# 12 tremendous

Today's word in the Dictionary Project is "tremendous". It is defined as:

adj.awe-inspiring; huge (colloq); prodigious, extraordinary, very good (slang)

I thought I would choose a few favourites to illustrate this and tell you a little about each of them.

I love the film Ed Wood. It is about the film director of the same name who is known for directing some of Hollywood's worst films. He is also known as a pretty decent guy. Johnny Depp plays Ed Wood and Martin Landau plays Bela Lugosi who is another key character. Martin Landau very deservedly got an Oscar for this role and so did the make up artist who contributed to creating the Bela Lugosi character. It is a wonderful film which is funny and touching and full of quirky characters who make up Ed Wood's friends.

Next we have Brian Keenan's An Evil Cradling. I read this book some years ago. Brian Keenan was held hostage with John McCarthy for 4 and a half years in Beirut. This book describes this captivity and the banter and humour that enabled them to survive dreadful conditions and beatings. I found it inspiring and moving because part of how Brian Keenan survived was by keeping the humanity of his captors in mind. He went through extreme circumstances and yet maintains a perspective that I admired. I was gripped by this book and very moved.

I have also included Between Extremes, not because it had such an impact on me as book in itself, but because it makes a wonderful sequel to An Evil Cradling. Part of the men's survival tactics including travel fantasies about going to Chile and about riding yaks in Patagonia. Five years after they are released they go and do this. Between Extremes is about their travel.

Next book is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.. I read the first paragraph of this book while in a bookshop and was gripped. The book did not disappoint. It is written from the perspective of a child who has Asperger's Syndrome. It is warm, funny and touching and very well written. It's one of those books which can be read in a sitting.

Last but not least we have Boris Akunin's The Winter Queen. I enjoy crime fiction. Boris Akunin's books are very distinctive novels in the crime genre. His protagonist is Erast Fandorin. The Winter Queen is the first of nine books published in Russia. They have been translated one by one into English. I don't think we have all 9 yet and I must get back to reading them. They are beautifully written and translated. You do not need to be a fan of crime fiction to enjoy these books.

I hope you've enjoyed a wander through some of what I think of when I use the word tremendous. Many thanks to all for the response to my interpretations of words and all of your encouraging and often very funny comments. Happy Tuesday!

Origins of the Dictionary Project
I took the baton from Banana Blips on the Dictionary Project. This was initiated by Scattered Polaroids who is currently working on another great project.??If you follow the links above you will see how they both introduced the project and be at the beginning of their entries. The idea is to select a word randomly from the dictionary each day and illustrate it in your blip.