14. Bryson, Bill. The Mother Tongue: English, and How it Got That Way. 245 pages. 2.12.09

Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue is a delightful read suitable for any language enthusiast. While several readers have singled out the (apparently copious) errors in the book, I myself read it for its entertainment value only, and was not troubled by these technicalities. Though by no means a scholarly text, Bryson's book provides readers with a wealth of information and trivia; in less than 250 pages he touches on everything from dialects to dictionaries, crosswords to curse words. Each of the sixteen chapters is closely focused on a subject related to the use, history, or development of the English language (both in England and other English-speaking countries), and can be read (and judged) on its own merits. Likely written in the late 1980s, and published in 1990, some of Bryson's "modern" examples are a bit dated. However, most of his illustrations are historical in nature, which will allow several generations of readers to follow along with the same level of comprehension. Who knew that a book on spelling and grammar could be so entertaining?