Happy Wednesday — it’s time for some new words! You know how this works – share a few words from your current book that you had to look up, then head over to Bermuda Onion’s Weblog to learn some new ones.

This week, my first words are from Burnedby Thomas Enger. Since this takes place in Norway, I was expecting a few more vocabulary words, but the translation made it pretty seamless, other than the places.

1. Pelargonium – Any of various herbs and shrubs of the genusPelargonium, which includes the geraniums.

“An impressive large pelargonium with pink flowers sits on the windowsill.

2. White Friend – a cigarette, used the way an American might refer to a cigarette as a cancer stick or a coffin nail.

“The small white friend lies there, gasping blue-gray smoke, right next to a puddle.”

Next, I have a few words from Carry the One, a terrific new book from Carol Anshaw. I loved this one and I hope to have the review up this week.

3. Landsmen – a person from the same town, geographical area, region, etc., as another; compatriot.

“Their alliance was deep, formed in the trenches of childhood where they were each other’s landsmen, comrades in strategy and survival, in warding off the contempt of their parents and in protecting their brother.”

4. Eliding – joining together, merging

“Something Virginia Woolf-ish involving tea and conversation and sofas and afternoon eliding into evening, a small lamp needing to be turned on, but left unlit.”