Intro To The Graveyard Book. Arie Recommends!

Hey guys!

So I have found my new addiction.  Audible!  It's completely fantastic!  I get to have stories being told to me during my long commutes to and from school, between classes, and as I drift off to sleep.  As wonderful as audible is, this post is not about audible.  This post is about Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book and how I just listened to that awesomness.  (You can see my reviews for the book at both Audible (review done as Arielle on 11-27-12 Sherman, TX) and Goodreads.)

I know I said the next post would be the second half of The Exorcist vocabulary, but I was so excited about The Graveyard Book, that I wanted to do a little introductory blog.  You will most likely see another, but more in-depth blog in a few months when I've gone through the book, but reading it this time.  For now, here's a little taste...after the jump :)

The Exorcist Words 1-16

Hello Readers!

I’m sorry for my small disappearance.  October has been a rough month.  Two surgeries and catching up in school.  Thankfully, I'm feeling much better and am almost caught up in school.  

There are so many good words in The Exorcist!  There were initially 50-ish words I wanted to explore, but I’ve chosen 33 to define.  I’ve broken them up into two sections of about 16 words.  The examples are sentences from the book, unless noted otherwise.  Also, almost all of the definitions are taken from dictionary.com--in most cases verbatim.  You can go to the site to hear and see pronunciation. 

assuage, balustrade, belie, breviary, brogue, cassock, catting, circumlocutions, debenture, droshky, ersatz, esplanade, excoriating, fey, garrulous, inchoate

(my top three favorite words on this list are underlined)

See the definitions of words 1-16 after the jump.

William Peter Blatty

William Peter Blatty is a caucasian, Roman Catholic, American author and filmmaker born on January 7, 1928.  And would you believe he's still alive and kicking!  He is most known for his novel and his part in making the movie The Exorcist.  He is married and had six children (three boys and three girls). He got his education at Georgetown University.  He has written many books.  A couple of other notable novels are Legion (1983) and I, Billy Shakespeare (1969).  You can find out more about Blatty here.  You can also learn neat trivia and Blatty's role in the production of the movie here.  Blatty and his books can also be found on Goodreads.com

Here is a list of words that didn't make the cut.  They didn't make it because I could gather what they meant from context, I just liked the word, or there was a pretty good chance I would come across these again in other books.  There are 49 of them after the jump.

"Heeeere's Johnny!"

So.  I'm back.  Again.  I wish I could say I did something cool on my hiatus--like vacationed in Hawaii or was "walker" on the T.V. show The Walking Dead, but I didn't.  I did lots of school.  And I guess that's cool, because I feel smarter.  I've done lots of reading.  Many many books.  Well...as many as I can read with my crazy school schedule.  Quite honestly, the number of books I consumed pale in comparison to the number of books Wendy Darling has read.  You can check her out here.

I have most recently read Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, Native Son by Richard Wright, and The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty.  Normally I would like to break up the book into smaller vocabulary sections, but I think with this first book I'll do a list of words that were good, but I didn't define.  The second list will be a word list--complete with definitions and examples from either the book or some other source.  I will put up words for the other books if I have time, but I'm thinking my first post will be about The Exorcist.

Until next time :)

"I rarely think in words at all. A thought comes, and I may try to express it in words afterward."--Albert Einstein

Aaaand I'm gone again...

Hiatus. Life happens. I shall be back at some points. Commitments do mean something, and I shall honor this one when I can :) Live long and prosper.

TGWLTG pages 10-39

Hey guys! Here is the first set of vocabulary words from pages 10-39. All the definitions are taken directly from the Miriam Webster Dictionary, and are basically quoted. The sentences are taken straight from the book. The page numbers are included. You can find other sentence examples from http://www.merriam-webster.com/ .


1. Unerring- (adj.) Committing no error.
Synonyms: infallible, unfailing
"He understood with some unerring instinct that it was the one he could plant the deepest and pulled the hardest.” p. 10

2. Cataclysmically- (adv.) a) Flood, Deluge b) Catastrophe c) A momentous and violent event marked by overwhelming upheaval and demolition; broadly: an event that brings great changes.
Synonyms: alluvion, inundation, spate, torrent, cataract
“Pete sat at the table, looking cataclysmically bored.” p. 13

3. Ostentatious- (adj.) marked by or fond of conspicuous or vainglorious and sometimes pretentious display.
Synonyms: flamboyant, flashy, garish, gaudy, swank
“Mom had refused to notice is ostentatious lack of interest.” p. 13

4. Gall- (n.) a) Bile, something bitter, bitterness of spirit b) Brazen boldness coupled with imprudent assurance and insolence
Synonyms: impudence, moxie, audacity, nerve
“He even had the gall to say he should be home studying for his final exam.” p. 14

5. Indignant- (adj.) Filled with or marked by indignation (anger aroused by something unjust)
Synonyms: angered apoplectic, ballistic, enraged, fuming, incensed
“Tricia would remember the last phrase she got in the clear; her brothers hurt, indignant voice.” p. 23

6. Indecorous- (adj.) not decorous, conflicting with accepted standards of good contuct or good taste.
Synonym: amiss, graceless, inept, infelicitous, wrong
“It seemed indecorous.” p. 23

7. Dubiously- (adv.) a) giving rise to uncertainty; a doubtful promise or outcome; questionable or suspect as to true nature or quality b) unsettled in opinion
Synonym: debatable, disputable, equivocal, fishy, queer, doubtful, questionable
“When she was done she looked around dubiously for something to blot with and decided not to push [her] luck.” p. 24

8. Disquiet- (v.) to take away the peace or tranquility of; to disturb or alarm
Synonym: agitate, alarm, ail, distract, distress, dismay, perturb
“She felt the first minnowy flutter of disquiet.” p. 27

9. Sough- (v.) to make a moaning or sighing sound
Synonym: sigh
“She could hear the sough of the wind through the big old West country pine.” p. 28

10. Ascertained- (v.) a) to make certain, exact or precise b) to find out or learn with certainty
Synonym: discover, realize, learn
“She ascertained that she was still traveling in a straight line.” p. 33

11. Oppressive- (adj.) a) unreasonable burdeonsome or severe b) tyrannical c) overwhelming or depressing to the spirit or senses
Synonyms: bitter, brutal, burdensome, grim, harsh, onerous, severe
“She was suddenly drowning in isolation, choking on a bright and yet oppressive sense of self as a living being cast out from her fellows.” p. 35

12. Pram - (n.) a small lightweight nearly flat bottomed boat with a broad transom and usually squared-off bow
Synonym: cart, carriage, buggy,
“Her voice trembled, became first the wavery voice of a little kid and then almost the shriek of the babies who lies forgotten in her pram.” p. 36

I'm Baaaaaack...

Hello, fellow readers!

I am very sorry. I believe I need a reprieve. Sometimes life happens and things get ignored. This blog is a thing. This blog was ignored, but I am back! I have come up with a small list of books I might have chosen from for the month of October.
1. Anything by Poe
2. Silence of the Lambs
3. R.L. Stine did indeed write an adult horror book. I intended to seek it out and read it!
4. a book on the Salem witch trials.
5. The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl. An impulse buy at the college book store. It was on sale for $5.00!
6. There are three books about the torture of "Sylvia Likens": House of Evil: The Indiana Torture Slaying by Natty Bumppo; By Sanction of the Victim by Patte Wheat; and The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. One of those would be nice to read
7. Stephen King book
8. Macbeth
9. War of the Worlds
10. The Entity by Frank de Felitta
11. Bram Stoker's Dracula
12. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

I decided on a book by Stephen King because I've never read one of his books. I wanted a book by him that might not be as popular as The Shining, for instance. I had never heard of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. It seemed appropriate for the time. It's a Stephen King novel that contains an underlying baseball theme. It seemed particularly fitting because I cannot seem to be able to escape Texas Ranger fever! Baseball and Halloweenie! We shall see how this turns out!

I have already started to book. I'll be posting vocabulary as I go.