Did you ever draw a blank when taking an exam? Did you ever put down an answer that you knew was wrong, but wanted to put something in that big blank answer space? Or, perhaps you given tests and seen some of the crazy answers students gave. Either way, you should chuckle when you read F in Exams: the Very Best Totally Wrong Test Answers, by Richard Benson. Some of the answers were very clever, I hope they were given at least one point.

There are wonderful phrases and catch words from other languages, ones that cannot really be translated into English (but might have an equivalent as all humans experience similar feelings, etc). In Other Words: an Illustrated Miscellany of the World's Most Intriguing Words and Phrases by Christopher J. Moore was a totally engaging book ... it kept me reading into the night with the short "I can read just one more page" sort of entries. I especially liked esprit de l'escalier (es-SPREE der less-Kal-iay) from the French which is that witty remark that comes to you after the fact, basically, when you are walking down the stairs and away from the meeting! Haven't we all had the 'Darn, I wish I'd said ...' moment?

Reading Hermit With Dog