Books
‘Liar’s Dictionary’ a fab, queer tale for lovers of language
Eley Williams’s debut infused with whimsy and secrets
‘The Liar’s Dictionary’
By Eley Williams
c.2021, Doubleday
$26/270 pages
If you had told me that I’d be seduced by a novel obsessed with the dictionary, I’d have thought you were nuts. I care about language and look up words when I don’t know their meaning. But getting hooked by a novel brimming with lexicographers and (real and fake) words?
Guess who’s eating her words? I’ve lost my heart to “The Liar’s Dictionary,” the first novel by British writer Eley Williams.
This is a queer book in so many ways. Williams, 33, who lives in London with her wife Nell Stevens, is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her acclaimed, prize-winning short-story collection “Attrib. And Other Stories,”published in the U.K. in 2017, will be published in the U.S. this spring with the new title “When I Find I Cannot Kiss You.”
Williams, who did her Ph.D. research on bogus dictionary entries, plays with the meanings of words and queerness in her work. Though “The Liar’s Dictionary” is infused with puns and intellectual play, Williams isn’t a show-off or professorial. “The Liar’s Dictionary” is as much about love as it is about lexicography. It wears its words on its heart.
“The Liar’s Dictionary” is a delightfully queer novel because of its eccentricity. It’s in the form of 26 chapters arranged alphabetical order. The title of each chapter is a word. Some of the chapter titles (“A is for artful,” “F is for fornication” and “H is for humbug”) slide by easily. A few (“K is for kelemenopy,” “L is for legerdemain” and “Z is for zugzwang”) left me scratching my head, but intrigued. Only a humbug would complain about this “Alice in Wonderland” like befuddlement.
Williams has been aptly compared to Vladimir Nabokov and Ali Smith for her wordplay and switching back and forth between periods of time. “The Liar’s Dictionary” is the story of Mallory and Peter Winceworth, two lexicographers in London who work for “Swansby’s New Enclyclopaedic Dictionary.” (“Swansby’s is fictional.)
Mallory, in present-day London, is a young intern with at Swansby House (home of the “Swansby’s Dictionary”). Winceworth worked with Swansby’s in 1899. The dictionary was founded in 1850. In Winceworth’s day there were more than 100 lexicographers at Swansby’s. But many of the male lexicographers (at that time they were mostly men) were killed or wounded during World War I. Because of the war, Swansby’s Dictionary wasn’t finished. By the time Mallory arrives, she is the only employee. The only other person at Swansby’s is her boss David Swansby, a descendent of the dictionary’s founder. The latest edition of the unfinished dictionary was published in nine volumes in the 1930s.
“The Liar’s Dictionary,” fab queer novel that it is, is infused with whimsy and secrets. Mallory’s girlfriend Pip is “out-and-out out.” But Mallory isn’t comfortable yet with being openly queer. She thinks about words for closets. Mallory angers Pip by saying she’s her “flatmate.” She and Pip wonder “What about a word for not being out?”
Winceworth was hired by Swansby’s because he pretends that he has a lisp. The sympathy created by his fake impediment lands the job for him. As luck would have it, he is assigned to work on words beginning with the letter S. Winceworth fantasizes about living in a seaside cottage. He becomes so bored with his work that his mind wanders. After drinking way too much at a party, he spends the next day wondering why there’s no word to describe how wretched he feels. Finally, Winceworth finds his labor to be so dull that he creates fake words and sneaks them into Swansby’s Dictionary. He falls in love with Sophia, the fiancee of a co-worker whom he loathes. Along the way, he has a brawl with a pelican.
Part of Mallory’s job is to find and take out the fake words that Winceworth has inserted into the dictionary. Mallory’s finds are great fun. But things turn serious when a man threatens over the phone to bomb Swansby’s because the dictionary has changed the definition of marriage to include same-sex marriage.
“The Liar’s Dictionary” is a fab tale for lovers of language and mystery.
Books
‘Mighty Real’ explores history of LGBTQ music
From Judas Priest to Whitney, something for every taste
‘Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000’
By Barry Walters
c.2026, Viking
$35/496 pages
Step, step, tap, back step.
Shimmy in a circle, left hand waving over your head, shake your tail feathers, repeat to the beat. Once there was a time when you could do any dance in your sleep, but it’s been a while. So read “Mighty Real” by Barry Walters, and see if your toes don’t tap.
Fifty-seven years after Stonewall, and here we are: LGBTQ musicians still face scrutiny for their sexuality because, says Walters, music isn’t created for gay listeners. No problem: LGBTQ artists and writers have often penned lyrics carefully in order to say what can’t be said, “coding” songs for gay audiences that straight (and ignorant) listeners can dance to and enjoy with apparent obliviousness.
Walters offers “just a few” examples.
Lou Reed sang about trans people in the late ‘60s and offered a rallying song for the Gay Liberation Front in 1972, the latter of which felt like a message to a then-11-year-old Walters. Janis Joplin claimed she was straight, but she had several girlfriends. Motown singers often offered sometimes-ambiguous lyrics.
John Lennon’s hand placement on the back cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band made Walters begin to understand that he was different from other boys.
David Bowie is on his list, of course, as is Bette Midler, Elton John, Donna Summer, and Queen. You’ll find Judas Priest here, Green Day, and punk music. The Village People are included in this book, also Grace Jones, Duran Duran, and Cher, Whitney, Melissa, Latifah, and the lyrics from several blockbuster movies.
Two of Prince’s band members were lesbians, and they heavily influenced his albums. Diana Ross’s “I’m Coming Out” cemented her position in LGBTQ culture, and Michael Jackson’s inclusion here takes much careful consideration.
Read about Olivia Newton-John and the B52s. And then there’s Sylvester, for whom Walters has a soft spot in his heart. Sylvester’s death still makes Walters cry.
In his preface, author and music writer Barry Walters points out that music is what you make it and that it’s interpreted differently by each individual. To that end, this book naturally consists of preferential history and personal opinions about singers, bands, albums, and songs.
Agree or disagree. That’s where much of the appeal lies in “Mighty Real.”
Here, Walters wraps his memories around his choices, giving readers room for their own views, memories, and list making. Music-loving readers might also be surprised to note who’s not on Walters’ list – there aren’t many country performers here, for example, and the overall list focuses entirely on music from roughly 1968 to the year 2000, mostly on the kinds of songs you’ll want at the club or party. Again, discuss, and curate your own playlist.
This is a hefty book, but the chapters are browse-able and generally short enough to read in under five minutes. It’s nostalgic, yet also serious in the history it presents. This is the kind of book you want to leave near your album collection, or wherever you get your tunes. But finding “Mighty Real” is your first step.
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You’re all geared up.
You’ve got your best parade-walking shoes, your coolest tee, your most-comfortable shorts, and a rainbow flag to carry. You’re set for Pride, but before you go, try one of these great new books about LGBTQ life and history.
After the parade, where will you end up? A place to talk your experience over, to re-hash things for the next parade? Then you may need “The Lesbian Bar Chronicles: The Living History and Hopeful Future of America’s Dyke Dives and Sapphic Spaces” by Rachel Karp (Beacon Press, $29.95).
Lesbian bars, says Karp, are more than just places to drink. They’re also places to find community, and to organize. For many, she says, they are “sanctuaries,” as they have been for at least a century, and this book introduces you to some of the people who run the establishments, the things they do to support their patrons, and the 100-year-plus bravery that it took to own, run, and enter a lesbian bar.
If you had to name a gay icon, there are probably quite a few who come to mind. So read “Without Prejudice: My Life as a Gay Judge” by Harvey Brownstone (ECW Press, $21.95) and add another name to your list.
This memoir, written by Canada’s first openly gay judge, takes readers from Brownstone’s childhood to his life as a lawyer, then to his work within the justice system in Ontario, and beyond, to his current career. This is a surprising, informative book that gives you an idea what gay life is like, north of our uppermost borders, then and now.
Pride is a celebration, an event, but it also demands a peek backwards, and in “The LGBTQ Almanac: 500 Years of Queer Culture in American History” by Deborah G. Felder (Visible Ink Press, $39.95), you’ll get a wide look at the pioneers, allies, policy, and gay life over the course of the last five centuries. Want to know more about religion in the gay community? It’s in here, along with celebrities, presidents, science, business, and more. This is the kind of book that settles bets. It’s one you want to have in any room of your home because it’s comprehensive and perfectly browse-able for all of its 600-plus pages.
And finally, here’s a book to read and think about: “No Fats No Fems: A Guide to Queer Empathy and Unpacking Prejudice” by Max Hovey (HarperOne, $19.99). How do you eliminate hateful, hurtful words, aimed at gay people – by gay people? What kind of stereotypes do we carry, unintentionally? This book takes those things out into the daylight by talking honestly and thoughtfully about them, as well as other issues. It’s a book to have when doubts creep in, when you need a new way of thinking or a different direction, or when you just want something different to read.
And if these great books aren’t enough, head to your favorite bookstore or library and ask for books that you can read before Pride or after. And happy Pride!
Books
New books reveal style trends for a more enlightened century
Guidelines that hint about gendering clothing are out
Books about Fashion and Style
By various authors
c.2026, various publishers
$19.95 – $29.95
Don’t look now, but your legs are showing.
It’s OK, it’s almost summertime and you want to show both skin and style. So how about a few hints for looking your best? Check out these great books and get stylin’.
Who says there are rules about fashion? Wearing white before Memorial Day is OK; socks with sandals not so much? Fine, but in “Bending the Rules: Fashion Beyond the Binary” by Camille Benda with Gwyn Conaway (Princeton Architectural Press, $29.95), you’ll see that any guidelines that hint about gendering clothing are oh-so-last century.
Along with lively, fun narrative, there are lots of photos in this book, ads for how clothing used to be worn along male-female lines, and short biographies of some of today’s best designers. Here, you can check out prom dresses from the 1950s and new haute couture gowns practically right off the runway – and see how one parallels with the other. The timeline reaches back centuries, so you get a nice idea of where certain kinds of clothing originated and how it’s relevant today – making what’s inside here perfect for browsing.
Pick up this book, in fact, and you might also pick up some ideas for filling your closet and creating your very own style.
The fashion you wear on your body isn’t all you’ll find in “Pretend to Be Fancy: A Field Guide to Style and Sophistication” by Whitney Marston Pierce (Chronicle Books, $19.95). You’ll also read about other nice things you can have.
So you’re not a pinky-in-the-air kind of person, whatever. You can easily hang with those who are, once you read and absorb this book.
Tongue-tied at fancy soirees? Not anymore, there are tips for talking here. What do you know about canapes, hors d’oeuvres, and the kind of foods you don’t get at the corner c-store? How do you make a charcuterie that everyone will Ooooooh over? And how do you give a gift for the person whose taste seems scads better than yours? That’s all in here, along with what to drink, how to dress, and how to make every corner of your home look like something right out of a high-end magazine.
Will this book make you chic? Possibly, yes. Will it help you get invited to all the best parties? Maybe, but for sure, it’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you feel fabulous, look fabulous, and live your best life with the surroundings you deserve. Out May 5, so put it on your list.
But let’s say you need more ideas. You have questions or thorny issues with fashion that you really need answering. That’s when you ask for a talented fashionista at your local bookstore or library, that knowledgeable someone knows books and knows how to get what you need to be your most dazzling, best-dressed, finest-appointed self in a home you can be proud of, with comfortable furniture that will be the envy of everyone who sees it.
In the meantime, grab the above titles, because these books got legs.
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