China in Ten Words, by Yu Hua

An interesting take on looking at changes in the lifetime of the author. His school years match up fairly well with the years of the Cultural Revolution, and he chooses 10 words that have changed meaning between his childhood and now. It might be interesting to look at American culture and language in the same time period the same way.

Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything, by David Bellos

It took me forever to read this, but it is so well-written and interesting that I couldn't give up on it. Starts with the basics of what defines translation and moves on to different concepts and quarrels within the translating community. Really fun, well-written, and quite a lot of stuff to chew on. It even made me rethink how I understand the story of the tower of Babel! The best part, as far as I am concerned, is his explanation of how the UN translators work, and how the lack of qualified candidates is becoming quite dire. The EU discussion was also fun, though I still don't have a clear picture on how it works: everything is done in all the EU languages? But...but...how??

Euphemania, by Ralph Keyes

OK, I've read enough language sites to take virtually everything in books like this with a grain of salt. However, this was less academic and more 'fun' in terms of why we euphemize the things we do, and how that has changed over the centuries. That I liked. Also, I liked the random family or in-group phrases that Keyes included.

Words Gone Wild, by Jim Bernhard

Fun, VERY lightweight, but interesting as far as it goes.

Ella Minnow Pea : A Novel in Letters, by Mark Dunn

Cute. Essentially a book about writing without certain letters of the alphabet, taken to extremes.

Word Origins -- And How We Know Them : Etymology for Everyone, by Anatoly Liberman

Well, not everyone. "Everyone" with a pretty high level of interest in the subject, and above-average intelligence. Liberman is very quick-witted and assumes a basic working knowledge of etymology, which I admit I don't have. On the other hand, towards the end, he mentions that he hopes that his book might be considered as a basic textbook, and for that it would work VERY well--best textbook I think I've ever read start-to-finish. While fairly short, this is a good overview of theory and practice, but if you don't know anything about the Great Vowel Shift in the English language, I'd steer clear.