Friday Vocabulary

1. cog — to load dice so as to cheat; to cheat; to plagiarize

Someone had obviously cogged the dice—too obviously, for I couldn’t imagine anyone being gulled by dice that always threw sevens.

 

2. haggard — [Scots] enclosure on farm for storage of grain or hay

We piled high the hay-bogy and Alf the donkey just managed to haul it to the haggard as the sun began to sink below the distant hills.

 

3. buy a brush — [dated UK slang] to run away

After the failure of his investment scheme (which his employer called brazen embezzlement), he ‘bought a brush’ and returned to England.

 

4. epechist — of or related to Pyrrhonism, entirely skeptical of all claimed truth

Though he was a slavish devotee of the Roman church, his personal beliefs as revealed in his letters seem to be an epechist nescience, at times verging on complete nihilism.

 

5. inquisiturient — inquisitorial, prone to inquisition

Faced with this inquisiturient priest Jonesy imagined himself returned to Sundays at the orphanage where he felt compelled to confess the direst sins to Father Flaherty under that probing pastor’s imperious gaze.

 

6. Spahi — French light cavalry formed primarily from natives from the Maghreb

The wild colors and robes of the Spahis charging at their (fictional) enemy had inspired me as a boy, though the miles of barbed wire I found at my first command rendered our cavalry useless.

 

7. capitation — assessment or counting by head; fee per person

Institution of capitation funding for local schools has led to a focus on anti-truancy efforts (since the assessment is made in terms of actual days attended), perhaps to the detriment of actual education.

 

8. capelin — type of smelt found in the northern oceans

The collapse of the capelin populations has been blamed on the decline of zooplankton, cooler water temperatures, and overfishing, but the dire reality is that their numbers have dropped precipitously whatever the cause.

 

9. understrapper — [informal] underling, junior official

“Well I’m not going to be dictated to by some understrapper when I spent all last week clearing this entire project with your boss!”

 

10. stolperstein — small stone commemorating a specific Nazi victim, placed in the last locale in which they freely chose to live

We found my great-grandfather’s home in a small alley not far from the town center, with four stolpersteine just outside the door, displaying his name and the names of three other relatives that I’d never heard mention of before.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(UK, from British boy scouts offering to do small tasks around the house for a shilling during a specific fundraising week)

bob-a-job — children performing light household work for a nominal fee

By the ’70s the price for bob-a-job work had risen to a half or even full pound, and the entire idea had to be tossed by the early ’90s when—for reasons still debated—it became impossible for younger boys to go out into communities without continual adult supervision.

 

Book List: 1600 Books

As I told you not too very long ago, I’ve just finished another set of 100 books (not counting the comic books and graphic novels (of which latter there was only one, sort of, and it was one of the very rare books so bad that I gave it a single star in my rating system—only the third time I’ve given my ultimate thumbs down to a book), which is my usual methodology of counting books towards each set of 100 … though I do track them as well, and will list them herebelow), and I’ve already told you about the first book in these hundred books, An Experiment In Criticism, so I’m not going to go into that again, and will only mention that this lit crit work of C. S. Lewis is Book #1501.

Also as usual, I’m going to highlight some of my favorite reads in each set of ten … when possible. (Sometimes I can no more resist dishing on a bad book than I can resist the urge to make parenthetical statements.) Unfortunately, there really wasn’t a lot to write home about in this first set of ten books. My favorites were the Book of Genesis and the Tales From The Crypt, but I’d gone on about the Pocket Canons in the last Book Listing, and I also harped about a different 32-page reprint of classic 50’s comics. But Algis Budrys’s Rogue Moon is of some interest, even if I don’t think it’s anything like a must-read. I found it surprisingly compelling, though in a bizarre, manly men who face death sort of way. Budrys buries the lede, or rather, never gives any clue about it. The book (originally published in 1960) is sort of like a Lem concept if written for a mid-20th Century men’s magazine.

 

# Read Author Title Genre
1501 6/31/25 C. S. Lewis An Experiment In Criticism Literary Criticism
1502 6/31/25 Matthew Zapruder Why Poetry Literary Criticism
6/2/25 Mike Baron Badger #31 Comics
6/2/25 Mike Baron Badger #32 Comics
1503 6/3/25 Steven Rose, intro. The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis (The Pocket Canons Bible Series) Christian & Bibles
1504 6/4/25 Algis Budrys Rogue Moon SF & Fantasy
1505 6/5/25 Han Fei Tzu; Burton Watson, trans. Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings Religion & Spirituality
6/6/25 Russ Cochran, ed. Tales From The Crypt #12 Comics
1506 6/7/25 John Buchan The Three Hostages Mystery
1507 6/10/25 Dennis King Art Of Modern Rock – Mini #2: Poster Girls Art
1508 6/11/25 Ra Page & Magda Raczyńska, eds. Lemistry: A Celebration of the Work of Stanislaw Lem SF & Fantasy
1509 6/13/25 Edgar Rice Burroughs Pirates Of Venus SF & Fantasy
1510 6/14/25 Michael Kurland Ten Little Wizards SF & Fantasy

 

This one hooked me good and proper, and though I had my suspicions early on, I soon became gobsmacked by the progressive unfolding of the plot, and ended up reading Inverted World in a single, spellbound day. My only criticism is that I wished the ending had been longer. I was reminded of both Hal Clement and John Brunner, a duo that I rarely if ever contemplate together. I really don’t want to say too much about the story itself, as the surprises that Christopher Priest builds for his readers are best uncovered as the author intended them to be, but I will say this one word: The cover of the New English Library paperback I read turned out to be much more literal an interpretation of the novel than I ever would have imagined.

The other great winner of this next set of ten books was the first book in the famous series by René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo, Astérix le Gaulois. Reading this got me some practice with my French (which is terrible), and also reminded me just how much fun these kooky Gauls are fighting the Roman Empire. (Well, technically, this would have still been the Republic we’re speaking of here, just as future historians will have to draw their own indelible (as we tend to think) lines in the sands of time.) And this book still holds up, by Toutatis! Indeed, my biggest challenge lay in re-apprehending the ‘real’ names of the characters, so used to the translated names in English have I become. (Similarly, Professor Snape becomes “Severus Rogue” in French translations of the Harry Potter books.)

 

# Read Author Title Genre
1511 6/15/25 Michael Bonner, ed. Uncut Magazine June 2024 Music
1512 6/17/25 Agatha Christie; Michel Le Houbie, trans. Cinq petits cochons [Five Little Pigs] Foreign Language
1513 6/18/25 Edgar Rice Burroughs The Eternal Savage SF & Fantasy
1514 6/18/25 Christopher Priest Inverted World SF & Fantasy
1515 6/19/25 John Brunner Give Warning To The World SF & Fantasy
6/20/25 Garrett Romines & Christopher Miko The Unofficial Holy Bible for Minecrafters: A Children’s Guide to the Old and New Testament Comics
1516 6/20/25 Christianna Brand Heads You Lose Mystery
1517 6/21/25 ‘A Lounger at the Clubs’ The Gentleman’s Art of Dressing, with Economy Essays
1518 6/22/25 Charlotte Armstrong Incident At A Corner / The Unsuspected [Ace Double G-501] Mystery
6/23/25 Reynald Secher & René Le Honzec Histoire de Bretagne, Tome 1 : Les origines (French Edition) Comics
6/23/25 Goscinny & Uderzo Astérix le Gaulois Comics
1519 6/23/25 Graham Marsh & Tony Nourmand X-Rated: Adult Movie Posters Of The 60s And 70s, Volume One Erotica & Pornography
1520 6/24/25 Charlotte Armstrong The Better To Eat You / Mischief [Ace Double G-521] Mystery

 

An Oxford Tragedy by J. C. Masterman is a truly excellent mystery by a real Oxford don, with hints of Iain Pear’s Fingerpost or a really good Eco or Borges (well, maybe not Borges). Once again my suspicions were as nothing to the actuality behind the strange events in the navel-gazing college. The only flaw in Masterman’s tale is the techne of the denouement, but I suppose it was inevitable that he’d have to go that way. But the whole book is a delight, and beats No Country For Old Men all to hell for books about men getting old. (You can see in the picture that my copy was once used as a coaster, but I must aver that this happened before I got this copy, and that I would never do such a thing.)

Ingri and Edgar d’Aulaire were a couple of very gifted children’s book artists, and D’Aulaires’ Book Of Greek Myths is among their masterworks. This large book is a truly remarkable retelling of these old tales, made suitable for young children by removing all references to fucking. (Daedalus makes Pasiphaë a female wooden cow, “so she could hide in it and enjoy the beauty of the bull at close range.” Indeed!) We still get to hear about Tantalus chopping up his own son and feeding him to the gods, however, as well as many other family murders. The diagrams detailing the various family trees of gods and heroes only crown the gorgeous art accompanying the text. Maybe the best Greek mythology before the kids are ready for Edith Hamilton.

 

# Read Author Title Genre
1521 6/25/25 Laurens Van Der Post Flamingo Feather Thriller
1522 6/26/25 Elmore Leonard 52 Pickup Mystery
1523 6/27/25 L. Frank Baum John Dough And The Cherub Children’s
1524 6/27/25 Darkness at Pemberley T. H. White Mystery
1525 6/27/25 Michael Bonner, ed. Uncut Magazine July 2024 Music
1526 6/28/25 J. C. Masterman An Oxford Tragedy Mystery
1527 6/28/25 Anthony Wynne Murder of a Lady: A Scottish Mystery Mystery
1528 6/29/25 L. Frank Baum Ozma of Oz Children’s
6/29/25 Russ Cochran, ed. Tales From The Crypt #8 Comics
6/30/25 Russ Cochran, ed. Tales From The Crypt #7 Comics
1529 6/30/25 Ingri d’Aulaire & Edgar Parin d’Aulaire D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths Children’s
6/30/25 Russ Cochran, ed. Tales From The Crypt #6 Comics
1530 6/30/25 William Burroughs & Allen Ginsberg The Yage Letters Drugs

 

Most—rather, let’s say: Many people are aware of the preternaturally gifted liar Baron Munchausen, most likely from the Terry Gilliam movie (and not that awful Nazi film), though the Czech version by Karel Zeman is likely the best ever put on celluloid. But the original tales by R. E. Raspe which spawned all sorts of imitators and sequels are well worth reading as well. In this great Dover book, Singular Travels, Campaigns, And Adventures Of Baron Munchausen, John Carswell brings together all the early tales in the Munchausen series in this wonderfully complete edition. There are later tales but who cares? In this set of stories, only the last section—the ‘Sequel’—is of lesser quality. The original tales—which make up only 26 pages in this edition—are both uniquely humorous and more benign and plausible than one expects with all the accretions to the Munchausen name. The introduction, also by Carswell, is delightfully informative: Who knew that there really was a Baron Munchausen? Or that he told such tales as these until the book came out and turned him from a rollicking talespinner into a bitter taciturn man? The biography of Herr Raspe is also illustrative, as well. Well, it illustrates something. Sort of like O. Henry but without the redemption arc.

Now it’s likely true that The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective is a flawed work, and some of these short stories are mere trifles, as if Encyclopedia Brown were a Victorian lady detective. But Catherine Louisa Pirkis crafted a very fine set of tales, and her protagonist—the titular Loveday Brooke—has a real personality. The manner in which she sees clearly what others ignore reminded me often of another favorite detective of mine, Isidro Parodi. So, yes, the stories have their flaws, and the unravelling of the final tale took from me much of the goodwill the first half had engendered, but one can’t help wondering where Ms. Pirkis might have taken her character if she’d gone on to write more and more, working out the issues just as Doyle and others were having to do. (Please don’t get me started on that strange Mormon interlude in A Study In Scarlet.)

 

# Read Author Title Genre
1531 6/30/25 Tim Burton The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories: And Other Stories Fiction
1532 7/1/25 Dick King-Smith Sophie’s Snail Children’s
1533 7/1/25 E. Phillips Oppenheim The Great Impersonation History
1534 7/2/25 Dick King-Smith Harry’s Mad Children’s
1535 7/3/25 R. E. Raspe; John Carswell, intro. Singular Travels, Campaigns, And Adventures of Baron Munchausen Fiction
1536 7/3/25 Dick King-Smith Pigs Might Fly Children’s
1537 7/3/25 Norman Dodge The Month at Goodspeed’s Book Shop May 1933, Vol. IV No. 9 Books
1538 7/5/25 Travis Tea Atlanta Nights Fiction
1539 7/5/25 Catherine Louisa Pirkis The Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective Mystery
1540 7/6/25 Michael Bonner, ed. Uncut Magazine August 2024 Music

 

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I picked up Laurie Lee’s Cider With Rosie. I had read his A Rose For Winter and found that book well written enough, but had no urge to read it a second time. Also, I’m not one who likes to read much autobiography, nor biography for that matter. Thus I was languorously startled to find myself so enjoying Mr. Lee’s evocative and poetic tale of growing up as the youngest boy in a large family of women in a poor land in once-upon-a-time England as The Great War and the future it engendered changed the face of that country and the world forever. The narrative is surprisingly pleasant reading, and evokes a blessed healthymindedness that was a palliative for much of the news of today. I was—and still am—very grateful to the author for his humane vision, particularly when he limned his mother in such accurate yet loving tones.

Hmm … I see I’m going to have to use the word ‘humane’ again, but so be it. Rudyard Kipling’s first collection of short stories, Plain Tales From The Hills, proved to be wonderfully crafted tales filled with surprising humane insights. There, I said it. Kipling himself turned out to be a very different writer than I was led to expect, given his fights with Tennyson and the whole “jingo imperialist” accusation of George Orwell. But (especially in the first half of the book), very few of these stories are merely good; most are much better than that. He displays veritable insights into human character at the same time that he recognizes the ineluctable social milieu of the British in occupied India.

 

# Read Author Title Genre
1541 7/8/25 Julian Hawthorne, ed. Modern French Stories Mysteries
1542 7/9/25 Norman Dodge The Month at Goodspeed’s Book Shop June 1933, Vol. IV No. 10 Books
1543 7/10/25 Norman Dodge The Month at Goodspeed’s Book Shop November 1933, Vol. V No. 3 Books
1544 7/11/25 Claudio Naranjo & Robert E. Ornstein On the Psychology of Meditation Psychology
1545 7/12/25 Laurent De Brunhoff Babar’s French Lessons : Les Lecons de Francais de Babar Children’s
1546 7/13/25 Laurie Lee Cider With Rosie Biography
7/14/25 Russ Cochran, ed. Tales From The Crypt #6 [Gladstone] Comics
1547 7/14/25 Michael Bonner, ed. Uncut Magazine September 2024 Music
1548 7/15/25 Lloyd Alexander The Wizard in the Tree Children’s
1549 7/16/25 Alan Burt Akers Talons of Scorpio (Dray Prescot #30) SF & Fantasy
7/17/25 Russ Cochran, ed. Shock SuspenStories #13 Comics
1550 7/19/25 Rudyard Kipling Plain Tales From The Hills Fiction

 

During this last hundred books, specifically the last half century, I started re-reading Philip K. Dick, in desperate hopes that I would still love my favorite Science Fiction author, and … I do. I grabbed The Zap Gun because, well, it was there in my hand, and it was great. Not perfect, but then again, there are perhaps only three or maybe four perfect PKD novels. But this one is brilliant and muddled, but the muddled parts are used to further the complicated and likely compromised plot. For me the best parts were the self-reflective musings of the ‘cog’ Mr. Lars on the futility of his existence. ‘Cog’, of course, is short for ‘cognoscenti’, one of several terms Dick uses to demarcate the line between those ‘in the know’ and the rest of us poor schlubs who haven’t a clue about what’s really going on. (Another fave term is Geheimnisträger, as opposed to we mere Befehlsträger—which latter word he translates as “carriers out of orders”.) In any event, like much (even most) of his work, The Zap Gun now seems very prescient, though whatever happened to all those ‘cogs’ is a mystery we shall ponder in the dark future. We sure could use ’em now.

“How naïve people were when they were our parents!” Jim Devito once said. True or not, how would a man like Art Buchwald exist today? My re-reading of And Then I Told The President, some of his collected columns from 1964 & 1965, necessitated not a few retreats to the Interwebs to learn, for example, just who the various Republican presidential candidates had been, among other facts lost in the uncaring dust bunnies of discarded time. But the columnist knows his stuff, knows how to limn the fine line between biting humor and just mean carping. This book is political nostalgia of the best sort, though of course Buchwald was always working for The Man.

 

# Read Author Title Genre
1551 7/19/25 Lao Tzu; R. B. Blakney, trans. The Way Of Life, Lao Tzu – Tao Te Ching: A New Interpretation Religion & Spirituality
7/20/25 Russ Cochran, ed. Shock SuspenStories #1 Comics
7/20/25 Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., ed. Seduction of the Innocent #6 Comics
7/20/25 Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., ed. Seduction of the Innocent #5 Comics
1552 7/21/25 Philip K. Dick The Zap Gun SF & Fantasy
1553 7/22/25 John Weber, ed. And Then I Told The President Humor
1554 7/23/25 Ursula Curtiss The Forbidden Garden / Hours To Kill [Ace Double G-523] Mystery
1555 7/25/25 A. A. Milne The Red House Mystery Mystery
1556 7/26/25 Ursula Curtiss Voice Out of Darkness Mystery
1557 7/26/25 Philip K. Dick We Can Build You SF & Fantasy
7/27/25 Kamala Chandrakant Sudama: The Story of a Divine Friendship Comics
7/27/25 Anant Pai, ed. Sultana Razia: The Only Queen Who Ruled From The Throne of Delhi Comics
1558 7/28/25 Freeman Wills Crofts The Sea Mystery Mystery
7/29/25 Mayah Balse Surya: Retold from the Markandeya Purana Comics
1559 7/29/25 Lois B. Wilson Lois Remembers: Memoirs of the Co-Founder of Al-Anon and Wife of the Co-Founder of Alcoholics Anonymous AA
1560 7/29/25 W. E. Scarelli The Brother Fiction

 

Likely when The Cosmic Puppets was first published in 1957, it might have been read as wistful nostalgia for a lost innocent America. Nowadays, of course, it reads in exactly the same way. Sure we may not recognize many elements of the old, ‘good’ small town beneath the surface in this strange novel, or may be busy erasing them ourselves, but Philip K. Dick somehow engenders a wistful yet vicious battle of good and evil in a backwoods little village of no consequence. Yes, the basic myth story is a tetch silly, and of course PKD has to either throw away women or idolize women like a stupid man, but this novel actually works very well on its own terms, and is a believable fantasy, with few of his more habitual tropes.

Carlo M. Cipolla stakes out an interesting thesis, more interesting in its negative formulation, positing in Guns, Sails and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of European Expansion 1400–1700 that the political groupings—let’s call them nations—of Europe were defeated on every front by all other countries they encountered into the 14th Century, losing to the Moors in Spain and the Holy Land, and only surviving the Huns and the Golden Horde from lack of interest in what the Europeans had to offer. Cipolla posits that advances in the West in the technology of cannon and sailing possible made the Western world conquest during his time period. This is an excellent history, and an investigator into early armaments could hardly do better than to start here and dive into the sources Cipolla cites. His information about changing sailing technology is not so profound, but still he makes a strong case for his thesis.

 

# Read Author Title Genre
1561 7/29/25 Philip K. Dick The Cosmic Puppets SF & Fantasy
7/29/25 Anant Pai, ed. The Syamantaka Gem Comics
7/30/25 Lopamudra Tales of Arjuna Comics
1562 7/30/25 Norman L. Dodge The Month at Goodspeed’s Book Shop June 1948, Vol. XIX No. 9 Books
1563 7/30/25 John Kenneth Galbraith The McLandress Dimension Humor
1564 7/31/25 Philip K. Dick A Handful of Darkness SF & Fantasy
7/31/25 Mike Baron Badger #33 Comics
7/31/25 Mike Baron Badger #34 Comics
1565 7/31/25 George Gamow Mr Tompkins Learns the Facts of Life Science
1566 7/31/25 Phyllis Diller Phyllis Diller’s Marriage Manual Humor
1567 8/1/25 Philip K. Dick The World Jones Made SF & Fantasy
1568 8/2/25 Carlo M. Cipolla Guns, Sails and Empires: Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of European Expansion 1400–1700 History
1569 8/3/25 Michael Bonner, ed. Uncut Magazine October 2024 Music
1570 8/4/25 Philip K. Dick World of Chance SF & Fantasy

 

After reading and comparing the two versions (US & UK) of Solar Lottery (released as World Of Chance in the UK), I continued my PKD re-reads with this copy of The Unteleported Man. This is a famously incomplete novel, expanded from an earlier publication as a novella (32k words) in Fantastic, but—allegedly—a whole heap of the expanded material was lost, and then later found, and there’s a later release of this with more material (there’s two versions even of that, if you’re keeping score (I am; I don’t have the new new release with even more)). But, to my mind, the brevity of the work … ahem … works in favor of the flaws, as the typically Dickian elements (the dunning balloons, the truncated words (and women’s fashions) of the future) are highlighted while we’re not given too much time to see if any of this makes any sense. The flaws, and PKD’s usual (at this time) focus on Germans (the original story was written only a couple of years after the High Castle), make some of the underlying philosophy a bit … strained, but the hyper-patriotic-inspiring finish still made me cry in spite of myself.

And in continuing to attempt to fool myself into telling myself that I’ll ever learn a language, I read the classic (and rightfully so!) Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. And—whee!—I am able to read this most basic and deceptively simple tale by a French flyer who had a lot of time to think deep thoughts while flying and managed to get some of them on paper. Another book which made me cry, this is the best writing about what cannot be written that I know of.

 

# Read Author Title Genre
1571 8/5/25 Philip K. Dick Solar Lottery [Ace G-718] SF & Fantasy
1572 8/6/25 Philip K. Dick The Unteleported Man SF & Fantasy
1573 8/8/25 K. W. Jeter Noir SF & Fantasy
1574 8/9/25 Marie-Louise Sjoestedt; Myles Dillon, trans. Gods and Heroes of the Celts Mythology
1575 8/9/25 Charles Bukowski, Philip Lamantia, Harold Norse Penguin Modern Poets 13: Bukowski Lamantia Norse Poetry
1576 8/9/25 Philip K. Dick In Milton Lumky Territory Fiction
1577 8/10/25 E. E. Milligan, ed. Beginning Readings in French Foreign Language
1578 8/12/25 Lawrence Block Deadly Honeymoon Thriller
1579 8/13/25 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Le Petit Prince Foreign Language
1580 8/14/25 Philip K. Dick Puttering About in a Small Land Fiction

 

Okay, I should admit up front that the problematic aspects of Charles G. Finney’s work are not solely confined to Tony Randall’s dubious turn in The Circus Of Dr. Lao. Much as I’d love to blame the prissy half of the Odd Couple—I mean, look what Randall did to M. Poirot!—the modern age with its higher-than-thou evolution has made much of Finney’s thoughts crass and racist and all that. But when I read The Magician Out Of Manchuria, my only thought was … Wow! Just wow! Despite its obvious polemic bent—the Great Leap Forward is specifically called out as bad, bad, bad—this is a wonderful fantasy about the loss of magic (or I’d call it poetry) in a materialistic world. Likely not for everyone, but it was perfect to me! [CW: Sexism, racism, anti-communism, and surely much more]

At this point you’re likely getting tired of hearing about Philip K. Dick. (More likely you’re not reading these words at all by this point. Statistically, you don’t even know they exist.) But here I am, and here we are. By this time I decided to re-read all the PKD novels in publication order, or thereabouts (no need for foolish consistency). Which brought me back to Eye In The Sky. Which reminded me of just what Dick is so expert at that no-one else seems ever to do as well: getting inside the head (or seeming to) of multiple characters. Though this book also highlights that this ability, his specialty, seems best when applied to deeply flawed psyches. A wonderfully realized conceit, for all the obvious rough edges and compromises with the 1950s.

 

# Read Author Title Genre
1581 8/15/25 Philip K. Dick / E.C. Tubb The Man Who Japed / The Space-Born [Ace Double D-193] SF & Fantasy
1582 8/16/25 Charles G. Finney The Magician Out of Manchuria SF & Fantasy
1583 8/17/25 Norman Dodge The Month at Goodspeed’s Book Shop March 1934, Vol. V No. 7 Books
1584 8/19/25 Arsidious The Great Writer & Zarqnon The Embarrassed The Epic Saga of Razzle, Dazzle and Gustov. Vol 2: an Experiment in Error Fiction
1585 8/20/25 Nachman Ben-Yehuda Deviance and Moral Boundaries: Witchcraft, the Occult, Science Fiction, Deviant Sciences and Scientists Sociology
1586 8/20/25 Norman Dodge The Month at Goodspeed’s Book Shop January 1934, Vol. V No. 5 Books
1587 8/20/25 Arthur Braverman Warrior of Zen: The Diamond-Hard Wisdom Mind of Suzuki Shōsan Religion & Spirituality
1588 8/23/25 Philip K. Dick Eye In The Sky [Ace H-39] SF & Fantasy
1589 8/24/25 Michael Bonner, ed. Uncut Magazine November 2024 Music
1590 8/25/25 J. K. Rowling Harry Potter et le prisonnier d’Azkaban Foreign Language

 

Speaking of books that aren’t for everyone, Dr. Adder. This sick sick sick cyberpunk novel published in 1984 by K. W. Jeter turns out to not have been cyberpunk at all (I guess I didn’t read the ancillary material too closely the first time), but was rather a student effort written in 1972. And it is great! Just as good as I remembered, one of the Top 3 Post-Apocalyptic LA novels. During this re-read I was more aware of the flaws, the juvenile high school focus, but … write what you know, I think they always say. But this is awesome stuff, even if the perversion is offputting (as it should be). I won’t bother with a Content Warning, as it would be too lengthy, and also because if you alert to those at all, you should not read this book. (Nor Kathy Acker. Nor Brian Evenson.) 9/10

I had very few expectations when I opened The Cacahuatl Eater: Ruminations of an Unabashed Chocolate Addict, but I found this to be simply one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Erudite and entertaining in equal measure, somehow the author Jonathan Ott also delivers an inspirational tome (inspired me to imbibe more chocolate, at least). A work by a monomaniac who both knows well his subject and can also write with humor to match his insight is always a delight, and this is such a book.

 

# Read Author Title Genre
1591 8/26/25 K. W. Jeter Dr. Adder SF & Fantasy
1592 8/26/25 P. B. Yuill Hazell Plays Solomon Mystery
1593 8/28/25 Philip K. Dick Time Out of Joint SF & Fantasy
8/28/25 Mike Baron Badger #35 Comics
1594 8/28/25 Evelyne Amon C’est la vie!, A French Reader Foreign Language
8/28/25 Mike Baron Badger #36 Comics
1595 8/28/25 Wilkie Collins A Rogue’s Life: From His Birth to His Marriage Fiction
1596 8/29/25 Malaclypse the Elder Principia Discordia, or How I Found the Goddess and What I Did To Her When I Found Her Humor
1597 8/30/25 Eugene Ionesco Story Number 2 Children’s
1598 8/30/25 A. Merritt The Face In The Abyss SF & Fantasy
1599 8/31/25 Jonathan Ott The Cacahuatl Eater: Ruminations of an Unabashed Chocolate Addict Drugs
8/31/25 Mike Baron Badger #37 Comics
8/31/25 Mike Baron Badger #38 Comics
8/31/25 Mike Baron Badger #39 Comics
1600 9/3/25 John Milton Paradise Lost (Norton Critical Edition) Poetry

 

And voilà, the book list for the last 100 books is finished, and only two weeks after I read Book #1600! As I may have said at the top of the page, I’ve slowed my pace considerably, and so am only up to Book #1605. So may be a while before the next lengthy list like this one. Until then: Good reading!

 
 
 

The lists of previously read books may be found by following the links:

Friday Vocabulary

1. advowson — [British] right to nominate person to fill an vacant church benefice

But the third Lord Ermley had never severed the advowson from those land holdings, and thus confusion ensued when Mr. Symonds asserted ownership of the parcel alongside the banks of the river.

 

2. prevent — [obsolete] to come before, to precede

The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.

[Psalms 18:5 (KJV)]

 

3. sclerotic — of or pertaining to the morbid hardening of tissue

The sclerotic nature of bureaucracy meant that no waivers could not be issued without a hearing before this quite temporary board created over five decades ago.

 

4. obliviscence — forgetfulness, an act of forgetting

Though the professor stressed an agnostic attitude towards those things which we students had no knowledge of, and spoke strongly of nescience as an admirable state when one was truly ignorant, I’m afraid that we instead became partisans of obliviscence, forgetting just those facts and natural laws he took such pains to inculcate into our obdurate minds.

 

5. espalier — fruit-bearing tree or bush trained so that its branches form a flat surface, as against a wall or to form a hedge

Unlike the wild topiary of the manor house, Mickelson’s espaliers were designed to catch as much of the region’s rare sunlight as possible, so that his apples would have a longer growing season.

 

6. flat — [obsolete] fool, dullard

Wise about money, perhaps, but the new parson was such a flat about more elevated things that the wags of the town found it easy to convince him that the chapel was haunted.

 

7. minced oath — euphemism for objectionable term or phrase formed by replacing taboo element with another word or expression

After the baby was born he never engaged in baby talk, but he did start using minced oaths in lieu of all his former expletives, even when away from his child, so we enjoyed hearing at work his exclamations of “Flibber-de jibber-de-jabbit!” when he caught his thumb in a drawer.

 

8. palearctic — of the immense biogeographical region consisting of Europe, Asia north of the Himalayas, and North Africa

These distinctive amphibians are found only in the palearctic regions, though Australia has reported an invasive grouping discovered outside Sydney.

 

9. rencontre — unexpected encounter

We left the path and made our way through the grove to escape any unpleasant rencontre with the locals who would inevitably have asked questions about our outrageous attire.

 

10. cariostatic — having the property of preventing or halting production of dental caries (cavities)

I was told that popcorn was a healthy cariostatic snack, but then I got a kernel lodged deeply beneath my gum and ended up with a dentist’s bill far larger than I would have had for a few fillings.

 

Friday Vocabulary

1. lithia water — mineral water containing lithium salts

While it is true that 7-Up tried to capitalize on the craze for lithia water with its original name, the soft drink never contained any lithium, unlike the Coca-Cola product mentioned above.

 

2. kirmess (also kermesse or kermis) — street fair in Dutch or German lands; indoor fair, often for charitable purpose

Every young woman in Toronto will be at the kirmess, studying the latest fashions while aspiring to be such a study themselves.

 

3. pistareen — small Spanish coin in wide circulation in 18th-Century America worth perhaps 25¢

Taking stock I found I had only a single pistareen to my name, so my first task was to drum up some ready cash.

 

4. chicane — S-curve in racing course; obstacle in roadway designed to discourage speeding

The soapbox derby course was a difficult one, and many entries had lost too much speed to easily navigate the chicanes just before the finish line.

 

5. ultracrepidarian — opinionated about things outside one’s expertise

The cocktail party was the usual mix of monied frat bros, desperate tech failures, and aging alums, but the sole topic of conversation was the usual ultracrepidarian PR about so-called AI, everyone repeating the received wisdom as if it were carved on stone tablets; they would have disdained anything that hinted at religious ideas, but AI was sacred simply because they thought they smelled money.

 

6. scald — to heat nearly to boiling; to briefly dunk in boiling water; to suffer a burning sensation

For the perfect drink first scald the milk then pouring in the chocolate powder and honey, frothing briskly with a wire whisk.

 

7. thoroughbrace — leather strap suspending carriage for comfort and dampening

He especially checked the thoroughbraces before riding off, having once had inferior leather give way just as he was crossing the moor.

 

8. benthopelagic — of organisms living both upon the sea floor as well as in the open sea (as opposed to near or upon the shore)

He had made his mark with his studies of benthopelagic plankton, but no longer did fieldwork, content to rest upon his mighty laurels … so to speak.

 

9. headkerchief — bandana, cloth worn upon the head

The typical headkerchief of a Zanzibar maiden is folded so as to completely cover the hair with the brightly striped cloth.

 

10. Hogmanay — [Scots] New Year’s Eve; celebration of same

But he was unaware of the local Hogmanay traditions, and thus was startled awake at two o’clock in the morning when the village boys began dragging tin cans behind them up and down the cobbled streets, making such a racket he couldn’t get back to his much needed sleep.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(US slang, from the restaurants use of uncomfortable chairs with one arm—only!— with a small ‘table’ surface for patrons’ food, meant to encourage quick turnover and discourage loitering, first seen in large American cities at the end of the 18th Century, and usually frequented by solitary workers with only brief lunch periods)

one-arm joint (also one-armed joint) — restaurant in urban centers with only single chairs with small table surface for diners’ use

“So I’m trying to save pennies so I just got a raft and cup of coffee at the one-arm joint around the corner—What? A raft? That’s what they call a plain slice of bread at these places … Keep up, pal—So, anyway, there I was…”

 

1600 Books

Finally I have finally finished Paradise Lost, which I’ve been reading off and on (mostly off, as you will gather) for well over a year now. I can’t even claim that I got stuck in the ancillary materials in this, the Norton critical edition, because it is the poem itself that made my steps through the tome more like slogging through molasses than tripping lightly through flower-filled fields. And then, after I’d finally finished the last book and watched Eve and Adam leaving home to look for work, I got re-bogged down in reading the “Areopagitica”. But just this past weekend I finally got through that prose by Milton complaining of the idea of prior censorship and got to the critical essays and extracts, and—voilà!—I’m done.

I can’t fault Norton for most of my issues with Mr. Milton’s poem—though the editor did allow a surprisingly high number of typos into the modern criticism extracts. ‘Twas the poem itself that wearied me. Don’t get me wrong: It’s a great poem, a staggering work of genius, as the phrase goes. But it gave me the staggers. Its lines were brilliant and moving in detail, but difficult to digest in large quantities. As Samuel Johnson says, “None ever wished it longer than it is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure.” And that’s how I found it. And I’m glad I did my duty; I got plenty of entries for my personal book of quotations, and had quite a few surprises. Only … am I glad that’s over!

Done at the same time is my 1600th Book in my increasingly silly book tracking project (which phrase I may need to trademark, as I’m using it constantly now when talking about this database of books I track my reading in). I only finished Paradise Lost yesterday, and will try to write up for you posthaste the complete listing of all the books read in this last century of books.

I had still been reading at a ridiculous rate—i.e., better than a book a day—as I tried to make a dent in the total number of unread books I own. Exceptionally, this last set of books, I have released a book (two! in fact) which I have not read, or which I started and decided was not for me. Hopefully this is a new maturity in my reading life, but one shall see. (I’m not including those books in any list I’ll be sharing with you, not to worry.) As well, I hope to take a bit of a breather from this silly pace, try to finish some longer works, but … we shall see as to that as well. For one thing, the smaller books are more portable and thus I read them more frequently at work, where I do a lot of my reading during my lunch hour. (At night I tend to start with good intentions and then succumb to the lure of Morpheus as the words start to slide sideways across the page.) But plans are for the future. In this last tranche of books I managed an average page count of 193 & 1/2 … which drops to ~163 is we include all the comics I read (a couple of dozen, looks like).

I’m still trying to read as quickly as possible to keep my ‘Books Read’ figure greater than my ‘Books Bought’ figure. And thus my average page count for this last set of books is only 168 pages per. This goes up to ~196 if we exclude comic books, which I do and I don’t, though I’m not gonna get too much into those weeds just now, especially as I need to focus on getting those book lists out the door.

The first book of this past century was An Experiment In Criticism by C. S. Lewis, which I finished on the last day of May. I found myself wondering how much Lewis’s fuzzy opening was a response to his quite profound grief, especially in his digression on tragedy. But most of the work seemed pretty judgy for an argument against almost all ‘evaluative criticism’. His notions about ‘unliterary’ readers are pretty much blind prejudice—not necessarily wrong, but derived from an understanding of other readers as experienced by an Oxford don. My own bookstore career made many of his points seem laughable. The ending isn’t all that bad, however, and his conclusions from his ‘experiment’ are, again, not necessarily wrong.

Science Fiction (with a soupçon of Fantasy) preponderated in this last set of 100 Books, mostly because I’ve started rereading a lot of my old Philip K. Dick books. All told, I read 23 books of this genre-fluid genre, topping the usually leading Mysteries by 4 books. Regular old Fiction came in at only 8 Books Read, leaving 50 books in all the other categories. (I actually read more Children’s books than regular old Fiction, with 9 exemplars ‘consumed’.) Oh, and since we’re not counting Comics and Graphic Novels to the total Hundred Books Read number, I’ll confess that I read more of those than any other category, at 26 comic books imbibed. More details will be in the full list, soon to come (I hope).

The pace was a ridiculously speedy 96 days to read these 100 books, slightly slower than the pace set in the last century of books. If we include the comics, the pace was just north of 3/4 days per book read. Of course we don’t, so … moving on.

   1 Book per .96 Days   

See you soon with Book List(s), j’espère!

Friday Vocabulary

1. chalybeate — containing iron salts

The town council decided that our chalybeate springs should be highlighted in the promotional materials.

 

2. gynander — woman with characteristics of a man

In response to the nascent women’s movements of the fin de siècle, the forces of reaction posited a pretended threat from gynanders who would devolve the fine sensibilities of modern women into a merely bestial state.

 

3. Gretna Green — Scottish town famed for easy marriages; any destination with lax marriage laws

The law was first modified in 1856, leading to a steep decline in Gretna Green marriages.

 

4. Tyler — guard stationed outside meeting of Masons to prevent uninitiated persons from entering

The chosen rendezvous was far from prying eyes, obviating the need for a Tyler.

 

5. sinicize — to make Chinese in style or form

It was the same old Chop House I remembered from my college days, only now the name of the restaurant was in some racist, sinicized font, but when I entered I realized that Spooky Bob had converted my favorite steak place to a full-on Chinese menu, and I doubted that I’d be getting my New York Strip after all.

 

6. metoposcopy — telling fortunes or reading character from studying lines on the forehead

In the particularly kabbalistic version of metoposcopy associated with Luria’s group, diviners claimed to find Hebrew letters etched in the wrinkles and folds of the forehead, characters which pointed to specific passages of the Talmud.

 

7. ousel (also ouzel) — Eurasian blackbird; American dipper

My cherry trees were under constant threat by a thuggish band of ousels seeking to fatten themselves before the long flight to North Africa.

 

8. harebell — Scottish bluebell, herbaceous perennial of Europe with blue flowers

Among the heather the harebells were beginning to emerge, and Holly was happy oh so happy once more.

 

9. jockey box — insulated container using ice, water, and coils to provide cold beverages at at temporary location; container on conveyance for tools, etc.

Molly had hidden the money under the tools and wire in the jockey box, but apparently that was the first place they searched.

 

10. tallboy — highboy

The pleasing lines of the tallboy originate in its two-part construction, for ease when moving the furniture.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(English idiom, from rhyming slang: “Not on your Nellie Duff” –> “Duff” = “puff” (of breath) = life)

not on your nelly — no!, not on your life, noway nohow

“I? Take in your vagabond ex-boyfriend for whom the police are searching to … ahem … assist in their inquiries? Not on your Nelly!”

 

Friday Vocabulary

1. Telfordize — to pave a road using Telford principles

The sudden squalls inundated the terrain and flooded the newly constructed roads, damaging them after each reconstruction until the captain decided to Telfordize the roadways, raising them above the surrounding ground with large stones creating a foundation which helped quickly drain the road surface after the torrential rains.

 

2. cruor (also cruror) — clotted blood; [obsolete] red colored matter within blood

The sickly salty stench of the rear chamber sickened us and I dared not guess what fiendish rituals had taken place at the wooden block in the center, covered with a vile melange of feathers, cruor, bones, and dung.

 

3. antinomian — of or related to one who believes in no moral law because only God’s grace determines our salvation

Though accused in the 1670s of antinomian tendencies, his compeers all agreed that Sir Henry was a good man and an upright jurist.

 

4. bourne — boundary, limit; goal

The setting sun approached its bourne in the horizon.

 

5. dole — distribution, portion or goods or money (esp. for charity)

One wonders how she supports her kind dole, so meager seems her own household.

 

6. triphibious — able to move on land or water and in air

The triphibious craft had proven an ungainly boat in even the smallest waves, so we were both surprised by its quick response once Captain Chicken took us into the skies.

 

7. yen shee (also yen she) — opium pipe bowl ashes and residue

Sucking at his pipe filled only with yen shee, the porter turned his mournful gaze to the gathering storm behind us and looked at our strange party once more, saying only “I guess it’ll be another of those ‘Incredible Journey’ things, is it?” as he unbarred the gate.

 

8. hierogamic — of or related to rituals promoting fertile crops by representing deific sexual congress

Berringer’s contended that hiergamic rites took place atop the mound, but this idea was belied by Harlan’s discovery of a cache of bones suggesting human sacrifice instead.

 

9. jankers — [British military slang] punishment detail with pointless tasks, inspections, and confinement to barracks

I first got jankers at my very first inspection, for not telling Rogers (who was standing next to me) that he had a hair on his uniform.

 

10. prosthaphaeresis — use of trigonometric formulae to compute products of large multiplicands as well as other functions

Before logarithms ruled the day, some mathematicians swore by prosthaphaeresis as the best tool for quick calculation.

 

Friday Vocabulary

1. dawamesc (also Dawamesk) — greenish edible paste or marmalade consisting of hashish mixed with butter, sugar or honey, pistachios, cinnamon and other spices, musk, nutmeg, pine nuts, orange juice

Perhaps the Algerian dawamesc was the first introduction into Europe of cannabis edibles, being served in 1844 at the Club des Hashischins in Paris.

 

2. leather gun — early light cannon of the 1640s & 1650s, where toughened leather wrappings were placed around the more portable smaller barrel in an attempt to give it stability

Gustavus Adolphus hoped that his leather guns would give him an edge over his opponents, but the experiment proved a failure as the guns usually could not fire even a dozen shells before bursting.

 

3. Krishnacore — musical subgenre mixing hardcore punk with Krishna Consciousness

Naturally straight edge musicians are most often associated with the rise of Krishnacore, but Poly Styrene’s became a follower of the Hare Krishna movement as early as 1983.

 

4. swizz — [British informal] to be disappointed, to be cheated

So I finally pushed through the crowd and found my seat, and of course—swizzed again!—it was directly behind a I-beam pillar supporting the upper deck.

 

5. smellfungus — [archaic] one who finds faults, grumbler

It’s all well and good to sigh and say that she’s just an inveterate smellfungus but that does nothing to make her lengthy visits less interminable nor less intolerable.

 

6. picaresque — of or related to rogues and their adventures; of Spanish satire dating from 16th Century depicting such rogues and such adventure

George Plimpton famously identified Pynchon’s first novel V. as a picaresque story of heroes living outside of normal society, and indeed almost all of the notoriously reclusive author’s works might be so described.

 

7. biandry — the state of having two husbands at the same time

Since she was not technically a bigamist, there was some question whether she could be charged at all, or whether biandry was even a crime in this state.

 

8. churl — boor; [archaic] freeman of lowest status under feudalism; [archaic] peasant

I had expected Bronson to be upset, but I didn’t think he’d be such a churl as to barricade the gates to the farm.

 

9. rubato — [music] expressive phrasing of music by use of non-strict tempo, often by slight speeding up of tempo followed by slowing to the original beat

In “Kind Of Blue” Paul Chamber’s bass keeps a strict tempo which allows the other musicians to employ rubato in their solos, which tension gives the piece part of its power.

 

10. triblet — conical tapering shaft used for adjusting size of metal objects such as rings

If you don’t know your ring size I can just pop your gold band on my marked triblet and we can find out right quick.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(English idiom)

round Robin Hood’s barn — by a circuitous route, in a roundabout manner

So I thought, why ask my lawyer to talk to his lawyer to inquire about the best means of determining et cetera and so forth, when instead of such shilly-shallying and going round Robin Hood’s barn I could just pick up the phone and directly ask the man himself?

 

Friday Vocabulary

1. verisimilar — appearing true or real

At first I thought myself deceived by a demonic phantasm, some tool of the dark forces assuming a verisimilar likeness to my favorite actor playing his most famous role, but then I realized it was just a cosplayer.

 

2. thrang — [Scots, N. England] busy, occupied with work

On the shore the maids were thrang sewing at the nets.

 

3. pinna — [biology] visible outer parts of ear in most mammals; wing, fin, or similar structure in animals

While he wore his big slouch hat he seemed almost unscathed by the fire, but once Jerome removed it the scars on his skull spoke of his misadventure and his pinnae were almost entirely missing, burned away during the rescue mission his ex-wife once told me.

 

4. anoxic — lacking oxygen

She had that effect, could transform a lively party into an anoxic wasteland of discomfort and antipathy, her very presence making everyone else decide that they would be better off anywhere but here.

 

5. aplanatic — (of a lens) free of spherical and comatic aberration

These fancy binoculars were supposed to be high-tech aplanatic masterpieces of German engineering, but of course just turned out to be some Siamese knock-offs with spherical lenses.

 

6. schlub — oaf, boor, clumsy or unattractive person

Don’t let that poor schlub ruin your party; he’s just jealous of your success.

 

7. deadworks — [nautical] those parts of a laden ship above the waterline

The Dutch frigate employed the guns in her towering poop deck to rain deadly fire on the pirate ship, almost completely destroying her deadworks and all the crew who had not immediately abandoned ship.

 

8. brontide — sound of distant thunder

Debate still continues as to the possible seismic origin of brontides in some earthquake-prone regions such as Haiti.

 

9. demarche — diplomatic or political maneuver; official notice of a country’s position vis-à-vis some situation

Jennison was quite proud of the ambiguous language in the latest demarche he had written for the ambassador, and was sure that it would feature prominently in that eminent person’s eventual memoirs.

 

10. keystone — to project an image improperly so that the projecting plane is not aligned with the receiving surface and thus causing distortion

Once Billie pointed out that the decrepit theater’s cameras were off-kilter and were keystoning the movie, I could see nothing but strange trapezoids instead of the noir buildings of the city, as if Dr. Caligari had cast a spell upon 1940s Los Angeles.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(Latin)

pro tanto — only to a given extent

The court ruled the claims were limited pro tanto by the damages asserted in the original filing.

 

Friday Vocabulary

1. finca — large estate in Spain or Hispano-America

The Labor Law of 1894 established the right of any worker in Guatemala to seek employment outside his finca on days when the owner was not using his labor.

 

2. trichiliocosm — [Buddhism] third order world of thousands of thousands of worlds, conception of universe of universes, higher power universe of billions of universes

Whatever construction one makes of the Buddhist idea of chiliocosm and trichiliocosm, the one thing that we can be sure of is that it is really, really big. But these billion worlds are also simply one.

 

3. gun-founder (also gun founder) — manufacturer of cannon and other armaments

The most sought after gun-founders were from the Low Countries, until England’s development of reliable cast iron cannon changed the industry forever.

 

4. indefectible — perfect; resisting decay, permanent

I supposed that my reception of God’s grace on that dark night on the ramparts was indefectible, so I was taken aback by my obvious backsliding and I redoubled my prayers … but in vain.

 

5. dixie — [British military] large cooking pot

But the upshot of this little fracas wasn’t too bad, as our punishment was getting water for the kitchen, which meant three trips with two dixies each to the well on the farm over the hill—though we cursed under their weight on the way back.

 

6. ebullition — boiling; temperamental outburst

We were used, by this time, to Nessie’s little ebullitions whenever the weather turned gray, and so we ignored her fretful monologue and instead tried to remain focused on our cards.

 

7. dandiprat — [obsolete] hateworthy person or person of no consequence

Do not be swayed by this mob of dandiprats who wouldn’t know real culture if it took them across its knee.

 

8. cocksparrer (from cock-sparrow) — cocky youngster

He won’t be humbled for long, that one; he’s a real cocksparrer for getting into trouble time and time again.

 

9. Pliofilm — plastic wrapping material used instead of cellulose-based substances

The medallion is in Near Mint condition, still wrapped in its original Pliofilm packaging.

 

10. inamorata — female lover

Bradford resolved to end it all until, while penning a farewell poem to his unknowing inamorata, he was stumped in finding a rhyme for ‘Letitia’, and his frustration kept him alive through the night until he found himself facing yet another dawn.

 

Bonus Vocabulary

(Australian informal)

come the raw prawn — to try to trick or pretend

“I saw it with my own eyes, so don’t come the raw prawn with me and try to convince me otherwise.”