1. If for some reason I have to have a book quickly and can't get to a bookstore that day, I'll order it from Amazon. I don't remember the last time this happened.
My online book buying sources are Better World Books and Bookshop, both dedicated to good causes. I also like to order online from Auntie's Bookstore and pick the books up in their store. Last month, I went to the store itself and purchased the thick Russian novels that will be the "big books" part of my summer (and maybe into the fall) reading project.
Today the two books I recently ordered from bookshop.org arrived.
I ordered American Heritage's hard cover desk dictionary because I have grown weary of looking up words on my phone while reading. I like having the feel of the dictionary in my hands, but, ha ha!, so far the words I've needed to look up while reading War and Peace didn't make the desk dictionary cut, so I had to go online anyway!
Oh, well...
The other book that arrived is also a dictionary, one that Bridgit posted about on Facebook several times in the past.
It's The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a collection of words invented by its author, John Koenig. Koenig, having noted that we have all kinds of experiences in life that we do not have words for, creates words for these experiences.
He presents each word, an explanation of what his invented word means, an etymology of what Greek, Latin, or other words he drew upon to create these words, and how to pronounce it.
Here's an example that caught my attention because I just finished reading the book Our Moon which is about the infinite spatial reach of the universe.
The word: galagog
John Koenig's definition: n. the state of being simultaneously entranced and unsettled by the vastness of the cosmos, which makes your deepest concerns feel laughably quaint, yet vanishingly rare.
Etymology: From galaxy a gravitationally bound system of millions of stars + agog, awestruck.
Pronounced "gal-uh-gawg."
2. The second part of Volume 1 of War and Peace moves to the conduct of war, first in Austria. I got about fifteen chapters into this part of Volume 1 and I've decided that since I'm not under any time pressure to finish this book and since I don't have a paper due on it next week (ha ha), that I'm going to reread what I read today. Names of characters and names of places are unfamiliar to me and I think rereading these chapters, with the help of some summaries posted onliine, will help clarify things and get details more securely planted in my mind (which is not as sharp as it was when I was younger).
3. Spicy and sweet soup! That's what I like these days! Tonight I improvised and created a hamburger soup of white onion, zucchini, celery, mushrooms, and to make it sweet, included a generous amount of corn kernels and carrots. I gave the soup a quiet bite of spiciness with a moderate amount of red pepper flakes. I salted it, peppered it, and added a small amount of Braggs Liquid Aminos.
I'm a lucky guy.
I still have leftover bean and rice salad in the fridge along with at least another bowl of this pleasing hamburger soup.
Eating mostly salads and soups at home is working for me in a big way!
