Today, I finished an Amelia Peabody Mystery, and here is a random excerpt:

From Letter Collection B

Dearest Lia,

Do you still keep my letters? I suspect you do, though I asked you to destroy them-not only current letters, but the ones I wrote to you a few years ago. You said you liked to reread them when we were apart, because it was like hearing my voice. And I said-I'm sorry for what I said, Lia Darling! I was horrid to you, I was horrid to everyone. You have my permission-formal, written permission-to keep them if you wish. Someday, I may want-I hope I may want-to read them again myself. There was one in particular...I think you know which one.

I'm in a fey mood tonight, as you can probably tell. I've put off writing to you because there is no much I want to say that can't be said. The thought that a stranger-or worse, a person I know-might read these letters is constantly on my mind; it's as if someone were lurking behind the door listening to our private thoughts and confidences.

So I will confine myself to facts.

...........................

Here's some words I needed to brush up on:

Asperity

Duplicitous

Skulduggery

Affectation

Sententious observation

Umbrage

Sardonic look

Expostulated

Turgid prose

Deriding

Clandestine

Demur

Kunefah

Female pulchritude

Scowling visage

Persona non grata

Maelstrom of howling merchants

Tremulous with age

Vacuous, well-bread faces

Picaresque

Skulked

Meeting Ramses’s speculative, shameless curious gaze, she allowed her discreetly carmined lips to curve in a faint smile.

"I must be cruel, only to be kind." What a smug, self-righteous thing to say to someone whose heart you cleft in twain. Hamlet had always struck him as something of a prig.

I didn't even know it was a real word. One meaning is "not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws." That's how I feel - Like I can't explain or understand, and I couldn't accept (you know, there's a difference between accepting and respecting). Which leads to a lovely thought by Emerson: Intoxication is a good excuse for many aberrations. What if intoxication is because of aberrations?!

Now it's on to New Moon. I know Shawen loves this! (I am being sarcastic, hmm, imagine that.)

Speaking of, I shouldn't knock you so hard. Being caressed for an hour was rather nice. You do have mad skills. Toe curling every time. But then you make me mad (vice versa too), and any fuzzy feeling disappears.