Dan Lehman is, detached?, from the Navy, working in Washington D.C. as head of a drug interdiction team for the White House. Through the book he pretty much ends up doing everything ELSE, however!
Words I Had To Look Up:
encaustic tile (pg. 31) -- Ceramic tiles with a decoration made of different colors of clay inlaid into their surface. Voda gazifie (pg. 115) -- First word is "water", can't find definition for the second word. Scrum (pg. 287) -- The formation used in the setplay restarting play after a knock-on or forward pass.
Quote:
Dan tries out his French -- Fevier made a half-concealed grimace, as if tasting a bad peanut. "You will excuse me, but perhaps we should conduct our business in English." (pg. 146)
Quote:
Is this the correct word, "deserts? "We have been fortunate beyond our deserts." (pg. 112)
Dan Lenson travels off to Moscow, goes for a swim in the Moskva, a little pirate action in Asia, then a another swim, or something, in and around the Persian Gulf. He gets a pretty bauble from the Frenchies, but not much recognition from his own.
Read:
6/2009
Words I Had To Look Up:
natatorium (pg. 81) -- A structurally separate building containing a swimming pool.
W.T. Halversen is involved in a strike at Thunder Oil in 1936. A prequel to the others in the Hemlock County series.
QUOTE:
Remembering that, he head-faked, waited till the other had his haymaker on the rails, and ducked under it and hammered him in the face, left, left, right to the ribs. hard, because he wasn't going to let anybody get away with that kind of talk about his girl.
Collected shorter fiction. Some of it was OK, some pretty interesting, but the story titles The Sea And Little Fishes was exquisitely written, and I was very teary for a goodly portion of the story. And the "bonus" chapter, if not more so.
The fourth Tiffany Aching novel is the best story I have read in a long time. So much to think about! I found myself weeping at times, and laughing out loud at others.
Moist is maneuvered into assisting the dog that is chairman of the Royal Bank.
Words I Had To Look Up:
panopticon (pg. 56) -- an area where everything is visible. fornication (pg. 58) -- vaulted roofing or covering. Trust me. beccles (pg. 109) -- the small bone buttons placed in bacon sandwiches by unemployed guerrilla dentists, from The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd.
pecunious (pg. 122) -- abounding in money; wealthy. mountebank (pg. 127) -- any charlatan or quack. frisson (pg. 143) -- a sudden, passing sensation of excitement; a shudder of emotion; thrill. mendacity (pg. 148) -- 1. The condition of being mendacious; untruthfulness. 2. A lie; a falsehood. charivari (pg. 155) -- a noisy mock serenade (made by banging pans and kettles) to a newly married couple. But from http://www.charivarirest.com/ (and nowhere else) we have 'Charivari is a French word for "beautiful good mix"', which seems more what the author was thinking of. dunnikin (pg. 157) -- a privy.
gongfermor (pg. 157) -- the people who emptied cesspits in Medieval villages or castles.
tumbrel (pg 236) -- a farm dumpcart for carrying dung; carts of this type were used to carry prisoners to the guillotine during the French Revolution.
Quote:
"Nom d'une bouilloire! Pourquoi est-ce que je suis hardiment ri sous cape a par le dieux"? translates as "Name of a kettle! Why am I boldly laughed under cape has by the gods "? (pgs. 110-111)
Quote:
"An error, sir, is worse than a sin, the reason being that a sin is often a matter of opinion or viewpoint or even of timing but an error is a fact and it cries out for correction."
Quote:
"I can assure you that if I had, as your ill-assumed street patois has it, 'dropped you in it,' you would fully understand all meanings of 'drop' and have an unenviable knowledge of 'it.'"