I won a copy of this book through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway, and had very little idea what to expect until the book arrived. In fact I won the giveaway and received the book while my Internet was down, so it arrived unexpectedly, unannounced, which is an entrance I wish more books would choose.

From the cover and blurbs about this book, one might expect this to be a reference book, and indeed the back of the book asserts that it is. I am not sure there is a nice neat genre name for what this book is, but it is NOT a reference book, even for writers. I would call it a poetic prose meditation on letters, centered around the Phoenician alphabet. While each segment does provide some basic information on the history and origin of the letter, the information is minimal, and provided in a voice very much like the rest of the book, almost poetry, not encyclopedic writing. So, if you are looking for a book of information about the Phoenician alphabet, this is probably not your book of choice. If you like poetry and collages of quotes and meditations on the meanings and images embedded in the letters of our languages, this book may be a great fit.

For myself, while I got a kick out of recognizing a quote pulled from The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and I liked some of the imagery and the general theme of writing and being motivated to write, I found myself mostly impatient with this book. It is just over 100pg long, at least, so not a terribly painful ordeal, but just not a good fit for me at the moment. However, I am sure my poet sister will enjoy this one, so she'll have custody of my copy next. And, while I didn't exactly enjoy reading this one, it did get the wheels spinning again on a few stories I've been meaning to research and write, so maybe it's potent stuff for the subconscious even for us unredeemable carmudgeon readers who don't generally like poetic stuff. ( )