27/365 The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis

Gee whiz, I love C.S. Lewis.  Poor "Gaius and Titius".  Sort of awful to be remembered that way.

I've read this before - but, as with all C.S. Lewis, it never gets old. Every time I re-read his books something finally, really clicks or some sodden, dusty corner of my brain gets a little flash of light and a burst of pep.  He explains things so well.  Even I can understand most of what he's talking about.  Not all or it, but a good piece.  Which is more than I can say of most books.  I feel the terribleness of my own writing rawther keenly when I come out of his books.  I wish I could have heard it in its original lecture form!

I can't really say much about the content of this book, because I will end up sounding like a complete moron.   It's good.   I like how you see the same subject showing up in his other books.  When you read about an idea in three different books, all presenting it through different styles or metaphors or whatever, it has a way of broadening your understanding of the idea.  At least, it does for me.

CONCLUSION:  I ought to read Miracles and The Problem of Pain and The Pilgrim's Regress.  They're the only Lewis books I haven't read, and it's been stupid of me.

26/365 The Story of Miss Moppet by Beatrix Potter

I was in... Vancouver.

CONCLUSION: I WILL buckle down tomorrow.  I PROMISE. No more Squirrel Nutkin to the rescue.  At least not for a while.

the week in reading: 30 July - 5 August

Well.  Um.  So!  Not the best week yet on record.  But also not the worst.

Beatrix Potter and her lovely five minute picture books came to the rescue, ah, frequently.  I did not feel proud of that.  But at least I'm reading.  And they truly are great.   This upcoming week, I'd like to step it up again.  I have to get back into good habits before school starts. Yipes!

I'm having a hard time getting my reading done because this new house is so distracting.  Well, this new yard actually.  I spend a lot of time swimming.  But I don't feel too guilty because fall will be here all too soon and my legs are shockingly white.  My mother actually laughed the other day when I emerged from the house in my board shorts.  It's weird looking down and realizing that those astonishingly white limbs are actually attached to my body.  I can hardly believe it.

I will try to focus this week.  I'll try to read something good and long and preferably written for grown-ups.  I can feel my books eyeing me reproachfully.

Au revoir, my dear blog.  I'm going to go... uh... swim in the lake now.

25/365 And the Pursuit of Happiness by Maira Kalman

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I LOVE MAIRA KALMAN.
I love her.  Her pictures make my day better, and make me dress better. She makes me want to get out and do something.  Visit a museum, take lessons, travel, enjoy the neighborhood.  I LOVE her books.  
Her curiosity is... I don't know... delightful!  I think she's so great because she doesn't present herself as some lofty intellectual who is just too well-read and well-educated for you - she writes like a human being.  A smart human being, but still definitely human.  She can still be inspired by things.  Admire people.   She seems humble, I guess.
I hate reading books - popular books of literary criticism in particular - where the author won't come out and tell you that they like something.  I like gushing!  I like hearing that people like the authors I like! Like, a lot!  (Mom, that's why I thought The Magician's Book was so great.  Now you know.)  Blah blah, books about books are supposed to be dry and precise - but literature seems such an imprecise art to me!  I will never agree that this or that novel is the best on earth - never.  Because, at root, the person asserting that Moby Dick is the best ever is still at least a teensy bit biased because they liked it.  Now, if  I said that Moby Dick is the best novel ever you could believe it because I hated Moby Dick.

SO!  I'm sorry I'm so dithery and distracted.  I'm about to go for a swim and I just got home from work and I got a new dress this afternoon (I'm wearing it over my jeans right now) and the Kooks are playing in the background, so focus is a little on the short side this fine day.

CONCLUSION:  I need to check out Spinoza and De Tocqueville.  Spinoza because this is the second book of hers I've read that mentions him, and De Tocqueville because I read about him again today in the intro to The Crucible, and two times is too much of a coincidence.   I LOVE MAIRA I LOVE MAIRA.

24/365 The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher by Beatrix Potter

Yes, Beatrix Potter comes to the rescue at 10:00 again.  I'm working extra hours and unpacking boxes and, um, swimming in the lake - and this evening we watched Napoleon Dynamite and School of Rock with a girl who's leaving for college next week - so... yeah.  I've got a list of excuses as long as your arm.

I will honestly say that I'm beginning to adore Beatrix Potter.  What a sense of humor!  If I ever have kids, I'm going to buy them these books.  They're delightful.  I particularly enjoyed Sir Isaac Newton's waistcoat.

I would also like to note that I read like ten chapters of the book of Genesis today, and offer the note as proof that I didn't spend the entire day melting my brain.  I feel a tiny bit bad because Many Waters prompted me to do so - ordinarily I spend my time in the New Testament, but hey!  If it gets me reading...

CONCLUSION: Still have to buckle down and get reading more... rigorous material.  Though I am enjoying Beatrix Potter very much.

I'm going to go buy the School of Rock soundtrack now.  My priorities are not exactly in an ideal order, but I'm enjoying myself.  So.

23/365 Candida by George Bernard Shaw

Okay, I'm getting in the groove again.

I liked this.  He's such a great writer.  So many plays sound ridiculously fake to me.  The lines, I mean. Lots of the ones I read in Intro to Lit just made me wild.  This story was dramatic and everything, but I believed the lines.

I think I got a bit of it too.  Which probably means precisely the opposite, but oh well.

CONCLUSION: I think I would like to read Man and Superman and the other two plays. I like George Bernard Shaw.  If only because I read this on the wall of a book store once:

George Bernard Shaw telegrammed Winston Churchill just prior to the opening of Major Barbara: "Have reserved two tickets for first night. Come and bring a friend if you have one."

Churchill wired back, "Impossible to come to first night. Will come to second night, if you have one."

ON A SIDE NOTE: I got the lovely B&N edition you see above at the much-talked of (at least on here) library sale.

That is where he now lives.  I love my room.  No piled-up books.  No floor stacks.  They all have homes.  I sit on my bed and bask in the glory of it.  

22/365 The Sly Old Cat by Beatrix Potter

Yes, Squirrel Nutkin to the rescue again. Another lovely short Beatrix Potter.  At least I'm trying again.  These days have been exhausting.  I MUST get back on track.  I think I have 3 catch-up books to read.

CONCLUSION: Moving is exhausting.  Must get to bed earlier.  As much as I love these books, I must read something longer than Beatrix Potter this week.

P.S. I got all my books put away.  It looks wonderful.