Search - Word Freak : Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players

I am so glad I read this book considering it allowed me to answer a Trivial Pursuit question about Scrabble! lol! But, anyway, in this book, Stefan Fatsis decides to investigate the world of competitive Scrabble and becomes as obsessed as the subjects he meets. He tells the history of the game, introduces us to some of the more colorful players, and lets us follow him as he becomes more and more obsessed. It can be a touch dry at points, but I just love the quirkiness of the people and watching Stefan's obsession grow. A fascinating read even the second time around.

This is an engrossing book, but it kind of annoyed me. Scrabble as Fatsis described it bears little relation to the game I play (and lose regularly) with my sister Marie. But, as a tour of a strange subculture, it's pretty good.

I love trivia, I love word games, and I love non-fiction, documentary-style books. That should have been enough to make me really love this book, but I didn't. There were bits here and there I liked, lots of trivia I found interesting, but in between was a LOT of swearing, boring parts, and people who were disturbingly odd. The boring parts included play by play recitations - I played this word for this many points, he played this word for this many points, and so on. Sometimes lists of words played, usually without definitions. I had to push myself to finish, and was heartily glad when I was done with it, just to BE done with it.

liked it

Do you love Scrabble? Do you love competition? Do you love language? This book examines the subculture of Scrabble. It is an interesting read.