The Illustrated Book of Sayings: Curious Expressions from Around the World

author: Ella Frances Sanders
name: Wayne
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2016/12/16
date added: 2016/12/16
shelves: non-fiction
review:
'The Illustrated Book of Sayings' by Ella Francis Sanders is a collection of odd phrases from around the world. It showed me that English phrases like 'the cat is out of the bag' are probably just as strange to non-English speakers as some of these were to me.

From the French "To Pedal in Sauerkraut" to the Aromanian "One Flower Doesn't Make the Spring," I enjoyed all of this. For each phrase, there is an illustrated page with the original language and an approximate English translation. There is also an explanation of the phrase, what it's English equivalent might be, and and a history of where it might have originated. I learned that the Farsi phrase "I will eat your liver" is actually a term of endearment like "You are my heart." I'll leave the rest for you to discover.

This is a book for word nerds, like me. There are 52 sayings in the book, so it's a quick enough read. I think each phrase is in a unique language. I found it utterly charming and I feel like something like this helps the world feel more familiar. Buy a copy for your word nerd. They will thank you for such a lovely book.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Ten Speed Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.


via Wayne's bookshelf: read http://ift.tt/2htGVql