sharing my love of books with you
Here is a word that I have always assumed was akin to distraught. I found it again in The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in the story of “The Golden Pince-Nez”. I finally looked it up, and though it is similar, it is not quite as dramatic as distraught.
Distrait – distracted or absent-minded
Usage: “Holmes was curiously distrait, and we walked up and down the garden path for some time in silence.”
Here is a word that I have never heard before. Now that I know what it is, it does not surprise me that Sherlock Holmes was examining one in The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes before he took the case of “The Golden Piece-Nez”.
Palimpsest – a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain
Usage: “He [was] engaged with a powerful lens deciphering the remains of the original inscription upon a palimpsest.”
I am including an image of a palimpsest from Wikipedia. You can clearly see the different texts in this image.
There is no frigate like a book To take us to lands away, Nor any coursers like a page Of prancing poetry. This traverse may the poorest take Without oppress of toll; How frugal is the chariot That bears a human soul! (from Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson, printed 2016)
Here is an interesting word in one of my favorite of The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In “The Six Napoleons”, Holmes utters this word when he is told of three busts of Emperor Napoleon being smashed in the night.
Iconoclast – a person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions or destroys images such as those used in worship
Usage: “Considering how many hundreds of statues of the great Emperor must exist in London, it is too much to suppose such a coincidence as that a promiscuous iconoclast should chance to begin upon three specimens of the same bust.”
Here is another fun word from The Complete Casebook of Herlock Sholmes. “The Case of the Airman’s Medal” is solved and Sholmes and Jotson are returning to their rooms in Shaker Street. As Sholmes reiterates how he tracked down the missing medal, Jotson cries, “Marvelous!” Sholmes’ reply includes this word.
Illimitable – without limits or an end
Usage: “Not at all!” said Sholmes as we re-entered his room. “To a man of my illimitable deductive powers such work is child’s play!”
Here is an interesting word that I found In “The Case of the Airman’s Medal” from The Complete Casebook of Herlock Sholmes. I should have known what it meant by the context, but I was completely puzzled ’til I looked it up.
Masticate – chew (food)
Usage: “You imagine I have bitten off more than I can conveniently masticate.”
An interesting side note: This is the only story listed for 1919 in The Complete Casebook. I wonder if Mr Hamilton took a break from writing about Sholmes just like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did with Holmes.
Speaking in Bones is the latest Kathy Reichs novel that I finished. I have to say, what a plot twist at the end! I definitely did not see that coming!
I think I said this in my last post on Break No Bones, but I thoroughly enjoy Dr Reichs’ style of writing. She adds in knowledge from her own experience as a forensic anthropologist, which enriches the storylines of her novels about Dr Temperance Brennan. Forensics takes time and sometimes multiple people; crime isn’t solved in a day. Reichs acknowledges that in her books.
Another thing that I really like about Dr Kathy Reichs’ style is that it feels so real. You could meet any of the characters walking on the street. She lets the forensics take time, true to life, but the storyline never suffers. If Dr Brennan has to wait through the weekend ’til Monday to speak to someone about the case, then she fills her time digging through receipts for her tax preparer or spending time with her mother.
Something else I really like that I think I mentioned with one of the other books was that I felt like I was investigating along with Dr Brennan. I was able to form my own conclusions by the clues in the book. In this one, I guessed that some of the unidentified remains belonged to a different individual than originally implied, and a few pages later, Dr Brennan decided the same thing. Even though there are plot twists, they are clear, and an astute reader can follow the line of reasoning with the characters to reach the same conclusions.
The first chapter of Speaking in Bones is gripping. I was drawn so quickly into the book that I had to read it really fast to solve the mystery. Dr Brennan is approached by a websleuth who plays a recording of a young and desperate girl. The websleuth, “Lucky”, says she returned to a cold crime scene and found a keychain-sized recording device at the base of a tree. “Lucky” believes the recorded voice belongs to remains in the morgue where Dr Brennan works. Remains that have yet to be identified. Although skeptical, Dr Brennan reexamines the remains and requests the local sheriff aid her in investigating the area where the bones had been found.
As the book progresses, Dr Brennan and the local authorities in several different jurisdictions find more bones that are related to the unidentified remains and the recording. They begin to make headway, the cold case is reopened, and witnesses are approached for more questions. However many of the witnesses seem unwilling to speak to authorities again so many years later. All of the witnesses seem to be connected to a local congregation whose pastor has secrets of his own.
Was the church involved in the disappearance of the girl in the recording? Was there a connection between the recording and the bones? When Dr Brennan goes alone to find the answers to these questions, she places herself in danger. And just when she thinks the danger is ended and the case is solved, she faces an enemy unlike any she has faced before.
Then that ending! I definitely did not see that coming!
Other questions plague Dr Brennan during this investigation, but the most important one is should she marry Detective Andrew Ryan? Why is it so hard to give him an answer? Does she love him? What is she afraid of?
One last word. I really like how the title of the book comes from a compliment paid to Dr Brennan by Detective Slidell (who could be very pompous and annoying). “You know, Doc, when speaking in bones, you’re pretty good.”
Here is another example of wildlife that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was most likely very familiar with, but I was not. I decided it would be nice to add pictures of these birds so you can see them too.
These are mentioned in “The Priory School” in The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes when Holmes is explaining a map of the moor to Watson. “A few moor farmers have small holdings, where they raise sheep and cattle. Except these, the plover and the curlew are the only inhabitants until you come to Chesterfield high road.”
Now that I know the definition of this word, it makes sense why Watson would use it to describe himself and Holmes in “Charles Augustus Milverton” in The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Truculent – aggressively self-assertive; scathingly harsh; feeling or displaying ferocity
Usage: “With our black silk face-coverings, which turned us into two of the most truculent figures in London, we stole up to the silent, gloomy house.”
“Charles Augustus Milverton” is another Holmes tale that offers such an interesting plot twist that even Sherlock Holmes didn’t foresee it.
Have you ever thought what a wonderful thing a thesaurus is? It’s not quite a dictionary; those give you the definition of words and sometimes examples of how to use words in a sentence. A thesaurus doesn’t do that. It doesn’t impose upon your thoughts; it strives to broaden them. Do you think you know what that word means? Well then, here are ten or twenty more words that are similar. Do you want to sound more learned? More vulgar? Are you trying to be proper or unpolished? (I used the thesaurus to find that one.)
In this age of the internet, I suppose the thesaurus seems outdated, like a card catalog. Do you need to know a definition? Google, what does this word mean? Want a few variations? Thesaurus.com, give me synonyms for this word. In fact, it’s been a long time since I opened my own thesaurus. But when I did, just a few moments ago, it was like a time machine taking me back to memories of younger days. I believe it is good for the soul to look up words in a physical thesaurus every now and again. And for those who don’t know, a thesaurus is used to find either synonyms or antonyms of words and phrases.
My mother introduced me to Roget’s Thesaurus many years ago. She had a huge paperback copy whose spine I creased in several places over the years.
Now, I own my own copy of Roget’s Thesaurus, pictured above. It is a hardback, printed in 1923. It smells kind of musty, but it is my own. I pulled it off my shelf to help me write a poem about the summer heat. There are so many words to describe heat: summer, tropical, blaze, swelter, singe, burn, fiery. The entry takes almost a whole page. Then it continues to calefaction, which is the state of being warmed. Furnace is next, then thermometer. I can use so many of the words listed in my poem. Or, I could look back in the index to find other uses for heat, like the heat of passion if I that is what I wanted to write about.
I suppose my copy of Roget’s Thesaurus is a bit out of date. In the last hundred years, I’m sure at least a hundred words were added to it, and another hundred were removed for the mere crime of being outdated, archaic, ancient, or antique (thesaurus again). But I don’t mind. I still think a thesaurus – no matter how old – is a wonderful, astonishing, marvelous thing!
Hi! I'm Cadie. Welcome to my Collection of Bookish Thoughts where I will share with you everything I love about books.
© 2025 A COLLECTION OF BOOKISH THOUGHTS
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑