While reading Anna Quindlen’s Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting, I couldn’t stop thinking about a book in my son’s collection – The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds. 

Perhaps you’re wondering why I chose to read a memoir about being a grandparent.  After all, my son is only 11 years old.

The main reason – I was studying the book’s structure.  As I work on my own memoir, I struggle with knowing how to end it.  When is my book done? 

While a completely different subject matter, Ms. Quindlen and I have something in common – she will not stop being a grandmother.  I will not stop being a woman living with an invisible disability.  I wanted to see how she handled it in her own memoir.  (Spoiler alert – with the announcement of grandchild number two on the way.) 

However, while reading the book, looking at her organization, and enjoying amusing grandparent anecdotes, I also felt like a “word collector.”  I read a lot and yet, I found myself jotting down words that were unfamiliar to me. 

Let me share a few with you:

Homunculus – a very small human; the human fetus

Carapace – the hard upper shell or bony covering on the back of turtles, armadillos, and crustaceans

Chassis – the base frame of a car

Purview – the range, as of operation, activity, or concern; scope; extent

Usurious – related to the practice of usury (the lending of money at an extremely high rate of interest)

Anodyne – a painkilling medication; anything that soothes

But now those words are a part of my collection too.

Readers, I’m curious. Any new words you’ve added to your own collection lately as a result of your reading?  Share in the comments section below.