Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday, a fun meme for word nerds hosted by Kathy at bermudaonion.net. Share a word you learned in your reading this week or highlight one of your favorites. Be sure to visit Kathy’s site to learn more interesting vocab.
My word today comes from my current read, And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini.
I’m halfway through the book, and I definitely do not like it as much as Hosseini’s older novel, The Kite Runner. First of all, nobody told me that it is basically a collection of tragic short stories. As each chapter nears its end, I wonder, “How is this one going to end badly?”
However, Hosseini’s writing is undeniably beautiful, even if his subjects are heartbreaking. I’ll write a full review when I finish.
Today’s word comes from the story of a middle-aged man who has returned to America after a trip back to Afghanistan, the land of his youth. His sons are not interested in his stories.
… he is annoyed with their lack of interest, their blithe ignorance of the arbitrary genetic lottery that has granted them their privileged lives.
blithe \’blīth\ adj from Old English blithe, akin to Old High German blidi, meaning joyous; of a happy, lighthearted character or disposition; lacking consideration; heedless
This is one of those words that I read and thought, I should KNOW this one. It’s not even that big! But alas, I had to look it up.
Word Nerd Workout
Use blithe in a sentence. My workout:
While I tried to review the day’s itinerary, my family interrupted with blithe, and frankly, annoying, chatter.
Your turn! Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
Julia
A beautifully written and intricately structured novel. Hosseini’s descriptive powers are amazing. At each turn, I was completely absorbed in the characters and their international environments. It is an emotional story within other emotional stories, artfully woven in a colorful narrative tapestry. The joys and tragedies, the failures and triumphs, the sincerity and irony of the human experience are all here.
What a lovely description of Hosseini’s book! I had thought of a metaphor for the stories – that he weaves a web where characters are connected, but I like your metaphor of the tapestry much better. Thanks for sharing!
I knew this one – there’s a line in a song from Wicked that is “blithe smile/lithe limb/she who’s winsome/she wins him. I had to look up blithe when I learned the lyrics.
The children blithely wolfed down their meal and left the kitchen, leaving their mother seething as she surveyed the carnage.
I’ve been there, Dana, seething in the wreck of a kitchen. And what a cool rhyme and lyric: blithe and lithe. Thanks for sharing!
Been there too…staring at a mess while my daughter blithely dances around the kitchen while periodically checking her email 🙂 Love her to death…! And no, this book was no where near the top of my list either, esp. after reading previous work. But yes, his language is beautiful.
I loved And the Mountains Echoed and need to go back and read his older work.
I was completely charmed by our neighbor’s blithe daughter when she visited over the weekend.
I highly recommend The Kite Runner Kathy. It really taught me a lot about Afghan culture and history. Besides that, it has a great story.
I like blithe and what it means. Perhaps I could change the name of my blog to Blithely Retired.
I like that, Margot!
I knew this one because the local theater guild performed Blythe Spirit by Noel Coward when I was in middle school. I remember it because I had to look it up then.
I blythely asked about her approaching birthday, not realizing that was a sore point.
I’m a huge fan of Hosseini’s novels. I’m interested to see what you think of ‘And the Mountains Echoed’ when you’re finished reading it.
Word nerdy workout: My daughters blithely skip through life, oblivious the wake of destruction that trails behind!