Today's word is architecture

Great Buildings ~ by DK, 2017, architecture, 256 pages, 8/10

This book gives you an overview of the history of architecture from the ancient world to the present day, a guided tour of more than 50 masterpieces of every architectural style, from the Great Pyramid of Giza to Chartres Cathedral, Sydney Opera House, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.  Each building is analysed visually.  CGI cutaway artworks peel away walls to reveal the bones of the building, and close-up photographs home in on details of style.

It takes a global look at both historical and contemporary architecture.  What is the difference between a Doric and an Ionic column?  How does a flying buttress work?  Why do concrete balconies appear to float in thin air?  You will find the answers here, along with a wealth of intriguing stories about the patrons, builders, and architects who made each architectural masterpiece possible.  

It's like being taken on a personal tour by a guide who shows you exactly what to look at.  I especially enjoyed Chartres Cathedral (pp. 72-77) because I've enjoyed walking labyrinths, and this may be the most famous one ever.  "The huge labyrinth, or maze, inlaid in the floor at the west end of the church, symbolizes the pilgrim's journey to Jerusalem and the path of the soul to heaven" (p. 76).  Click HERE to see some of the times I've written about labyrinths on this blog.

A century old, wow!

On my way to lunch in the Cafe today, I encountered a long-time resident and stopped to talk to her.  When I mentioned her birthday coming up on Thursday, she said, "Yes, I'll be a hundred years old."  Few people can say that, Rosita!  Congratulations, and happy birthday to you!

A beautiful children's book for Sunday

Marshmallow Can Do Hard Things ~ by Drew Patchin, illustrated by Jessica Kesler, 2025, children's graphic novel, 28 pages, 10/10

Drew is a student at Parkway Northeast Middle School in St. Louis, Missouri.  Drew loves catching Pokemon, playing with his best friend and little brother Tyler, or snuggling on his service dog, Snoopy.  Notice that I'm talking about the author, here, not the book (yet).  And it's a book I read very carefully, because it was signed by Drew himself.

But Drew isn’t an ordinary middle schooler — he’s a warrior in disguise!  In 2019, at 6½ years old, Drew was diagnosed with brain cancer called Anaplastic Ependymoma.  He received surgery and radiation at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and was the hospital’s youngest patient to do radiation without sedation.  Since then, Drew has battled brain cancer four more times and traveled to Hermann Memorial Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas, and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee for treatment and clinical trials.  Drew is supported by many family and friends who make up "Drew’s Crew" and are always supporting him through his journey.

Now about the book:

When the scared little narwhale started to school (after his Mommy had met teachers ahead of time and made plans for him),  When the yello sub picked him up (like our yellow school bus picks up American children), he was ready to go.  Making plans means we can do hard things.

My thanks to Pam for letting me borrow this book.  She's a friend of Drew's family here in St. Louis.  It's such a great book!  I rate it 10 of 10.  (Whoa!  Pam told me, no, that she GAVE me this copy of Drew's book to keep.  Thank you!)

• On Monday, I mused about a Chilean girl in Maine, HERE.
• Friday's Book Beginning was posted HERE.
• Dogs on Saturday/Caturday?  Yes, HERE.

This has been a slow week, so that's it for today.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Hmm, dogs on Saturday/Caturday?

The Best Dog: Hilarious to Heartwarming Portraits of the Pups We Love ~ by Aliza Eliazarov with Edward Doty, 2023, animal photography, 240 pages

This heartwarming, and comedic collection of pup portraits and stories celebrating the enduring bond we share with our dogs is by acclaimed photographer, Aliza Eliazarov.  Capturing animals’ unique personalities with humor and grace for over a decade, Aliza’s portraits have been exhibited and published widely, including U.S. postage stamps.

From couch potatoes to working dogs, Aliza takes us on a journey revealing the individuality of our loyal companions through dazzling photos and captions that illuminate the deep connection we have with our pets.  You’ll meet Frank, the bulldog who loves a tire; Maggie, the Jack Russell terrier who delivers homemade cookies to lobstermen; Eddy, the hero mutt who saved her farm from a fire; and many more funny and downright adorable pups.

With evocative portraits and hilarious observations, this book will confirm what we already know — dogs really are the best.  (Wait, what about cats?  And this is Caturday, too.)

Beginning ~ with their independent nature

Beginning

From the magnificent tiger to the humble pet cat, few creatures in the animal world are more recognizable than cats.  Cats have been closely associated with people for several thousand years, and yet the cats we keep today as pets have never sacrificed their independent natures as a result of being domesticated.

Understanding Your Cat ~ by Don Harper, 2001, animal care, 176 pages

Cats are extraordinary animals-beautiful, graceful, and athletic.  But it is their behavior that allows them to fit easily into our busy lives as attractive and rewarding pets.  How well do we really understand and interpret the behavior of our cats?  Understanding Your Cat provides fascinating insights into the way a cat behaves, combined with practical advice about caring for cats at different stages of their lives.  It includes useful information and tips on:

• the cat's basic nature
• overcoming bad habits
• providing a safe environment for your cat
• how to establish a good relationship with your cat
• common feline ailments and how to deal with them

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Monday Musing ~ about a Chilean girl in Maine

I Lived on Butterfly Hill (Book 1 of 2) ~ by Marjorie Agosin, illustrated by Lee White, 2016, historical fiction (Chile), 454 pages

An eleven-year-old’s world is upended by political turmoil in this story of exile and reunification from an award-winning poet, based on true events in Chile.

Celeste Marconi is a dreamer.  She lives peacefully among friends and neighbors and family in the idyllic town of Valparaiso, Chile — until one day when warships are spotted in the harbor and schoolmates start disappearing from class without a word.  Celeste doesn’t quite know what is happening, but one thing is clear: no one is safe, not anymore.

The country has been taken over by a government that declares artists, protestors, and anyone who helps the needy to be considered "subversive" and dangerous to Chile’s future.  So Celeste’s parents — her educated, generous, kind parents — must go into hiding before they, too, "disappear."  Before they do, however, they send Celeste to America to protect her.

As Celeste adapts to her new life in Maine, she never stops dreaming of Chile.  But even after democracy is restored to her home country, questions remain:  Will her parents reemerge from hiding?  Will she ever be truly safe again?

Accented with interior artwork, steeped in the history of Pinochet’s catastrophic takeover of Chile, and based on many true events, this multicultural book is an ode to the power of revolution, words, and love.

Read about 100 exceptional African Americans — including "the real McCoy" on p. 19

100 African Americans Who Shaped American History ~ by Chrisanne Beckner, 2022, social science, 128 pages

Discover the inspiring stories of 100 legendary Black Americans.  From artists and inventors to civil rights leaders, you'll meet extraordinary individuals whose talents, ideas, and contributions have guided the country for hundreds of years.

Ordered chronologically, these brief biographies offer an engaging look at the challenges and achievements of some of the most influetial African Americans.  From well-known icons like abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, to lesser-known figures like aviator Bessie Coleman and singer Marian Anderson.

1. On Monday, I posted about the St. Louis Rams, HERE.
2. On Wednesday, I shared a book, HERE, that my neighbor said she couldn't put down.  I couldn't get into it, myself.
3. My Thursday Thoughts, HERE, were about how reading a novel can help us see the world from a new and different perspective than simply our own lives.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

My notes from a book show one reason I read

A Short History of Myth ~ by Karen Armstrong, 2005, history, 176 pages, 8/10

"Yet the experience of reading a novel ... can be seen as a form of  meditation. ... It projects them into another world, parallel to but apart from their ordinary lives" (p. 147).

"A novel, like a myth, teaches us to see the world differently; it shows us how to look into our own hearts and to see our world from a perspective that goes beyond our own self-interest" (p. 149).

My neighbor says she couldn't put this one down

The Appeal ~ by Janice Hallett, 2021, murder mystery, 432 pages

This international bestseller follows a community rallying around a sick child — but when escalating lies lead to a dead body, everyone is a suspect.  The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star.  Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival.

But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy — nor of the good intentions of those involved.  Things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal.  The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made.  In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material — emails, messages, letters — with a growing suspicion that the killer may be hiding in plain sight.  The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered.

NOTE:  Since my neighbor Betty needed another book to read, she called me, offered me this book, and I gave her "Nice" Jewish Girls by Julie Merberg that I read in October and rated 10/10.  Read about it, HERE.

St. Louis Rams

The St. Louis Rams 

were a professional 

American football 

team that played in 

St. Louis, Missouri, 

from 1995 to 2015 

before relocating back 

to Los Angeles.  The 

franchise, which played 

in the NFL, won Super 

Bowl XXXIV during 

their time in St. Louis.

My friend Donna Carey

was a big fan of the St. 

Louis Rams.

Being sick is not fun at all

The Secrets of People Who Never Get Sick ~ by Gene Stone, 2010, health and fitness, 212 pages

Who does not want to be healthier?  The author wanted to find out what might actually prevent him from getting sick himself.  This book tells the stories of twenty-five people who each possess a different secret of excellent health — a secret that makes sense and that Stone discovered has a scientific underpinning.  There are:

1. food secrets — take garlic and vitamin C, eat more probiotics, become a vegan, drink a tonic of brewer’s yeast.
2. exercise secrets — the benefits of lifting weights, the power of stretching.
3. environmental secrets — living in a Blue Zone, understanding the value of germs.
4. emotional secrets — seek out and stay in touch with friends, cultivate your spirituality.
5. physical secrets — nap more, take cold showers in the morning.

There's a lot more, as you can see from this photo of the contents pages.  The stories make it personal, the research makes it real, and the do-it-yourself information shows how to integrate each secret into your own life and become the next person who never gets sick.

1. The topic of my Monday Musing post was a Mozart Concerto, HERE.
2. On TWOsday, I posted two photos my two daughters sent while traveling to visit me, HERE.
3. Wednesday's Word was "parasocial," HERE, pre-posted long before my daughters came to visit.
4. I didn't post while my daughters were here, so that's it for my blogging week.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Parasocial?

I have never even heard the word "parasocial," but it is Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year.  Okay, the article says parasocial relates to "a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc., or an artificial intelligence."  Since I've never "adored" a celebrity, I guess that could explain why I've never heard the word.

Dark skies ~ sun rays later

My twin daughters are taking their time coming to visit me, partly because of the weather where they are driving right now.  They sent me this photo of dark skies.  Later, they sent the one below.  Two daughters, two views of the sky.

Mozart's Bassoon Concerto

At lunch today, a couple of residents who sat down at my table started talking about their favorite music, sort of singing a bit of a song they liked.  But they both looked rather blank when I said my favorite is Mozart's Bassoon Concerto.  (Click on the labels below, if you want to hear a version of it that I have shared before about bassoons and Mozart.)  I'm not sure my two friends even know what a bassoon is, but it's what I used to play years ago  When I came back to my apartment, I called my friend Ginny in Tallahassee.  We played together in high school, and she now plays clarinet in the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra.

The ethical consequences of AI

Culpability ~ by Bruce Holsinger, 2025, psychological thriller, 380 pages

This is a suspenseful family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence — and Oprah's Book Club pick after it was published in July, 2025.

When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver’s seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun.  In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work.  Yet each family member harbors a secret, implicating them all in the tragic accident.

During a weeklong recuperation on the Chesapeake Bay, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash.  Noah tries to hold the family together as a seemingly routine police investigation jeopardizes Charlie’s future.  Alice and Izzy turn strangely furtive.  And Lorelei’s odd behavior tugs at Noah’s suspicions that there is a darker truth behind the incident — suspicions heightened by the sudden intrusion of Daniel Monet, a tech mogul whose mysterious history with Lorelei hints at betrayal.  When Charlie falls for Monet’s teenaged daughter, the stakes are raised even higher in this propulsive family drama that is also a fascinating exploration of the moral responsibility and ethical consequences of AI.

Culpability explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other nonhuman forces in ways that are thrilling, challenging, and unimaginably provocative.

1. My Monday Musing post was about a book by Margaret Atwood, HERE.
2. On TWOsday, I posted about the second book in a trilogy, HERE.
3. Wednesday's Word was MaddAddam and the conclusion of that trilogy, HERE.
4. My subject on Thursday was four science fiction novellas in one book, HERE.
5. Friday's Book Beginning was about Alexei Navalny's 2024 memoir, HERE.
6. On CATurday, I wrote about cats again, HERE.  It's a big, heavy cat book!

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

A cat book for Caturday

The Life and Love of Cats ~ by Lewis Blackwell, 2012, photography, 216 pages

The Life and Love of Cats takes us on an unforgettable journey; we travel from the homes of middle-America today, back to the demonized creatures hiding in the alleys of medieval Europe; from wild cousins on the plains of Africa to rare hybrid domestic breeds like the Savannah; and from fashionable show breeds to shelter cats lovingly rescued by volunteers.  Starting with the earliest records of domestic cats 9,000 years ago in Africa and the Mediterranean and moving to the present, the author weaves stories of one of humankind’s closest companions with a collection of more than 100 unforgettable images.  It's a beautiful book for cat lovers.

Someone on Amazon said, "It makes a statement on the coffee table."  I agree.  Because it is so heavy (4.9 pounds!), you could read it by leaning over the coffe table and turning the pages.  The pages are huge, so it isn't like you must hold this book up close to see the beautiful pictures.

(This picture is NOT from the book, but I like it.)

Beginning ~ with dying in an airplane

Beginning (page 5)

Dying didn't really hurt.  If I hadn't been breathing my last, I would never have stretched out on the floor next to the plane's toilet.  As you can imagine, it wasn't exactly clean.

I was flying to Moscow from Tomsk, in Siberia, and feeling very pleased.  Regional elections were going to be held in two weeks in several Siberian cities, and my colleagues from the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF) and I had every intention of inflecting defeat on the ruling United Russian party.  That would deliver an important message that Vladimir Putin, even after twenty years in power, was not omnipotent, or even particularly liked in that part of Russia — even though large numbers of people there would watch talking heads sing the praises of the nation's leader on television 24/7.

Patriot ~ by Alexei Navalny, 2024, memoir, 496 pages

This is a posthumous non-fiction book authored by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and published by Alfred A. Knopf in October 2024.  A self-described memoir, Patriot is Navalny's second book, following Opposing Forces.  Patriot details Navalny's life and career.

Alexei Navalny began writing Patriot shortly after his near-fatal poisoning in 2020.  It is the full story of his life:  his youth in the U.S.S.R., his call to activism, his marriage and family, his commitment to challenging a world super-power determined to silence him, and his total conviction that change cannot be resisted — and will come.

In vivid, page-turning detail, including never-before-seen correspondence from prison, Navalny recounts, among other things, his political career, the many attempts on his life, and the lives of the people closest to him, and the relentless campaign he and his team waged against an increasingly dictatorial regime.

Written with the passion, wit, candor, and bravery for which he was justly acclaimed, Patriot is Navalny’s final letter to the world:  a moving account of his last years spent in the most brutal prison on earth; a reminder of why the principles of individual freedom matter so deeply; and a rousing call to continue the work for which he sacrificed his life.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Thinking about reading . . .

The Shores Beneath ~ by Samuel R. Delany, Thomas M. Disch, John T. Sladek, and Roger Zelazny, 1971, science fiction novellas, 192 pages

Here are four trips to four uncharted lands.

1. Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones is the Hugo-Award sinning revelation of the other side of deja-vu.
2. The Graveyard Heart leads a man into immortality, for better and for worse. 
3. Masterson and the Clerks considers a man's absorption into a comfortable, orderly society which doesn't like him much when it's got him.
4. The Asian Shore is a man's harrowing journey through a decadent world of counterfeit selves — where his own identity undergoes an insidious change.

The third book in this week's trilogy

MaddAddam: Book 3 of The MaddAddam Trilogy ~ by Margaret Atwood, 2013, literary fiction, 416 pages

This final volume of the internationally celebrated MaddAddam trilogy "has brought the previous two books together in a fitting and joyous conclusion that’s an epic not only of an imagined future but of our own past" (The New York Times Book Review).

The Waterless Flood pandemic has wiped out most of the population.  Toby is part of a small band of survivors, along with the Children of Crake: the gentle, bioengineered quasi-human species who will inherit this new earth.

As Toby explains their origins to the curious Crakers, her tales cohere into a luminous oral history that sets down humanity’s past — and points toward its future.  Blending action, humor, romance, and an imagination that is inventive yet grounded in a recognizable world.

The second book of a trilogy ~ for TWOsday

The Year of the Flood: Book 2 of The MaddAddam Trilogy ~ by Margaret Atwood, 2009, literary fiction, 448 pages

The long-feared waterless flood has occurred, altering Earth as we know it and obliterating most human life. Among the survivors are Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails, and Toby, who is barricaded inside a luxurious spa. Amid shadowy, corrupt ruling powers and new, gene-spliced life forms, Ren and Toby will have to decide on their next move, but they can't stay locked away.

Okay, I'm curious about that "waterless flood."  I'm sharing all three books of this trilogy in three days this week, but I haven't gotten to this one yet.

Musing about a trilogy this week ~ Book 1

Oryx and Crake: Book 1 of The MaddAddam Trilogy ~ by Margaret Atwood, 2003, literary fiction, 389 pages

This novel is a love story and a vision of the future by the author of The Handmaid's Tale.  Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved.  In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey — with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake — through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride.  Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.

When a friend moved away recently, she gave me some of her books, including this boxed trilogy.  The Handmaid's Tale was one of my favorite stories, so I look forward to reading these books.  All three were bestsellers.

This is a chunky book!

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity ~ by David Graeber and David Wengrow, 2021, social science, 704 pages

This donation to our Crown Center's little library is a New York Times bestseller.  Amazon's reviewers have given it a 4.5/5, which is my 9/10.  So I've decided to read it.  I'm sure I will read it in bits and pieces, and want to share it now.  From the dust jacket:

For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike ― either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike.  Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts.  David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals.  Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.

Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there.  If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time?  If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.

The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society.  This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.  (It also includes a few maps along with 63 pages of notes, 58 pages of bibliography, and an index.  I'm ready to dive in.)

1. In my Monday Musing post, I mused about a book by Gail Godwin, HERE.
2. My subject on Thursday was being "over the hill," HERE. 
3. Friday's Book Beginning was about the first book in a series, HERE.
4. On Saturday, I wrote about getting two inoculations in the same arm, HERE.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Innoculations

Thursday, I got a flu shot and the latest Covid shot.  Trying to decide whether to get both shots in one arm or one in each arm, I did an online search and found (HERE) that it doesn't matter:

"You can save time and money by getting two vaccinations at the same time, and new research finds that it doesn’t really matter which arm or arms the jab goes in."

So I thought about it and asked the person giving me the two shots.  She also said it doesn't matter, so I got both in my left arm (like the person above), hoping to keep my dominant arm pain-free for the next few days.  So far, so good.  It was still hurting yesterday morning, but got better during the day, and I went out to eat with my friend Jane at First Watch and had enough left over for another meal today.