I have within the hour had the delirious happiness to discover The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. The subject-matter is fascinating for linguaphiles, and (as those of you who have read other Bryson will know) the style is so hilarious that you should not read this book in public, where your constant laughter disturb your neighbors.

I personally had five laugh-alouds, all linguistic, on the first page alone. Example: English is full of booby traps for the unwary foreigner. Any language where the unassuming word fly signifies an annoying insect, a means of travel, and a critical part of a gentleman's apparel is clearly asking to be mangled.