The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Great bathroom reading material, and a nice reference when looking for that special word to convey your exact feelings that does not yet exist.

Very funny and thought provoking.

This oddity contains a wealth of language and emotional discovery. It explores difficult aspects of our experience in a novel and often darkly humorous manner. It is an oddly fun read yet can be moving, too. This curiosity is great for language lovers, sensitive souls, people with slightly darker senses of humor, and goth tee s who want to revel in the glorious misery unleashed by their shiny new box of hormones. I received it as a gift twice, and passed my extra copy on to a writer friend who also enjoyed it.

After learning of this Book via a newsletter I received and purchased. It is a unique approach to various life thoughts and actions/reactions individuals can or do look at life and situations. The information is collated in sections and then the author defines the words.While the name is a bit misleading, the parts I have read are enlightening and intriguing, offering new ways or bringing to my brain a new way of looking at simple things. I have also purchased this as a gift for a long-time friend.

This is a beautiful little hard cover book and the contents inside are magical. Please buy this book and read it. Its amazing.

Not sure what else that can be said here. The book is clever, different, and entertaining. It makes light of itself while still hitting realistic points for everyone. As far as quality, its a bit low for a "hardcover." Feels pretty cheap. Its not flimsy or flexible, but it feels like if you open it the wrong way you will crack the cover or rip the binding. Its also not a super large book. It is smaller than an A5 notebook. It is actually the same length as my fingertip to wrist and pinky to thumb in width. Fun read, worth a pick up. Wish it came in a paperback that felt a bit more .. lasting?

Granddaughter got a tatoo- now I know what it means

Got this for Christmas, although for some reason, it was delayed. No matter, it was well worth the wait. I confess I haven't "finished it" because it is a dictionary of sorts, and I keep in the bathroom to read a bit at a time. Who cares. Move on.Physically, the book is beautiful, feels good in the hand, and is visually appealing, in a sort of well, in an alternate universe, this book could have magic and power. It should hum or have fairy sparks coming from it. It does have power, truly.This is a dictionary of words that don't exist but should, to describe the feeling of certain moments like looking wistfully out a windowpane that is dripping with rain. The words are carefully constructed, often with Latin roots, such that they SHOULD exist, and well, now they do.I think the title may be a bit misleading. This is not a volume designed to make one despair, to get the hankies out and boo-hoo along with the saddest songs one can think of. Rather, it is a poetic journey through fleeting moments and recognitions.For example: Echthesia: noun A state of confusion when your own internal sense of time doesn't seem to match the calendar--knowing that something just happened though it apparently took place seven years ago; or that you somehow built up decades of memories in the span of a year and a half.I sure have this and am delighted to have it put to words. I assumed my woogie sense of time was either early onset Alzheimer's or a byproduct of being the child of alcoholics. There's hope, then.Wildly creative and wise, these new words rearrange my brain a bit and make me yearn to write poetry. Unfortunately, to date, I don't seem to demonstrate an ability for same, but this would surely help.Poets? Writers? Dreamers? Bibliophiles? You need this dictionary. Ha-ha, pun intended, take not mine, but Mr. Koening's word for it!