Guy walks a goodly portion of the length of Baja California with a burro. Pretty good, except for the parts quoting history which, while necessary (I guess), I pretty much disliked. Possibly because the typeface was WAY too small for my old eyes!!
A short (50 page) charming story of two motherless children becoming acquainted with the woman who answered their father's ad for a wife. I got a totally incorrect impression of the story from The Simpson's short snark of it.
Scored this volume in a pile of books from the school office. Read it MANY years ago, read it again to see if it was as fabulous as I remembered. It is!!
Professor Shandy travels to Maine to check out some lupines, finds murder. An exquisitely charming mystery with lovely verbal bandinage. One tear at the end.
Words I Had To Look Up::
QUODAM -- Belonging to some prior time. (pg. 1)
PANICLES -- A branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes. (pg. 2)
KIND OF A TAKING -- Agitation; excitement; distress of mind. (pg. 16)
DIVERS -- Various; several; sundry. (pg. 21) MATUTINAL -- Of, relating to, or occurring in the morning; early. (pg. 30) WELKIN -- 1. The vault of heaven; the sky. 2. The upper air. (pg. 30) MONEY CAT -- An Asian Leopard cat, because its spots look like Chinese coins. (pg. 40) SILVICULTURE -- The care and cultivation of forest trees; forestry. (pg. 41)
PANTHER WOMEN -- A Wodehouse reference. (pg. 67) FRIED CLAM TACOS -- Available at Dos Locos in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. (pg. 68) DOYENNE -- A woman who is the eldest or senior member of a group. (pg. 68) PERSIFLAGE -- 1. Light good-natured talk; banter. 2. Light or frivolous manner of discussing a subject. (pg. 83)
MAGNILOQUENT -- Lofty and extravagant in speech; grandiloquent. (pg. 97) OBSEQUIES -- A funeral rite or ceremony. Often used in the plural. (pg. 104) CONTUMACIOUS -- Obstinately disobedient or rebellious; insubordinate. (pg. 109) PREPRANDIAL -- Before a meal, especially dinner: (pg. 110)
WITHAL -- 1. In addition; besides. .... Archaic With. Used after its object at the end of a sentence or clause.(pg. 136) BESOM -- 1. A bundle of twigs attached to a handle and used as a broom. (pg. 154)
MAKE OLD BONES -- To reach a great age. (pg. 205)
A generation starship gets to its destination, finds its already inhabited. Interesting story. One would have thought 10,000 years in the future a replacement for the f word would have been found, though.
As user Lala BooksandLala on GoodReads wrote "This was quite possibly the weirdest shit I've ever read." She only gave it two stars. I gave it four. I enjoyed reading and the surprise ending.
Quote:
"You're not just a crab, are you?"
"Very perceptive. The fact that I can fucking talk maybe clued you in."
Confusing story of Winifred Rudge who stops off in London at her cousin's place, run into...ghosts, maybe? It is all cleared up, finally, in a pretty good story. But it was a rough go, for me, for quite a while.
Quote::
...to claim any truck with ghosts. -- pg. 245 - I thought I was the only person who used that word!