Dolphin Chronicles

by Carol Howard

Last night I finished this book. It's about an amazing project- two "teenage" male dolphins were caught from the wild near Florida, taken to California for some research- mostly on echolocation- and then released back into their home waters. Then for a year, follow-up studies were conducted to see how the dolphins readjusted to life in the wild, and for many years thereafter they were sighted on occasion. The two years the dolphins spent in captivity were full ones, and the author makes it clear how intense working with dolphins can be. She's honest about the dirty aspects of the job- handling raw fish all day, cleaning algae out of the pools- and the frustrations. Dolphin Chronicles describes all stages of the project- how the capture and transport to California was carried out, how the dolphins adjusted to life in captivity, how they were trained and their responses to humans, how the echolocation studies were done, some trials when one of the dolphins became ill, the difficulties involved in their release, the follow-up efforts, and conclusions summarizing what they learned about dolphins. Along the way there's lots of discussion about dolphin communication, and looking at how -via what we understand of their senses- they probably perceive things. While reading about the work with the dolphins was very interesting, the few final chapters about their behavior in the wild and their physiology and mental capacities really grabbed my attention. Did you know that dolphins don't dream? The two hemispheres of a dolphin's brain are so separate they each get their own blood supply- and when he rests, only half his brain goes to sleep at a time. They can't breathe without being conscious, so they don't have unconscious sleep like us. I've only read one or two books about dolphins before, so this one was full of new info for me about these fascinating animals.

I almost forgot to mention this is the second book I've read for the 2009 TBR Challenge. (The first one was Adventures of a Zoologist).

Rating: 3/5                304 pages

Meme: Book Glutton

from Booking Through Thursday:

Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?

Of course I'm a book glutton! I simply can't resist. The last time I remember having actually read everything on my shelves was back in high school. Usually I have more books on hand than I can catch up to and still acquire more, somehow. Currently (if my Library Thing tags are up to date) I have about 125 books sitting in the bedroom that haven't been read yet. The only way I make any inroads on the piles is due to the fact that if a book just isn't interesting me, I have no qualms about clearing it off my shelf. So out of those 125, I probably won't like -and won't finish- maybe a third of them. And just yesterday I was thinking it's about time to go to that thrift store nearby where I can get thirty books for four dollars.... wouldn't you?

wondrous words

Here's the new words I found in my reading during the week:

From Adventures of a Zoologist:

Noncom- "... we watched through the windows as noncoms fried steaks on a grill among the snowdrifts."
Definition: a subordinate officer appointed from enlisted personnel

Otolith- "Students at Evergreen State College, on Puget Sound, are finding out what seals eat by examining fish otoliths in seal scats recovered from the beach."
Definition: a calcerous particle found in the inner ear; in bony fishes it forms a hard shape distinctive to each species

From Dolphin Chronicles:

Purview- "Even in a boat it's difficult to track dolphins at sea for any length of time, and then we generally see only the surface of their lives- most of their activity takes place under water, beyond our purview."
Definition: range of vision, comprehension, or experience

Necropsy- "They were about to perform a necropsy on Arrow, Jane said, and would let us know the results."
Definition: what an autopsy is called when performed on animals

Sobriquet- "So what better sobriquet than Mikhal Baryshnikov's nickname?"
Definition: an affectionate or humorous nickname (one of the dolphins was named Misha)

Gelid- "A true athlete- triathlete, actually- with the smoothly muscled physique of a competitive swimmer, she swam regularly in the gelid waters of Monterey Bay."
Definition: very cold, icy

Umbrage- "After some initial umbrage at the appellation, we decided to claim the title as our own: we were the dolphinettes, and proud of it."
U: feeling of anger, taking offense
Appellation: a name or title (see above usage)

For more wondrous words, visit the host of this meme at Bermudaonion's Weblog.

winner!

A name has been drawn.
The winner of my hummingbird bookmarks
is cpullum!
Congrats! Email me you address and I'll send them along.

Fast Food Nation

by Eric Schlosser

This is one of those books I find fascinating and disgusting at the same time. Schlosser digs out all kinds of facts and horror stories about what goes on in the making of fast food- everything from how the beef is processed to what goes on behind the scenes in fast food restaurants, and how -of course- corporate decisions are not in the best interest of consumers who end up putting the stuff into their stomachs. It's not just about burger joints either, but all kinds of processed foods, and how they have become so pervasive in American supermarkets. While the data information, stats and numbers could be a bit tedious for me, there's plenty of personal and collected anecdotes in here too. Fast Food Nation is a book that will make you think twice about getting a meal on the go- at least it did for me. Knowing at surface value that this kind of stuff isn't healthy for you is one thing, having specific nitty gritty dirty details about why is quite another.

Rating: 3/5                     270 pages, 2001

More opinions at:
Passion for the Page
Betty's Books

Adventures of a Zoologist

by Victor Scheffer

I finished reading this book yesterday. It's the first one off my list for the 2009 TBR Challenge. Adventures of a Zoologist is a memoir of Scheffer's work as a wildlife researcher, specializing in marine mammals. He graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle in the late 30's, and I was pretty excited at first to be reading a book set in the area I grew up in- his mention of the Pacific Northwest wildlife, climate, of Puget Sound islands, rocky beaches, hillsides of salal and wild blackberries- all felt familiar to me. Scheffer gives an overview of the various projects he was involved in during fifty years of his career, from being a ranger in Mount Rainier National Park, to counting seal populations on remote islands to teaching wildlife ecology in university classrooms. Most of his career was spent studying marine mammal populations, and it was very interesting to see how the attitude towards marine wildlife shifted during his time- when he began his work, fur seals were regarded as simply a resource, studied so they could know how many could be "harvested" for their skins without seriously decimating the population. Gradually people began to appreciate these animals for more than just commercial value, and by the time Scheffer was writing books and teaching in classrooms himself, marine mammals were first becoming protected. Sadly, I did not enjoy this book nearly as much as I wanted to. Much of it relates the author's work with other famous biologists, outlines different symposiums he attended, his involvement in treaties between nations regarding the use of marine wildlife resources, etc etc. Lots of names, dates and other data fill the pages which sound very important and significant, but are just not that interesting to the casual reader like myself. I found that I was skimming pages for the bits that talked about his direct work with animals. I do want to read more by this author- I think I would really enjoy his Year of the Whale or Year of the Seal. But by the end, this book was just really making me yawn.

Rating: 2/5 ........ 204 pages, 1980

Quicksilver

by Neal Stephenson

I have given up on this book. It was the last one I was reading for the first reading challenge I've ever done, so I guess I've failed that, too. This was the chunkster of the list. It was a thrilling book to read at first- the language and descriptions are very rich, and each page has to really be savored. But the storyline was incredibly difficult for me to follow. It's set in the seventeenth century, and the main character is one Daniel Waterhouse, who works among a soceity of Natural Philosophers, making discoveries astonishing for their time, studying everything with vivid fervor and imagination (which sometimes takes them to grisly places) under the shadow of Isaac Newton. The problem I had was that the book is simply so heavy with gorgeous language it was hard to tell what the heck was going on. It didn't help either, that every other chapter jumped a decade or so, so two storylines were going on simultaneously (I always struggle some when a writer does this). I made it through 185 pages and then it just felt so tedious. I guess this kind of historical fiction is just not my thing. It's a fantastic piece of writing, and I love the way this author describes things, but I just can't follow along and it makes me tired. Too bad. Well, at least I tried. If anyone else has read Quicksilver and has a clearer picture on it, I'd love to hear what you made of it.

Abandoned                 927 pages, 2003

More opinions at:
Capacitor Fantastico
Lavademon
50BookChallenge

The Ra Expeditions

by Thor Heyerdahl

I finished reading The Ra Expeditions yesterday. Some twenty years after Kon-Tiki, Heyerdahl observed similarities in the ancient cultures of the Olmecs and the Egyptians, and surmised that a reed boat may have long ago crossed the Atlantic Ocean, carrying Egyptian ideas and technologies into South America decades before Columbus. So of course, he set out to prove it was a possibility. More so than Kon-Tiki, this book describes the long and tedious route Heyerdahl had to take to get the boat built, his many visits to remote lakes in Africa, his theories and comparisons of the ancient cultures. There's not much of the oceanic nature writing I enjoyed in Kon-Tiki, and the personality differences among the crew members (from seven different nations and only one of them a sailor!) causing frictions to arise under the stress of months spent on a small boat, was addressed a lot. I was continually astonished by things I read in this book. Papyrus reeds no longer grow in Egypt, so he had to travel to the source of the Nile to find them. He had to go to lake Chad to find people who still knew how to build reed boats (and there the local people live on floating reed islands!) The building crew copied designs meticulously from ancient paintings on the walls of Egyptian tombs, and failed to understand the significance of one rope on the boat, which caused the first Ra to start to fall apart before they made it across the ocean. He had a second boat built, properly this time, which sailed all the way in record time. Amazing. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Kon-Tiki, but still thrilled to read the account. I can't believe people would do this sort of thing- sail across an ocean on a boat made of reeds! that started to fall apart on them! attacked by portuguese man-of-war (whose paralyzing affect they cured with fresh urine)! and more.

I read this one for the Non-Fiction Five Challenge

Rating: 4/5                    341 pages, 1970

wondrous words

The bulk of these words, again, are from Quicksilver.

Scrivener- "That is his money-scrivener."
Definition: a professional copyist or scribe

Moiety- "The Admirality.... or some moiety or faction thereof."
Definition: a small portion or share

Claque- "But the sect was shattered into a thousand claques and cabals."
Claque: a group of fawning admirers
Cabal: a conspiring group of plotters

Cochineal- "Daniel and Charles and Hooke had been making them for some weeks out of yard-long glass tubes, filled with spirits of wine, dyed with cochineal."
Definition: a vivid red dye made from an insect

Ricercar- "...they were taught to play a little lute and dance a passable ricercar."
Definition: a musical form of the 16th century

Turpitude- "Not that anyone would pay any notice, anyway, if the son of Drake were to level an accusation of moral turpitude against the Duke of York."
Definition: depravity

Obloquy- "... no one would hear them above the roar of obloquy."
Definition: abusive language or blame

Limn- "Now as the day went on and it sank toward the horizon, it turned orange and then red, and began to limn vast billows and towers of smoke..."(describing the sun sinking, in a haze from fire)
Definition: to depict in a painting or drawing

Theophany- "Like a theophany of the Old Testament."
Definition: divine manifestation

Corsair- "John Churchill was one of the few courtiers who actually did things like go to Barbaray and go mano a mano with heathen corsairs..."
Definition: a pirate, a swift pirate ship

Argent- "Once he'd focused on that, a couple of tiny adjustments brought Isaac's waterfall of ardent hair into view..."
Definition: silver colored

These two from The Ra Expeditions:

Hermetically- "Archeologists had recently discovered that a large ship lay buried on each side of this large pyramid; four ships in all were lying there, hermetically preserved."
Definition: sealed to prevent air from entering, or escaping

Tricorne- "The papyrus reed was six to eight feet long and about two inches thick at the root, with a tricorne-shaped cross section.
Definition: having three corners

Visit the host of wondrous words wednesdays at Bermudaonion's Weblog.

bookmarks giveaway!

win free hummingbird bookmarks!

Time for another giveaway! I've got these two hummingbird bookmarks ready to keep place between your pages. Just leave a comment to enter, and on next tuesday 5/12 I'll pick the winner out of a hat.

They're double sided. The back has flowers:

Note: my cat has been sleeping in the box of bookmarks. If you have severe cat allergies, you might not want to enter- sorry!

The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

I don't think I can say much about this book that hasn't already been said (see a small sampling below), and I read it several years ago, so the details aren't clear. But the chilling feeling the book gave me was. The Handmaid's Tale, like 1984, is set in a frightening version of the future, in a society totally constricted by government -and religious- control. Some catastrophe has caused fewer and fewer children to be born, until women are pretty much only valued for their childbearing ability- and used as objects to that purpose. They have no rights. Their manner of dress, who they speak to, where they go- all is restricted. The protagonist, Offred, is one of the "handmaids" kept to bear children- and as she slowly unfolds her story, we learn more and more exactly what that role entails. Probably one of the most depressing things about the story is that Offred can remember what life was like before- she used to have a family, a job, live in a society we could recognize. Comparing her current situation to how she remembers life used to be, Offred observes how quickly everyone's perceptions - even her own- have changed to fall in line with the prevailing brainwashing. She tries to find little ways to keep her spirits up and assert her personality without bringing undue attention to herself -that would be dangerous- but it's a stark life, a depressing existence, with no happy ending.

The only other book I've read by Atwood, Cat's Eye, didn't really touch me strongly, but Handmaid's Tale is a compelling, horrifyingly fascinating book. I really ought to try more by this author.

Rating: 4/5......... 350 pages, 1985

More opinions at:
Read Warbler
The Curious Reader
Melody's Reading Corner
Passion for the Page
Things Mean a Lot
Under the Dresser
Reading Reflections
Jenny's Books
BlackSheep Books

Life in the Fat Lane

by Cherie Bennett

Laura is one of the most popular girls in school- pretty, smart and of course, thin. Then she begins to inexplicably gain weight- in spite of hard dieting and exercise. After an extra hundred pounds or so puts her in the hospital, the doctors discover she has a rare (and fictional) metabolic disorder which causes her to gain. Returning to school, Laura finds she's no longer popular, taunted or ignored by her former friends, and offered well-meaning (but insulting, she feels) dieting advice by other girls she hardly knows. She feels it's all grossly unfair since she didn't get fat due to bad eating habits or lack of will power, but from her illness- and continually whines and complains about her condition, while looking down her nose at other overweight people. She becomes friends with another girl who is also overweight, but continually sees herself as superior because her weight problem is medical, and the other girl's isn't. I felt annoyed with her that this attitude never changed. Life in the Fat Lane just winds up showing how despicably people treat (and think of) each other based on body image, and how shallow this one girl is- obsessed with her looks even after this experience. I read the book all the way to the end hoping to see her mature or learn something from it, but that didn't happen. The characters are pretty realistic, Laura's uneven home life and difficulties dealing with the changes in her social circle make it interesting nonetheless. While I found the main character annoying, I did enjoy the book, but I feel it doesn't send a very good message to teen girls with similar concerns who might read it.

Rating: 2/5 ........ 260 pages, 1998

More opinions at:
Reading Log
Christine's Review Blog

Vertical Burn

Earl Emerson

Set in my hometown (Seattle), Vertical Burn is an intense story about John Finney, a firefighter who while fighting a blaze in a warehouse, leaves his partner behind and returns for help, giving directions to his partner's location. But he isn't reached in time- and the blame is laid on Finney. In the aftermath of the fire and his partner's death, Finney finds himself suspect and his reputation at stake- yet he is convinced that the fire was set by an arson, a conspiracy is going on among his fellow firefighters, and he's being framed. This book reads like a movie: action, suspense, a misunderstood main character, love story and plenty of intrigue. The characters are kind of flat and the plot feels predictable in places- but what really got me hooked on this story was the details of the life and work of firefighters. Descriptions of their experiences inside burning buildings make you feel the thick choking smoke, the weight of equipment, the exhaustion and heat. The technical aspects of the job- how they determine where fires began, what caused them, how to stop them, all the work involved- is so interesting it sustained my interest when the story faltered. An engaging read. (It wasn't until after I finished this book that I discovered it's part of a series- and the author is a firefighter chief himself -thus the excellent technical details).

Rating: 3/5                   340 pages, 2002

More opinions at:
everyday wonder
PalmAddicts

The Feminine Mystique

by Betty Friedan

This is a tough book for me to write about. I read it a long time ago, when plowing through piles of books on pregnancy, childbirth and similar topics. Not sure how this one got on my list as I don't consider myself a feminist. I thought I would find it uninteresting or difficult, but on the contrary it's an easy read, and very engaging. On the other hand, I didn't end up feeling indignant or frustrated like I felt the author intended me to. She thoroughly describes how housewives in the 50's felt bored, frustrated and oppressed, and urges them to make something more of their lives and stand up for their own interests. She makes it sound like a woman needs a job to feel fulfilled, and points out all the inequalities in how men and women are treated. I don't know, I just couldn't get riled up by it, because I'm pretty happy to be a stay-home mom with a garden to tend, and books to read in the few spare moments I have. I never get bored or feel like my life is missing something essential. So I couldn't really connect with her views, although some of the points she brought up got me thinking. Others I kind of dismissed because they seemed rather forced. The sad thing is even though I know The Feminine Mystique is an important book, well-researched and chock full of thought-provoking info, I can hardly remember one specific thing from it... Hm. I got the impression that this book is to the feminist movement what Silent Spring was to environmentalism.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 587 pages, 1997

More opinions at:
arch thinking
Book Addiction
Life Under the Quill
the Square Doughnut

wondrous words

The first two on this list came from my reading of The Other End of the Leash. The rest are from Quicksilver. Even though I have made slow progress with this book (only 127 pages so far), it still supplies me with many many new words each week!

Sinusodial- "The dogs would waver back and forth, moving in a sinusodial S curve, trying to follow the molecules of scent as they moved through the air..."
Definition: curving (isn't the phrase redundant, then?)

Paedomorphic- "This tendency to continue exuberant play into adulthood is one of the factors that leads most scientists to consider dogs and humans as paedomorphic..."
Definition: retaining juvenile characteristics into adulthood

Coelestial- "The tail of Ursa Major was like the hand of a coelestical clock, and Daniel had been studying how to read it."
Definition: another spelling for celestial

Spadroon- "The black-clad fellow drew out a sword of his own, something dull and clanging, a heavier spadroon, and the scarlet boy came at him like a boiling cloud, with lightning movements darting out of the center."
Definition: a broadsword used both to cut and thrust

Sizar- "Daniel finally recognized him as Roger Comstock, the sizar."
Definition: a student at Cambridge who having passed certain examinations, was exempt from paying for food and tuition and had lodgings at very low cost

Ween- "I ween you are of the same mind, Mr. Waterhouse, but sailing on a ship across the North Atlantic is not for cowards, and so you are here."
Definition: to think or suppose

Lascar- "The lascars spring up and busy themselves drawing up his equipage on ropes."
Definition: an East Indian seaman

Gnomon- "Newton was constructing a sundial on a south-facing wall, using as gnomon, a slender rod with a ball on the end."
Definition: stationary arm on a sundial whose shadow indicates the time

Shawm- "Stourbridge Fair was already audible: barking of dogs, wild strains from bagpipes and shawms whipping over their heads like twists of bright ribbon unwinding in the breeze.
Definition: a double-reed instrument that preceeded the oboe

Numismatic- "If you would allow me to approach within ten feet of these coins, it would help me to appreciate their numismatic excellence...."
Definition: having to do with coins or currency

Saturnine- "In a country inn, on the way to St. Ives, he encountered a saturnine, beetle-browed chap name of Oliver Cromwell who had recently lost his faith, and seen his life ruined..."
Definition: of a melancholy or solemn disposition, from being born under the sign of Saturn

Pedantry- ".... out of a stubborn belief that pedantry and repetitiveness could through some alchemy be forged into wit."
Definition: giving excessive attention to academic learning or formal rules

Caitiff- "Have you ever felt a certain annoyance, when one of your semi-educated Londoners speaks of 'a vile rascal' or 'a miserable caitiff' or 'crafty knave,' 'idle truant,' or 'flattering parasite'?"
Definition: a despicable person, a cowardly wretch

Homiletical- "Daniel exhausted the Terms of Abuse in a few short hours, then moved on to Virtues (intellectual, moral, and homiletical), Colors, Sounds, Tastes and Smells, Professions (viz, carpentry, sewing, alchemy) Operations, and so on."
Definition: relating to or having the nature of a homily: an inspirational saying or moralizing lecture

Phew! This book is giving me words every other pages, it feels like. Visit Bermudaonion's Weblog to see what new words other readers discovered this week.

Fluke

by James Herbert

I always enjoy stories written from an animal's point of view. Fluke starts out with the birth of a puppy, and follows him through the ups and downs of life as a stray in the city. But this isn't any ordinary dog- there's something different about him. He is more aware, intelligent, understanding of human habits- and has fleeting memories of a different life. Eventually the dog meets a few other animals who also have this higher awareness, starts to puzzle out what's going on, and sets off on a journey to find some answers. At first I thought this book was rather like an old favorite from my childhood, Scruffy by Jack Stoneley, until the dog's human memories came up. Then it made me think of Diana Wynne Jones' Dogsbody- so I was expecting something a bit supernatural- but it actually ended up having a religious theme: reincarnation. Most of the book flows at a well-measured pace, describing the dog's life, but at the end things start to happen more quickly, with a murder mystery to be solved and a little twist in the ending. A very fun and interesting light read, great for on the beach (when you have to keep half an eye on the kid near the water)!

Rating: 3/5                      191 pages, 1977

The Other End of the Leash

Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs
by Patricia McConnell

This book has been on my TBR so long (years) I can't even remember where I first heard about it. I never could find it anywhere (always missing or checked out at the library), until a few weeks ago I discovered a copy at a library sale. Ecstatic. And the read was wonderful. The Other End of the Leash is about the human-dog relationship, especially in regards to communication and training. McConnell, an applied animal behaviorist who helps people with problem dogs (mostly cases of aggression) explains how even though we can be very close to our dogs, many things inherent to the nature of canines and primates (ourselves) can cross the wires and cause continual misunderstandings. The message you are trying to send your dog may be the opposite of what he thinks it is (for example, dogs may not perceive hugs as gestures of affection, but dominating or even threatening). She shows how understanding the natural way dogs perceive and interpret our behavior, and changing it so that the message comes across clearly, can greatly facilitate harmonious living with canine pets. A fascinating book, one I'm hanging onto for reference when I ever (the child is begging) get a dog of my own.

I read this book for the Non-Fiction Five Challenge

Rating: 4/5                    246 pages, 2002

I'm back

from the beach. It was lovely. Sun, sand, surf, amusement rides, what more can you have perfect on a vacation? I even went garage-sale-ing with my mother-in-law (she loves bargains) and picked up this cute bookbag and a handful of cookbooks. Then out on the seashore I stopped at a local used bookshop (even though I'd brought four books with me!) and bought three new ones.

These are all new to me. Kind of unusual for me; I rarely buy books I haven't read and loved yet. I've always wanted to read Gorillas in the Mist, and Nymeth's review sparked my interest in it again. And Pigeons I've wanted to read since I saw it in a bookstore some while ago. I gave in this time. Fluke was exactly that- picked up on a whim, but it turned out to be fairly entertaining.

I read two books entire, half of Shakespeare Wrote for Money, started The Ra Expeditions, and never opened Quicksilver, even though lugged the heavy thing around. Quickie posts on the books finished coming up!

Trowel and Error

by Sharon Lovejoy

Unlike the other gardening books I've read, Trowel and Error is not full of instructions on how to design or cultivate a garden. Rather, it is crammed full of handy little tips on how to make gardening easier and more economical, like using common pantry items to whip up bug repellents and plant tonics or recycling household items into useful garden implements. There's even suggestions on how to decorate your garden with found items and worn-out garden tools. Some of the ideas were familiar to me- milk-jug cloches, flowers to attract beneficial insects. Others were entirely new -and exciting- like using infusions of willow to propagate plant cuttings, basil tea spray to fight cucumber beetles (which destroyed my cucumber and melon plants last year), aluminum foil to bounce light onto sun-loving tomatoes and peppers. That's only a few; the book contains "over 700 shortcuts, tips and remedies for the gardener." I'm ready now to roll up my sleeves and start concocting stuff in the kitchen to apply in the garden, hopefully with good results.

Rating: 3/5 ........ 206 pages, 2003

blog award!

My in-laws are visiting for a week and half, so posts here are going to be sporadic- vacation time (we're going to the beach!). So I'll be missing out on all the Read-A-Thon hoopla. But maybe I'll make some inroads into Quicksilver.

The day before I got yet another blog award- from Books Please! The Lovely Blog Award. This one is to be passed on to fifteen other blogs recently discovered. Here's some new bookish places I've found online lately (that being a relative term):

Book Maven's Blog
Literary Wombat
Nonfiction Lover
Book Bites
Bibliophile by the Sea
Books and Other Stuff
A Novel Menagerie
Bibliographing
A Patchwork of Books
Advance Booking
Bermudaonion's Weblog
The Curious Reader
The Inside Cover
Piling on the Books
The Narrative Casuality

There. Now maybe you've something new to read while I'm absent. Have fun with the Read a Thon, everybody!

wondrous words

Again, my new words come from two books. The first few are from Compost This Book! Then we get into Quicksilver, a heavy tome rich with descriptive unknowns. This is just the beginning of what I'm going to be looking up in the next week or so (it's a 900-page book)!

From Compost This Book!:

Geriatric- "There'd be a whole ecosystem in miniature lurking in that geriatric vegetable."
Definition: relating to the aging process

Sybaritic-"When Marty's heap is really cooking, the sybaritic creature is nearly always stretched out on top, luxuriating in the warmth."
Definition: devoted to or marked by pleasure and luxury

Chelating- "Like the sugar coating on a pill, the chelating humus makes the minerals palatable...."
Definition: to combine (a metal ion) with a chemical compound to form a ring

From Quicksilver:

Doppelganger- "Now he knows why: his doppelganger is a lad, moving about like a drop of quicksilver that cannot be trapped under the thumb."
Definition: a ghostly double of a living person that haunts its living counterpart

Erudition- "We have, as I said, found the place where your erudition gives way to ignorance."
Definition: profound scholarly knowledge

Mephitic- "They break out into the mephitic bog on its western flank."
Definition: poisonous or foul-smelling

Azimuth- "The schoolmaster adjusted his azimuth as the target moved, like a telescope tracking a comet, but none of his blows seemed to have actually been felt by the fair boy yet..." (this usage does not make sense to me, with the def.s I could find)
Definition: the arc of the sky between the zenith and the horizon or the horizontal angle of a bearing measured clockwise from the north (in surveying)

Ontogeny- ""There was a dollhouse and a clan of rag dolls in diverse phases of ontogeny."
Definition: the origin and development of an individual organism from embryo to adult

Empiricist- "Oh, he will be a great empiricist."
Definition: one who disregards scientific theory and relies solely on practical experience

Visit Wondrous Words Wednesdays at Bermudaonion's Weblog.

another award!

I was totally surprised this morning to find that Books on the Brain gave me the very cool "You Don't Say?" award featuring a panda! Here's what Sheri, who created the award, says about it:

We give and get awards for having a great blog and being a good friend. What I want to award is to those people whose comments have meant THE WORLD to me. It takes time to visit a blog and leave a comment. I wanted to take this opportunity to say “thank you” to each and every one of you who has left a comment for me on A Novel Menagerie. Also, I wanted to recognize some special bloggers whose comments have made such an impact on me. The “You Don’t Say?” Award is awarded to these special bloggers in hopes that they will pass the award along to 5-10 of their best commentors!

Thank you, Lisa, for this! I always try to leave meaningful remarks, and love it when others comment on my blog. The little bookish conversations we have are what makes blogging so much fun, and so rewarding. I'm passing this award on to:

Bybee of Naked Without Books!
Anonymous Child of Biblibio
Wendy of Caribousmom
Leslie of Books n' Border Collies
Trish of Trish's Reading Nook
and Black Sheep Books
and Bermudaonion's Weblog

Compost This Book!

The Art of Composting for your Yard, your Community, and the Planet
by Tom Christopher and Marty Asher

If you want to turn all your grass clippings, autumn leaves, hedge trimmings, vegetable scraps, paper, cardboard, dryer lint, etc into garden food- or compost- then this book is an invaluable resource! I found it a lot more interesting and amusing than expected. Marty and Tom, the authors, share their differing views and methods of composting, as well as a plethora of other composting "recipes" they've tested out. There's instructions on how to build your own compost bin (from simple to complex), and an overview of ones you can buy. There's information on exactly what compost is, how it works and what to put in it. There's even a history of composting, and all kinds of info about how different communities have used (or ought to) composting to help manage waste, improve the environment, reduce costs, etc. (including attempts that didn't work, and why). I smiled to see that my home town, Seattle, had one of the best composting programs out there! Did you know that some archeologists attribute early man's discovery of fire to compost (beds of leaves and other litter that spontaneously burst into flame!)? That George Washington methodically tested different formulas of compost? That the interior of a compost heap can get hot enough to warm a greenhouse, or cook a chicken dinner (not actually recommended). At the end of Compost This Book! the authors instruct you on how to actually break down their handy resource volume and add it to the heap. I wouldn't go so far as to destroy a book I find useful, but I did have one already in the recycling bin that I felt shamed to toss out- a book I received from Paperback Swap that had old gum sticking the pages together. So I committed a sacrilege (at least it felt that way to me, Tom and Marty would probably applaud) and shredded that book (minus the bindings and covers) into the top of my compost bucket. Wow. I just fed my vegetables a book (well, got it diced. They won't actually eat it for months).

Rating: 4/5                        248 pages, 1994

Bless Me, Ultima

by Rudolfo Anaya

When in college, for a short time I was an English tutor for two Korean high school students. They had to read this book for a class, a classic I'd never heard of before, and I became curious to read it myself.

The story is about a young boy, Antonio, growing up in New Mexico. When he's six years old an elderly woman comes to live with his family, a faith healer who uses herbs and mysticism to cure people of physical and spiritual ills. Her name is Ultima. Ultima becomes Antonio's mentor, guiding him through rough times and teaching him her personal belief system. Antonio has a lot of questions about faith, God, the meaning of life, etc.- but the things Ultima teaches him conflict with with the Catholic teachings his parents follow. Tony struggles to understand the differences and make a choice which he will put his own trust in. He also has to face constant friction between his family members, violence among his peers, and threats from people in the community who believe Ultima is a witch and wish her harm.

Bless Me, Ultima is a strong story of one boy's coming of age and search for answers. But the many interrelated characters and events become confusing and the book is full of metaphors and symbolism which felt unfamiliar to me (not their presence, just the ones that were used). Some readers are put off by the inclusion of many Spanish words and phrases, and the constant cultural references- both of Latino heritage and Catholic traditions- had few explanations and only made me feel removed from it all. I was unable to connect with the main character, or feel engaged in his search for stability and wisdom. I was surprised to find this book has been banned from some schools, apparently because of some violence and s-x - which I don't remember at all, so it must not have been that shocking- and how it deals with religion.

Rating: 2/5                       262 pages, 1972

More opinions at:
A Striped Armchair
Colony Library Lady

blog awards

Suey from It's All About Books gave me this award which I have been watching circle the blogs- with some trepidation. I don't know, those zombie chickens look kinda scary. But I am pleased to receive it- thank you, Suey! and happy to pass the following

The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all...

on to these five other bloggers:

Nymeth of Things Mean A Lot
Chris of Stuff As Dreams Are Made On
Trish of Hey, Lady Whatcha' Reading?
Raych of books i done read
and Caribousmom

~~~ I forgot to mention that Trish also recently gave me the Sisterhood Award. Thank you, Trish! I'm passing this one on to:

Juli of Can I Borrow Your Book?
Shelley of Chain Reading
Jenny from Jenny's Books
Maggie from Maggie Reads
Eva of A Striped Armchair

Ortho's All About Vegetables

by Barbara Pleasant and Katie Lamar Smith

Well, I know from past responses that nobody's much interested in my gardening books, so I'll keep this brief, for myself. Ortho's All About Vegetables is a great resource. It's short, sweet and to the point. Instructions on how to design a vegetable garden for the best production, how to grow seedlings, overall plant care and specifics on each of some forty different vegetables. Last year I just stuck the seeds in the ground and watered. This year, I now have (thanks to this book- a gift from my husband) a plan to give each type of veggie the individual treatment it needs to grow healthiest. Gorgeous photos and a nice layout that makes for quick, easy reference round out this book. It's inspired me to want to grow more plants than my family would eat! And now I want to get a copy of the Ortho herb book since I'm growing those, too.

Rating: 4/5                     96 pages, 1999

Meme: Numbers Game

from Booking Through Thursday:

Some people read one book at a time. Some people have a number of them on the go at any given time, perhaps a reading in bed book, a breakfast table book, a bathroom book, and so on, which leads me to…

1. Are you currently reading more than one book?
2. If so, how many books are you currently reading?
3. Is this normal for you?
4. Where do you keep your current reads?

Right now I'm reading two books (see the sidebar). Usually it's just one at a time, occasionally two or more. (They have to be on different subjects. Currently, it's a large historical fiction novel, and a book on gardening). My current reads rest on the bedside table, or hang around the couch during the day. (They often go along in the car, too!)

Sand

by Will James

I was surprised at being disappointed in this book. It wasn't nearly as good as Smoky. As Smoky tells the education of a wild horse into a cow pony, Sand tells about a spoiled rich city kid who learns to be a cowboy. Gilbert Tilden is on his way across the country to visit his father, when he accidentally gets off the train in the middle of the Great Plains, and being drunk, fails to get back on. He wanders about the wide expanse of prarie, gets scared by some cattle, and stumbles into a cowboy camp. At first the cowboys are just watching out for him until they have the chance to dump him back at the train depot, but pretty soon Tilden is interested in the doings of the camp, and wants to make something of himself. He fixes on the idea of learning how to be a "useful hand", to prove something to his father. Then he falls in love with a local rancher's daughter, and sets himself the nearly impossible goal of catching a wild stallion in order to win her favor. Many other men have tried to catch the stallion before, so he not only has to learn the ways of wild horses, and make careful plans, but also avoid the competition.

This had all the makings of a great story, but there were some things that seriously hindered my enjoyment of it. First of all, the main thread of the narrative is relating Tilden's thoughts, musings, and plans- over and over. It would have been more interesting to read more details of his training and the work he had to do to catch the wild horse, which were often skipped over. Sometimes it was hard to puzzle out what was being talked about, as I'm not really familiar with cowboy lingo (some of the words here). And the whole book is written in slang. Rather like Huckleberry Finn, which I was able to get used to. Here, I couldn't. It was particularly annoying that the words Tilden or the girl spoke were in near-perfect English, and the rest of the text in cowboy slang, misspellings and all. It would have been far easier to read if the narrative was proper, and slang only used when the cowboys talked. I thought this book would be a lot like Captains Courageous, which has a similiar theme- spoiled rich kid forced to work and build character- but here, I did not get much sense of Tilden's character growth, even though it was discussed all the time. By the end of the book it was all feeling rather dull. Even the end of the story where Tilden finally gets close to the wild horse wasn't nearly as interesting as I'd hoped.

I read this book for the 9 for '09 Challenge.

Rating: 2/5                       364 pages, 1929

Anyone written a blog post about this book? Let me know and I'll add your link.

wondrous words

Some of the words I have for this week are from the end of Emma, the rest are from the book I just finished, Sand. Quite a difference in subject and theme- from Victorian drawing rooms to the American West and cowboy lingo!

From Emma:

Conundrum-"Agreed, agreed. I am making a conundrum. How will a conundrum reckon?"
Definition: a riddle whose answer is (or involves) a pun

Acrostic- "I had an acrostic once sent to me upon my own name which I was not at all pleased with."
Definition: a poem or verse where the first (or last) letter of each line forms a word or phrase

Ostler- "... when Mr. Elton came back, he told us what John the ostler had been telling him..."
Definition: a stableman at an inn (I remember this word now, from Black Beauty)

Extenuation- "Let us wait, therefore, for this letter. It may bring many extenuations."
Definition: to excuse a fault (archaic meaning, the more common definition is to make something thin or stretched)

From Sand:

Nubbin- "Sometimes tho, he thought, he sure would rap them hands of his and make him let go of the nubbin."
Definition: a short, projecting part (here the saddle horn)

Rowel- "...and with a well placed rowel against the shortribs of that horse, lined him out from the one spot and set him going for other sods on a long crowhopping lope."
Definition: a sharp-toothed wheel on a spur

Senatorium- "And another thing, this camp is no riding academy, nor senatorium."
Definition: a resort for the improvement of one's health

Whang, Marlin spike- "There was rawhide hobbles, a marlin spike, a few strips of whang leather which, Skip had told him, was handy to mend things with."
M-S- a pointed metal spike used to separate rope strands while splicing
W- a thong or whip made of hide or leather

Hackamore- "Then, amongst other odds and ends, was a hackamore, a rope full of the knots which the Kid had started teaching him to tie...."
Definition- a halter or bridle with no bit, having a noose to tighten around the nose or a wide band that can be lowered over the horse's eyes, used in breaking to halter

Soogan- " 'Well, I guess it's time for me to hit the soogans,' he says"
Definition: a bedroll

Latigo- "Ropes are muddy and stiff, so are the latigoes and everything else a cowboy touches."
Definition: a strap that tigthens the saddle girth

Queer- "There been just a snag which come near to queering everything."
Definition: slang for to ruin or thwart

Visit Bermudaonion's Weblog to see what new words others have found this week.

No Man Knows My History

by Fawn M. Brodie

This is a very in-depth biography of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints (also known as Mormon). It's an incredibly long book. I remember struggling to read it, not only because of the length, and the (often tedious to me) numerous historical facts, but because it brought a lot of questions to my mind. This book is crammed with stuff they certainly don't teach you in sunday school. As far as I can judge, it is very well researched, and the narrative style makes the information fairly easy to absorb, taken at a slow, methodical pace. The main quip I had with this book was that beyond presenting all the facts she could dig up about Joseph Smith's life, Brodie also tried to reconstruct what he might have been thinking or feeling, what motivations he had, delving into his very psyche. That felt rather presumptuous to me. How could she know what he'd been thinking? It becomes pretty clear through reading No Man Knows My History that Brodie doesn't believe Smith was a prophet, but at the same time the pages resonate with her admiration and even respect for this man. Even if you doubt his claims, there is no questioning that he was a charismatic leader, full of passion and energy, able to inspire others and with a singularly curious outlook on life. That's all I'm going to say about this book, as there's a plethora of other reviews out there, many of them long, detailed, and heated in opinion. Go ahead and see what a few others thought (links below).

Rating: 3/5                      576 pages, 1945

More opinions at the Wiki article

winner!

.
The winner of my bookmarks giveaway is Nymeth! Hey, Nymeth, some tigers are coming your way!!

My Old Man and the Sea

a father and son sail around Cape Horn
by David and Daniel Hays

A man and his son went on a 17,000-mile sailing adventure around Cape Horn, in a 25-foot boat they built themselves. The dangerous route they chose had never before been completed by a boat under 3o feet. Instead of sticking to the safety of modern gadgets and technology, they used old-fashioned sailing methods. And they took along a cat (who seemed to always be either sick, or causing trouble). They visited many interesting and remote ports and faced ugly weather (including hurricanes), getting lost due to navigation errors, and the strain of keeping their relationship intact in the confines of the small boat for days on end at sea (lots of fights). The book is written in alternating voices, pulled from the Hays' journal entries. They're not always complimentary of each other, and I had to wonder sometimes what they thought, each seeing the others' opinion (often uncomplimentary) of himself in print. They made a lot of mistakes, and freely admitted their errors- some I didn't realize the gravity of, not having ever gone sailing myself- others hit me with the danger and I held my breath to see how they'd scrape out of it alive. My Old Man and the Sea is a blast of a read- full of adventure, humor and wry observations on the father-son relationship. I felt sorry for the poor cat. He was no sailor!

Rating: 3/5                         223 pages, 1995

The Secret Life of the Unborn Child

by Thomas Verny

Here's another book I read way back when, about pregnancy. The Secret Life of the Unborn Child was written back when people were just beginning to question the routine use of technology in childbirth, and delves into ideas about how things experienced by the baby before or during birth, can affect it (positively or adversely) for life. It was really interesting to read about how the baby develops and all the things infants can sense while in the womb (light, sounds, etc). I think it's amazing that unborn babies can learn to recognize their parents' voices, or even certain melodies. I'm not sure if that means they can actually form memories while in the womb, like Verny claims. And other of his theories about how children can be emotionally scarred by medical interventions seemed rather far-fetched. I found the book to be both very intriguing, and worth of skepticism. I'm pretty sure many of the ideas in it have been further studied nowdays, so if you open its pages, read with a heavy dose of salt (and wonder).

Rating: 3/5                       256 pages, 1982

Emma

by Jane Austen

What to say about Emma. If I had not been reading this book for a challenge, I would have given up before page 20. And it did not get really interesting for me until about page 300! Even then, I could have put it down at any time. So I have some thanks to give to the 9 for '09 Challenge for stretching my brain with this one. As I did not really like it, I don't want to say much about it, and leave it to other bloggers (links below) to give better criticism, analysis and praise. To be short: Emma is about a young woman in 19th century England, whose greatest concern is who her friends will marry. She doesn't ever want to marry herself, but gets all involved in matching up her friends- and nothing goes as she thinks it will. In the end, everyone ends up being in love with someone other than who we thought- including Emma herself. Oh, and her pet project was to take a lower-class girl, Harriet, and try to educate and culture her, then make her a match with a gentleman. I'm glad it ended up well for Harriet, I was feeling sorry for her near the end.

On the whole, I found Emma incredibly dull. I've read other books (in my school days) set in this time period, even with similar themes, which have far more interesting descriptions and events. Emma is full of musings and plans, veiled conversations and quiet get-togethers. It's all talk and letters and nothing much seems to happen. (Except for one scene where two ladies walking alone were terrified out of their wits by a band of begging gypsies). The occasional quaint spelling and view of a by-gone way of life was interesting, but that was about it. I admit my mind wandered a lot, as I struggled at almost every sitting to keep from falling asleep over the book- so I probably missed a lot of subtle humor and clever plot things. But I'm not itching to try it again. After Madame Bovary and this one, I'm starting to think that classics just aren't my cup of tea anymore.

This book reminded me of The Importance of Being Earnest, although I read that so long ago (high school) I can hardly recall what it's about. And- this may sound silly- at the end I couldn't help thinking of the Harry Potter books- because at the close of every one of those you find that some of the characters had quite different intentions than you thought all along- or at least, than the main character thought.

Rating: 2/5                              367 pages, 1816

More opinions at:
Trish's Reading Nook
Becky's Book Reviews
Pages of the Mind
Faith786
inr_ainbows
Mari Reads
Things Mean a Lot

wondrous words

This week all my new words came from Emma. Even if I'm not enjoying the book, it's expanding my vocabulary! A lot of them are so archaic, though, I fear I'll never use them. O well, at least they'll be recognizable next time I meet them in print.

Valetudinarian- "The evil of the actual disparity in their ages was much increased by his constitution and habits; for having been a valetudinarian all his life, without activity of mind or body, he was a much older man in ways than in years..."
Definition: a sickly or weak person, constantly concerned with their own health

Mizzle- "Ever since the day that Miss Taylor and I met with him in Broadway-lane, when, because it began to mizzle, he darted away with so much gallantry, and borrowed two umbrellas for us..."
Definition: rain in a fine mist, drizzle

Cockade- "Here is my sketch of the fourth, who was a baby... and it is as strong a likeness of his cockade as you would wish to see."
Definition: a feather or rosette on a hat

Cavil- "Her eyes, a deep grey, with dark eye-lashes and eye-brows, had never been denied their praise, but the skin, which she had been used to cavil at, as wanting colour, had a clearness and delicacy which really needed no fuller bloom."
Definition: to find fault with, or make a trivial objection

Recontre- "...the history which he had to give Mrs. Cole of the rise and progress of the affair was so glorious- the steps so quick from the accidental recontre, to the dinner at Mrs. Green's, and the party at Mrs. Brown's..."
Definition: an unplanned meeting

Tippet- "Jane, Jane, my dear Jane, where are you? Here is your tippet. Mrs. Weston begs you to put on your tippet. She says she is afraid there will be draughts in the passage."
Definition: a woman's fur shoulder cape with hanging ends

There were also a lot of words I knew, but whose spelling gave them unfamiliar faces: chuse for choose, foretel for foretell, beaufet for buffet, stopt for stopped, sopha for sofa, surprize for surprise, huswife for housewife, etc. I'm not sure which of these words have different spellings because they're British, or just because spelling wasn't standardized back in the 1800's? But they made for interesting reading!

For more wondrous words, visit the host of this meme at Bermudaonion's Weblog.