My mother and I played word games when I was a little girl, and I am still a puzzle addict today. One of the "games" she taught me was to look at a long word or a short sentence and see how many smaller words I could find. An example would be this sign I sat across from in a public stall; “PLEASE FLUSH!” I found lease, plea, ease, as, us, sh, flu, and lush within those two words! I guarantee you'll never look at a poster in any restroom the same way.
From there, she let me help her with the daily crossword (which, impressively, she did in ink), and we played a lot of Scrabble, which I still love today. We also wrote Limericks and did some hilarious bedtime improv about how my teddy bear, Moe, spent his day. She was a very creative soul.
Now, I am addicted to my morning Wordle conundrum and Connections, another challenging New York Times puzzle. It's perfect for my scattered brain - take sixteen seemingly unrelated words and put them in four categories. Some days, I ace it, and some days, I am completely stumped. And then there's the Spelling Bee. I love that puzzle, too - and that one can last all day!
Here is a my progress through today’s Connections puzzle - solving these is a brain-fizzing challenge!
I managed to get three of the catagories correct, but would have never guessed the Mario World words. But since I got the others, I got this one by default. It just shows there is something for every brain!
I also appreciate the Mirriam-Webster website that gives you a word-a-day, along with some entertaining word trivia and puzzles. I use the app on my phone for instant puzzle gratification. I guess that makes me a Lexophile!
And as a final tribute to my word-loving parents, they instilled a love of reading in me. Partially because I was the youngest (and unexpected) of three children and the only child in the house from age 8. I was allowed to join them in reading our books at the dinner table. It felt very grown-up.
Meanwhile, I have made a Scrabble Monster out of Michael. When we first met almost 50 years ago, he didn't play games or do puzzles. Over time, I coaxed him into playing Scrabble with me. He lamented he would never be good at it, but now we play at least once a week, and he often reaches scores of 400 and more!
Now we play Backgammon, Cribbage, Rummikub, and Dominoes as well, and I haul these around in travel-size sets when we are on the road. But here's the best part - Michael keeps running spreadsheets of our scores for all these games! He started when we set off on our Senior Nomad travels over ten years ago! He can tell you when we played, where we played, and our scores. And, good news for our marriage: we are almost neck and neck in all five games. I just hope he isn't cooking the books!
Speaking of books. 2023 was a year when we started more books than we finished. That's not like us. I can't put my finger on why, but we both seemed to be seeking "that perfect next book" and not succeeding. So we moved away from Best Sellers and the NYT lists and just read what interested us. Usually, turning to Goodreads for recommendations. For me, that was books about where we were traveling as well as friends and family recommendations. For Michael, it was continuing to read novels about strong female protagonists, medical insights, and historical non-fiction about the unraveling of the Soviet Union. We also had a challenging travel schedule ahead of us, so we had our noses stuck in guidebooks on Egypt, India, Oman, Turkmenistan, and beyond.
But, no surprise here, a book we both loved was The Dictionary of Lost Words. It is a captivating story set in Oxford, England, in the 19th century, where a young, motherless girl named Esme spends her days tucked under a work table where her adoptive father leads a team of lexicographers attempting to create the first Oxford Dictionary. Esme secretly collects slips of paper with words that have been discarded. She uses these words to make sense of her world and, ultimately, reveal why many words concerning women were excluded.
I also give high marks to this book cover
Two books that made both of our lists are The Girl in His Shadow and The Surgeon's Daughter by Audrey Blake. Both books deal with a young woman raised by a surgeon who adopted her in the mid-1800s. She is actively involved in autopsies, dissections, and other lab-related activities that were, in fact, forbidden by law for women to perform. Things get complicated when her father takes on an assistant who is appalled by her involvement. Both books are a fascinating look at the era's medical practices, and a delightful love story weaves throughout both books.
Our Senior Nomads Facebook Group has grown to over 10,500 members! It is an excellent resource for full-time travelers and those who hope to become nomadic someday. Recently, a member asked for resources to find books about destinations where they would be traveling, and of course, many people jumped in with recommendations. Here are some of those suggestions: Seattle’s famous librarian, Nancy Pearl, has a book called Book Lust to Go that recommends travel-related books, a member’s blog page has their top-rated books on Amazon, another member recommended tripfiction.com , and there is a Senior Nomads Community page on Goodreads where our Facebook members share their favorites.
If you want to explore AI as a source, download ChatGPT, and try this prompt: “I’m going to Istanbul, Turkye, and I would like to read non-fiction books set in that city. What do you recommend?” You will get a nice list of books. Then, you can refine your search by asking, “Are there any mystery novels (or whatever genre you prefer) set in Istanbul?” You’ll be amazed at the answers!
Santa brought us new Kindles for Christmas! We are sitting on the sofa where we often house-sit in Seattle when our good friends travel over the holidays. As you can see … we are surrounded by books!
Late breaking addition to this blog! I was just on a walk listening to NPR’s Planet Money Podcast and they featured this ten minute interview with Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, that had me laughing like a lunatic. I include it because she is a puzzle and game lover, too. Definitely Worth a listen.
Drum Roll… And now, for the books. that Michael and I felt were the best we read last year.
Our Favorite Books of 2023
Michael’s List
Women in White Coats - How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine - Olivia Campbell
The Girl in His Shadow & The Surgeon’s Daughter - Audrey Blake
The Premonition - A Pandemic Story - Michael Lewis
Bloomsbury Girls - Natalie Jenner (favorite)
The Dictionary of Lost Words - Pip Williams
The Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts & Harrimans: A Story of Love and War - Catherine Katz
The Dressmakers of Prospect Heights - Kitty Zeldis
A Secret Kept - Tatiana de Rosnay
Lady Clementine - Marie Benedict
Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science - Atul Gawande
Debbie’s List
Horse - Geraldine Brooks (favorite)
Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
The Bee Sting - Paul Murray
The Covenant of Water - Abraham Veghese (runner-up favorite)
The Henna Artist - Alka Joshi
Yellowface - R.F. Kuang
The Girl in His Shadow & The Surgeon’s Daughter - Audrey Blake
The Narrowboat Summer - Anne Youngson
The Dictionary of Lost Words - Pip Williams
Shrines of Gaiety & Transcription - Kate Atkinson
Foster - Claire Keegan
We wish you happy travels and great reads in 2024. Thanks for following along!
Debbie and Michael Campbell, The Senior Nomads