Yvonne…
1. STEARINE
Whilst researching a little more about this book as I was preparing a series of promotional posts, I discovered that ‘Price’s Candle Factory‘ was indeed a genuine employer, with a long history and good employment record. This word comes not from the book itself, but from the company history page on Price’s website.
In the 1820’s a French chemist, Chevreuil, had published his researches into fatty acids. By mixing a strong alkali with vegetable or animal fats he discovered that the solution separated into liquid and solid components. This technique known as ‘saponification’, was already used by soap makers, but nobody had employed it for candle manufacture. William Wilson’s son, George, experimented with this process; by adding a further distillation using a vacuum or high pressure steam he improved Chevreuil’s basic chemistry. Price’s were now able to refine tallow and vegetable oils to produce a harder, pure white fat known as stearine. Candles made from this burned brightly without smoke or smell. The same chemistry could also be applied to a range of unsavoury raw materials that had previously been unusable – skin fat, bone fat, fish oil and industrial waste greases could all be rendered into hard white candles.
STEARINE –
- Also called: tristearin a colourless crystalline ester of glycerol and stearic acid, present in fats and used in soap and candles; glycerol tristearate; glycerol trioctadecanoate. Formula: (C 17 H 35 COO) 3 C 3 H 5.
- Another name for stearic acid, especially a commercial grade containing other fatty acids.
- Fat in its solid form.
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I am almost too ashamed to feature this amazing work of literary fiction, as I finished reading it so long ago and have yet to offer the author the courtesy of a review. If you have the chance, this book does come highly recommended and is well worth the reading time.
2. EPISTEMOLOGY
You must not get bogged down with abstract philosophies. Epistemology is a dead end…
EPISTEMOLOGY –
The theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.
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3. QUOTIDIAN
The trade off was the litter-strewn streets, the quotidian smell of piss in the stairwells, blasts of loud music from partying neighbours and the unsightly locale
QUOTIDIAN –
Of or occurring every day; daily.
Ordinary or everyday; mundane.
(Medicine) Denoting the malignant form of malaria.
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WONDROUS WORDS WEDNESDAY
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a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we have encountered in our reading. It is hosted by Kathy, over at ‘BermudaOnion’s Weblog’. You can either stop by and leave a link to your own ‘mystery’ words of the week, or just browse the eclectic mix of words that others have discovered, there is always a great selection.
Don’t forget that Kathy and the rest of us, all love to read your comments as well, so that we can visit and share your words of the week!
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The only one of those words I’d heard of was ‘quotidian’ but I don’t think I could’ve told you what it meant precisely. I find that with a lot of words, you have a vague idea of what they mean but can’t put it into words. Will look into The Maestro, The Magistrate and The Mathematician as it looks interesting.
I know that you often stop by Kelly’s blog, and she read ‘The Magistrate …’ at about the same time as I did. However unlike me, she also managed to review it, so if you want an honest opinion about it, then check out her post, although personally, I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it very thought provoking.
As I said to our WWW host, Kathy, the only way I might have been able to even guess at the true meaning of quotidian, would have been to remember about ‘maintaining the status quo’, but that’s quite a tenuous link for sure!
Sometimes I will guess at the meaning of a new to me word, but after reading on for a few lines, I will always find myself stopping to actually check out the definition. Likewise, if I hear a new to me word on the television, I will always rush to jot it down to check it out later. I hate not knowing or understanding what a word means!
I hope that all is well with you and thanks for stopping by 🙂
I had forgotten about The Maestro, The Magistrate & the Mathematician! I had to go back and read my review (from well over two years ago) to remember what I thought about it. And while the words looked familiar, I didn’t remember the definitions.
Good choices this time, Yvonne.
I read this one back about the time you did and to be quite honest, I though I had reviewed it at the time – but you know what thought did!!
I am determined to get up together with posts I owe some very patient authors, but meanwhile this seemed like a good way to keep people talking about the book.
I think I am really going to enjoy ‘The Candle Factory Girl’ and found the Price’s Candle history site so very interesting.
Enjoy the rest of your week 🙂
I knew quotidian from our time in France. There’s a restaurant in the US called Le Pain Quotidien that has helped me remember it.
Epistemology sounds way too complicated for me.
Thanks for playing along!
I suppose the way I might remember this word and its meaning, is to think of ‘maintaining the status quo’.
I checked out your lovely bakery / restaurant chain and they have now reached the shores of the UK (well London and Oxford to be precise). As Oxford is not too far away from us and we do visit occasionally – never say never that we may one day get to try the delicious sounding food.
My thoughts about Epistemology are pretty much the same as your own, so perhaps the author best sums it up himself, when he says …
“Epistemology is a dead end…” 🙂
Thanks for hosting WWW, it really is a great meme and I wish that more people knew about it, as there are just so many words out there worth sharing 🙂
Interesting words and all new to me. Interesting about what they use to make candles.
The Huchu books look unique also, thanks for sharing. I hope you are enjoying your weekend!
I have read a couple of books by Tendai Huchu now and have thoroughly enjoyed them both. In some respects his style of writing borders on the edge of literary fiction, but there is enough of a storyline and some lovely humorous moments to give them universal appeal.
The entire article about the history of Price’s Candle Factory’ was so interesting, that I wound up by reading the entire piece and now I can’t wait to relate those facts to the storyline of the book, when it gets to the top of my TBR pile!
Thanks for the lovely comment and I am pleased that you enjoyed the post 🙂
New words to me!
The Candle Factory Girl sounds like a book my Mum would read. I’ll have to see if she’s got it or not.
I would be surprised if your mum hasn’t read at least a couple of Tania’s previous books, as she has been a regularly contributing author since 2001
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/tania-crosse/
I really like words the best, that I can include in everyday conversation, but I think that ‘quotidian’ is just about the only one which fits the bill this time!
Thanks for checking out my new words and enjoy what is left of the weekend 🙂