Eowyn Ivey is a master craftswoman and her sentences are smooth and flowing like treacle. Her debut the Snow Child was one of my favourite novels. It told the magical tale of a child that emerges out of the icy Alaskan tundra and provides an ageing couple yearning for a baby, with the promise of a living child.
Tag Archives: words
Ancient Word of the Day: Stravaig
Stravaig derives from eighteenth-century Scots extravage, meaning ‘wander about; digress, ramble in speech’, in turn derived from Medieval Latin extravagari ‘wander, stray beyond limits’. Stravaig, in various forms, is found in a wide range of Scottish texts from the late eighteenth-century onwards. Read more
Comforting Thought The challenge of a life’s time and a lifetime
It may be when we no longer know what to do,
We have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go,
We have begun our real journey.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) is a poet, farmer, writer and activist.
Book Review: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
In this funny, odd-ball and deeply emotional novel by Japanese debut novelist Sayaka Murata, we follow the book’s heroine Keiko, who is in her late 30’s and is working as a sales assistant in a convenience store, while living unmarried and childless (a mortal sin in Japan).
Ancient Word of the Day: Adsum
From Latin: “Adsum” – be here now
The life, in a form, that we all live. Adsum abandons hopelessness and blind hope and even rational hope.
Hope is that virtue by which we take responsibility for the future and a quality that gives our actions special urgency.
Short Story: Awhiina finds her orb
In the heart of the Pacific, there lies an island so remote it is whispered about like a myth. This island, cloaked in lush greenery and bordered by the endless blue, is home to Awhiina, a woman of quiet strength and profound connection to the natural world around her. Awhiina lived in a small village,Continue reading “Short Story: Awhiina finds her orb”
The naive trap we all stumble into
I’ve fallen into that delightful and gradual fantasy yet again. You would also know this one, it’s comfy, cosy and always clings to your body like a well-worn jumper, there’s some holes from moths and some dust from yesteryear on it. Nobody would say it’s fashionable, but I cling to it as a child clingsContinue reading “The naive trap we all stumble into”
Book Review: Weatherland by Andrea Harris
Weatherland by Alexandra Harris is a sweeping panorama and magic carpet ride through the history of England using a quirky weathervane to measure the changing culture – the weather.
Author Alexandra Harris’ debut book won The Guardian’s Book of the Year. It’s no surprise either because this is a far-reaching, expansive book written in an engaging, poetic and erudite way.
Ancient Word of the Day: Lacuna
Ancient Word of the Day: Lacuna “lacuna”- in a manuscript denotes a ‘little lake’ or #hiatus, blank, a missing portion (OED n.1) This word is borrowed from Latin in the 17th Century. Have you ever taken a #pause from your #life or #career? what was this like? A break always gives a clear perspective in my opinion! #language #words #history
Ancient Word of the Day: Brumation
A word coined in 1965 by American Zoologist Wilbur W. Mayhew. Brumation denotes a state of torpor and sluggishness brought on by winter. Mayhew used the word to describe the cold-weather dormancy of reptiles. Brumation is also a term commonly used in Biology to describe the dormant period for reptiles. As with hibernation in mammals,Continue reading “Ancient Word of the Day: Brumation”
Content Catnip 