This is one giant book of venery terms and I totally enjoyed it. While others suffer from reading hangover I am having a serious craving for just picking this book up, hugging it tightly then shoving it onto my bookshelf rather than returning it. It makes me want to cry that such intelligent words have to be returned to where they came from *sigh*.



The author himself can be quite wordy in those parts where he has free rein away from the actual reading to explain his subject. His language isn't

This is one giant book of venery terms and I totally enjoyed it. While others suffer from reading hangover I am having a serious craving for just picking this book up, hugging it tightly then shoving it onto my bookshelf rather than returning it. It makes me want to cry that such intelligent words have to be returned to where they came from *sigh*.



The author himself can be quite wordy in those parts where he has free rein away from the actual reading to explain his subject. His language isn't for beginning readers as he loves to dance the tightrope between being easily understand and needing a dictionary.



At the same time and for those who want to skip the discussion parts (if you do you will be missing a very giant yummy portion of linguistic learning if you enjoy that) the rest of the book is easily accessible. The author has done a great job of categorizing the majority of his words to fit the categories into which he thinks the terms of venery belong such as newer terms, older terms that are still in use and some that have fallen out of place. Strangely enough some of those that are suppose to be in the latter group are still in use even now.



The first two categories are a little bit harder to maneuver due to they are just provided with the terms unlike the third part, which is broken down into further groups.



The terms of venery are given as at most a smattering on each page so there aren't too many to overwhelm the reader. Some of them have furthermore explanations as to why their combination was put together and/or the explanation of why the two words perfectly balance each other out.



Finally the author has his second section of the book dedicated to helping his readers to continue on their own Hunt whether it is a solitary game or one with friends. The different versions provided just helps to give more courses for those who want to increase their fun nights of linguistic challenges.



At the same time the reader is given a refreshing break with the illustrations mostly from J. J. Grandville, who was a French caricaturist. As such the reader will find many whimsical illustrations of animal-headed human-bodied creatures parodying the world of men.



All in all this was a wonderful balance between linguistic explorations and refreshing tongue-in-cheek comedy. For those who enjoy terms of venery this will be one book that you definitely won't want to surrender back to the library if you have to.