read someone like a book






read someone like a book

be able to understand someone's thoughts and motives clearly or easily




Related Idioms and Phrases :



be in someone's black books

be in disfavour with someone.

Although a black book was generally an official book in which misdemeanours and their perpetrators were noted down, this phrase perhaps originated in the black bound book in which evidence of monastic scandals and abuses was recorded by Henry VIH's commissioners in the 1530s, before the suppression of the monasteries.



bring someone to book

bring someone to justice

punish someone



by the book

strictly according to the rules



close the books

make no further entries at the end of an accounting period

cease trading



a closed book

a thing of which you have no knowledge or understanding

1944 - Frank Clune - The Red Heart - The desert is an open book to the man of the Vast Open Spaces, but to the schoolmaster it was a closed book.



cook the books

alter records, especially accounts, with fraudulent intent or in order to mislead – informal

Cook has been used since the mid 17th century in this figurative sense of tamper with or manipulate.



in someone's bad books = in someone's good books

in disfavour (or favour) with someone



make a book = open a book

take bets and pay out winnings on the outcome of a race or other contest or event



on the books

contained in a list of members, employees or clients



suit someone's book

be convenient or acceptable to someone – British



take a leaf out of someone's book

closely imitate or emulate someone in a particular way.

1999 - London Student – May be the other colleges should take a leaf out of Imperial's book and try pub games instead of sports.



throw the book at

charge or punish someone as severely as possible or permitted - informal




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