1. desultory — halfheartedly jumping from one subject to another, fitful, disconnected; lacking consistency, unmethodical, random Was it truly only my own prejudice which made me fear another hour’s desultory conversation with Howard, while I looked forward with eagerness to a delightfully discursive evening’s talk with his cousin? 2. baluster — (architecture) short pillar, …
Author Archives: mysterious6030
114,000 Songs
A mere 54 days after my last thousand songs were heard, I have just heard my 114,000th unique iTunes track, a sadly lyrical song written in the Theresienstadt (Terezín) concentration camp by Karel Berman, “Před usnutím” (‘Before Sleep’), performed almost miraculously by the composer himself in 1985. Berman survived Auschwitz to become a quite famous …
Friday Vocabulary
1. clastic — (geology) formed from pieces of broken older rocks The waters were held back by clastic dikes formed from old volcanic fragments mixed with sand which had resolidified over the centuries to form an impermeable barrier. 2. leitmotif — (music) theme associated with particular person, idea, or situation His frustrating insistence that …
Friday Vocabulary
1. roke — fog, mist; drizzle The yellow sunlight now faded with the day’s passing, and the distant path across the moor disappeared as the roke rolled across the damp, grey heath. 2. peruke — periwig He stuck his head through the wig door and waited patiently as James (or was it Jonathan?) placed …
Analysis: The 4th Hundred Books
or, At Least The Unexamined Life Requires Less Math As I mentioned a little while back, I have now read 400 of the books in my personal library since I started tracking my reading back in June 2015. Below is a sketchy analysis of the books in this last hundred books. Of course, as usual, …
Friday Vocabulary
1. gyniolatry — worship of women Perhaps Poul Anderson’s gyniolatry may seem to balance Philip K. Dick’s misogyny, though more likely both are perversions of the true view of relations between the sexes. 2. phenakistiscope — first device for viewing animated images, consisting of a revolving disc with distinct illustrations that appeared in motion …
Book List: 4th Century, Final Quarter
As I mentioned earlier this week, I recently finished reading book #400 since I started keeping count in 2015, and, since I’ve already caught you up with lists of the first 75 books in the last hundred books, here I’ll catch you up with the remaining twenty-five books making up the full hundred. (As usual, …
Friday Vocabulary
1. poioumenon — metafiction in which the process of writing or creation is the primary subject He liked Barton Fink as a wonderful example of poioumenon, while I just liked it for John Goodman screaming in a burning hallway. 2. hotbox (also hot box) — (railroads) overheated axle bearing on rail cars and engines …
400 Books
I’ve just finished my 400th book since I started tracking such data back in June of 2015. The book which saw me cross this fictional milestone was an interesting look at the Soviet Union just after World War II, Why They Behave Like Russians, written by John Fischer and published in 1947. Fischer visited the …
Friday Vocabulary
1. frowsty — musty, hot and stuffy I knelt by the bed the better to hear his wispy words and tried to ignore the sickbed stench in the frowsty attic room. 2. hoick — (colloquial) to pull or lift up with a jerk Uncle Slim leapt out of the truck, hoicked my cousin out …