Man! I had a similar idea for a book YEARS ago! Not quite the same thing, but I wanted to write about a class of students who get the assignment from their teacher to invent slang terms and get them injected into various groups' common vernacular. Each chapter was going to be the adventure of one of the words. Sucks to be a procrastinator.
Just finished this: Beat the Reaper by Jeff Bazell. Lots of fun. Some really gross and frightening medical stuff. Currently continuing to read this: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (though I wonder why there's only one hornet for this title... and why I keep typing horney). (on the kindle, just like in the picture). Also listening to this in the car: Mockingjay
Colleen McCullough is a researching and filling in the personalities genius. Lucius Cornelius Sulla having it out with Gaius Marius. I cant recommend this series enough. It sputters a bit in the last book (Antony and Cleopatra) because McCullough is in poor health and she didnt intend on carrying the story past the death of the last of Caesars assassins. Apparently she was hounded into going all the way to the coronation of Augustus.
You're reading it through a second time? Wow. I loved the first one and am also in the middle of Grass Crown right now. But I got sidetracked by other stuff a few months ago and need to get back to it. It's fantastic, though.
I'm a woman and stay as far away as possible from book hypes. Maybe I'm an exception to the rule though.
Yeah, that's exactly what he's doing, only he's trying to get into the OED. I'm a little over half way through and he's having some bad luck, but "pratdigger" (basically, someone who attracts prats) has some hope. Most promising is "honk" as a snyonym for money, as in, "Wordwatching is worth the honk I paid for it." I read ahead and I think Steven Gerard used the term in an interview.
I know, I know, what are the odds of me reading a racetrack book? Actually, this one was the recent surprise winner of the National Book Award, and just a tough, scrappy read about the hard luck types who inhabit a fictional West Virginia track decidedly at the bottom of racing's barrel. There are no royal pedigrees and no celebrity chef owners here, but the dialogue rings as true as can be. Centers on a horse trainer who tries to sneak into a low level track with a string of horses who are ready to fire, with an eye towards stealing a few races and their purses before anyone can realize what's going on and claim their horses, who running for significantly less than their market value. Gritty, dark, but feels as real in its 1970 setting as it would even if it were today. *** Also recommended for great racing reading: Jane Smiley's Horse Heaven.
Before posting my between-books reading, a quick word of thanks not just for posting what you're reading, but brief commentary as well. When Mrs. Ismitje asked what books I want for Christmas, I looked here. A jillion book reviews on the web, and I turn to BigSoccer! So, reading a couple of stories from this between each novel or monograph: Lots of interesting stuff in this collection of Card's stories. Almost as interesting is his refelction on what prompted/shaped the writing of each story, and his own feelings about particular stories.
The Musketeers have gone their separate ways since chopping up Milady de Winter (now THERE is a villain.) It seems they are getting the band back together to save Charles I of England. Think they can pull it off?
Taking a break on language books to get through one I bought at a Friends of the Library sale. Fridays With Red by Bob Edwards, a memoir based largely on his weekly interviews with former baseball announcer Red Barber. Much better than I expected, and worth more than the quarter I dropped on it. On deck, because I'm a fan of Montaigne, a new book by British writer Sarah Bakewell: Better be good, since I spent 100 times the honk on it than I did on Bob Edwards' book.
When her first book came out, I saw it at a used book store for a dollar within 2 months. I almost bought it so I could throw it in my fireplace but I didnt want to pollute the air with her words.