20 Obsolete English words that should make a comeback

Seeing as how we're all lovers of words around here, I thought some of you might enjoy this article from Matador Network:

20 Obsolete English Words That Should Make A Comeback

Photo © Liz West

http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/20-obsolete-english-words-that-should-make-a-comeback/#IPZ1A88MhSJcbQDp.99

Waiting On Wednesday (plus book recommendations from George R. R. Martin)

It's time for Waiting on Wednesday!

To participate in Waiting on Wednesday yourself, 

please click the image above to be taken to the post with the Linky.

This Wednesday I am psyched to be waiting for:

Gulp.

by Mary Roach

Release Date: April 1, 2013

Amazon synopsis:

The irresistible, ever-curious, and always best-selling Mary Roach returns with a new adventure to the invisible realm we carry around inside.
“America’s funniest science writer” (Washington Post) takes us down the hatch on an unforgettable tour. The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in Gulp are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in Packing for Mars. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn’t the stomach digest itself? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis? In Gulp we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinks of—or has the courage to ask. We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terrorists—who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts. Like all of Roach’s books, Gulp is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies.

I've already read Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

and am currently reading Spook...

and I have to say, so far, I'm in love with Roach's books.

They explore serious, often disturbing subject matter in a respectful,

yet humorous way.

And since this is the "Waiting On" entry to my blog,
I thought I'd throw in this link to George R. R. Martin's livejournal,
in which he gives an extensive list of books to read
while you wait for his next book, lol!

George R. R. Martin says CHECK THESE BOOKS OUT!

Mistle Child by Ari Berk

 The Mistle Child

By Ari Berk

 This is my highest rating for a book. It marks a book I found beautiful in prose, a book I just can't stop thinking about, a book I would absolutely read again.

 Amazon Synopsis:

In life, in death: family remains.

    Silas Umber has finally come into his own as the Undertaker of Lichport when a mysterious invitation calls him beyond the marshes to Arvale, the ancestral manor of the Umbers. There, his extended family endures, waiting for a living Undertaker to return and preside over the Door Doom, an archaic rite that grants a terrible power to summon and bind the dead in judgment.

    As Silas assumes the mantle of Janus, the Watcher at the Threshold, deep below the earth in the catacombs and sunken towers, grim spirits grow restless at his arrival--hungry for freedom and eager for vengeance against a family with a long history of harsh judgments. Now, Silas must right an ancient wrong and accept that even a house of ghosts can be haunted by its past--for in matters of family, we are who we were.

    Delving deeper into the haunting world of ghosts, ancestors, and eldritch lore, Ari Berk returns to the series that Publisher's Weekly calls "thought-provoking gothic fantasy," with a style the School Library Journal praises as "reminiscent of the classic gothic works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Shirley Jackson."

Characters:
Silas ~ Main character. In the last book he was looking for his lost father. This time around, Silas is trying to remember something he's forgotten (with the help of some friends, unbeknownst to him). He is also on a mission to answer the call of Arvale, the ancestral Umber family home that exists both in our world, and in others.
Lars Umber ~ Silas's guide through Arvale, only other living person in Arvale that Silas has come across. Lars is keeping secrets of his own though, and repeatedly states that he cannot return to Lichport.
Beatrice ~ Ghost in millpond, Silas's love interest
Jonas Umber ~ Ancestor of Silas, helps him become Janus
Maud Umber ~ Ancestor of Silas, helps him become Janus, the one who called him to Arvale in the first place, she is one of the older spirits of the house.
Ottoline ~ Silas's mysterious cousin, living at the "Summer House" within the grounds gates of Arvale with the other cousins. It's a good thing Silas never got around to dining with them.
Mother Peale ~ An elderly woman, and one of the Narrows Folk (the Narrows being the part of town filled with people of the sea) Mother Peale is an old friend of Silace’s father and wise in the ways of those who have remained to wander the streets of this haunted town.
Mrs. Bowe ~ A close friend of Amos Umber, Mrs. Bowe is a source of knowledge and support for Silas as he tries to walk in his father’s footsteps. She lives in a house connected to Silas's, and in this book, she and Silas have had a falling out, although she is still trying to protect him.
Dolores Umber ~ Silas's mother, and much more likeable in this book than the last. For being in the book so very little, she plays a pivotal role twice.
Cabel Umber ~ An Umber ancestor living in Arvale, Silas makes a pact with him before knowing all the details.

Story:

Where last time around (in Death Watch) we were introduced to Lichport and its odd inhabitants, this time around we are introduced to more of the Umber family through the estate of Arvale.
In the beginning of the book, Silas is summoned to Arvale by a messenger sent by one of his ancestors, Maud. Her exact motives aren't clear, although she wails about a child.
Where Death Watch dealt heavily in paternal matters, Mistle Child deals constantly with maternal ones. Everywhere you turn there are mothers surrounding Silas. Male voices are drowned out by the needs of the mothers in this story... and sometimes even the voices of reason are drowned out as well.

Since Silas spends a good portion of the book in a sort of "World Between", the Death Watch itself is rarely utilized. Instead we find ourselves introduced to strange, mysterious objects of power to which we are given passing hints about what they might be. We are introduced to the strange inhabitants of Arvale. In particular I love the cousins who reside at the Summer House. They are almost exactly as I imagined them, if not a bit less malicious than I would have expected. It does make me even more curious about the Umber lineage, though.

Silas spends a lot of time in action, getting done what he came there to do, without really knowing what he was doing at all. While I kind of felt like he was taking some big chances, at the same time, it's good to remember that Silas is a teen, and therefore prone to making rash decisions, especially when people try to keep him from them.

The only complaint I have is that this book was too short. Length is not a detriment to the YA novel when you have the world building capabilities, and luxurious vocabulary of Ari Berk.

I find that I should also note that the one part of the book that has lodged itself in my brain is one tiny, odd little chapter about a stone lion. It was an aside that pointed out how quickly our mark on the world can be destroyed... and how callously. How, even when things are set in stone, they are still subject to change. The chapter niggles at my mind, I find my thoughts drifting back to it. I want to know if there is a true history there, what it references, where this little lion came from, to see his way onto the pages of the book.

Conclusion:
Another beautiful, haunting novel from Ari Berk... and while I would have loved it to be longer, well, that's just me being greedy. I'll take what I can get, and revel in the fact that there is more yet to come.

Click the image below to purchase this book from Amazon

(I am in no way affiliated with Amazon... I just really think people should buy this book)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I'm joining this weeks

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 

meme over at Book Journey

Click the image below to join in the fun:

 Recently finished and reviewed:

Mistle Child by Ari Berk

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

So, here's what I'm reading this week:

Spook

by Mary Roach

Synopsis:

The best-selling author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers now trains her considerable wit and curiosity on the human soul. What happens when we die? Does the light just go out and that's that—the million-year nap? Or will some part of my personality, my me-ness persist? What will that feel like? What will I do all day? Is there a place to plug in my lap-top?" In an attempt to find out, Mary Roach brings her tireless curiosity to bear on an array of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after we die. She begins the journey in rural India with a reincarnation researcher and ends up in a University of Virginia operating room where cardiologists have installed equipment near the ceiling to study out-of-body near-death experiences. Along the way, she enrolls in an English medium school, gets electromagnetically haunted at a university in Ontario, and visits a Duke University professor with a plan to weigh the consciousness of a leech. Her historical wanderings unearth soul-seeking philosophers who rummaged through cadavers and calves' heads, a North Carolina lawsuit that established legal precedence for ghosts, and the last surviving sample of "ectoplasm" in a Cambridge University archive.

 Wildwood

by Colin Meloy

Synopsis:

Prue McKeel's life is ordinary. That is, until her brother is abducted by a murder of crows and taken to the Impassable Wilderness, a dense, tangled forest on the edge of Portland. No one's ever gone in—or at least returned to tell of it.
So begins an adventure that will take Prue and her friend Curtis deep into the Impassable Wilderness. There they uncover a secret world in the midst of violent upheaval—a world full of warring creatures, peaceable mystics, and powerful figures with the darkest intentions. And what begins as a rescue mission becomes something much greater as the two friends find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness. A wilderness the locals call Wildwood.

Feature and Follow Friday #139

 This weeks question:

Q: What is a book you didn't like that all your friends raved about or what book did you love that wasn't popular?

 What book didn't I like that everyone was raving about?

Easy, Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

There was so much love for that book, it was even on NPR's list of 100 books for Young Adults last year... so I read it, and from the reviews, I expected great things, and what I ended up with was a boat load of disappointment.

I'm not saying there weren't aspects of that book I enjoyed. I think Ms. Blake did a truly excellent job writing up the horror scenes. They were vividly described and managed to etch their haunting imagery in my mind for hours, days and weeks after I'd read the book.

Unfortunately, that's where my enjoyment ended. There were situations that were just *too* convenient for me to be able to enjoy this story (feel free to check out the link to my review above), and the main character was really kind of an a-hole... but not the endearing kind.

 What book did I love that wasn't that popular?

 The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

This one is simple. It's a series by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell called The Edge Chronicles. This is probably one of the most twisted, wicked Middle Grade series I've ever read. The illustrations are gruesome and beautiful, the writing is engaging and vivid, and the world created is full of history and depth. I've read 1-9 of this series, which follow three different characters. I plan on going back and rereading all 9 of the first books before I attempt the last one, which is supposed to wrap up the stories of all three main characters.
Now, admittedly, I have no idea how the initial book in this series was received, I wasn't really following book blogs back then, but I was when the last book came out, and I can honestly say I didn't see anyone mention it anywhere (I didn't even know the book HAD come out, I found it by happy accident in the book store). Now, maybe I was just following the wrong blogs, but in my opinion, this series is shamefully under-sung, and deserves much more hype than I've ever seen it get.

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

This book is a sequel to The Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor.

If you have not read The Daughter of Smoke & Bone, do not read this review.

 Days of Blood and Starlight

by Laini Taylor

Rating: 5 Squeeds

I loved this book, and I will keep it on my shelves to one day read it again.

Synopsis (via Amazon):

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.

This is not that world.

Art student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is--and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.

In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.

While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.

But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?

What I thought:

The following is a quote by Robin Hobb taken from Laini Taylor's blog:

(Robin Hobb): Fantasy allows us to drop all our baggage and look at the big questions in the world with no preconceived loyalties. If I invent a world with two battling religions and neither one is yours or your friend’s, you can look at the conflict and think about it in an unbiased way. If we look at slavery in a way that has nothing to do with race or racial guilt or U.S. history, I think we can perceive more about what it does to both a slave and the ‘owner’ of the slave and the world it creates. Sweep the stage clear and set out the conflict anew, and you may end up surprised with who you are rooting for. Sort of like taking two football teams, and stealing all their jerseys and team equipment, and sending them out to play against each other as unidentified teams. Imagine a big bowl game in which you didn’t know who was playing or who you would normally root for. That’s what fantasy does to life.

Days of Blood and Starlight deals with exactly that, "The Big Questions". 

Through this richly built world, we are allowed to see that not everything in war is black and white. While we have great sympathies for Karou and her people, at the same time, her methods, and the methods of her "superiors" are reprehensible.  Even as Karou carries out Thiago's wishes, she can feel it, the weight of what she's doing, and how wrong it is... but she is driven by a need for atonement and revenge that outweighs her feelings of disgust at her own actions.

We watch characters struggle with what they are told is "right" and what they feel in their hearts to be right. We watch as they defy their leaders to embark on suicidal missions, rather than allow the helpless to be slaughtered. There is no true angel and no true beast in this novel, because each side has a little heaven and a little hell mixed into it, regardless of how we might let their looks define them.

For me, the end of this book is the most shocking and terrifying of all, because now that we have watched this world unfold, and seen what has been wrought by both sides of this war... the action is taken to our world, where I do not doubt that our own prejudice will cause even greater problems.
I am incredibly curious to see how far Laini Taylor will go in exploring this new aspect of her story. Will this be a Pullman revisited? Will we see a "god" die? Will we be South Americans looking at Spanish Conquistadors? Impressed and awed for but a moment as we struggle through our initial confusion... trying to align belief with reality?

One thing is for sure, it will not be a smooth ride.

Adorable Disney Animated Short