After far too long a wait (I first told you I’d read my 1800th book back in April), here is the promised list of the last hundred books read in my silly little book tracking project. I’ve already spoken of the first book in that century of book reading—the December 1964 issue of Fantastic which …
Author Archives: mysterious6030
Friday Vocabulary
1. rannygazoo — nonsense; silliness We had left early for our ride to the abbey, and so missed all the rannygazoo with the disappearing and reappearing silver ewer which terribly upset Mother. 2. kakorrhaphiophobia — fear of failure To confront and defeat his paralyzing kakorrhaphiophobia, Edward began a strenuous program of skydiving, karaoke, ballroom …
Friday Vocabulary
1. rep — ribbed fabric of silk or wool Each of the small alcoves—really nothing more than cubbyholes—had a curtain of silk rep across it, save the one at eye level holding Winthrop’s blue and pink slippers. 2. petronel — muzzle-loading firearm of the 16th and 17th Centuries, midway in size between a pistol …
1800 Books
Just as the end of my 17th century of books found me reading a Philip K. Dick novel, as I make my meandering way through his books in quasi-chronological order of publication, so Book #1800 turns out to be—and yes, I obviously have some say in the matter—PKD’s 1966 science fiction novel The Crack In …
Friday Vocabulary
1. steppe-witch — any of the easily dislodged round plants of the Russian steppes which roll with the wind after dying off, tumbleweed The children will tell you that a steppe-witch brings you luck, but this dried monster lodged beneath the staff car had brought us only ill fortune. 2. Pelmanism — memory training …
Friday Vocabulary
1. septimanal — weekly; of or related to periods of seven days Truly you’ll find it no more difficult to write for the daily papers than for those septimanal sheets you work for now. 2. blinkard — [obsolete] person with poor vision; idjut Perhaps I’ve been such a blinkard as to overlook their nascent …
Friday Vocabulary
1. ptyalism — [biology] hypersalivation, drooling If no ulcers or other deformations of the mouth are noted, a complete neurologic workup is the next step in determining the cause of the patient’s ptyalism. 2. nystagmatic — of or related to nystagmus, a condition in which the eyes continually jitter or jiggle He looked at …
Friday Vocabulary
1. syncytium — [biology] multinucleate cell or cell mass The syncytia are distributed irregularly throughout the trophospongia except at the point of contact with the trophoblast. 2. jamb — either vertical element alongside a wall opening such as a door or window frame We finally found the bullet, driven into the very bottom of …
Book List: 1700
As promised, here is the complete listing of the last 100 books I’ve read. As is my standard practice, I do not count comics and graphic novels (or books of strips like Zippy or The Far Side, for that matter) towards that 100 book total, though I will list those here for your perusal and …
1700 Books
In a fuzzy sort of way (as in ‘logic’ and ‘Bear’, though not as in ‘creatures from Alpha Centauri (those were furry, which opens a whole ‘nother can of worms)), I’ve been rereading all the Philip K. Dick novels in sorta the order of publication, and so at last came to 1964, and so to …