Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Word Freak
Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players | Stefan Fatsis
Stefan Fatsis, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and National Public Radio regular, recounts his remarkable rise through the ranks of elite Scrabble players while exploring the game's strange, potent hold over themand him. Scrabble might truly be called America's game. More than two million sets are sold every year and at least thirty million American homes have one. But the game's most talented competitors inhabit a sphere far removed from the masses of "living room players." Theirs is a surprisingly diverse subculture whose stars include a vitamin-popping standup comic; a former bank teller whose intestinal troubles earn him the nickname "G.I. Joel"; a burly, unemployed African American from Baltimore's inner city; the three-time national champion who plays according to Zen principles; and Fatsis himself, who we see transformed from a curious reporter to a confirmed Scrabble nut. He begins by haunting the gritty corner of a Greenwich Village park where pickup Scrabble games can be found whenever weather permits. His curiosity soon morphs into compulsion, as he sets about memorizing thousands of obscure words and fills his evenings with solo Scrabble played on his living room floor. Before long he finds himself at tournaments socializingand competingwith Scrabble's elite. But this book is about more than hardcore Scrabblers, for the game yields insights into realms as disparate as linguistics, psychology, and mathematics. Word Freak extends its reach even further, pondering the light Scrabble throws on such notions as brilliance, memory, competition, failure, and hope. It is a geography of obsession that celebrates the uncanny powers locked in all of us. This edition includes a new 2013 afterword by the author.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
sarahbellum
post image
Pickpick

Squeaked my #bookspin in under the wire! I enjoyed watching the documentary years ago & returning to the world of competitive Scrabble was a lot of fun. I love word games & would‘ve read this a lot faster if I hadn‘t kept stopping to play Scrabble myself 😜. The book was a bit disorganized & jammed full of names, stats, and words

Got to sip a tasty blueberry tea from @BookBosomed1 while I finished the last few chapters. Thank you 🤗 #litsyteaswap

BookBosomed1 Yea! Hope you enjoyed it. 3y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 3y
37 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
Booksnchill
post image

Ebook Deal Alert!! I loved this dive into Competitive Scrabbble! Stefan Fatsis is an engaging and funny writer who really embarks on this journey- those who have read Roxane Gay know that she is also a Scrabble Tournament Nerd! Get it while it‘s hot- deal ends today!

44 likes1 stack add
blurb
monalyisha
post image

I know my Scrabble rules inside & out, but for some reason, I still can‘t help but judge certain names favorably simply for how many points they‘d be worth (if proper nouns were allowed).

Haakon Gokstad: 13+13=26 🤩

blurb
wanderer15
post image

Haven't been doing my usual reading for the last couple months, unless you count swaths of the Scrabble dictionary, but yesterday I realized a dream I've been working towards for many years and won the National Scrabble Championship, held in NOLA this year. @LiteraryinLititz and her family were watching along from vacation in Aruba, which made me happy. Passing up reading on the beach was tough, but fortunately I now have a good excuse :)

Lacythebookworm Congratulations! 🍾🎉🎈 7y
BekaReid Congrats! 7y
susanw Wow! That's so awesome, congrats 🎉 7y
BennettBookworm YOU ARE THE CHAMPION!!!!!!! 7y
Zelma Wow, that is completely badass! 👏👏👏👏👏 7y
12 likes5 comments
blurb
mcctrish
post image

Shelfie #riotgrams this is one of the #tbr piles in my bedroom, although the centre bit is YA that I haven't found a permanent home for after I finished

christineandbooks Rory, Lorelei, and Sookie! 8y
christineandbooks And Lunar Chronicles...💜 8y
mcctrish @christineandbooks I am a GG fan. And Lunar Chronicles. OMG imagine if they made funkos for LC ❤💙 8y
16 likes1 stack add3 comments
blurb
rachelm
post image

I thought work was a safe place, but the English honor society is doing their annual used book sale in the lobby of my building... $.50 books!? How can anyone resist?

LiteraryinPA Word Freak is great! The author is really nice and currently very involved as a School Scrabble coach, getting the next generation interested in word games. :) 8y
rachelm @LiteraryinLititz I had never heard of it! I love me some scrabble! 8y
51 likes6 stack adds2 comments