Book Excerpt for the Day

    He seized it with both hands, with extraordinary violence, and tried to tear it off his own body, and, failing, punched it in an access of rage.

    “Easy!” I said.  “Be calm!  Take it easy!  I wouldn’t punch that leg like that.”

    “And why not?” he asked, irritably, belligerently.

    “Because it’s your leg,” I answered.  “Don’t you know your own leg?”

    He gazed at me with a look compounded of stupefaction, incredulity, terror and amusement, not unmixed with a jocular sort of suspicion.  “Ah Doc!”, he said.  “You’re fooling me!  You’re in cahoots with that nurse – you shouldn’t kid patients like this!”

    (from The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks)

 

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Social Distancing Works!

Tuesday Grammar Check

    I agree with the correction.

Mask Motivation

    Great idea!

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “You’re aware, I take it, that we have prior permission to name the planet.  I want to hear suggestions.” (…)

    “We can name it anything?” she asked.

    “Just about,” Thompson responded, then, reflecting on the little trap that she had set for him, looked at me and added, “Uh oh.”

    “So, we could name the planet ‘Larry’ if we wanted?” Diana asked.

    “As far as I am aware, there are no other planets named Larry,” Thompson replied, willing to play along.

    (from Orb by Gary Tarulli)

 

    7*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Bookshelf Envy Saturday.

Friday Linguistics Lesson

Wednesday Writing Tip

Bilingual Tuesday

Science Monday

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Maybe you can’t read so good.  You see that tape there, says crime scene and such?”

    “The bright yellow and black stuff?” I asked.

    “That’s it exactly.”

    “Yep.”

    “Well, that’s what we police use when we have a crime scene and we don’t want nosy private investigators stomping all over it in their big boots and contaminating everything,” he drawled.

    “What if I promise to walk on tippy toe?”

    “Then I promise I will stop bouncing you off walls just as soon as I think you’re not resisting arrest,” he said in a cheerful tone.

    (from Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher)

 

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Science Friday

Finicky

    Our Lulu qualifies as "persnickety".

Geography Wednesday

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The professor wore a white dinner-jacket, his hair was white, he had white morning stubble on his chin, and he carried a revolver in his hand which he pointed at Wormold.  Wormold saw that the woman behind him was very young and very pretty.  She stooped and turned off the gramophone.

    “Forgive me for calling on you at this hour,” Wormold said.  He had no idea how he should begin, and he was disquieted by the revolver.  Professors ought not to carry revolvers.

    (from Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene)

 

    6*/10.  The complete review is here.

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It fits like a glove

    Penti-Lingual Monday.

Psychic Sunday

Art Appreciation Saturday

Book Excerpt for the Day

    There are places where men and women are winged and red-skinned, and places where there is no such thing as man and woman but only persons somewhere in between.  There are worlds where the continents are carried on the backs of vast turtles swimming through freshwater oceans, where snakes speak riddles, where the lines between the dead and living are blurred to insignificance.  I have seen villages where fire itself had been tamed, and followed at men’s heels like an obedient hound, and cities with glass spires so high they gathered clouds around their spiral points.

    (from The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow)

 

    9½*/10.  The full review is here.

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Spanish 101 Wednesday

Schools

Support your local school system!

Safety Tip

Ending World Hunger

Genetics

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Mr. Swirlee ruled an empire of ice cream trucks, a fleet of pink and blue trucks every parent in the seven-county metro area had come to despise.  The trucks crawled through neighborhood streets, playing a chimed version of “Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?” until you wanted to scream.

    Children ran back into their homes, begging for two or three dollars for one of Mr. Swirlee’s overpriced ice cream treats.  Frankly, there was a part of me that was more than a little amazed some crazed father hadn’t tried to kill Mr. Swirlee long before now.

    (from Mr. Swirlee by Mike Faricy)

 

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Art Appreciation Thursday

Music Nod Wednesday

Calvin & Hobbes Tuesday

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The blue door opened and an attractive blond woman leaned into the hall.  “Willie Everpay?”

    “That’s me!” said Rex.

    “Great!” said the young woman.  “I’m Tammy.  Come with me and I’ll show you to your desk.  How do you like your coffee, Willie?”

    “Same as I like my women, Tammy.  Hot, sitting on my desk, and wrapped in polystyrene.”

    (from Out of the Soylent Planet by Robert Kroese)

 

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Music History

    It's true!  It all started with the Yardbirds!

Grammar Friday

RIP John Prine

Super Bowl Result

   Makes sense to me.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Kurt and Courtney met again at a Butthole Surfers/Redd Kross/L7 show at the Palladium in Los Angeles in May of 1991, shortly before the band began recording Nevermind.  They were instantly attracted to each other.  Courtney chose to express her attraction by punching Kurt in the stomach.  He punched her back, then he leaped on her and they began wrestling.  After a little while, Courtney got up, kicked Kurt, and walked away.  “It was a mating ritual for dysfunctional people,” Courtney cracks.

    (from Come As you Are – The Story of Nirvana by Michael Azerrad)

 

    8½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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School Suspension

    True dis.

Mandarin Friday

Learning English

    I love learning foreign languages.  I'm getting almost fluent at English.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Did you kiss?” asked Hermione briskly.

    Ron sat up so fast that he sent his ink bottle flying all over the rug.  Disregarding this completely he stared avidly at Harry.

    “Well?” he demanded.

    Harry looked from Ron’s expression of mingled curiosity and hilarity to Hermione’s slight frown, and nodded.

    “HA!”

    Ron made a triumphant gesture with his fist and went into a raucous peal of laughter that made several timid-looking second years over beside the window jump.  A reluctant grin spread over Harry’s face as he watched Ron rolling around on the hearthrug.  Hermione gave Ron a look of deep disgust and returned to her letter.

    “Well?” Ron said finally, looking up at Harry.  “How was it?”

    Harry considered for a moment.

    “Wet,” he said truthfully.

    (from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling)

 

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Parenting Tip

Spelling Matters Monday