Word of the moment

pa·thos (pths, -thôs)
n.
1. A quality, as of an experience or a work of art, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow.
2. The feeling, as of sympathy or pity, so aroused.

--------------------------------------------------

[Greek, suffering; see kwent(h)- in Indo-European roots.]
__________________________________________________

I am currently reading Glimmer Train Fall 2001 Issue 40 and am finding it rather interesting. When I started reading it I thought I would zip right through it and send it away - because I just can't get rid of a book without reading it first or at least attempting. Many books have gone flying across the room in this fashion but I try my hardest to not damage the books in case some poor soul out there might like that type of writing. However, I know there are a lot of books out there that just aren't my thing so I put a bookcrossing label on it and try to read enough to get some thoughts to make note of on the website. I haven't really read much in the way of short stories so I didn't expect to like this book but no one ever told me about the power a short story can hold. Wow. I am astonished! So many times after reading a line I would think, Wow, what a great thought or What an amazing image! I need to read more by this author! I have a sheet of paper where I started to write down each authors name to look up later but I soon realized that I was listing every one of them. They were nice enough to include a bookmark with that info so that sheet of paper instead ended up torn into many small strips which mark the pages I intend to return to. Some of them include a word I wanted to look up and the word above is one of them. This word was found in an interview of Vikram Chamdra that at first I tried to gloss over....but of course I got trapped in this as well. I think I need to find out more about this Glimmer Train and it's future destinations.

Of course I must say that I don't just bookcross the books I don't like. This book will be a traveling book so that others may find it too and become addicted to Glimmer Train as I did.