Thursday Thirteen
I've seen the "Thursday Thirteen" meme on a number of sites recently, so I thought I'd give it a try myself.
13 Things I Didn't Know Before I Read Diana Gabaldon's Books
1) I didn't know that there had been Scottish settlers in colonial North Carolina, let alone that they were so influential.
2) I'd heard of Stonehenge, of course, but I had no idea that there were stone circles elsewhere in the world.
3) I knew nothing at all about Scottish history before I read these books. "Culloden", to me, was a brand of water faucet I'd seen advertised on TV, and nothing more.
4) Mammoths roaming around the mountains of what would someday become western North Carolina? I had no idea. (And frankly, it's still pretty mind-boggling to me.)
5) I didn't know that I could come to appreciate, let alone be addicted to, audiobooks. I've been a voracious reader all my life, but never listened to audiobooks except on long car trips, until I found the OUTLANDER unabridged CDs. Davina Porter's readings are just wonderful!
6) I had no idea that the Compuserve Books and Writers Forum existed. Finding that online community has changed my life, and I am not exaggerating when I say that.
7) I'd never heard of a great many of the strange and unusual words Diana has used in her books: "raillery", "niff", "chisping", "coccygodynia", and "poltroon", to name just a few of my favorites. These books have done wonders for my vocabulary!
8) The whole concept of the "fiery cross", and how it relates to the KKK, was completely new to me....
9) ....as was the "hanged men's grease" mentioned in DRAGONFLY. <shudder>
10) I wasn't aware that anybody in Scotland spoke Gaelic.
11) I didn't know that wolf-dog crossbreeding was possible, let alone that people could keep them as pets.
12) I knew nothing whatever about the lifestyles of gay men in 18th century London.
13) And finally...it would never have occurred to me that best-selling authors are people too. <g> Diana is remarkably down-to-earth and easy to talk to online, once you get over the fact that you are talking to a famous author.
I still have a lot of trouble with Time travel. Just can't seem to ' make it fit ' into my poor brain. IE...Jamie's ghost. ( holding head )
Haven't posted for a while. Interesting list.
I can say that I did know many of these things before reading Outlander, as I have always loved to read historical fiction.
#5, #6, #9 #12 no, I didn't know these.
#7 I knew coccygodynia the minute I read it in Outlander saga, as I am a medical transcriptionist and that word appeared now and then in dictation. LOL.The rest were new to me, had to look them up.
#13. Diana sent me her hand signed bookmarks-- signed to my name when I wrote her a letter. No many authors would do that! Luv ya, Diana G!
Shamrock
Yeah, well, you see what I mean now about that #13, don't you? I'm enjoying your posts on Compuserve quite a bit. There's no doubt that it's a thrill to get a response back from Diana, especially the first few times.
Karen
I treasure my set of autographed hardcovers (ordered from the Poisoned Pen bookstore a little over a year ago, and inscribed to me) for just that reason. I use them as my reference set -- not for reading, just to look things up when I need to find a particular quote. I figure that way they'll stay in good condition longer.
Karen
I have a question for you about the autographed hardcovers from Poisoned Pen. When I have looked on the site I can't seem to understand what the price of the autographed set. I have looked under the Autographed Section. There are a lot of different prices for the same title. Only a few are labelled signed. Is there somewhere on the site where an entire autographed set can be ordered. Is there a price for the entire set? Or, if you don't mind me asking, what did you pay for your set?
Thanks for any assistance you can provide.
Theresa
At the time I ordered mine (this was January 2008), the Poisoned Pen bookstore was selling sets of all six OUTLANDER hardcovers for $28 per book, or $168 total. But I just went on their site and looked, and I see what you mean, the set I bought doesn't seem to be available.
I think your best bet is to contact the Poisoned Pen by phone or e-mail, and ask. The people there seem very friendly and extremely knowledgeable about Diana's books. I'm sure they would be able to help you out.
Good luck!
Karen
Aw, thanks. Ditto, dear!
Kristina
medical transcriptionist