50bookchallenge, 15000pages

Book #52 -- Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong, and Lori Handeland, Dates From Hell, 404 pages.

This is a collection of four novellas focusing on, as the title suggests, paranormal relationships. I bought it originally for the Kelley Armstrong novella, which gives some of the backstory of one of the characters in her Women of the Otherworld series, but I found I liked the other stories quite a bit as well, with the possible exception of the Kim Harrison story, which seemed too far entrenched in her very complex fictional world to be fully understood by someone who hasn't read her other work. Come to think of it, the Armstrong novella might suffer from the same problem for those not familiar with her series, since there were a lot of references to things that happened in other books, but being a fan of the series myself that didn't bother me at all. The Sands and Handeland novellas appeared to be mostly standalone, and quite good.

Progress toward goals: 175/365 = 47.9%

Books: 52/100 = 52.0%

Pages: 12969/30000 = 43.2%

2009 Book List

cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven

Definitions

cachinnation: (n) Loud or immoderate laughter.



foie gras: (n) Short for pâté de foie gras, a pasty made of fat goose-livers, imported principally from Strasburg in little stone pots. Properly the contents should be taken out and served in a crust of pastry, but the name is usually given to the original importation.



sabaton: (n) A broad-toed armed foot-covering worn by warriors in armour.



scrinium: (n) A box for books and papers, writing-desk.



gestatio: (n) An avenue set apart for exercise either on horseback on in a horse-drawn vehicle.



hippodrome: (n) 1. In Greek and Roman Antiquity: A course or circus for horse-races and chariot-races. Sometimes used as a high-sounding name for a modern circus.
2. A fraudulent race, or other athletic contest, in which it is arranged beforehand which of the contestants shall win.
3. A theatre used for various stage entertainments.



dado: (n) 1. The block or cube, with plane faces, forming the body of a pedestal, between the base mouldings and the cornice; the die.
2. The finishing of wood running along the lower part of the walls of a room, made to represent a continuous pedestal; strictly applied only to the flat surface between the plinth and the capping.
3. Any lining, painting, or papering of the lower part of an interior wall, of a different material or colour from that of the upper part.



quotidian: (adj) 1. In Medicine: Recurring or occurring every day, specifically at twenty-four-hour intervals; (of a disease, esp. malaria) characterized by paroxysms recurring at this interval.
2. Of a Plasmodium species: causing quotidian malaria.
3. Of or occurring every day; daily.
4. Of an everyday character; commonplace, mundane, ordinary.
5. Of a person: that performs a particular action, or displays a specified characteristic, on a daily basis.



quatrefoil: (n) 1. A set of four leaves.
2. A compound leaf or flower consisting of four leaflets or petals radiating from a common centre. Also: a representation or stylized depiction of this, originally especially as a charge in heraldry.
3. In Architecture: An ornamental feature, as a boss, opening, etc., taking this shape.



brochette: (n) 1. A small broach, spit, or pointed stick.
2. In Cookery: A particular manner of frying and stewing chickens, etc.
3. A pin or bar used to fasten medals, orders, etc., to the coat or uniform of the wearer.



berm: (n) 1. A narrow space or ledge; especially in Fortification: a space of ground, from 3 to 8 feet wide, sometimes left between the ditch and the base of the parapet.
2. In Geology: Those terraces which originate from the interruption of an erosion cycle with rejuvenation of a stream in the mature stage of its development.
3. The bank of a canal opposite the towing-path.
4. A ledge or flat of land bordering either bank of the Nile and inundated when the river overflows.



gamboge:(n) 1. A gum-resin obtained from various trees of the genus Garcinia, natives of Cambodia, Thailand, etc. It is largely used as a pigment, giving a bright yellow colour, and also as a drastic purgative in medicine.
2. The plant from which gamboge is obtained.



stochastic: (adj) 1. Pertaining to conjecture.
2. Randomly determined; that follows some random probability distribution or pattern, so that its behaviour may be analysed statistically but not predicted precisely; stochastic process = random process.
3. In Music: Applied (originally by Yannis Xenakis (b. 1922), Romanian-born Greek composer) to music in which the overall sound structure is determined, but internal details are left to chance or are established mathematically by composer or computer (by the laws of probability or otherwise).