MY READER'S BLOCK: GAD Mystery Word of the Day

SCAM artist alert

Apparently there is someone calling themself "Luigi Calloway" out there who is claiming to be associated with the Mount TBR Reading Challenge. He is contacting authors and telling them if they pay him, then their books will be used for the challenge. It's possible he's also telling people they must pay to participate in any way. Please know that there is absolutely no charge associated in any way with this reading challenge and that this person does not represent me or anything associated with my blog. There will NEVER be a reason for anyone to have to pay for participation in any way for any of my challenges. If only people who exert this much time and effort on scamming people would put it into something worthwhile....like reading their own books!

Sunday, January 18, 2026

GAD Mystery Word of the Day

My new bookish meme for 2026: the Golden Age of Detection (GAD) Mystery Word of the Day. Whenever I find a word that I'm unfamiliar with--or shall we say not absolutely confident I know the exact meaning of, I'm going to actually take time to look it up and share it with mystery-lovers everywhere. 😊

Today's GAD Mystery Word of the Day is bole (noun): main woody trunk of a tree--from its base up to the first branches.

Between the boles bordering the main walk the earth was dry and flaky with the leaf-mold of centuries. (Shadows Before by Dorothy Bowers)

From the context, I was expecting it to be a type of tree (other types had been named previously), not what I consider to just be the the trunk of the tree.