What I see: A young woman engrossed in the dictionary, but not just any dictionary -- that one has word origins and etymology, and with some knowledge of history, one can get a decent sense of how English developed, and both the uses and misuses of the language.
What I feel: She reminds me of myself, also with the Encyclopedia Britannica.
In a world full of lies and liars – decades of it, and particularly every leap year – Anne found comfort in reading the dictionary.
Not that English did not have its own lies, covering long colonial tracks in the origins of words.
But not as many, and at a discoverable pace.
You must have touched many a sore, as if cut with a razor blade, it would fill with salt.
It is kind of a stark way to start a story ... but a true way, in said world...
Reading can be comforting and it's good Anne enjoys it.
That was me in my childhood and teen years, actually ... every now and again I still will pull out an encyclopedia and let the world go by...
Nice @deeanndmathews. Made me put on my thinking cap.
Thank you for reading ... and thinking!
It's only the compact version. Perhaps the lies are left out?
Probably not. The development of the English language after 1603 is an interesting study...