50bookchallenge, 15000pages

Book #17 -- Susan Beth Pfeffer, This World We Live In (The Last Survivors, Book 3), 239 pages.

The third and last book in an incredible series about life on Earth after an asteroid knocks the moon into a closer orbit. Alex and Julie from The Dead and the Gone have made their way to Pennsylvania to join Miranda and family from Life as We Knew It. The long winter is over, but life is far from easy. And even more trials are on the horizon. This series is far more an exploration of human reaction to tragedy and extremity than it is the print version of a blockbuster disaster film. They're amazing reads.

Progress toward goals: 80/365 = 22.0%

Books: 17/100 = 17.0%

Pages: 4370/30000 = 14.6%

2010 Book List

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

Definitions

tarn: (n) A small mountain lake, having no significant tributaries. (Originally local northern English, now generally used by geologists and geographers.)



whin: (n) 1. The common furze or gorse, Ulex europæus.
2. Applied to other prickly or thorny shrubs, as rest-harrow and buckthorn; also to heather.
3. In Scots and Northern Dialect: A name for various very hard dark-coloured rocks or stones, as greenstone, basalt, chert, or quartzose sandstone.



eburnine: (adj) Ivory-like, ivory-coloured.



tabla: (n) A pair of small hand drums used in Indian music, one of which is larger than the other; either of these drums individually, especially the smaller.



pinny: (n) A pinafore; an apron, especially one with a bib. [No, this is not where Pinny from "Dear Pinny" got her name.]



teasel/teazel:(n) 1. A plant of the genus Dipsacus, comprising herbs with prickly leaves and flower-heads; especially fullers' teasel, D. fullonum, the heads of which have hooked prickles between the flowers, and are used for teasing cloth; and wild teasel, D. sylvestris, held by some to be the original type, but having straight instead of hooked prickles.
2. The dried prickly flower-head or bur of the fuller's teasel, used for teasing or dressing cloth so as to raise a nap on the surface. (also figuratively)
3. As a heraldic bearing.
4. A mechanical substitute for the natural teasel in cloth-working.



spelk: (n) 1. A surgical splint.
2. A splinter or chip; a small strip of wood.
3. A thatching-rod.
4. A type of woven basket made of narrow strips of wood or ‘spelks’.



quinion: (n) 1. A set of five things.
2. In Bookbinding: A set or gathering of five sheets of paper. (Also called a "quinternion")



paraclete: (n) 1. In the Christian Church: As a title given to the Holy Spirit (or occasionally Christ): an advocate, intercessor; a helper or comforter.
2. In extended and allusive uses.



snye: (n) A side-channel, especially one creating an island.



drey: (n) A squirrel's nest.



hoodoo: (n) 1. One who practises voodoo.
2. An occult cause of bad luck; a person or thing whose presence is supposed to bring bad luck.
3. A fantastic rock pinnacle or column of rock formed by erosion or other natural agency; an earth-pillar.



muskeg: (n) A swamp or bog consisting of a mixture of water and partly dead vegetation, often covered by a layer of sphagnum or other mosses; terrain characterized by such swamps.



sphagnum: (n) In Botany: A genus of mosses growing in boggy or swampy places; bog-moss, peat-moss; also, one or other of the species or plants composing this genus. Also the mossy substance of which plants of this genus are composed.



tamarack: (n) 1. Any of several North American larches, especially the red larch, Larix laricina.
2. The shore pine, Pinus contorta, or the lodgepole pine, P.c. var. latifolia, of western North America; also, the timber of any of these trees.

FPO?

Those of you who've read Neal Stephenson's Anathem: did I miss the part where he explained why "FPO" is written on all the images?