Posts tagged as:

vocabulary lessons

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen; Alan Garner, 1960

December 17, 2011

Christopher Middleton, in The Telegraph, tells you anything you might need to know about The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, and talks with Alan Garner and other writers about the effect it’s had on over 50 years of readers and writers. I will add this, though Middleton mentions it: most claustrophobic scene in all of fiction! Well, [...]

Read the full article →

Life, death, and French

February 2, 2011

A month seems long enough to be silent, a strange month turning on the multifarious spokes of the wheel of life. Death, coming to people we think too young to die—we, with our secret hopes of long, fulfilling lives, of seeing our grandchildren and great-grandchildren be born. And birth, which can come earlier than it [...]

Read the full article →

Underwriter’s knot

December 20, 2010

Ms. Fix-It is at it again, working on a broken lamp this time, and in the process I learned how to tie an “underwriter’s knot.” I’ve scoured the web to learn why it might be called this, to no avail. My best guess is this: if you tie this knot, used in both light sockets [...]

Read the full article →