The title irritates me. And the jacket illustration. I've read this book before, and since I had nothing else to read, I read it again. It's ok, but I did not feel that I cared for any of the characters. I don't know what the Author's Note had to do with THIS book, either. The author sounds like she would be a very interesting person to hang out with.
Quote:
His hands were large and roughly calloused, and they stroked her with a gentleness that made her burn. She made an odd sound. -- pg. 301. Oh, I bet she did!
Landscaper Paula Holliday finds box containing a small body buried in the garden she is renovating. Not overly complicated, but a fun and interesting read.
Rachel has to travel to San Francisco to proclaim her innocence for using black magic.
I wanted to stop reading around twenty, but I kept on reading and stuck it out to the end. Part of the problem is I am not really interested in witchy stuff. I got interested around page two-hundred and ninety-something, at the coven meeting in San Fran.
I think one needs to start with the first book. There was a LOT of background story that I needed to understand who and what was going on. I read the uncorrected proof edition.
Several stories of the Gold Rush days in California. I thought they would be funny, but they wuz mostly kinder sad. I "don't get" the ending of M'liss. Who was "J.S."? The mother? Was the schoolmaster in on it?
Words I Had To Look Up:
homely catafalque (pg. 56) -- A decorated platform or framework on which a coffin rests in state during a funeral.
Lethean stream (pg. 62) -- A river in Hades whose waters cause drinkers to forget their past.
propitiatory smile (pg. 70) --Having the power to gain or regain the favor or goodwill.
levanting together (pg. 78) -- To leave hurriedly or in secret to avoid unpaid debts.
tessellated pine boughs (pg. 100) -- Having a checkered or mottled appearance. Word traced back to 1695.
gamboge streak (pg. 177) -- A gum resin used as a yellow pigment and a purgative.
caprid origin (pg. 231) -- Pertaining to the Goat family.
auriferous earth (pg. 234) -- Containing gold.
jimp waist (pg. 316) -- Neat; trim; delicate; slender, etc.
illimitable prospect (pg. 330) -- Without limits in extent or size or quantity.
Pactolian resouces (pg. 335) -- Pertaining to the Pactolus, a river in ancient Lydia famous for its golden sands.
philippic (pg. 341) -- tirade: a speech of violent denunciation I always thought this was in the lyrics of "Monkey Man", by the detested Rolling Stones, but I guess I am wrong. Again.
saleratus in that bread (pg. 347) -- Baking soda.
mysteries of the semicuacua, a somewhat corybantic dance (pg. 350) -- Frenetic, ecstatic and orgiastic.
the Encinal (pg. 351) -- Translates as Live Oak grove. What Harte called Oakland.
a quinsy to the death (pg. 379) -- Pus-filled inflamation of the throat.
Lares and penates (pg. 390) -- The household gods of the ancient Romans.
chirographical (pg. 392) == Handwriting, penmanship.
preternaturally (pg. 408) -- Exceeding what is natural or regular.
opprobrious (pg. 411) -- Expressing contemptuous reproach; scornful or abusive.
infelix (pg. 411) -- Unhappy.
Borrioboola-Gha (pg. 417) -- From Dickens' Bleak House.
petriaction (pg. 449) -- The process of turning some plant material into stone.
febrile (pg. 454) -- Of or relating to or characterized by fever.
fidus Achaetes (pg. 465) -- Faithful Achates : trusty friend.
billet-duxis (pg. 505) -- Billet doux, a love letter.
Read:
2/2009
Quote:
The Christmas dawn came slowly after, touching the remoter peaks with the rosy warmth of ineffable love. And it looked so tenderly on Simpson's Bar that the whole mountain as if caught in a generous action, blushed to the skies.
Teen Doug is kind of a strange guy. Girls think he is creepy, he is building a replica of the Golden Gate bridge for his HO model railroad, guys beat him up. But, at least he has his best friend, neighbor Andy Morrow, who is the high school football star, right? Right?
In this novel from the YA section of the library, In 2070 Bo gets sent to a youth correctional facility where the inmates make pizza for a corporation. The warden enlists him on the illegal football team.
Officer Joe Crow drinks too much and does too much cocaine. So does his wife. He gets fired, the Murphy kid runs away, there is some confusion about a pedophile, several people get shot, some die, and a bunch of animals get shot and die. And we find out how Joe came by the pink Jaguar. Some pretty funny stuff here.
Quote:
Amanda Murphy had no illusions about the quality of her cooking...Her apple pie, for instance. The bottom crust was half an inch think, charred on the bottom and slimy on top, covered with a loose layer of oversweet apples.... "Great pie, Mandy."... Anyway, it was nutritious. A pie that weighted that much had to have some good in it. Amanda cut herself a small slice, helped it along with a glass of bourbon-spiked Pepsi. (pg. 191)
Lots of humor, lots of violence. The Library has lots of books, but these "librarians" are more like researchers, or students.
Quote:
"I'm really sorry about all this. I'm in sort of a situation, and--"
"Yes, I am quite sure. Please go fuck yourself."
Quote:
"Are you a Buddhist?"
"No. I'm an asshole. But I keep trying."
Quote:
"You're really extra-fucking-special under arrest."
Quote:
"Possessed? You mean, like, by demons? That kind of possessed?"
"What? No." Carolyn laughed. For one horrifying moment Steve thought she might pinch his cheek. "There's no such thing, Steve."
The author and his wife, "Q", travel to six areas of the U.S. to find interesting things.
I learned that railroad rails have the rail size marked on them. Why did I not know this?
Good, but long, smoke quote on 561.
Now I have to read up on Fanny Kemble and her observations on the life of slaves!
Whoops, that "And" in the title should be an "An".
There would have been MANY more words to look up if I had had the stickies to mark them with!
Read:
7/2011
Words I Had To Look Up:
apothegms (pg. 309) -- A short cryptic remark containing some general or generally accepted truth; maxim. Manichaean (pg. 311) -- Of or relating to Manichaeism; dualistic.
American Nimiety (pg. 312) -- Superfluity; excess. eremite (pg. 317) -- A recluse or hermit especially a religious recluse. loco-foco (pg. 334) -- A kind of friction-match, among other things. sneezer (pg. 334) -- Possibly, a martinet, in the usage cited. faubourgs (pg. 345) -- Essentially, suburbs. pentimento (pg. 351) -- !n alteration in a painting, evidenced by traces of previous work, showing that the artist has changed his mind as to the composition during the process of painting. whilom (pg. 386) -- Having once been; former. revenant (pg. 424) -- Something, esp a ghost, that returns. retrorse (pg. 451) -- Directed or turned backward or downward. tortfeasor (pg. 462) -- A party who has committed a tort tilbury (pg. 488) -- A light, two-wheeled, open carriage with two seats, used in the 19th century. redolent (pg. 547) -- Having or emitting fragrance; aromatic. concomitant (pg. 537) -- One that occurs or exists concurrently with another.
Pel could never smoke casually. While Darcy was totally indifferent to the consequences, Pel suffered from a guilt complex and a certainty that he would drop dead any day with lung cancer, be riddled with asthma or at the very least drive his wife to divorce him because she could no longer stand him smelling like an old ashtray.