The “Book Of Love” may be long and boring, but a book by Stephin Merritt certainly is not. The musician and songwriter, best known for his work in Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes, and other projects, will be at the Brattle Theatre on October 1 to discuss 101 Two-Letter Words, his Scrabble-themed book that looks at two-letter words through the lens of poetry, complete with illustrations by celebrated cartoonist Roz Chast.
Tickets to the Harvard Bookstore-presented event go on sale September 9 at 9 a.m., and the $22 admission includes a copy of 101 Two-Letter Words and a book signing. Merritt will be joined in conversation by the Boston Globe’s Ethan Gilsdorf.
Here’s the event description in full; 101 Two-Letter Words goes on sale September 29:
Harvard Book Store welcomes singer-songwriter STEPHIN MERRITT of the Magnetic Fields for a presentation of 101 Two-Letter Words — his one-of-a-kind celebration of the 101 two-letter words allowed in Scrabble—in conversation with the Boston Globe’s ETHAN GILSDORF.
Rolling Stone has called Stephin Merritt “the Cole Porter of his generation”; O, The Oprah Magazine has hailed cartoonist Roz Chast as “the wryest pen since Dorothy Parker’s.” Together they have crafted a wonderfully witty book that is sure to prove useful to Scrabble players and Words With Friends addicts—and to delight anyone in thrall to the weirder corners of the English language.
With the mordant wit and clever wordplay of Edward Gorey or Shel Silverstein, Stephin Merritt has written an original four-line rhyming poem for each of the 101 two-letter words included in The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. Here are poems about familiar words (such as at, go, hi, no, and up) as well as obscure ones (such as aa, ka, oe, qi, xu). And every one of the 101 poems is accompanied by a full-color illustration by the incomparable cartoonist Roz Chast.
101 Two-Letter Words is perfect for any language lover or Scrabble player (it may even improve your score!).
