Sunday Musings: To grok is divine
Sundays are my reading and writing days (but no ‘rithmatic, because I just don’t math, okay?). If I’m really lucky, hubby will bring me breakfast in bed, or at least a cup of tea, while I snuggle up in my PJs, reading, writing, or musing about both. How do you spend your (lazy) Sundays?
CURRENTLY READING
Naomi Foyle’s Astra has such a wonderfully vivid style, and I love the time she spends painting her world—especially since she’s doing so through the eyes of a very young child. Still, I’m looking forward to the story moving on from this point, as I don’t yet know what the purpose of all this is; what is the conflict/drama?
I’m taking a break from Mark Lawrence’s King of Thorns audiobook to grok… well… “grok,” which was Dictionary.com’s July 10th Word of the Day.
Meaning “to understand,” I learned of the word from a friend, but hadn’t put much thought into reading the source material. After sharing it on Google+, I was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of people were familiar with the term, as well as the book, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein, while others simply liked the word, like I did, and incorporated it into their vocabulary. Now that I’m listening to the audiobook, I am amused to find that “grok” is used constantly—initially by the main character, the man from Mars—but its use is not annoying. As Valentine Michael Smith attempts to grok all the different and difficult aspects of earth life, it’s fun and fascinating to grok humanity, in the process.
I’m also reading Stranger in a Strange Land as part of my newest Worlds Without End reading challenge, My Bucket List. As if I didn’t have enough reading challenges at WWE, but I’m still working through all those books beside my bed, including the ones I’ve added to this list, which focuses on older, influential writers in the speculative fiction genre.
BOOKISH NEWS
Oh I’ve seen the announcement for Amazon’s new Kindle Unlimited. Lots of authors and readers are sounding off for better or worse, but I’ve mostly been ignoring the chatter. Why? Well because (A) $9.99 per month for a not so unlimited selection doesn’t sound like much of a deal to me. (B) I have more than enough books on my library wish list, and, between that and the books I already own, I am happily supplied for a long time. And (C) I’m Canadian. The deal doesn’t work for me anyway.
WRITERY THINGS
I’m working on a few stories, editing a few others, distracted by a few more. Maybe one day I will actually focus on one of these things and get them published. In the mean time, I will amuse myself with my newest writer distraction, The Worst Muse:
Corgis are hot these days, right? What about, like, werecorgis? Edgy, urban werecorgis looking for love in all the wrong places.
— The Worst Muse (@WorstMuse) July 7, 201
FINAL THOUGHTS
The BiblioSanctum 
The word “Grok” really reminds me of orcs and trolls. And Grok even rhymes with orc. 😀 Kidding aside, thank you for sharing this with us. I never knew that Grok is actually a word. It really sounds like it’s taken from Tolkien’s dictionary.
How are you getting along with Mark Lawrence’s King of Thorns? I’m still finding time to finish the third book.
Have a good day ahead!
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It’s an ugly kind of word for me. I’m not fond of hard consonants. But now that I know what it means, I love it and am using it or thinking it all the time and love that Dictionary.com recognizes it. Such a great word and a great book!
I love Jorg and am looking forward to getting back to him. I only paused because Stranger in a Strange Land is a library book so my read time was limited.
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LOL, that last one 😉
Grok, I have heard it somewhere i think, but did not know the meaning
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Now you grok its meaning. 😉
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I didn’t know about Grok I confess. Didn’t know your books either…
Sorry if I’m not that much around I’m not at home until next week
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Damn, Canadians screwed over again. But oh well, I don’t think you’re missing too much with Kindle Unlimited. I kinda looked into it and browsed the library…it’s an interesting idea but I wasn’t blown away or that impressed with the model. And like you said, those of us with so many books on hand already waiting to be read will probably find little to benefit from this.
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I’m not sure who really does get value out of it, considering the prices that Amazon has for book deals anyway? Unless you read really quickly and care about the limited selection available. I don’t know. But I don’t care because I am Canadian ;P
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I’m definitely ignoring the Kindle Unlimited, because while I read more than $10/month worth of books, they are probably not books that would be available with this deal. I’m so unimpressed with their Kindle Lending Library and Prime offerings, that I expect more of the same with Unlimited. But, maybe some readers out there are not as choosey as I am. Also, I LOVE lazy mornings reading in bed! 🙂
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Prime is even more insulting for me as a Canadian. At least Kindle Unlimited just tells me it’s not available. Prime just offers me free shipping. Gee thanks for coming out, Amazon.
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I’m not interested in that Kindle unlimited deal either. Especially since most of those books are kindle select books (small or indie, self pub books)
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Hopefully it will be advantageous to those authors at least. But again, I buy those indie books anyway because they are usually inexpensive. I just don’t see the advantage to Kindle Unlimited.
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And this is why I love reading blogs – so that I can know these things. Now I can act all superior like I always really knew what grok meant! thank you 😀
Yeah, not loving the sound of that kindle deal – it’s like the deal that wasn’t really a deal – sounds like a book title right there.
Lynn 😀
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That meme killed me. I totally snorted!
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