Friday, December 27, 2019


Favorite books read by the Muser in 2019
A Wizard of Earthsea, #1 in the Earthsea series by Ursula Le Guin (The magic of Earthsea is primal, the lessons are potent, wise and necessary as anyone can dream - Neil Gaiman)  http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Index-Earthsea.html
Big Sister by Gunnar Staalesen  (Book 20 in the Private Investigator Varg Veum series deals with family dynamics and the dark web in this thriller full of twists.)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Student Piscine Molitor Patel suffers slurs over his name, and changes Piscine to Pi, writing on the blackboard π=3.14, drawing a large circle--then sliced in two--evoking a basic lesson in geometry.)
One More Thing by B.J. Novak  (64 deadpan, sly, funny stories)
The Riddle of the Labyrinth, The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox (linguistic mysteries recounted)  Read online at https://serchisbook.com/the-riddle-of-the-labyrinth-by-margalit-fox.html)
The Library Book by Susan Orlean  (On April 29, 1986, fire raged for seven hours and thirty-eight minutes in the Los Angeles Central Library; more than one million books were burned or damaged.)  
Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino  (twelve short, offbeat science-fiction tales)  See Rushdie On Calvino's Absurd, Charming Masterpiece at https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93376041
The Devil's Tickets:  A Night of Bridge, a Fatal Hand, and a New American Age by Gary M. Pomerantz  (Contract bridge explodes in popularity and is sometimes accompanied by secret signals, self-promotion and violence.)
The Lost City of the Monkey God:  A True Story by Douglas Preston  An expedition team uses lidar (light detection and ranging technology) trying to find a legendary lost city in the uncharted wilderness of Honduras in the world's thickest jungle. 
The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, a novel by Melanie Benjamin about the tiny entertainer who toured before, during, and after the Civil War
Hope Never Dies, mystery by Andrew Shaffer  Zany adventures and misadventures of post-White house team of Barack and Joe
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, a love story about two 12-year-old friends, a Chinese boy and a Japanese girl, and the ethnic tensions of the time and Japanese internment during World War II.

Jamie Ford, born James Ford (July 9, 1968), is an American author who gained notoriety with his debut novel, "Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet."  He is ethnically half Chinese, and his first two books focused on the Chinese-American experience and the city of Seattle.  Ford grew up in Seattle, Washington.  Although he no longer lives in Seattle, the city has played an important role in both Ford's books.  Ford graduated from the Art Institute of Seattle in 1988 and worked as an art director and as a creative director in advertising.  Ford's great-grandfather immigrated from Kaiping, China in 1865.  His name was Min Chung, but he changed it to William Ford when he was working in Tonopah, Nevada.  His great-grandmother, Loy Lee Ford was the first Chinese woman to own property in Nevada.  Ford's grandfather, George William Ford, changed his name back to George Chung in order to gain more success as an ethnic actor in Hollywood.  https://www.thoughtco.com/jamie-ford-bio-361751


The Best Reviewed Books of 2019:  Graphic Literature  FEATURING GEORGE TAKEI, SETH, CHRIS WARE, LYNDA BARRY, AND MORE  https://bookmarks.reviews/the-best-reviewed-books-of-2019-graphic-literature/

Winter Salad of Red Leaves, Mackerel and Orange is a song of red cabbage, red chicory, blood oranges, purple carrots, beets, and generous bunches of fresh herbs and sturdy winter greens.  Tossed with a crème fraîche-sherry vinegar dressing and studded with smoky fish, it is one gorgeous and delicious plate.  Serves 4  Catherine Phipps  https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/winter-salad-of-red-leaves-mackerel-and-orange

Questions:  If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?  What’s the best present you have ever received?  If you could only eat five foods for the rest of your life, what would they be?  Are you making New Year’s Resolution this year?  If you could eat at only one restaurant your entire life, which one would it be?  The Buzz Book, A Guide to the Very Best in Northwest Ohio  Winter 2019-2020


December 2019  Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (abbreviated as ThLL or TLL) is a monumental dictionary of Latin founded on historical principles.  It encompasses the Latin language from the time of its origin to the time of Isidore of Seville (died 636).  The project began in 1894 and it was scheduled to be completed around the year 2050.  The last fascicle of the P-volume appeared in 2010, and work is currently under way on both N and R.  The institution that carries out the work of the dictionary is located in Munich, in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. 
  Library of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants. - Isaac Newton, philosopher and mathematician (25 Dec 1642-1727) 

Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal.  My strength lies solely in my tenacity. - Louis Pasteur, chemist and bacteriologist (27 Dec 1822-1895)

Word of the Day  golden touch (plural golden touches)  (idiomatic) Synonym of Midas touch (the ability to achieve financial reward (or, more generally, successeasily and consistently) quotations ▼

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2202  December 27, 2019

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