This week’s Top Ten Theme over at ThatArtsyReaderGirl is recent additions to our bookshelves. Here are ten books I got for my bookshelf (some of them for my virtual bookshelf); I chose to exclude books received for review or for the Cybils awards late last year. The best part of it is, that while the books adorn my bookshelves (real and virtual), at least half of them were picked out by my teens (19 and almost-16!); and that certainly makes me happy!

In addition (unintended additional use of the word, oops!) to the books I acquired most recently, I am also listing a few words I learned over the last week. Thanks to Deb at Readerbuzz for giving me the gentle push to join in on Wondrous Words Wednesday once again (I used to regularly, once upon a time).

Additions to My Bookshelf: Beaming Bibliophile

Physical Books

• Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket. My now teens devoured his A Series of Unfortunate Events years ago; and I am yet to read his books (though I watched the various versions based on A Series…). Maybe I will get started with this one?
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. I read most of the essays (maybe all by now) in her book Slouching Towards Bethlehem, and I know I will love this just as much as I did Slouching… My son devoured “The Year…” over a weekend just before the new year dawned. He was amazed by her writing, and I hope to get more of his thoughts on the book to share with you here.
• Insomnia by Stephen King. I used to think I had never read books by King until I realized that it was not the case. In fact, I have read two books by him – “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” as well as almost all of his On Writing (in bits and pieces though). But I am yet to read any of his horror novels. This one was another of those “my-teen” picks at a favorite local used bookstore.
• Good Poems for Hard Times edited by Garrison Keillor
• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. My son read it, loved it, and left it on my bookshelf for me to read. I am yet to get to it!

eBooks

• Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany by Jane Mount. I added this book to my Bookish Wishes post last year, and now that wish is fulfilled!
• Nikola Tesla: Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century by Sean Patrick. Tesla’s story, whenever and wherever I have read snippets of it, is truly fascinating. So I know this is a book I will enjoy reading.
• The Art of X-Ray Reading: How the Secrets of 25 Great Works of Literature Will Improve Your Writing by Roy Peter Clark. Simply put, this is just one of those books I need to read.
• The Keeper of Happy Endings by Barbara Davis. The title, the cover, and the description all ensured its addition to my library.
• The Last Rose of Shanghai: A Novel by Weina Dai Randel. Another historical fiction set in the 1940s (I seem to read many books in that period), and the unique setting for this one compared to others I have read before led me to want this book.

Additions to My Vocabulary –: Laughing Logophile (well, Happy, I mean!)

Most often when I encounter a new word in my reading, I understand it by context, and keep reading along. Sometimes, I wonder if I should pause and actually confirm I understood it correctly but since the word seems to make sense where it is, I move on.

This week, I chanced upon a few such words, and decided to check their meaning. And I am glad I did so, at least for a couple of them. While my assumed contextual meanings seemed to fit, and might have worked as well, they were not the correct definitions! Does this mean that many stories actually took on a whole other meaning for me than for others who either knew those words or stopped to find out their meanings? Well, I will never know!!

Anyways, here are some of those words (and where I found them):

• chalcedony (n): a microcrystalline type of quartz occurring in several different forms, including onyx, agate, and jasper.

This though was something altogether different. This was clean and clinical. It was crystal and chalcedony. – from the anthology A Universe of Wishes edited by Dhonielle Clayton

• monticule (n): a small mountain or hill

Returning from a family holiday in Brittany and Normandy in September 1864, Alfred Tennyson discovered ‘a whole monticule of letters and poems on my drawing room table’. – from Writers’ Letters collected by Michael Bird and Orlando Bird

• mooniness (n): The quality or condition of being moony; specifically wistfulness, listlessness, dreamy distraction.

“Especially at this day, the volume is welcome, as an antidote to the mooniness of some dreamers — who are merely dreamers — ‘Yet who the devel ain’t a dreamer?'” – from Writers’ Letters collected by Michael Bird and Orlando Bird

• verboten (adj): forbidden, especially by an authority.

Going into the Forbidden Forest is absolutely verboten – hence the “Forbidden” in its name. – from Absurd Words by Tara Lazar

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered, or spotlight words you love.  Feel free to get creative! It was first created by Kathy over at Bermuda Onion and is now hosted at Elza Reads.

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, have you read any of the listed books? Have you encountered the words I talk about today? Any interesting new words you found and would love to use? What are the recent additions to your bookshelf and vocabulary?