don't ream us out if it turns out not to be true.) Quire is ultimately from Latin quaterni , meaning "set of four," and entered Middle English via Anglo-French. For those who might be contemplating the similar pronunciation of quire and the "singing" choir , quire is actually an archaic variant of the word. Choir is also derived from Anglo-French: it is from queor , a French formation derived from Medieval Latin chorus , referring to a company of singers in church or the area in which they sing. Quire was often used in English as a variant of choir up to the close of the 17th century. A colophon , whose name is from a Greek word meaning "summit" or "finishing touch," is traditionally an inscription placed at the end of a book or manuscript, usually with facts that relate to its production. These details might include the name of the printer and the date and place of printing. Colophons are found in some manuscripts and books made as long ago as the 6th century AD. In Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, a colophon was often added to provide facts such as the author's name and the date and place of the completion of the work, as well as an expression of thanks to those who assisted in its production. Eventually, the colophon was included on the blank page opposite the title page where it consists of usually a one-sentence statement as to where the book was printed and by whom. It also can be a simple identifying mark, emblem, or device that is used by a printer or a publisher on the title page, cover, spine, or jacket. Whatever the case, they remain a neat feature to discover when perusing books in a used book store. Spine goes back to the 15th century, and it is derived from Latin spina , which can mean "thorn" or "backbone" (which are also two of the original meanings of spine in English). The word was first applied to the back of a book to which the pages are attached—or the part that shows as the book ordinarily stands on a shelf that is often lettered with the title and the author's and publisher's name—in the early 20th century. Along with back , the spine of a book might be also called the backbone , backstrip , or shelfback . The title on the backbone, being functional as well as decorative, is of paramount importance. — R. R. Donnelley and Sons Company, All the King's Horses , 1954 These backstrips, which were usually without bands, contained at the top the title of the books and at the foot the motto, spes mea deus. — Meiric K. Dutton, Historical Sketch of Bookbinding , 1926 This volume breaks all the patterns: the cover is paper-covered boards with a cloth shelfback, and the dust jacket echoed the cover. — Kari A. Ronning, Studies in the Novel , 22 Sept. 2013 In Latin, ex libris means, literally, "from the books," and, in the past, the phrase was placed before the owner's name on a bookplate . In the late 19th-century, the phrase came to refer to the bookplate itself, which is a label that identifies the owner of the book, is usually engraved or printed, has a distinctive design (for instance, the owner's coat of arms ), and is pasted to the inside front cover of a book. In Latin, liber meant "book." That word gave English the word library in the 14th century. To remember the meaning of ex libris , you might think of it as meaning "from the library of (that person who lent you the book)." The area where the inside margins of adjoining pages of a book meet is called the gutter . For obvious reasons, the gutter must always be wide enough to permit the innermost text to be read easily when the book is bound.  In Middle English, the word gutter referred to any watercourse, in general, before specifying a brook and then a type of trough to catch and carry off rainwater on a street or from a rooftop—and, later, one that carries a misthrown bowling ball. The word coursed into English via Anglo-French gutere or guter , derived from gute , meaning "drop" as well as " gout ." The disease known as gout , which causes painful swelling of the joints especially in the toes, gets its name from the antiquated notion that the disease was caused by drops of diseased humors . Actually, it is caused by the deposit of uric-acid salts, which are normally excreted in urine, in joints. A page was a youth in medieval Europe who served an apprenticeship in the duties of chivalry in the family of a man of rank. He began as an assistant to a squire in the hope of becoming a squire himself and then advancing to a knight. As a page, Wart had learned to lay the tables with three cloths and a carpet, and to bring meat from the kitchen, and to serve Sir Ector or his guests on bended knee. — T. H. White, The Sword in the Stone , 1938 Like the youthful, but lexically older, page , the bookish page is a derivative from French, but it ultimately goes back to Latin pagina , which is akin to the Latin verb pangere , meaning "to fix" or "to fasten." The connection comes from strips of papyrus being "fastened" together to form a writing surface. The English word paper also has a connection: it, too, enters English via French and is from Latin, and its Latin origin is papyrus . The verb page in senses denoting service as an attendant or messenger is older than the verb referring to the numbering of the pages of a book or turning pages, as in "paging through a magazine." " Page boys " were being "paged," or being called upon, by the early 20th century, and by the 1930s, people were being "paged" via radio or intercom. The predecessor of the pager as a device used to signal someone via beeps, vibrations, or flashes about an incoming message enters English about mid-1900s. Fast-forwarding, talk about a computer "page" began in the 1970s, and " home pages " and " web pages " in the 1990s. In printing, a sheet of paper folded in half is called a folio . The name is from Latin folium , meaning " leaf ." The term folio can also refer to a book of large size. The collected works of William Shakespeare, for example, were first published in a folio edition in 1623. Eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays were printed in quartos (books about half the size of a modern magazine) before that publication. The quartos are seen as defective editions of the Bard's work, marred by badly garbled or missing text. In printing, a quarto refers to a sheet of paper folded in fours or the book itself composed of bound quarto signatures. ( Signatures are printer's sheets folded to form one unit of a book; a book is a collection of signatures that are bound together.) Folio can also refer to a page number, and the numbers may be prominent or unobtrusive—in other words, they could be placed prominently at the top, the center, or the outside margin of the page, or they could be unobtrusively placed at the bottom or the gutter margin. A more common sense of folio refers to a case or folder for loose papers.  Another "leafy" page in publishing is flyleaf , which refers to one of the free endpapers of a book. An endpaper is a folded sheet pasted against the inside front cover, but sometimes the back, and forms the first or last free page of a book with the other half. When you want to rock out to your favorite tune, you reach for the volume knob or button, but when you want to find out how sound travels through the air to your ears, you might reach for a volume of an encyclopedia (at least, in pre-internet days). So, what's the connection between those senses of the word volume ? Volume comes from the Latin noun volumen (meaning "roll"), which, in turn, derives from the Latin verb volvere ("to roll"). The Roman volumen was essentially a book rolled up on a short staff. The reader held the roll in one hand and, once he or she had read a column, rolled it onto another cylinder with the other hand.   The French borrowed the word from Latin, changing it to volume , and in the 14th century, the English acquired the word from the French. At first, volume simply meant "book," but by the 16th century, it had also come to refer to a book that is a part of a series of books. From there, the word was extended to the generalized sense meaning "the quantity, amount, or mass of anything," and in the 18th century, volume acquired the meaning "strength or intensity of sound." Bibliography Bibliography commonly refers to the alphabetized listing of books, magazines, articles, etc., that are mentioned in a text. Additionally, it can refer to a listing that is more detailed, or "descriptive," about the references, or it can refer to a critical or analytical study of books as tangible objects themselves. A descriptive bibliography may take the form of detailed information about a particular author's body of works or about works on a given subject. Critical bibliography, on the other hand, involves meticulous descriptions of the physical features of books, including the paper, binding, printing, typography, and production processes that are used to help establish such facts about a book as its date of publication and its authenticity. Bibliography dates to the 17th century, and it likely developed from New Latin  bibliographia , itself derived from the Greek word for "the copying of books," a combination of biblio- ("book") and -graphein ("to write"). Supplementary matter that forms a cohesive whole is often found in an appendix . A book may have a single appendix or more (which, in such cases, will usually be headed "Appendix A," "Appendix B," etc.). The appendix may consist entirely of the author's prose, or it might consist of a table, list, document, or something else. The word appendix is from Latin appendere , meaning "to be attached," and goes back to the 16th century. In English, it refers to things connected or joined to something larger or more important, like the back matter of a book added to the main text. The tube that is located at the bottom of a balloon to inflate it is also called an appendix. Both plural forms of the word, appendixes and appendices , are standard in technical and nontechnical contexts. The anatomical appendix, the narrow tube at the beginning of the large intestine, is technically referred to as the " vermiform appendix " (in Latin, vermis means "worm"). The vermiform appendix is not essential and can be removed if it becomes inflamed. A book's appendix is also not essential to a book's main text, but it gives additional support to the writer's claims. In Middle English, chapter was often spelled chapitre . That spelling is taken directly from an Anglo-French word that is based on Late Latin capitulum —ultimately from caput , meaning "head," and itself meaning "division of a book," which is the common meaning of chapter in English.  The phrase " chapter and verse " in reference to providing exact information or details about something goes back to the early 17th century and, rather unsurprisingly, comes from the tradition of citing exact biblical passages by their chapter as well as their verse number. Chapter was also used in Middle English for a meeting of clergy members, which was frequently opened with the reading of a chapter from the Scriptures. This sense of chapter eventually evolved into today's sense referring to the body of a local branch of an organization, as in "chapters of the American Red Cross" or "chapters of the fraternity." Epigraph refers to a short quotation from another source placed at the beginning of an article, chapter, book, etc., that alludes to what's to come in your reading. Its attribution is generally set by itself on the line below the quotation. Alternatively (if print space is a concern), it is run in on the last line of the quotation. When set on its own line, it is generally preceded by an em dash or, less frequently, it is enclosed in parentheses. Here are a couple examples of famous epigraphs:  Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay / To mould me Man? Did I solicit thee / From darkness to promote me? — John Milton, Paradise Lost (in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein ) Lawyers, I suppose, were children once. — Charles Lamb, "The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple" (in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird )  The word epigraph is derived from Greek epigraphein , meaning "to write on" or "to inscribe," and was written into the English lexicon in the 17th century, originally as a word for an inscription engraved on buildings, tombs, statues, or other objects, such as coins (as in "In God We Trust," which is an epigraph on U.S. coins). Skiver is an early 19th-century word that refers to a thin, soft leather made of sheepskin that is tanned in sumac and dyed. In the past, it was used for hat linings, pocketbooks, and bookbindings. Its name is probably derived from Scandinavian skive , a verb meaning "to cut off (as leather or rubber) in thin layers or pieces."  Readers might be familiar with skivvies as a word for "underwear," or maybe even skivvy , an early 20th-century term for a female domestic servant in British English. They are unrelated. Preface/Foreword/Introduction An author's prefatory remarks that explain the object and scope of what follows are usually titled "Preface," which is appropriate since the word preface comes from Latin praefari , meaning "to say beforehand." For works of literature, prefaces can sometimes be extended essays, such as those of Henry James and George Bernard Shaw. The preface often closes with acknowledgements of those who assisted in the writing, and it is usually signed (and the date and place of writing sometimes follow the typeset signature). When a person other than the author writes an introductory essay, it is normally titled " Foreword " (which denotes words said before something else and is presumably from a translation of German Vorwort ); the author's preface, if any, then follows it. Another type of prefatory matter is the " Introduction ." The introduction contains information that is essential to the main text and that may be paginated in Arabic numerals. In reference works, such as a dictionary, a section of explanatory notes concerning content and format might be included in the front matter. Vellum is from Middle English velym , borrowed from Anglo-French velim , which itself is related to an adjective meaning "of a calf" and a noun meaning "calf." The word is also related to veal . Vellum , in printing, refers to the skins of calf, kid, or lamb prepared as parchment for writing on or for binding books. The term is also used as a synonym of parchment . The production of parchment facilitated the success of the codex , an early type of manuscript consisting of a collection of pages stitched together along one side that replaced earlier rolls of papyrus and wax tablets. In modern usage, the terms vellum and parchment are sometimes applied to a type of cream-colored paper of high quality that is made chiefly from wood pulp and rags and having a special finish; they also refer to vegetable parchment , which we now call simply parchment paper and use in cooking. Additionally, they refer to translucent paper made for tracing purposes. Addendum refers to something that is added; specifically, it refers to a section of a book added to the main or original text that might include explanation, comment, or supplementary material. It comes from a Latin word of the same meaning, and it is often used in its Latin plural form addenda (as opposed to addendums ) when it is applied to a supplement of a book. In mathematics, the related addend , which is a shortening of addendum , refers to a number or quantity to be added to a preceding one or to a sum already accumulated. 4 and 9, for example, are addends in 4+9 = 13. Index refers to a usually alphabetical list that includes all or nearly all items (such as authors, subjects, or keywords) that are considered pertinent and are discussed or mentioned in a book, catalog, etc., or an electronic database. An index gives with each item the location of its mention in the work, and it is located at the end of the work. The word, as well as this sense, goes back to the 16th century, and it is from the Latin verb indicare , meaning "to point out" or "to indicate," which explains why the forefinger is also called the " index finger " and, in economics, we have such terms as the " consumer price index " and " retail price index ," both of which indicate changes of prices over a given period of time.  In the "book" sense of the word, the plural indexes is preferred, but the Latin plural form indices is also acceptable. Word of the Day See Definitions and Examples » Get Word of the Day daily email! Games & Quizzes Arts & Culture Pop rhetoric: our favorites, if you like to complain about 'decimate'..., 8 words for lesser-known musical instruments, the real origin of 'supercalifragilistic', 10 words from taylor swift songs (merriam's version), pilfer: how to play and win, 8 words with fascinating histories, great big list of beautiful and useless words, vol. 3, it's a scorcher words for the summer heat, flower etymologies for your spring garden, grammar & usage, more words you always have to look up, the difference between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.', more commonly misspelled words, plural and possessive names: a guide, your vs. you're: how to use them correctly. Share full article Advertisement The Morning The promise of weight-loss drugs. Where these drugs might take us — and what that means for medicine. By Dani Blum I’ve covered Ozempic and similar drugs since 2022. In the past two years, Ozempic has become a synonym for weight loss. When celebrities slimmed down, tabloids wondered whether they were taking the drug. Activists argued that the drug entrenched old norms about body image — people still seemed to want to be thin. Ozempic was weight loss; weight loss was Ozempic. It’s like Kleenex or Scotch tape: totemic. Technically, while Ozempic is a diabetes drug, people can, and do, take it to drop weight. But the drug — and others in its class, such as Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound — is about much more. Scientists believe the drugs are about to revolutionize several fields of medicine, such as cardiology and endocrinology. Researchers are also running dozens of trials to see whether they might help with Alzheimer’s, liver disease, polycystic ovary syndrome and even skin conditions. If these trials prove successful, the drugs may extend many lives by years, save billions in medical costs and divide public health into before-and-after epochs. A researcher studying these drugs told me he felt like the scientist who first discovered antibiotics. Those are some sky-high hopes, and not all will be come true. But we’ve already seen a real-world impact. In March, the Food and Drug Administration said that doctors could use Wegovy to reduce the risk of heart problems . Last month, a trial showed that the compound in Ozempic reduced the risk of complications from chronic kidney disease. And last week, two trials found that tirzepatide, the substance in Mounjaro and Zepbound, could improve symptoms of sleep apnea. The idea that a single drug that could target so many kinds of disease might sound too good to be true. These drugs, called GLP-1s (glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists), mystify even the scientists who study them. When I asked researchers how it was possible that Ozempic might help with cognitive issues and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and opioid addiction, they gave the same answer: We don’t know! But we have early clues about where these drugs might take us — and what that means for medicine. In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber?  Log in . Want all of The Times?  Subscribe . SI SWIMSUIT What Time is the Second Round of the 2024 NBA Draft? Liam mckeone | jun 27, 2024. The first round of the 2024 NBA draft is in the books, which means there's a decent chance you only just learned that the second round is taking place on a separate day entirely . That's right— for the first time in the event's history, the NBA draft is a two-day event. The first round was on Wednesday, June 26; the second round is on Thursday, June 27. As it is the first time around with this setup, the scheduling is not something the audience is used to. Here we aim to answer the most pressing questions about Day 2 of the NBA draft. Like, say, when it actually starts. What Time is the Second Round of the NBA Draft? The second round of the 2024 NBA draft will begin at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 27. It is unclear why the start time is so early in comparison to the 8 p.m. ET start time for the first round. However, what is clear is that the second round should take far less time overall. The first round of the draft took well over three hours on Wednesday evening. There were 30 picks and teams had five minutes on the draft clock. Conversely, the second round only has 28 picks (the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns had their second-rounders taken away due to tampering violations) and teams only have two minutes on the clock. Where is the Second Round of the Draft? The first round was held at Barclays Center . The second has a bit less of a glamorous setting. Thursday's round of the draft will be held at ESPN's studios in the Seaport district of New York City. What Channel is the Draft on Today? Unlike Wednesday, the second round is only being broadcast in one place . Thursday's event can only be viewed on ESPN or any of the ESPN streaming services. Previously, the whole draft was broadcast on both ESPN and ABC. That's all you need to know to enjoy the festivities later this afternoon. LIAM MCKEONE Liam McKeone is a Senior Writer for the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. In addition to his role as a writer, he collaborates with other teams across Minute Media to help define his team’s content strategy. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in 2024, Liam worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, Liam is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books, and video games. Liam has been a member of the National Sports Media Association (NSMA) since 2020. Follow liam_mckeone 115 IMAGES The best books to read in 2023 Hardcover vs Paperback Basic Parts of a Book: Learn the Names and Meanings Paperback vs Hardcover: Difference Between Hardcover and Paperback 30 Books You Should Read in 2023 The best fiction books you must read in this lifetime VIDEO Belief in the Books means...#islamicshorts#viral#trending Hit the Books 🤔 #shorts #shortvideo #shortsfeed The Books That Are Banned Winchester Model 94 (1942): Remembering the Past the books that i read in march!!🍀📚 Be in someone's good books COMMENTS 95 Synonyms & Antonyms for BOOK Find 95 different ways to say BOOK, along with antonyms, related words, and example sentences at Thesaurus.com. BOOK Synonyms: 200 Similar and Opposite Words Synonyms for BOOK: paperback, hardcover, treatise, volume, novel, tome, monograph, anthology; Antonyms of BOOK: ancient history, open secret, come, arrive, stay, show ... All the Types of Book Genres, Explained The genre that makes your heart all warm and fuzzy focuses on the love story of the main protagonists. This world of fiction is extremely wide-reaching in and of itself, as it has a variety of sub-genres including: contemporary romance, historical, paranormal, and the steamier erotica. If you're in need of any suggestions, we've got a list of ... A Century of Reading: The 10 Books That Defined the 1950s James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son (1955) All three of Baldwin's most famous works— Go Tell It On the Mountain , Notes of a Native Son, and Giovanni's Room —were published in the 50s, the decade that he established himself as an essential intellectual, social, literary, and moral voice in this country. Book Definition & Meaning book: [noun] a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tablets of wood or ivory. a set of written, printed, or blank sheets bound together between a front and back cover. a long written or printed literary composition. a major division of a treatise or literary work. a record of a business's financial transactions or financial condition. ... 35 Popular Book Genres, Defined—Plus Books in Every Genre Below, discover 35 popular book genres, along with reading suggestions that include the best books of all time, mystery books, true-crime books, autobiographies, memoirs and more. Join the free ... BOOK Definition & Meaning Book definition: a handwritten or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers.. See examples of BOOK used in a sentence. Book For a lot of kids, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was their first experience of really falling in love with a book, or a collection of printed words or illustrations bound together. BOOKS Synonyms: 172 Similar and Opposite Words Synonyms for BOOKS: paperbacks, volumes, hardcovers, novels, tomes, monographs, treatises, anthologies; Antonyms of BOOKS: comes, remains, arrives, turns up, shows up ... BOOK BOOK meaning: 1. a written text that can be published in printed or electronic form: 2. a set of pages that have…. Learn more. Glossary of Book Terms First Books. the first book appearance by an author (usually refers to a book entirely by the author, not merely a first appearance of a poem or short story in an anthology). Frequently an established, well known ... The Ultimate List of Book Genres: 35 Popular Genres Among these 35 popular book genres, there's bound to be one that fits your book like a glove — so let's find it! reedsy blog. Connect. reedsy marketplace. ... The action and adventure genre also complements a huge range of others, which means it has its fingers in everything from fantasy novels like The Hobbit to classic romance like Jane ... Book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images. Books are typically composed of many pages, bound together and protected by a cover. Modern bound books were preceded by many other written mediums, such as the codex and the scroll.The book publishing process is the series of steps involved in their creation and dissemination. ... BOOK definition and meaning 30 meanings: 1. a number of printed or written pages bound together along one edge and usually protected by thick paper or.... Click for more definitions. Rare Book Terminology You Should Know The Language of Condition. Rare book dealers, buyers, and collectors rely on a wide variety of words and phrases to describe the condition of a book or object. First, there are terms used to describe the condition the book is in—usually ranging from "as new" or "fine" down to "poor" or "reading copy" or "binding copy.". Glossary of book terms A book that belonged to or was annotated by the author, someone close to the author, a famous or noteworthy person, or someone especially associated with the content of the work. Should have documentary evidence of its association, such as the author's bookplate. Find association copies. What is another word for book To reserve in advance. To arrange or schedule. ( slang) To leave a place, often for another. To register or record into a book. ( book in or into) To check into a place of accommodation. To arrest. To request some product or service or to secure by placing an order. ( of accommodation) To have rented. 19 Names For Book Lovers The word cadence means "rhythm" or "flow" and is used to describe the changes in rhythm, pitch, and pace as a literary piece is read. It can also be used in reference to music, or in its Italian form, Cadenza. RELATED: 20 Musical Baby Names That Will Make Your Heart Sing 3. Novella. Ella is currently #15 on the Social Security baby name popularity charts. 11 Bookish Words for Book Lovers florilegium. definition : a volume of writings; an anthology. The word florilegium was borrowed into English from a New Latin word that comes from Latin florilegus meaning "culling flowers." Think of a florilegium as a bouquet of writings, specially selected and arranged for your enjoyment. In "Hermits," he pays tribute to their unsung ... BOOKS BOOKS definition: 1. the written records of money that a business has spent or received: 2. the written records of…. Learn more. book noun Collocations Literature Literature Being a writer. write/ publish literature/ poetry/ fiction/ a book/ a story/ a poem/ a novel/ a review/ an autobiography; become a writer/ novelist/ playwright; find/ have a publisher/ an agent; have a new book out; edit/ revise/ proofread a book/ text/ manuscript; dedicate a book/ poem to…; Plot, character and atmosphere What Is a Fiction Book —Types and Purposes of Fiction Books Fiction books are designed to help us escape from the world that we live in. They are meant to take us on an adventure in a foreign world and keep us there. However, due to their popularity, many of these made-up worlds can start to come true. While many fiction books are made up, these books can serve an important part in society. Five Books for People Who Really Love Books My dad likes to fish, and he likes to read books about fishing. My mom is a birder; she reads about birds. There are plenty of books on both subjects, I've found, when browsing in a gift-giving ... In 10 Years, Superman Will Be in the Public Domain. That May Not Mean With several of DC's major copyrights set to lift in the '30s (Superman and Lois Lane in 2034, Batman in 2035, the Joker in 2036, and Wonder Woman in 2037), the Variety item imagines a future ... Book review: Pulling traditional legends into the modern world The follow-up book in the series from Dimi Macheras and Casey Silver continues a new direction for Alaska arts and literature under the Luk'ae Tse' Taas Comics banner. Despair in the air: For many voters, the Biden-Trump debate means a LGBTQ+ books sent to states where they're banned Jun 29, 10:09 AM An attacker with a crossbow wounded a police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade before being shot dead Parts of a Book: Quire, Colophon, and More In Latin, ex libris means, literally, "from the books," and, in the past, the phrase was placed before the owner's name on a bookplate.In the late 19th-century, the phrase came to refer to the bookplate itself, which is a label that identifies the owner of the book, is usually engraved or printed, has a distinctive design (for instance, the owner's coat of arms), and is pasted to the inside ... The Promise of Weight-Loss Drugs Where these drugs might take us — and what that means for medicine. By Dani Blum I've covered Ozempic and similar drugs since 2022. In the past two years, Ozempic has become a synonym for ... What Time is the Second Round of the 2024 NBA Draft? The first round of the 2024 NBA draft is in the books, which means there's a decent chance you only just learned that the second round is taking place on a separate day entirely.That's right ... case study cover letter presentation problem solving rewiew prompts websites tips