Nabokov`S Favorite Word Is Mauve, Blatt, Ben

Data meets literature in this brilliant new look at our favorite authors and their masterpieces: Do literary titans follow their own writing advice (and is it any good)? Do men and women write their characters differently? What are each authors favorite words and cliches?

Theres a famous piece of writing advice--offered by Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, and myriad writers in between--not to use -ly adverbs like quickly or fitfully. It sounds like solid advice, but can we actually test it? If we were to count all the -ly adverbs these authors used in their careers, do they follow their own advice compared to other celebrated authors? And do great books in general--the classics and the bestsellers--use fewer adverbs?

In Nabokovs Favorite Word Is Mauve, statistician and journalist Ben Blatt brings big data to the literary canon, exploring the wealth of fun findings that remain hidden in the works of the worlds greatest writers. He assembles a database of thousands of books and hundreds of millions of words, and starts asking the questions that have intrigued curious word nerds and book lovers for generations: What are our favorite authors favorite words? Do men and women write differently? Are bestsellers getting dumber over time? Which bestselling writer uses the most cliches? What makes a great opening sentence? How can we judge a book by its cover? And which writerly advice is worth following or ignoring?