Project Series | The Plaid Pladd Blog

Archive for the ‘Project Series’ Category

April Book List

April 28th, 2014 by pladd

This month I knocked off 11 books from my list, so I’m now 41% done with this project! Exciting!

All the Truth That’s In Me by Julie Berry

Title: All the Truth That’s in Me
Author: Julie Berry
Rating: 5/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.01/5
When it was added to my list: 12/2/2013
Why was it on my list?: I’m sure I read a good review

This historical fiction/mystery is amazing. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but the main character and her best friend disappeared from their village for two years… and then only Judith came back. With her tongue cut out. HOW? WHY? WHO? Can she salvage some kind of life for herself and her family? The answers are not what you think–I tried to guess the mystery behind this book, and was completely wrong multiple times. Surprises are the best!

Paris Out of Hand by Karen Elizabeth Gordon

Title: Paris Out of Hand
Author: Karen Elizabeth Gordon
Amount Read: All
Rating: 4/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.88/5
When it was added to my list: 1/8/2013
Why was it on my list?: I have no idea

This book was beautiful and adorable. It’s a travel guide to Paris featuring surreal, entirely made up hotels, restaurants, and attractions. A hotel run by children, another where the sheets are printed with the day’s newspaper so guests can keep up with the news, a restaurant whose strange meals are prepared by blindfolded chefs. The pages are also beautifully laid out and artistic.

Fat: The Owner’s Manual by Ragen Chastain

Title: Fat: The Owner’s Manual
Author: Ragen Chastain
Amount Read: All
Rating: 4/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.53/5
When it was added to my list: 7/7/2013
Why was it on my list?: I’m a big fan of Ragen’s blog

I’m glad I bought this book because I’m happy to support Ragen Chastain’s work, although I was mostly familiar with everything it contained from reading her blog. Size acceptance and body image issues are two things that have affected my life deeply, and reading Ragen’s work has really helped me focus on my health instead of my appearance. Last year I was working out better and more consistently than any other time in my life and didn’t lose any weight at all. A lot of people might see that as some failure on my part, but I was demonstrably healthier in all real measures of health: strength, stamina, cholesterol, blood pressure, quality of life. This year I’ve lost 50 pounds, and I’ve never felt worse. You can’t know anything about a person’s habits or health just from their appearance, and everyone deserves respect and the right to happiness no matter their size.

Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez

Title: Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia
Author: Jenny Torres Sanchez
Amount Read: All
Rating: 3/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.85/5
When it was added to my list: 12/2/2013
Why was it on my list?: A list of best books of 2013

As a senior in high school, Frenchie has a wild night of adventure with the boy she’s had a crush on for years but never really talked to. Then he kills himself the next day. Now it’s the summer after graduation and she has to deal with her own feelings of guilt, anger, depression, and love. Frenchie was a pretty cool main character, but I didn’t find myself caring enough about her emotional struggles to rate this book higher. I like that she had imaginary conversations with Emily Dickinson, though. I think that fact was the reason I marked this one as To Read in the first place.

360 Degrees Longitude by John Higham

Title: 360 Degrees Longitude
Author: John Higham
Amount Read: About a third
Rating: 3/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.95/5
When it was added to my list: 10/29/2013
Why was it on my list?: Recommended to me by GoodReads because I liked One Year Off

Ironically, I stopped reading this book because it was too similar to One Year Off but, I felt, not as good. The author seems kind of smug about a lot of his choices–bragging about how his kids will be cosmopolitan citizens of the world and how they’re biking across Europe instead of taking the train. I don’t know, that was just my impression. I’ve been in kind of a weird mood lately, so I could be wrong.

The Ones I Decided Not To Read:

Title: The Storyteller
Author: Antonia Michaelis
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.14
When it was added to my list: 1/2/2013
Why was it on my list?: It got completely stellar reviews
Why I’m not reading it: All those reviews also say that it is utterly heartbreaking. I don’t really need that right now.

Title: Palace of Stone
Author: Shannon Hale
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.92/5
When it was added to my list: 11/16/2012
Why was it on my list?: I liked the first one, Princess Academy
Why I’m not reading it: I felt like the first one wrapped things up pretty well, and didn’t care about the characters enough to start the sequel.

Title: The Last Dragonslayer
Author: Jasper Fforde
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.82
When it was added to my list: 1/2/2013
Why was it on my list?: I’ve liked some of Fforde’s other books
Why I’m not reading it: Jasper Fforde is a tricky writer because I really like his ideas, but I hardly ever care for his writing style. I usually find his main characters unlikable and hard to connect with. Sometimes the cleverness of the world he’s built overrides that concern, but I just couldn’t get in to this one.

Title: Al Capone Does my Homework and Al Capone Shines my Shoes
Author: Gennifer Choldenko
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.02 and 3.96
When they were added to my list: 6/5/2013
Why were they on my list?: I liked the first one
Why I’m not reading them: I didn’t like the first one enough

Title: Renegade Magic
Author: Stephanie Burgis
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.06
When it was added to my list: 12/17/2012
Why was it on my list?: I liked the first one
Why I’m not reading it: I didn’t like it enough

Next: May Books
Previously: March Books

Tagged: 2014 books, book list, books

Posted in 2014 League of Six |

March Book List

March 31st, 2014 by pladd

This month I read only 5 books from my list. A little less than usual, but that’s okay. I took a break and read some other great things that weren’t part of my goal. I’m about 29% of the way there so far.

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Title: Grave Mercy
Author: Robin LaFevers
Amount Read: All
Rating: 5/5
Why was it on my list? That cover!

This book was awesome! I immediately looked to see if there was a sequel (and there is!! Though about different characters). It takes place in historical Brittany, where Ismae escapes from a terrible arranged marriage to an island abbey where the nuns serve Death. As assassins. There’s a little bit of magic, a lot of complex intrigue, and the perfect amount of ~romance~ with the added drama of whom can you really trust??. Love it.

More Than This by Patrick Ness

Title: More Than This
Author: Patrick Ness
Amount Read: All
Rating: 4/5
Why was it on my list? A list of good YA novels from last year

The novel opens with Seth drowning. He hits his head on a rock and dies. Then he wakes up, in the dusty remains of the house his family moved away from 8 years ago. Everything is abandoned and the entire town seems empty except for him. He must come to terms with the fact that he’s in some kind of hell…. or is he? I really liked the mystery involved, trying to figure out along with Seth what the hell is going on, and also the flashbacks to his life before drowning. There are multiple mysteries in this book, and I liked the way they twisted around each other. Only the ending was kind of unsatisfying, but maybe it’s a sequel set up. I’d be cool with seeing how this story continues.

Scorch by Gina Damico

Title: Scorch
Author: Gina Damico
Amount Read: All
Rating: 2/5
Why was it on my list? I enjoyed the first book in the series, Croak

True confession: I was not in the best state when I read this book, so maybe I would have liked it more at another time. The plot seemed unfocused, and the writing style and language kind of gimmicky. It ended on a cliffhanger, but I probably won’t read the third one.

Ash by Malinda Lo

Title: Ash
Author: Malinda Lo
Amount Read: All
Rating: 2/5
Why was it on my list? A list of fairy tale re-imaginings

This book was sold to me as “lesbian Cinderella” and I am all about that concept. Unfortunately, the execution wasn’t as exciting. Lo is very skilled at creating tone and mood, but all of her characters were somewhat two-dimensional and lacked personality. I didn’t really care about any of them, so of course none of them had any chemistry together and the romance portions seemed boring and awkward. I liked the world this lackluster story is built on top of, trembling between magic and modernity and full of myths and huntresses, and I wish the main characters had lived up to it.

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

Title: Penpal
Author: Dathan Auerbach
Amount Read: All
Rating: 1/5
Why was it on my list? A list of horror books from around last Halloween

This book started as a series of Reddit posts, and that’s pretty much all you need to know. It didn’t even creep me out, and I am the world’s biggest wuss. Each lengthy chapter is its own short story, with a classic-style “THE CALL WAS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!” urban legend gotcha line at the end. The writing style was overly pompous, especially when the main character is mostly a child. Most of the characters act or speak in ways that aren’t appropriate for their age or situation (Mom is totally cool with letting her 5-year-old wander around the woods by himself! 11-year-olds analyze their friendships and admit when they are being distant and at fault!). Also, I had to buy this one (e-book), the first book I’ve bought for this project, so perhaps I was even more disappointed than usual.

The Ones I Decided Not To Read

Title: The Night Climbers
Author: Ivo Stourton
Why was it on my list? I have no idea. It’s been more than 4 years
Why I’m not reading it: This book only has a 2.95 star rating on Goodreads. All the reviewers basically just said it was a rip-off of The Secret History and not to bother. Since I would have to ILL it, and I already have enough to keep my library’s ILL department busy, I’m going to take their advice.

Title: Glamour in Glass
Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
Why was it on my list? It’s the sequel to Shades of Milk and Honey
Why I’m not reading it: The reviews made it sound like, though I enjoyed the first one, I wouldn’t like this one. I am still all about regency romance/historical fiction+now there’s magic! though

Previously: February
Next: April

Tagged: 2014, 2014 books, 2014 goals, Book Reviews, books

Posted in 2014 League of Six, Book Reviews |

2014: Three months in!

March 27th, 2014 by pladd

I’ve been doing terribly on my goals this year, guys. I could blame being really sick for literally all of 2014 so far, but maybe I just don’t want it enough. Here’s how I’m doing on my goals, a quarter of the way through the year.

1. Read All of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: 30%

I’m actually ahead on this one! You probably know I’ve already gotten through A, B, C, and D. I have about 900 more pages (of tiny type) to go!

Bring it

So far this task isn’t proving as difficult as I thought. I hadn’t anticipated how much of the text is taken up with entries like “Black Death: See Black.”

2. Make a pie once a month: 8%

I had so many pie plans for this year! I was going to try new and interesting fillings and exciting experiments in savory pies. I was going to fail at making hand pies! Alas. The only new pie I’ve made this year was for Pi Day.

They turned out awesome

Hopefully I’ll be able to put something else towards this goal before December.

3. Make a new cocktail once a month: 0%

4. Get everything currently on my “To-Read” list off it: 29%

I guess it makes sense that, over the last few months, the only goals I’ve really succeeded at are the ones that involve lying motionless on the floor. I’ve read or otherwise eliminated 28 books so far, with 68 more to go. My favorite one so far has probably been:

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

But more about that later!

5. Make dwarf helms: 60%

Okay, these suckers are still giving me some trouble. I have the hat parts of both done, and the hair of mine (minus the mustache) attached except for styling and some fitting adjustments. So they look nearly complete, but I have a feeling the parts I have left will be the most finicky and annoying. Still, I have a lot of time before December!

6. Update my blog at least once a week: 25%

BAM accomplished for yet another week.

Total: 25%

Wow, I guess my over-achievement in some areas balanced out my total failure in others. Just like life.

See you in June!

Previously: 2014 Goals

Tagged: 2014, 2014 goals

Posted in 2014 League of Six |

Brewer’s Dictionary: D

March 21st, 2014 by pladd

I finally finished the D chapter in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable yesterday! There’s no reason it should have taken me that long. It’s only 63 pages (the 10th longest chapter), but, for the first time since starting this project on January 1st, I had a week where I didn’t read anything! I know, what a slacker.

Anyway, here are some interesting things that start with D:

I always think of jeans as being super American, but it turns out denim is from France:

Denims–Coloured twilled cotton material used for overalls and, especially, jeans. Its name is a contraction of French serge de Nimes (‘serge of Nimes’), from the town in the south of France where it was originally made.

Tres chic!

I read a book once about animal trials, where olde timey law courts would try animals for murder. Once even a swarm of flies! Apparently, even if you weren’t going to seek punishment for some animal or inanimate object killing a relative, that thing was still considered cursed, and you had to sell it:

Deodand–Literally, something that should be given to God (Latin, Deo dandum). In former English law a personal possession that was responsible for the death of an individual was forfeited to the crown for some pious use. For example, if a man met his death from the fall of a ladder or the kick of a horse, the cause of death (the ladder or the horse) was sold and the proceeds given to the church. It originated from the idea that, as the victim met his death without the sacrament of extreme unction, the money could serve to pay for masses for his repose. Deodands were abolished in 1862.

Also, some bad news:

Devil’s livery–Black and yellow: black for death, yellow for quarantine.

Sorry Steelers fans, Wiessmen, and Hufflepuffs

I like learning word origins from Brewer’s, especially when the word has changed meaning pretty dramatically:

Double-cross–Properly, to cheat or cross each of two parties, to betray both sides

Of course, this original meaning makes way more sense!

And another ridiculous story brought to you by history’s first troll:

The Druid’s egg–According to Pliny, who claimed to possess one, this wonderful egg was hatched by the joint labour of several serpents and was buoyed in the air by their hissing. The person who caught it had to escape at full speed to avoid being stung to death, but the possessor was sure to prevail in every contest and to be courted by those in power

Okay, Pliny, whatever you say

And finally:

The Drunk Parliament–The Parliament assembled at Edinburgh in January 1661, of which Burnet says the members ‘were almost perpetually drunk’.

Previously: C
Next: E

Tagged: brewer's

Posted in 2014 League of Six |

2014 Book List: February

February 28th, 2014 by pladd

I got through books this month from my 2014 booklist, which means 22% of my goal is complete! Here they are, in order of me enjoying them:

Code Name Verity

Title: Code Name Verity
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Amount Read: All
Rating: 4/5
Why was this on my list?: I think I already had it on my list because of a review I read, but then it won just all the awards

The best thing about this book is the point of view. It starts off as the “confession” being written on scraps of paper by a Scottish spy in a Nazi interrogation headquarters in occupied France. Things get intense, as you can imagine. I also really enjoyed a look inside women’s lives during World War II: female wireless operators, female pilots, female spies, female special ops. It’s not a part of wartime life that gets a lot of press (did you even know there were lady pilots being badass back then?) and Wein deals with the issue with such humanity that it hardly feels like history. Her characters feel very real, which is part of why this book is so crushing because, yeah, they are in the middle of a brutal war, so most of it is also terrifying.

Letters from Skye

Title: Letters from Skye
Author: Jessica Brockmole
Amount Read: All
Rating: 4/5
Why was this on my list?: I read a review of it, and I love epistolary novels.

This novel is a series of letters telling one love story that spans 2 world wars. It begins when a cocky college boy sends a fan letter to his favorite poet, a semi-recluse who lives in the beautifully remote Isle of Sky, Scotland. Make anything an epistolary novel, and I will automatically like it more. It also kind of made me miss the rugged beauty of Scotland, and all those sheep fields and hills-not-mountains I used to tramp around.

Who Could That Be At This Hour?

Title: Who Could That Be At This Hour?
Author: Lemony Snicket
Amount Read: All
Rating: 3/5
Why was this on my list?: Leeeemoooooonyyyyy Sniiiiiickeeettttt

The Series of Unfortunate Events dragged on too much for me, but I’ve always enjoyed Lemony Snicket’s writing style (in manageable doses), and some of Daniel Handler’s adult novels are really enjoyable and well-written (particularly The Basic Eight, a mystery, and Adverbs, a confused fever dream). This first book in a new series takes place in the same universe as A Series of Unfortunate Events, just some years earlier. It has the usual Snicket kind of things: an ex-island (now mountain) that mines ink from terrified underground octopi, sneaky note passing through library book request cards, and a grim, Edward Gorey-like pall hanging over everything. Basically exactly what you’d expect, and sometimes that’s comforting.

Delusions of Gender

Title: Delusions of Gender
Author: Cordelia Fine
Amount Read: All
Rating: 3/5
Why was this on my list?: A review I read, probably on one of the blogs I follow about gender issues

This book was intensely interesting, and, of course, all about a subject I’m already very invested in. Cordelia Fine gives an overview of the various studies surrounding the “neuroscience of sexism,” the belief that there are two kinds of brains in the world and, say, the lady ones are somehow inherently bad at math and the guy ones just can’t grasp the concept of emotion unless it’s about bacon. Which you know is total bullshit, and it’s nice to have a more thorough understanding about some of the studies that supposedly back this up, and all of the ones that disprove it.

Gifts

Title: Gifts
Author: Ursula K. Le Guin
Amount Read: All
Rating: 3/5
Why was this on my list?: A book list about interesting kinds of magical systems in fantasy

This book was very atmospheric and odd, but unmistakably well-written, at least from a language standpoint. I got to the end and really felt like I knew the place she was writing about–I just wished more had happened there. It’s one of those slow-moving, world-building type of books, but at least the world is an interesting one. The poor hill clans each have magical “gifts” that help them survive, at least when bloodlines run true. The main character’s family birthright, just like his father’s, is to be able to unmake things with a glance and a gesture, at least it would be, if it would show up already. Sometimes waiting for puberty to turn you into a killing machine is such a drag.

The False Prince

Title: The False Prince
Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen
Amount Read: All
Rating: 3/5
Why was this on my list?: It was nominated for a Goodreads award

I feel like I would have been all about this book when I was like ten (except for the lack of badass ladies–ten-year-old me had standards), but unlike other children/YA books, it was harder to get into as an adult. The main character and a few other boys are being groomed to impersonate the crown prince of their fantasy-medieval country, which may be treason or may be Their Civic Duty. Also, the ones that don’t get picked get murdered, so it’s good motivation to study hard.

A Queer and Pleasant Danger

Title: A Queer and Pleasant Danger
Author: Kate Bornstein
Amount Read: All
Rating: 3/5
Why was this on my list?: It’s full title is A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The true story of a nice Jewish boy who joins the Church of Scientology and leaves twelve years later to become the lovely lady she is today

The best thing about this book is that on the first page there are a list of “Also By This Author” and the first thing my eye saw was Nearly Roadkill: An Infobahn Erotic Adventure. I was immediately thrown back in time to the single greatest thing I ever found while wandering the undisturbed stacks in Fondren. This book was insane. It was written entirely in chatroom transcripts, at a time when “Infobahn” was totally a word people thought would be used to describe the Internet in the future. I think I gave James Fox a copy for his birthday and reaching similar levels of ridiculousness is our yearly goal for Script Frenzy (alas, never achieved). I was BEYOND psyched to read its author’s memoir. Although looking back, that expectation set my sights a little too high. This book was crazy, but real-world crazy that was often just sad.

The Wedding Planner’s Daughter

Title: The Wedding Planner’s Daughter
Author: Coleen Paratore
Amount Read: All
Rating: 3/5
Why was this on my list?: I have no idea

This book was… okay. I can picture a certain kind of 8-year-old girl really liking it, although not 8-year-old me. It’s less about pretty dresses than you might suppose, but it’s more about everyday life drama of dealing with loss and moving on and making friends. Nothing all that exciting happens, although I enjoyed a lot of the descriptions of Cape Cod.

Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures

Title: Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures
Author: Amber Dusick
Amount Read: All except one chapter
Rating: 2/5
Why was this on my list?: Recommended on Goodreads because I liked the Hyperbole and a Half book

I didn’t like this book for two reasons, neither of which were its fault. The first is that, because of the style and the way it was recommended to me, I was comparing it to Hyperbole and a Half, which is a comparison no one can win. Allie Brosh is amazing in every way (writing style, comedic timing, explaining something that is so true and sad somehow in a funny way) and it’s unfair to hold anyone else to that standard. The second is that it’s about parenting (duh), but mostly the really gross unappealing parts. Which is like all of them, when you’re me. I was already feeling sick when I read this, so I ended up skipping the chapter about being sick since the other ones had still been too much about bodily fluids for my liking.

Every Day

Title: Every Day
Author: David Levithan
Amount Read: All
Rating: 1/5
Why was this on my list?: I think it was nominated for an award or something?

The idea for this book is interesting–the main character is a new person everyday, wearing their body and accessing their memories until midnight when he moves on to some other random body (always the same age as him and within a close proximity). This premise raises a lot of interesting issues, almost none of which are explored. Towards the end, almost off-handedly, the protagonist discovers there are more people like him, and that they can learn to control what they do. But he dismisses finding out anymore about that because, whatever it’s not boring enough or something. The bulk of the plot is about his creepy relationship with the girlfriend of one of the people he possesses. Maybe it’s just because I really hate the love at first sight trope, but their relationship struck me as superficial bullshit. “He looks at her and only he can see her secret sadness” uggggggggh no. You can’t use that as a shortcut to establishing a believable connection between two characters. Plus, the ethical implications of dragging your host body around, wrecking its life because it’s your vehicle for the day are only kind of acknowledged. We’re supposed to realize that his stalker-Nice Guy(TM) love trumps all those concerns, I guess. Also, he hops into a lot of different teen-problem-novel-esque situations that we’re supposed to Learn A Very Important Lesson about, even though these people are portrayed as strange cardboard cut-out minorities with almost no humanity of their own. Except the one fat guy he possesses, who is described as “the societal equivalent of a burp.” The protagonist makes a big show of how non-judgmental he is, except of the fat guy, because since you did this to yourself, you deserve society’s scorn. A GIANT NOPE TO BOTH THOSE ASSUMPTIONS, David Levithan. Ew.

Goblin Secrets

Title: Goblin Secrets
Author: William Alexander
Amount Read: One and a half chapters
Rating: ???
Why was this on my list?: It won some awards

I wanted to like this book! I love Baba Yaga, and people with clockwork robot legs, and fish that swim in dust. But somehow the beginning and the main character both failed to grab me, and I found myself really unenthused about reading anymore. Maybe it’s the higher level of commitment you have to make to a fantasy novel, all the time it takes to understand the world it’s set in. I’m not willing to make the effort for just anyone! Maybe that makes me lazy, or picky, or something. I guess I have pretty high standards. But there’re too many books I want to read, so no sense wasting time on something that doesn’t excite you.

Previously: January

Tagged: 2014 goals, Book Reviews, books

Posted in 2014 League of Six, Book Reviews |

C

February 23rd, 2014 by pladd

Yay! I finally finished the C section in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. At 127 pages, it’s the longest letter. I’m still only about 23% of the way to completion, but that’s pretty good for February! Here are some interesting things I encountered in C:

Candidate: … Those who solicited a high office among the Romans, such as that of consul, dressed themselves in a loose white robe. It was loose so that they could show the people their scars…

Elections would be a whole lot more exciting if it was all about comparing scars! Although I guess they’re already like that, metaphorically.

That’s right! This hot fashion item was named after a dude!

Cardigan: A knitted jacket or sweater with buttons up the front, named after the 7th Earl of Cardigan (1797-1868), who led the Light Brigade in the charge of Balaclava.

What a way to be remembered.

Brewer’s sometimes likes to tell you etymology, although it’s not the OED. I assume the editors only include word origins when they think they’re poetic and interesting, like:

Cemetery: The proper name of the word is “sleeping place” from the Greek Koimeterion, “dormitory.” The Persians call their cemeteries “the cities of the silent.”

“Sleeping Place” makes it less creepy, “city of the silent” makes it more

Cento: (Latin, ‘patchwork’) Poetry made up of lines borrowed from established authors, an art freely practiced in the decadent days of Greece and Rome… An example of a stanza from a modern cento, with lines taken from 19th-century poets, is the following:

I only knew she came and went (Lowell)
Like troutlets in a pool; (Hood)
She was a phantom of delight (Wordsworth)
And I was like a fool. (Eastman)

Basically, I’ve discovered ancient sampling.

Chamberisms: Such may be called the idiosyncratic definitions that have regularly appeared in the various editions of Chambers Dictionary… the following remain in the 1998 edition:

he-man: a man of exaggerated virility, or what some women consider to be virility
jaywalker: a careless pedestrian whom motorists are expected to avoid running down
middle-aged: between youth and old age, variously reckoned to suit the reckoner

Judgmental reference sources are the best! Brewers can be pretty judgey itself sometimes.

Charivari: A French term for an uproar caused by banging pans and kettles and accompanied by hissing, shouting, and the like to express disapproval, especially at an unpopular wedding

The emphasis is mine because what??

I’m picturing bored villagers going to weddings to heckle

Also, there’s this list, of everything bad that’s ever happened to a king named Charles. Thanks, Brewers.

Charles: Many rulers bearing this name have been afflicted with misfortune:

England:
Charles I was beheaded
Charles II lived long in exile
Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, died in poverty

France:
Charles II, the Fat, reigned wretchedly, was deposed, and died in poverty
Charles III, the Simple, died a prisoner
Charles IV, the Fair, reigned six years, married three times, and outlived all his children except one daughter, who was forbidden by the Salic Law to succeed to the crown
Charles VI, the Foolish, went mad
Charles VII starved himself to death, partly through fear of being poisoned and partly because of a painful and incurable abscess in the mouth
Charles VIII, the Affable, accidentally smashed his head against the lintel of a doorway and died in agony at the age of 28, leaving no issue
Charles IX died at the age of 24, stricken with remorse for the part he had taken in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
Charles X spent a quarter of a century in exile, and after less than six years on the throne, fled for his life and died in exile
Charles the Bold of Burgundy lost his life at Nancy when he was routed by the Swiss

Naples:
Charles I lost Sicily and experienced many disasters
Charles II, the Lame, was in captivity at the time of his father’s death
Charles III, his great-grandson, was assassinated at the age of 41

I guess it’s the price you pay to look this fabulous

Also, apparently 18th-century Italy decided that husbands were necessary but so not fashionable.

Cicisbeo: The escort or lover of a married woman, especially in 18th-century Italy. At that time, it was unfashionable for a husband to associate with his wife in society or in public, and she was therefore accompanied by her cicisbeo.

I knew about the claque, which is basically the theater version of a laugh track, but I didn’t know there were so many specialties within it:

Claque: A body of hired applauders, as at a theater… The manager ordered the required number of claqueurs and divided them into groups. There were the commissaires, who committed the play to memory and noisily pointed out its merits, the rieurs, who laughed uproariously at the jokes, the pleureurs, mainly women, who held their handkerchiefs to their eyes during the emotional scenes, the chatouilleurs, who kept the audience in good humor with their quips and gestures, and the bisseurs, who cried bis (encore).

How great a job would this be? Anyone wanting to pay me to attend their show and react dramatically, just give me a call.

Plus, it turns out, everyone afraid of clowns is completely justified:

Clown: … [the standard appearance] is probably a relic of the Devil as he appeared in medieval miracle plays.

I always suspected this was the true face of evil

Also, very occasionally, Brewer’s will have illustrations:

Here’s one for the entry on different kinds of crosses

I’ve already made a start on D! It’s only the 10th longest letter, with 63 pages, so I’m hoping it won’t take me as long!

Previously: B
Next: D

Tagged: 2014 goals, brewer's

Posted in 2014 League of Six |

B

February 4th, 2014 by pladd

I finally finished the B section of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable! It’s okay that it took me a little while–B is the third longest chapter, after C and S. I guess theoretically this means I’m 1/13 (about 8%) of the way through this project, but really it’s more like 14% if you’re actually counting page numbers. You can’t really compare X (2 pages) and C (127 pages) and say that they’re both 1/26 of the whole.

Anyway, here are the best things I read about that start with B:

Babar. The elegantly dressed African elephant in the books for young children by the French writer and illustrator Jean de Brunhoff … His name, perversely enough, appears to derive from Hindi babar, ‘lion’.

So I guess he’s suffering from species dysmorphic disorder. In more ways than one.

Remember the rule that if the Professor is more than 10 minutes late, you can leave class? There’s definitely a better way:

Barring out. In former days, a schoolboys’ practice of barricading masters out of the classroom or the school. In 1818 soldiers were called in to deal with a rebellious outbreak at Winchester College.

Someone really didn’t want to take a midterm, I guess.

Bark. Dogs in their wild state never bark, but howl, whine, and growl. Barking is an acquired habit.

I really wish my neighbor’s dog hadn’t acquired this habit, at least at 7 in the morning.

To beat the bounds.An old custom … of going around the parish boundaries on Ascension Day. The schoolchildren, accompanied by the clergyman and parish officers, walk round the boundaries, which the boys ‘beat’ with peeled willow-wands. The boys were originally themselves sometimes beaten at the limits of the boundaries to make them remember the place.

A civics lesson at its best

Belle laide. (French, ‘beautiful ugly one’) An intriguingly unattractive woman.

Also sometimes you learn supposedly American slang you’ve never heard before:

Booby hatch. An American slang expression for a psychiatric hospital.

Or the strange origins of common words:

Bully. The original meaning of the noun was “sweetheart” as in:

“I kiss his dirty shoe, and from my heart-strings
I love the lovely bully.”
Shakespeare: Henry V, IV, i (1598)

Its origin is probably in Middle Dutch boele, ‘lover’. The sense development seems to have gone as follows: (1) lover, (2) fine fellow, (3) blusterer, (4) bully.

C is probably going to take me awhile! It’s the longest chapter in the book!

Next: C
Previously: A

Tagged: 2014 goals, brewer's

Posted in 2014 League of Six, Project Series |

2014 Book List: January

January 31st, 2014 by pladd

One of my goals for 2014 was to clear out my To-Read list on Goodreads. I’m happy to report that I’m already on my way, although my library only owns about 60% of them, so things might slow down once I’m stuck waiting for inter-library loan or (GASP) spending money on books I haven’t read. J/k, you know I wouldn’t do that unless things got pretty dire. It’s against my principles as a cheapskate and a bibliophile. You want a coveted place on my bookshelf, you have to prove you’re up to it.

Anyway, I’ve gotten through 10 books so far, which is about 10% of the way towards my goal (there are 96 in all). Here they are:

The Ones I Read

Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

Title: Clan of the Cave Bear
Author: Jean M. Auel
Amount Read: All
Rating: 5/5
Why was this on my list?: A list of books with good heroines

A teacher recommended this novel to me in the 7th grade during a unit about prehistoric man, but I only read the first 10 pages before giving up. The book was intimidatingly huge, and the characters barely had any dialog. This time around I loved it so much and can’t wait to read the rest in the series. Ayla is amazing, and this time I found Auel’s depiction of prehistoric neanderthal society really interesting. Plus, badass lady hunter! So yeah, I’m all about this.

Rapture Ready by Daniel Radosh

Title: Rapture Ready
Author: Daniel Radosh
Amount Read: All
Rating: 5/5
Why was this on my list?: Recommended by GoodReads because I liked The Unlikely Disciple

This book is an exploration of the strange parallel world of Christian pop culture in its many facets. Of course, I vaguely know about the Left Behind series and that Christian pop music exists, but I didn’t know about things like Christian electronica (What makes it Christian without lyrics? “the heart of the composer”), “break dancing as worship,” Bibleman superhero show, and Christian pro wrestling. I immediately contacted Rachel when I read the pro wrestling chapter telling her to give up her pursuit of a divinity degree and immediately start training. All that was left was to think of names. Since she is three months away from being a Master of Divinity, she came up with “Jezebellicose.” My only contribution was “Mary Magdapunch.”

Other People’s Love Letter’s

Title: Other People’s Love Letters
Edited by: Bill Shapiro
Amount Read: All
Rating: 4/5
Why was this on my list?: Recommended by Goodreads because I liked Found and Postsecret

Initially I thought this book was a collection of love letters from famous people, probably in like the 17th century or whatever. I would have been down with that, but the reality was even better! It’s random love notes, drawings, texts, email messages, and, yes, even some real letters, all from normal people, all presented in a similar format to Found/Postsecret. The result is artistic and sweet in its simplicity. There was also an epilogue of sorts at the back that explained the background behind some of them and if the couples stayed together or not.

The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve

Title: The Weight of Water
Author: Anita Shreve
Amount Read: All
Rating: 4/5
Why was this on my list?: I’m thinking a book list of unusual narrative construction? I’m just guessing, I don’t remember.

This novel is two stories entwined around each other: one, a gruesome historical murder mystery that really happened in the 1870s, the other a modern-day drama about a marriage falling apart. I was interested in the outcome of both stories, but the real draw was the weirdness of the setting. The Isles of Shoals are a small island group 6 miles off the coast of New Hampshire, and living there–especially in the 1800s–sounds desolate and terrible.

Where Children Sleep by James Mollison

Title: Where Children Sleep
Author: James Mollison
Amount Read: All
Rating: 2/5
Why was this on my list?: Recommended by Goodreads because I really liked the photo essays by Peter Manzel and Faith D’Aluisio (Hungry Planet, What I Eat, Material World, Women in the Material World)

I was pretty excited for this book, because I love everything Peter Menzel and/or Faith D’Aluisio have ever done, like photographing different people around the world with a typical day’s worth of food surrounding them followed by a short essay about their lives. I really think this kind of personal, themed display is a more powerful tool for understanding modern society globally than the normal statistics and news reports. Mollison’s book has a similar theme: photographing children’s bedrooms–well, where they sleep, they don’t all have bedrooms–with short paragraphs about their lives. Unfortunately, I didn’t find Mollison’s work to be as engaging. He didn’t visit as diverse a population as the other books I referenced (for instance, there were at least 4 or 5 in the US, but almost all in New York or New Jersey), and a single picture per subject often didn’t capture as much detail as I would have liked.

The Ones I Sort Of Read

I still gave these a rating even though it’s maybe unfair to judge them after only reading half or a third or a few pages. I’m willing to be convinced that they got better after I gave up, but I shouldn’t have to force myself to get into a book, so I’m not really apologetic about the giving up part.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Author: Mark Haddon
Amount Read: Half
Rating: 2/5
Why was this on my list?: A list of books with unusual narrators

I remember when this book was a big deal, the Life of Pi or Girl with a Dragon Tattoo of its day. Like those other books, I found it difficult to muster the enthusiasm necessary to read it, and found it didn’t live up to the hype once I did (sometimes things do live up to their hype–I was similarly reluctant to read The Hunger Games and you know how that turned out). Steven tells me I’m too hard to impress because I read too much, and maybe that’s true, because I found this book uncomfortably gimmicky. I’m not sure if I was supposed to be able to guess the truth behind the narrator’s family drama in the first chapter or what, but it made the subsequent revelations boring. I decided I would power through to the end to see if my supposition about who killed the neighbor’s dog was correct, but then my prime suspect confessed about halfway through. I immediately thought, “Oh, well… thank you. Now I don’t have to bother.”

Carter Finally Gets It

Title: Carter Finally Gets It
Author: Brent Crawford
Amount Read: A third
Rating: 2/5
Why was this on my list?: I have no idea. Was it banned somewhere? It’s possible, the narrator is very preoccupied by breasts

This book is fine, really, if you’re interested in the inner-workings of the mind of a 14-year-old boy. I’m not so much, and it was around the chapter about burrito farts ruining a first date that I decided I didn’t really need to read further. I’m obviously not one of those people that thinks just because something is shelved in YA it’s going to be a teen problem novel of no interest to adults (because, come on, Abhorsen, True Meaning of Smekday, MOSCA MOTHERFUCKING MYE). I think there are the books that get shelved in YA just because they happen to be about someone who isn’t an adult, and the books people write with the actual purpose of being put there. It’s a big difference, in terms of scope, and sometimes quality, and I wish so many of my favorites didn’t get stigmatized by association with the Carter Finally Gets Its of the library. It’s okay–some people would like this book and probably think it is hilarious–but not me.

The Night Strangers

Title: The Night Strangers
Author: Chris Bohjalian
Amount Read: 5 pages
Rating: 1/5
Why was this on my list?: A “best ghost stories” book list that came out around Halloween

This book started out describing a creepy house with a creepy cellar sporting a creepy door that’s been nailed shut with a vengeance. Cool, I’m with you so far, prologue. Until the main narration starts, and it’s in second person. NOPE! SO DONE! That is only appropriate in Choose Your Own Adventure Novels, and even then it can get annoying. What’s the point of making the main character “you,” a regional airline pilot and father of two? I’m NOT any of those things, and trying to convince me I am is distracting and terrible. If that’s the only way you can think of to make your scary story seem more immediate for the reader, maybe you shouldn’t be writing horror. Anyway, I read some reviews to see what I was missing, and it seems to be a botany-related immortality cult. So yeah, I’m good.

The Ones I Decided Not To Read

Title: Found II
Author: Davy Rothbart
Why was this on my list?: I liked the first one
Why I’m not reading it: I liked the first one, but I didn’t like it enough to wait for it through inter-library loan, especially since I have so many other books to inter-library loan this year.

Title: Carrion Comfort
Author: Dan Simmons
Why was this on my list?: A list of good scary stories from Halloween
Why I’m not reading it: I read the description, and it doesn’t sound like something I’d enjoy. Secret alien societies are not really my thing, and since my library doesn’t own it, it doesn’t seem worth the effort.

Tagged: 2014, books, lists

Posted in 2014 League of Six, Book Reviews |