I’ve tried — and given up on — numerous reading plans over the years. All those “challenges” that seem to pop up around the blogosphere that sound so enticing? Now I just ignore those posts, much as I’d love to read six non-fiction books this year, twelve books by authors I never heard of, three books in genres I don’t like, five books in translation, ten Booker prize-winners…
Category Archives: Public Library
A delicious book
Yesterday being the kids’ last day of school, and a half-day at that, we kicked off our summer vacation with — what else? — a trip to the library. We signed up for the summer reading program. Joey, my oldest, is officially a middle-schooler now, which meant that he qualified for the teen program. (“But he’s only 11,” I wailed. The librarian shook her head sympathetically, but insisted that for summer reading program purposes my son was now a teen.)
Anyway, Lena, my second third grader, was in desperate need of Oz books. While she browsed among the Baums I moseyed a little farther down the aisle and happened upon the Babbits, the Natalie Babbits, and among them was The Search for Delicious. I immediately snatched it off the shelf and slipped it in the middle of Lena’s stack. My plan was just to leave it there for her to find and read on her own but as soon as we got home I succumbed to temptation. I sat Daniel down in front of the latest PMK video (remember his obsession?), retrieved the book from Lena’s stack, and finished it in time for dinner.
Disappointed
My Penguin Classics project is proceeding ve-e-e-e-ry slowly. I requested La Regenta, by Leopoldo Alas, via interlibrary loan. It took forever, but it finally came, all the way from Dallas! (Written by Alas, sent from Dallas. :) ) And you know what? They only let me have it for three weeks, and they refused to renew. Why they bothered to send it at all, I do not know. No one could read this thing in three weeks. La Regenta is a 19th century Spanish novel over 700 pages long. The first fifty pages were intriguing, as was the description in the Penguin book (“an intelligent woman’s quest for fulfillment through marriage, adultery, and religion”). I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and buy it. Hey, wait! Chrismubirthdaykah is less than two months away! But I don’t want to wait that long. It’s been ages since the last Penguin Classic and there’s fun stuff coming up after this one. After Alas comes Alcott, and then Horatio Alger, and then, whoa! Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis, one of the funniest books ever and long overdue for a re-read.
Rainy day
So, all the kids are at school this morning and I have the house to myself. I have a ton of stuff to do: lay out a newsletter, make some phone calls, write up a contract, finish a draft website, start work on a flyer. However, it is pouring, pouring rain, and judging by my dog’s frantic panting, there’s thunder in the offing. Therefore I really shouldn’t work on my computer because even though it’s plugged into a surge protector, well, you never know.
What else has been keeping me busy
I’ve been reading some, though not as much as I’d like. Here’s a rundown:
Penguin Classic: I only got halfway through Le Grand Meaulnes before I had to return it. It was an ILL and it came all the way from Ripon College in Wisconsin, no possibility of renewing it. Okay, this is an admittedly obscure title, but jeez, it’s a Penguin Classic, it’s not exactly out of print. And there was no copy closer to Ann Arbor MI than Ripon? Well, anyway. I sort of enjoyed the half that I read, but I was definitely handicapped by my lack of familiarity with the customs & mores of late 19th century rural France. There were a lot of descriptions of clothes that I’m sure were significant, but the significance escaped me entirely. For example, all the guys were wearing smocks. Smocks. Now I know they weren’t wearing oversized men’s shirts, backwards, with the sleeves cut off at the elbows. I know they weren’t fingerpainting. But there’s got to be some reason why these smocks (?) were mentioned so frequently. Honestly, I never thought I’d say this about any novel, but this one could have used some footnotes, or at least an introduction. Still, I’d like to go back and finish it some day. Despite the smocks, it was a vivid portrait of adolescent boys, coming of age, friendship, first love, etc. And, to answer your burning question, Meaulnes rhymes with moan, and it’s the main character’s name.
Handle with care
I received the joyful news that an ILL book I’d ordered so long ago that I almost forgot about it had finally arrived. It was Kate’s recommendation: The Sacrifice, by Adele Wiseman. It came from the library of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI — the farthest distance yet that I’ve had an ILL book come from.
Lately
This is the reason I’ve been able to get so much reading done lately. Can you tell? It’s a sandbox filled with water. My god, it keeps him happy for hours at a time. Hours, I said. On nice days, anyway. So I just get out a lawn chair and sit there with my book while he splashes and digs and fills and empties and swirls.
