Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley

Christopher Buckley's lovely tribute to his mom, Patricia Buckley, and infamous father, William F. Buckley, Jr., Losing Mum and Pup, is the only book, other than Moby Dick (the original) that I've read with a dictionary in my lap (actually Wikipedia up and frequented).

A short list of phrases and words that I circled in pencil to further investigate include: droit du seigneur, paradigmatically, perfervid orison, intransigence, apparatchik, exigent, diktaks, adipose, adduce a tropism; and that's just about three-pages-worth!

It's not that I haven't heard or seen these words, it is just that Christopher Buckley throws them around like slang, and I loved it. I loved it because for the too short period of reading this book, I felt transported to another world - a world of the intelligentsia - and indeed, which wasn't as important to me, a world of uniquely east coast heritage, entitlement, wealth and privilege, that is as alien to this little west Texas gal as Martians.

Crazy for the Story by Norman Ollestad

Crazy for the Storm, by Norman Ollestad, is getting lots of media buzz, and rightfully so. An 11-year-old kid, who has been pushed into dangerous sports and adventure pursuits his entire life by his overbearing father (off-piste skiing, surfing in storm swells, etc.), is in a small plane crash on top of a very steep mountain. His father and the pilot are dead, his father's girlfriend is seriously injured, and it is very cold. Although I couldn't stop reading this book, several things bothered me throughout. First, it is written in the voice of the 11-year-old kid. Maybe it's just me, and I apologize for the irreverence, but when prepubescent kids-talk endlessly, it makes me want to load them in a plane and crash it into a mountain.

Word of The Day - Erudition

I came upon erudition when I was researching William F. Buckley, Jr., for a book review that I am working on (Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley - stay tuned.) Mr. Buckley's writing style was described as " famed for its erudition, wit, and use of uncommon words." Although I've heard erudite and erudition used, and gleaned the meaning though context, I wanted to know what it really, really meant.

Erudition, surprise, surprise, comes from the Latin word, eruditus, which means (according to the gospel of Wickepedia), "when instruction and reading followed by digestion and contemplation have effaced all rudeness ("e- (ex-) + rudis"), that is to say smoothed away all raw, untrained incivility." The big "W" also says that "common usage has blurred the distinction from 'learned'." So consider yourself straightened out on that matter! Unlike Mr. Buckley, I will never be known for my my erudition. But hey, I just used it in a sentence, so there!

Valete! (Latin for Goodbye!)

The Wedding Hat!

Check out this outrageously wonderful Dolcevida hat that I bought to wear to my great nephew's wedding this weekend. Since the wedding is outdoors (June in Austin?!) this will be a perfect umbrella! HA!

SueAnn