Neither of us read any pages today. Well, I read a few pages of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, just enough to know there's no way I want to commit to all 500+ pages of that right now. It is still on my list of books to read, but it really wasn't something I felt like delving into just yet. So then I went about deciding what I would read next. Ultimately, I chose The Road. At 287 pages it's so close to counting as its own entry in the duel, but not quite. Eh, it will get entry 13b out of the way. Plus I'm really excited to read it! Apparently there was a movie of this one, but I never saw it. So the book will be an experience entirely its own, just the way I like it.
But that's for tomorrow. For now, it is time to recharge the batteries so we can make it through another work day and then enjoy the weekend!
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
I want my money back
Pages read today: 123 for Meredith, 0 for Ilya
Well, I found Son, the final installment in the Giver series, to be quite a let down. I was so disappointed, as I had thoroughly enjoyed all 3 of the other books leading up to this one. It's late now, no time for a full-fledged review but I will post something this weekend about my experience and opinion of this series.
I hope everyone is having a good week! The weekend is almost here!
Well, I found Son, the final installment in the Giver series, to be quite a let down. I was so disappointed, as I had thoroughly enjoyed all 3 of the other books leading up to this one. It's late now, no time for a full-fledged review but I will post something this weekend about my experience and opinion of this series.
I hope everyone is having a good week! The weekend is almost here!
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
All good (and not-so-good) things must come to an end
Pages read today: 232 for Meredith (86 of Messenger, 146 of Son), 78 for Ilya
The weekend went by too fast! For me, it was a mix of fun and not-as-fun busy. My overtime was a half day yesterday and then the rest of my time has been spent cooking up food for the week (and beyond) and doing laundry. I really enjoy cooking, especially when trying out new recipes (which is what I was doing this weekend). But man, I do NOT enjoy all the rounds of dishes! The end results were all great, though! And this is really the only way for me to make homemade meals for us (doing them up over the weekend). Between our schedules and only having the one car, we don't end up getting home until at least 6:30, usually 6:45, and then by the time we wash our food containers from work and so forth, the last thing I feel like doing is making a big meal (not to mention I don't want to eat as late as that would end up being). I also managed to get in a good amount of reading time in between things while Ilya worked. For him it was an all non-fun, work busy weekend. On the upside, that means more money to throw on our debt! But I think he definitely feels like he needs a weekend to recover from his weekend.
I'm now on the final installment in the Giver series, if they're even really considered that (Gathering Blue and Messenger, at least, were actually called "companions" to The Giver...whatever that means). All of the books have really captivated me and made me want to keep going to find out what will ultimately happen. There have definitely been some things I didn't love about the last 2, but overall I have found them all to be really good reads. I'm enjoying how Son so far is directly tying into The Giver, providing a view of that same community/world but from a different perspective, and am curious to see how it might do the same with Gathering Blue and/or Messenger.
Also, I was notified today that the e-book of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is now available for me to borrow from the library. I downloaded it onto my nook (via the kindle app) thinking that might be my next read. I can't for the life of me, though, figure out how to make it show me progress at the bottom in terms of what page I am on out of the entire book! It will show the percentage of the entire book I have completed, and the page of the current chapter I am on, but that's it. So I will just have to figure out a different way of updating my progress on here when I read that one.
But it's late now and Gizmo is indicating a need to play, so I am off to perform my good dog owner duties. (I mean, how could I possibly say no to this face?!)
The weekend went by too fast! For me, it was a mix of fun and not-as-fun busy. My overtime was a half day yesterday and then the rest of my time has been spent cooking up food for the week (and beyond) and doing laundry. I really enjoy cooking, especially when trying out new recipes (which is what I was doing this weekend). But man, I do NOT enjoy all the rounds of dishes! The end results were all great, though! And this is really the only way for me to make homemade meals for us (doing them up over the weekend). Between our schedules and only having the one car, we don't end up getting home until at least 6:30, usually 6:45, and then by the time we wash our food containers from work and so forth, the last thing I feel like doing is making a big meal (not to mention I don't want to eat as late as that would end up being). I also managed to get in a good amount of reading time in between things while Ilya worked. For him it was an all non-fun, work busy weekend. On the upside, that means more money to throw on our debt! But I think he definitely feels like he needs a weekend to recover from his weekend.
I'm now on the final installment in the Giver series, if they're even really considered that (Gathering Blue and Messenger, at least, were actually called "companions" to The Giver...whatever that means). All of the books have really captivated me and made me want to keep going to find out what will ultimately happen. There have definitely been some things I didn't love about the last 2, but overall I have found them all to be really good reads. I'm enjoying how Son so far is directly tying into The Giver, providing a view of that same community/world but from a different perspective, and am curious to see how it might do the same with Gathering Blue and/or Messenger.
Also, I was notified today that the e-book of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is now available for me to borrow from the library. I downloaded it onto my nook (via the kindle app) thinking that might be my next read. I can't for the life of me, though, figure out how to make it show me progress at the bottom in terms of what page I am on out of the entire book! It will show the percentage of the entire book I have completed, and the page of the current chapter I am on, but that's it. So I will just have to figure out a different way of updating my progress on here when I read that one.
But it's late now and Gizmo is indicating a need to play, so I am off to perform my good dog owner duties. (I mean, how could I possibly say no to this face?!)
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Busy little bees
We have both been reading soradically the past few days (nothing of real substance) but didn't find time to update until tonight, so we just updated our total progress on the left side of the blog rather than also listing the number of pages read today.
We have both been working some overtime (Ilya is working tons!), including a good chunk of the day today. I spent most of the rest of today cooking up food for us for throughout the week (made some really yummy sesame chicken lo mein with peanut sauce and tried a new recipe from Pinterest for apples, sweet potatoes and chicken in the slow cooker) and then we both fell asleep reading. Now here I am updating before we officially turn in for the night so we don't go too long without sharing our progress!
Alas, we are quite tired and Ilya has to work more tomorrow while I do our laundry, clean and finish the rest of the food for the week. So it is time to head off to sleepyland. Hopefully we will be able to read tomorrow before bedtime so we won't fall asleep!
We have both been working some overtime (Ilya is working tons!), including a good chunk of the day today. I spent most of the rest of today cooking up food for us for throughout the week (made some really yummy sesame chicken lo mein with peanut sauce and tried a new recipe from Pinterest for apples, sweet potatoes and chicken in the slow cooker) and then we both fell asleep reading. Now here I am updating before we officially turn in for the night so we don't go too long without sharing our progress!
Alas, we are quite tired and Ilya has to work more tomorrow while I do our laundry, clean and finish the rest of the food for the week. So it is time to head off to sleepyland. Hopefully we will be able to read tomorrow before bedtime so we won't fall asleep!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
I blame the groundhog
Pages read today: 159 for Meredith (133 of Gathering Blue and 26 of Messenger) 77 for Ilya
He did see his shadow, right? So all the extra snow/ice causing our leaks is his fault!
The roofer came today but it didn't really do much to change the situation. Apparently there is a 6-8 inch thick ice layer on the roof which all has to melt before the leaking will cease and desist. Unfortunately, it will take at least a couple days for all of it to melt, In the meantime, the ice on the top of the roof is melting with the water running down but then getting stuck behind the ice at the edge of the roof so the only place for it to go is in here! So today has not been pretty, but hopefully the melting will complete itself over the next day or two and then we can be done with all of this (it's a heat wave here in Rochester with our 40 degree weather!).
It is back to work for me tomorrow, as I definitely can't use any more time off right now. Fingers crossed we don't come home to a big mess in here!
Some positives from the day? I had a health scare going on but found out today that I am in the clear! Also, Gizmo had a trip to the groomer today and he looks marvelous! I do believe he knows how marvelous he looks, as he looks quite snooty in the bottom photo! Also, I finished Gathering Blue, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I will hopefully write a more thoughtful post on that later. For now, it's off to bed for the Gandelman clan.
He did see his shadow, right? So all the extra snow/ice causing our leaks is his fault!
The roofer came today but it didn't really do much to change the situation. Apparently there is a 6-8 inch thick ice layer on the roof which all has to melt before the leaking will cease and desist. Unfortunately, it will take at least a couple days for all of it to melt, In the meantime, the ice on the top of the roof is melting with the water running down but then getting stuck behind the ice at the edge of the roof so the only place for it to go is in here! So today has not been pretty, but hopefully the melting will complete itself over the next day or two and then we can be done with all of this (it's a heat wave here in Rochester with our 40 degree weather!).
It is back to work for me tomorrow, as I definitely can't use any more time off right now. Fingers crossed we don't come home to a big mess in here!Some positives from the day? I had a health scare going on but found out today that I am in the clear! Also, Gizmo had a trip to the groomer today and he looks marvelous! I do believe he knows how marvelous he looks, as he looks quite snooty in the bottom photo! Also, I finished Gathering Blue, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I will hopefully write a more thoughtful post on that later. For now, it's off to bed for the Gandelman clan.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Oh it doesn't show signs of stopping, but we've got some towels for sopping
Pages read today: 233 for Meredith (133 of Coraline, 100 of Gathering Blue), 80 for Ilya
Water leaks are in full-swing and show no signs of stopping. So, tonight we really are enacting our slumber party idea (good thing we had kept the sleeping bag out! And yeah...don't judge for the Christmas tree still being up...we've had way too much going on with this water leaking nonsense to deal with getting that taken down). This will make it easier to get up and switch out towels, since it needs to be done quite frequently. Thank goodness for a super cute dog and handsome husband to make it all easier to handle. Though Gizmo really needs a pillow of his own so I don't get dog germs all over mine!
Water leaks are in full-swing and show no signs of stopping. So, tonight we really are enacting our slumber party idea (good thing we had kept the sleeping bag out! And yeah...don't judge for the Christmas tree still being up...we've had way too much going on with this water leaking nonsense to deal with getting that taken down). This will make it easier to get up and switch out towels, since it needs to be done quite frequently. Thank goodness for a super cute dog and handsome husband to make it all easier to handle. Though Gizmo really needs a pillow of his own so I don't get dog germs all over mine!
I spoke too soon!
Literally less than 2 minutes after my previous post, water started coming into the apartment. *sigh* At least this time I'm here to get right on it before it creates a real mess. But still... tres uncool...
Back in the saddle!
Well, the apartment people weren't quite spot-on when they told us over the weekend that a roofer would be here Monday (yesterday). Apparently it will be tomorrow. So, in light of this news and the fact that the forecast showed 30+ degrees today and tomorrow (which, based on events this weekend would mean lots of melting of the stuff on the roof, but unable to escape the ice at the end of the roof, so more leaking in the apartment), I decided to use some time from work to stay home and monitor and take care of the situation (and also because it will be good to be here tomorrow when the roofer is actually here and be able to ask them questions instead of just asking the apartment minions who all feed us contradictory information). Naturally, since I decided to stay home for this, nothing has happened today (though all the evidence was stacked in pointing towards a disaster area occurring in here today). I'm also really glad I didn't end up using a half day yesterday as originally planned (again, due to the forecast), since there were no leaks yesterday either. I believe this may be due to the fact that I FINALLY got through to the maintenance people that what we needed was the snow on the TOP of the roof brushed off each day (not the snow on the side of the building...duh...). That seems to be helping, though I am still a little worried about potential leaking today since the sun is out and there is a lot of melting going on out there. The lack of leaking is great, of course, except I would certainly prefer to save my time off for warmer days where I could be doing something other than just sitting around waiting to hear water dripping.
On the upside, I was able to spend the day with the cutest, sweetest little pup ever. The thing he's bundled in is a sleeping bag. Saturday night we brought out the sleeping bad preparing to have a slumber party downstairs (so as to more easily get up periodically throughout the night to change over the paper towel ceiling-leak catchers). Thankfully (for our backs sakes) we didn't end up needing to have the slumber party and were able to sleep in our bed instead. However, Gizmo is infatuated with the sleeping bag, so we have just left it out for now, using it as kind of a blanket.
Also, I have been able to get a lot accomplished today. I finally scheduled some appointments that I have been needing to do (but never manage to get to, because the places need to be called during business hours). I finished up our tax return and submitted it online (we're getting a decent chunk of change back! woohoo!). I finished the project I have been working on the last few days of backing up all my photos from my last 2 cell phones to google drive. Between both phones there were over 2000 photo files, mostly high def large files (and mostly of this adorable little furry sweetie-pie!). I had uploaded them to my computer before getting rid of the phones, but then never got them off the computer onto goodle drive, so they've just been sitting on my computer taking up space and majorly slowing my old, tired computer down. Also, and possibly most importantly, I was able to get back in the swing of things with reading! I finished up Coraline, which I enjoyed much more than I thought I would! It's incredibly dark and creepy, but in a good way. So much story crammed into such a short amount of space, yet nothing felt rushed or underdeveloped. I highly recommend this short read.
Now I am going to return to Gathering Blue, in hopes that it now being longer since having read The Giver that I will be able to read it more independently, without comparing the two.
So all in all it's been a good day so far. Poor Ilya is going to work extra today for overtime, so he won't be home until quite late. Like a good wife, I will have dinner ready for him, though, so at least he will come home to good things (assuming the walls/ceilings will still be dry).
We'll post a quick update later for our total reading progress today at some point tonight before bed. We'll just lump all of Ilya's reading from the last couple of days into today because we weren't keeping track the last few days. The sun is shining here, so I think I'll take my little buddy for a walk. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday!
On the upside, I was able to spend the day with the cutest, sweetest little pup ever. The thing he's bundled in is a sleeping bag. Saturday night we brought out the sleeping bad preparing to have a slumber party downstairs (so as to more easily get up periodically throughout the night to change over the paper towel ceiling-leak catchers). Thankfully (for our backs sakes) we didn't end up needing to have the slumber party and were able to sleep in our bed instead. However, Gizmo is infatuated with the sleeping bag, so we have just left it out for now, using it as kind of a blanket.
Now I am going to return to Gathering Blue, in hopes that it now being longer since having read The Giver that I will be able to read it more independently, without comparing the two. So all in all it's been a good day so far. Poor Ilya is going to work extra today for overtime, so he won't be home until quite late. Like a good wife, I will have dinner ready for him, though, so at least he will come home to good things (assuming the walls/ceilings will still be dry).
We'll post a quick update later for our total reading progress today at some point tonight before bed. We'll just lump all of Ilya's reading from the last couple of days into today because we weren't keeping track the last few days. The sun is shining here, so I think I'll take my little buddy for a walk. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday!
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Don't give up on us!
Well folks, the water leaks have not only refused to stop but have continued with a vengeance, with issues in every room now. When you have to keep getting up every 15 minutes or so to change the towels catching the water, somehow it's just not really conducive to reading.
Fortunately we didn't have any plans for Valentine's Day anyway. Well....we had planned on a relaxing night in which we got minus the relaxing part.
At any rate, this whole situation is frustrating beyond just messing with our reading schedule. It has been really upsetting and stressful. We have been met with uncaring and/or dismissive attitudes from the apartment management since this all started and have been told conflicting information. But we were told yesterday that there will be a roofer coming tomorrow to try and figure out something to do as a temporary solution to stop the leaking until winter ends and they can (and hopefully will) figure out a more permament solution (which would be better insulation...the issue we are having is from ice damming).
I'm certainly not going to plan on it, but hopefully they were sincere and we will be able to spend our evenings this week doing something other than tending to water leaks everywhere.
Also, as part of our debt reduction plan, we cut down on how many days we use the dog walker. So now on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays one of us has to come home on lunch to walk Gizmo (which uses the entire lunch between driving time and walk time). Right now I am the one doing that, since Ilya's work has a huge need for overtime now, and he has been working overtime on lunch. It is so nice spending lunch with Gizmo (I used to do that every day when he was a puppy...for the first year or 2), but it has cut out a chunk of time where I was reading the most before.
And also there are just life things going on right now that I have needed to use lunch/break time to work on. Life has just really gotten in the way of all of our fun lately. I'm sure it is only temporary though.
So we apologize for the lack of exciting blog material and progress on here. We really hope to change that ASAP. Don't give up on us!
Fortunately we didn't have any plans for Valentine's Day anyway. Well....we had planned on a relaxing night in which we got minus the relaxing part.
At any rate, this whole situation is frustrating beyond just messing with our reading schedule. It has been really upsetting and stressful. We have been met with uncaring and/or dismissive attitudes from the apartment management since this all started and have been told conflicting information. But we were told yesterday that there will be a roofer coming tomorrow to try and figure out something to do as a temporary solution to stop the leaking until winter ends and they can (and hopefully will) figure out a more permament solution (which would be better insulation...the issue we are having is from ice damming).
I'm certainly not going to plan on it, but hopefully they were sincere and we will be able to spend our evenings this week doing something other than tending to water leaks everywhere.
Also, as part of our debt reduction plan, we cut down on how many days we use the dog walker. So now on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays one of us has to come home on lunch to walk Gizmo (which uses the entire lunch between driving time and walk time). Right now I am the one doing that, since Ilya's work has a huge need for overtime now, and he has been working overtime on lunch. It is so nice spending lunch with Gizmo (I used to do that every day when he was a puppy...for the first year or 2), but it has cut out a chunk of time where I was reading the most before.
And also there are just life things going on right now that I have needed to use lunch/break time to work on. Life has just really gotten in the way of all of our fun lately. I'm sure it is only temporary though.
So we apologize for the lack of exciting blog material and progress on here. We really hope to change that ASAP. Don't give up on us!
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Leaky ceilings really put a damper on things...
Pages read today: 27 for Meredith, 42 for Ilya
Dealing with leaky ceilings is getting old and majorly cramping our reading style! Seriously, it's the pits. Literally the exact reason we moved out of our previous apartment. At least there the rent cost half as much. Looks like we may be looking to move again. Awesome sauce...
Dealing with leaky ceilings is getting old and majorly cramping our reading style! Seriously, it's the pits. Literally the exact reason we moved out of our previous apartment. At least there the rent cost half as much. Looks like we may be looking to move again. Awesome sauce...
Sunday, February 9, 2014
We're not quitters!
We haven't given up on the challenge, I swear! Life has just been intense this week with tons of other challenges thrown our way that required our attention. Plus the Olympics are on now, so that has been distracting us. This weekend my time has been consumed with Christmas decoration removal, cooking for the week and cleaning. Typically these would be shared activities, but poor Ilya had to work a full day yesterday and is working a partial day today because of how busy they are at his work (and because we need the overtime money!).
Hopefully we will be back on the reading train this week!
Hopefully we will be back on the reading train this week!
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Your lack-of-progress report for the day
Pages read today: 17 for Ilya, 0 for Meredith
The February doldrums, it seems, are well upon us. Also upon us are wintertime leaks in the ceiling of our apartment, which make it somewhat difficult to concentrate on our literary pursuits.
The February doldrums, it seems, are well upon us. Also upon us are wintertime leaks in the ceiling of our apartment, which make it somewhat difficult to concentrate on our literary pursuits.
A sad day for reading
NO Pages read yesterday, 2/4/14
Blame the blizzard, causing super delays in getting home, plus our phones selling on Ebay and our need to get them ready to go to be shipped out. Or just blame it on our laziness. Either way, no reading was done by either of yesterday.
For me, I'm back in the same position I was a couple of days ago, with nothing I really want to read right now. I'm waiting to feel inspired...
Blame the blizzard, causing super delays in getting home, plus our phones selling on Ebay and our need to get them ready to go to be shipped out. Or just blame it on our laziness. Either way, no reading was done by either of yesterday.
For me, I'm back in the same position I was a couple of days ago, with nothing I really want to read right now. I'm waiting to feel inspired...
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Quick status update
Pages read today: 223 for Meredith, 77 for Ilya
The Art of Racing in the Rain was phenomenal. I laughed, I cried, I has serious trouble putting the book down. Definitely a favorite!
The Art of Racing in the Rain was phenomenal. I laughed, I cried, I has serious trouble putting the book down. Definitely a favorite!
Monday, February 3, 2014
The extemporaneous narrator
Pages read today: 94 for Meredith, 42 for Ilya
I have read now over 100 pages of The Good Soldier, and find it up to that point a light enough and pleasant read. It's about two couples, one English and one American, encountering each other as friendly acquaintances in Europe over a period of about a decade, and the adulterous relationship that develops between the American wife and the English husband. The narrator is the American husband, the cuckold, and the good soldier of the title seems to be the adulterer.
The cuckold is really a rather terrible, and terribly unreliable, narrator, which is, from what I recall hearing in English classes and the like, the area of Mr Ford's primary interest and concentration as a novelist. Thus far his past self, when intersecting with the tale being narrated, has been clueless and inattentive; and as his present self, as the narrator, he seems rather terminally disorganized, forgetful or unknowledgeable, and digressive. I think the most impressive thing about the novel, which otherwise seems rather slight so far, is the way the narrator actually does appear to be speaking extemporaneously about the narrative. I've already mentioned that Ford and my previous novelist, Joseph Conrad, were of sufficiently like mind to collaborate on a handful of their novels (not, apparently, the best of the lot for either writer, but still), but Lord Jim was certainly somewhat difficult to swallow as a story that Marlow just sat down and told off-the-cuff to a symposium of friends and acquaintances. And generally speaking that implausibility seems to be the rule, at least in those encounters with such techniques that I've had in my life heretofore; which I guess makes The Good Soldier exceptional on at least one (so far) count.
More on this story as it develops.
I have read now over 100 pages of The Good Soldier, and find it up to that point a light enough and pleasant read. It's about two couples, one English and one American, encountering each other as friendly acquaintances in Europe over a period of about a decade, and the adulterous relationship that develops between the American wife and the English husband. The narrator is the American husband, the cuckold, and the good soldier of the title seems to be the adulterer.
The cuckold is really a rather terrible, and terribly unreliable, narrator, which is, from what I recall hearing in English classes and the like, the area of Mr Ford's primary interest and concentration as a novelist. Thus far his past self, when intersecting with the tale being narrated, has been clueless and inattentive; and as his present self, as the narrator, he seems rather terminally disorganized, forgetful or unknowledgeable, and digressive. I think the most impressive thing about the novel, which otherwise seems rather slight so far, is the way the narrator actually does appear to be speaking extemporaneously about the narrative. I've already mentioned that Ford and my previous novelist, Joseph Conrad, were of sufficiently like mind to collaborate on a handful of their novels (not, apparently, the best of the lot for either writer, but still), but Lord Jim was certainly somewhat difficult to swallow as a story that Marlow just sat down and told off-the-cuff to a symposium of friends and acquaintances. And generally speaking that implausibility seems to be the rule, at least in those encounters with such techniques that I've had in my life heretofore; which I guess makes The Good Soldier exceptional on at least one (so far) count.
More on this story as it develops.
Finally!
Well, one of the library ebooks I had on hold finally became available! As of last night it said there was still someome ahead of me in line but must be they no longer wanted or needed the book for whatever reason. So I set Catching Blue aside for now and will begin reading The Art of Racing in the Rain. I am very excited for this one! It is told from, a dog's perspective and several friends have read it and said nothing but wonderful things about it. Hooray for finding my reading motivation again!
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Game day got in the way!
Pages read today: 0 for Meredith (WHAT?!), 64 for Ilya
While we're not football watchers, we are animal lovers! We've never had cable before to watch the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet, so we were excited to get to finally see that this year. Also, it was the first year of the Kitten Bowl on the Hallmark Channel (which we also now get). So we watched both of those (well, I watched more than Ilya, which shows in his reading progress and my lack thereof). Then I did a bunch of cooking for us for during the week and we watched Captain Phillips (excellent movie!), and by the time all that was said and done, the day was gone! :(
I'm still finding it difficult to motivate myself to read. I did get a bunch more books from the library, but none of them are jumping out at me and Gathering Blue is just not holding my interest yet (certainly different than my experience with The Giver); and it remains true that all of the books I really want to read will not be available for me to borrow from the library for a long time. *Cue sad Charlie Brown music* Hopefully tomorrow Gathering Blue will somehow pull me in or maybe I will decide to set that one aside for now and start something different.
While we're not football watchers, we are animal lovers! We've never had cable before to watch the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet, so we were excited to get to finally see that this year. Also, it was the first year of the Kitten Bowl on the Hallmark Channel (which we also now get). So we watched both of those (well, I watched more than Ilya, which shows in his reading progress and my lack thereof). Then I did a bunch of cooking for us for during the week and we watched Captain Phillips (excellent movie!), and by the time all that was said and done, the day was gone! :(
I'm still finding it difficult to motivate myself to read. I did get a bunch more books from the library, but none of them are jumping out at me and Gathering Blue is just not holding my interest yet (certainly different than my experience with The Giver); and it remains true that all of the books I really want to read will not be available for me to borrow from the library for a long time. *Cue sad Charlie Brown music* Hopefully tomorrow Gathering Blue will somehow pull me in or maybe I will decide to set that one aside for now and start something different.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
A fierce participation
Pages read today: 14 for Meredith, 37 for Ilya
Is it that Lord Jim suddenly picked up in the last 100 pages, or did I suddenly discover how to read it, adopt a new and more fruitful outlook? Both explanations may be true (they are in no way mutually exclusive), but the latter is definitely true. Yesterday, instead of working on my own writing I was reading my way through the archives of a very nice and witty book blog, Obooki's Obloquy, and I came across a post on the writer Karel Capek, a Czech writer best known nowadays (at least Stateside) for inventing the now-classic sci-fi plot of robot rebellion against mankind. (Well, someone had to invent that; why not Mr Capek?) Mr Obooki quotes from an essay by Mr Capek called "Instead of Criticism" (a brief but potent item available in full via GoogleBooks), which argues for the creation by literary elites of a more popular and entertaining literature than it has heretofore deemed fit to manufacture. The words that struck me most are bolded:
And then I sat down again to read Lord Jim: and either it had picked up or I had learned how to read it. Or both.
Spoilers follow for this novel from the year 1900. Lord Jim is the story, as narrated (primarily) by Marlow (whom we will remember as being the narrator-protagonist also of Heart of Darkness), of a sailor who, though idealistic and believing himself to be brave, commits in a moment a single but terrible act of cowardice: he, along with his crewmates, abandons a ship in peril, leaving behind a bevy of passengers. The ship and passengers somehow survive, however, and Jim's cowardice is thereby exposed to the world. The aftermath is something like a reversal of Kurtz in Heart: with Marlow's aid Jim finds a posting as a trading company's agent in the midst of some "primitive natives," but their influence upon him is beneficent rather than malign and corrupting, and he assumes noble (though rather vague) responsibilities of leadership over them.
The section I read most fruitfully were the final passages, describing Jim's downfall from his exalted position. A gang of renegades and pirates, led by the despicable and vividly portrayed (and presumably ironically named) Gentleman Brown, comes to loot the lovely little community that Jim has built around himself, and quickly finds himself outnumbered and besieged. Jim, reflecting on how his own life was nearly permanently mangled by a single reckless choice, sees in Brown's mode of life the repercussions of a similar choice (in consequence of following too closely Brown's self-justifications); and it seems that this misidentification with Brown leads Jim to spare the life of Brown and of his men: he lets them go. But in departing Brown ambushes a group of the natives, killing among others the beloved son of a local chieftain. Revealed through this error as something less than divine, Jim offers himself up, in a mode of suicidal expiation, to the wrath of the aggrieved father, who shoots him to death. The End.
My next selection (3b) is a novel by Conrad's contemporary, and occasional collaborator, Ford Madox Ford: The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion, published in 1915. The typeface is considerably larger. I've really got to get cracking if I want to catch up to Meredith's prodigious intake.
Is it that Lord Jim suddenly picked up in the last 100 pages, or did I suddenly discover how to read it, adopt a new and more fruitful outlook? Both explanations may be true (they are in no way mutually exclusive), but the latter is definitely true. Yesterday, instead of working on my own writing I was reading my way through the archives of a very nice and witty book blog, Obooki's Obloquy, and I came across a post on the writer Karel Capek, a Czech writer best known nowadays (at least Stateside) for inventing the now-classic sci-fi plot of robot rebellion against mankind. (Well, someone had to invent that; why not Mr Capek?) Mr Obooki quotes from an essay by Mr Capek called "Instead of Criticism" (a brief but potent item available in full via GoogleBooks), which argues for the creation by literary elites of a more popular and entertaining literature than it has heretofore deemed fit to manufacture. The words that struck me most are bolded:
Let me just say a word here on the eternal youth of the people. The people remain a boy who lets himself be enchanted by heroism, by great and unshaken characters, by simple passions, by a strong and perhaps even fantastic plot. Their enjoyment of literature is a fierce participation, a co-activity with everything that is going on. They don't want to analyse anything but to live with something, to live through something extraordinary.If I am nothing else, I am a die-hard analyst of literature -- or at least would like to be. But there's another, deeper level in the onion of myself -- and it was this part precisely that thrilled to Capek's words -- that understands analysis to be something of a half-measure. What we want out of literature and storytelling is precisely participation, identification. After a certain age, however, we get that heady sensation so very rarely that we're forced to invent other things to do with a story. But the novels and films I recall loving most in my adulthood -- Light in August, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer -- have been the ones that have blown right past the analytical mindset, left it clean behind and gone on ahead.
And then I sat down again to read Lord Jim: and either it had picked up or I had learned how to read it. Or both.
Spoilers follow for this novel from the year 1900. Lord Jim is the story, as narrated (primarily) by Marlow (whom we will remember as being the narrator-protagonist also of Heart of Darkness), of a sailor who, though idealistic and believing himself to be brave, commits in a moment a single but terrible act of cowardice: he, along with his crewmates, abandons a ship in peril, leaving behind a bevy of passengers. The ship and passengers somehow survive, however, and Jim's cowardice is thereby exposed to the world. The aftermath is something like a reversal of Kurtz in Heart: with Marlow's aid Jim finds a posting as a trading company's agent in the midst of some "primitive natives," but their influence upon him is beneficent rather than malign and corrupting, and he assumes noble (though rather vague) responsibilities of leadership over them.
The section I read most fruitfully were the final passages, describing Jim's downfall from his exalted position. A gang of renegades and pirates, led by the despicable and vividly portrayed (and presumably ironically named) Gentleman Brown, comes to loot the lovely little community that Jim has built around himself, and quickly finds himself outnumbered and besieged. Jim, reflecting on how his own life was nearly permanently mangled by a single reckless choice, sees in Brown's mode of life the repercussions of a similar choice (in consequence of following too closely Brown's self-justifications); and it seems that this misidentification with Brown leads Jim to spare the life of Brown and of his men: he lets them go. But in departing Brown ambushes a group of the natives, killing among others the beloved son of a local chieftain. Revealed through this error as something less than divine, Jim offers himself up, in a mode of suicidal expiation, to the wrath of the aggrieved father, who shoots him to death. The End.
My next selection (3b) is a novel by Conrad's contemporary, and occasional collaborator, Ford Madox Ford: The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion, published in 1915. The typeface is considerably larger. I've really got to get cracking if I want to catch up to Meredith's prodigious intake.
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