Wuthering Heights Read-Along Week #2

Posted on by
8

Read-Along hosted by Maggie at An American in France

Chapters 10 – 17

The tension builds, a number of occurrences adding to the heightened drama.  Heathcliff returns after three years, apparently richer although he will not reveal how his fortunes changed.  On the outside he appears more worldly and dapper, as though he can now stand among equals, yet we can glean from certain clues that his character may even be darker and more perverted than before.

Catherine has a break-down due to a conflict between her husband, Edgar and Heathcliff.  I had a hard time reconciling her stubborn willfullness to her fragile state of health and I really wasn’t sure what precipitated her collapse.  At one time she screams at both men that neither would listen to her and that nobody exhibited the proper concern for her, so perhaps it was simply spleen that she was not getting her own way.  In any case, her condition grows serious and the outcome is her death.  At times she appears to want it, to relish the thought, because of the effect it will have on other people.

Yorkshire View
Photo courtesy of Paul Stevenson (sourced Flickr)
Creative Commons License

Heathcliff himself is an enigma.  I had expected him to take a darker road, but thought that his descent would still be held in tension with his love and/or devotion to Catherine, however his behaviour belies an almost severing of his soul from humanity.  His seduction of Edgar’s sister, Isabella, is despicable, his intent only to torture and humiliate her, an act of deliberate vengeance upon Edgar.  His wild carousing with Hindley and dark prowling about, only serve to underline the depravity of his character.  His concern for Catherine’s health is evident, but he does not or refuses to exhibit any conception of how his actions influence her for good or ill.  I was actually quite perplexed by Brontë’s sketching of his character.

Where is this book going?  We have finished slightly more than half of it and Catherine is dead, so I have to question whether the main theme of the novel is enduring love, which you often hear people speak of when referring to Wuthering Heights.  To be honest, I’m finding Heathcliff quite repellent; I cannot find one glimpse of a redeeming feature or even something to draw from him that is a teachable moment.  Hmmm ……

Well, I shall keep reading …….

Once and Future King by T.H. White

Posted on by
10

“On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organon, Repetition and Astrology.”

The Once and Future King encompasses five books written by author T.H. White about the legend of King Arthur.  In The Sword and the Stone, we meet Wart, a young boy who is the ward of Sir Ector and who lives with his guardian and his guardian’s son, Kay, near the Forest Sauvage.  By an unexpected set of circumstances, he encounters the wizard, Merlyn, who becomes his and Kay’s tutor, although we can see from the beginning that Merlyn favours Wart and there is obvious foreshadowing that we should expect something extraordinary from him later in the tale.  This book concludes with Wart unknowingly pulling the sword from the stone, a clear indication that he is England’s next king.  The book The Witch in the Wood (re-written as The Queen of Air and Darkness and apparently with little resemblance to the original) follows, chronicling the establishment of Arthur’s court under the political idea of right instead of might, and, of course, the love affair between Lancelot and Guinever receives the most attention.  The third book, The Ill-Made Knight, gives primary focus to Lancelot, his quests to purge his thoughts of Guinever, his relationship to Elaine who bears him a son, the development of a odd love-triangle, the quest for the Holy Grail, and Lancelot’s fight to defend Guinever’s honour.  A Candle in the Wind waxes philosophically about the metamorphosis of England into its present condition and the ideologies of war.  The height of tension appears in this book as Lancelot and Guinever’s relationship is revealed by a dastardly plot of Arthur’s Orkney clan, a war begins and the throne is seized by a usurper.  The death of Arthur and his son, Mordred are foreshadowed.   The Book of Merlyn, published posthumously, is added at the end and sets an aged Arthur amongst Merlyn and his animal friends from Book I, as they discuss the evils of war, why men want it, and how can it be avoided.

Photo courtesy of Moyan Brenn
(source Flickr)
Creative Commons License

I’m really stumped as to where to start with reviewing this book.  My idea of the Knights of the Round Table was woven with nobility, courage, daring, self-sacrifice, self-denial and chivalric actions.  While the Arthur of this tale professes to have started the Round Table with the idea that might does not equal right, White makes Arthur a rather weak character.  In his youth, he is quite simple; Merlyn plants the social and political ideas into his head and as a reader, I never got the feeling that Arthur intrinsically believed in them himself.  He knowingly allows Lancelot and Guinever to have an illicit relationship and is often paralyzed in moments when it is necessary for a king to show his strength and decisiveness.  He is a simple, loving old soul who calls everyone “my dear” but it is a hard task to imagine him as the legendary King Arthur.  Lancelot for a good part of the book is a brooding morass of insecurity and dark thoughts.

“The boy [Lancelot] thought that there was something wrong with him.  All throughout his life — even when he was a great man with the world at his feet — he was to feel this gap:  something at the bottom of his heart of which he was aware, and ashamed, but which he did not understand ….  We do not have to dabble in a place which he preferred to keep secret.”

 However after Lancelot’s quest for the Grail and his encounter with God, he at least develops into a man with a sense of what is important in life and an internal code of conduct that he believes is worth following.  Guinever is a moderately believable character, professing her loyalty and love to both men, but White puts her through a period of womanly jealously that is almost embarrassing to read and certainly not worthy of her.  With Arthur’s half-relatives from Orkney, the devious and twisted brothers who become not only knights of the Round Table but are the poison that festers inside Arthur’s kingdom, White does a satisfying job with crafting their personalities.  At times they can be quite appalling …… perfect villains to fit the story.  Also, King Pellinore and his Questing Beast should receive an appreciative nod, adding delightful humour to the first book.

Lancelot and Guinevere (1890s)
Herbert James Draper
source Wikimedia Commons

T.H. White was a rather tortured soul.  He was beset with fears of nearly everything, except, apparently, God.  After holding the position of head of the English Department at Stowe School, he retreated to a game-keeper’s cottage at Stowe Ridings on the Stowe Estate and, with hawks, owls and a setter bitch as his only companions, he began to write.  As war loomed over England in 1938, White’s fear almost choked him.  He declared himself a conscientious objector and in February 1939 found himself lodging in a farmhouse in Doolistown, Ireland, out of harm’s way.  He remained there for the next six and a half years.  In a December 1940 letter to L.J. Potts, a former tutor at Cambridge, he wrote: “….. [The Candle in the Wind] will end on the night before the last battle, with Arthur absolutely wretched.  I am going to add a new 5th volume in which Arthur rejoins Merlyn underground ….. and the animals come back again, mainly ants and wild geese.  Don’t squirm.  The inspiration is godsent.  You see, I have suddenly discovered that (1) the central theme of Morte d’Arthur is to find an antidote for war, (2) that the best way to examine the politics of man is to observe him, with Aristotle, as a political animal …….”

The above information perhaps explains White confusing re-crafting of the legend, and the plethora of social and political philosophical concepts that twist the characters into a means of furthering the development of these ideas.  Instead of White employing creativity to show the reader various themes in the novel, he simply tells us, which leaves a very weak effect.  As one of my reading buddies stated, instead of cleverly weaving his opinions into the story, White attempts to weave the story into his opinions.  The result is sloppy and, in effect, he actually strips these noble characters of the dignity they had been given by previous writers.

The Sword in the Stone, by itself is an appealing read, a nice story about the young Arthur and his upbringing.  By the second book, the story takes a turn for the worst.  I only have two words:  very disappointing.

Eugene Onegin Read Along – Chapters 1 & 2

Posted on by
2

This is my second reading in two months of Eugene Onegin, this time for Marian’s Read Along at Tanglewood.  For the read-along, I am reading the James Falen translation (the first time I read the Charles Johnston translation) and I really wish I had read this one first.  It is more readable and clear, its simplicity charming for an initial introduction to Onegin.

First impressions of Onegin?


The shallowness of Onegin is even more apparent the second time round.  He enjoys his rounds of the parties and, of course, his pursuit of women:

“I have no leisure for retailing
The sum of all our hero’s parts,
But where his genius proved unfailing
The thing he’d learned above all arts,
What from his prime had been his pleasure,
His only torment, toil, and treasure,
What occupied, the livelong day,
His languid spirit’s fretful play
Was love itself, the art of ardour …….”

Sadly though, in spite of his incessant pursuit of pleasure, its golden sheen soon begins to tarnish and Onegin not only gets bored, but completely disgusted with his manner of living:

“We still, alas, cannot forestall it —-
This dreadful ailment’s heavy toll;
The spleen is what the English call it,
We call it simply Russian soul ……”

I really enjoyed the description of his friendship with Lensky.  They appear complete opposites yet they are drawn together.  Does Onegin see his younger self in Lensky?  He observes him with an almost teasingly sceptical eye, a patient condescension.

In spite of the flawed nature of Onegin’s character, Pushkin presents him in a playful manner and you can’t help but feel he would be an interesting companion.  However, even when he tires of his pleasure-seeking ways, he still cannot seem to find this soul, in spite of a cursory search through books, endeavouring to “make his thoughts the thoughts of others.”  Interestingly, Pushkin turns this perception on its head stating:  “He who has lived as a thinking being Within his soul must hold men small; …..,” as if Onegin thinks he is too great — his mind or stature — to be fully appreciated by ordinary men.

Alexandrinsky Theater, St. Petersburg
photo courtesy of Edmund Gall (sourced Flickr)
Creative Commons License

What do you make of the narrator’s commentary?


I’ve always found that the commentary sounds almost split.  It’s as if Puskin is speaking, yet also another, perhaps wiser, soul.  You sense a playful teasing tone at some times and a more mature introspection at others.  It’s something I’m trying to make note of and examine as I read.

Thoughts on the characters sketched out in Chapter 2?


I really enjoyed meeting Lensky in this translation.  His youthful joie-de-vivre and idealism really shine through.  Strangely, I think he made me like Onegin even more.  Perhaps it was due to Onegin’s restraint towards him.  He did not attempt to destroy Lensky’s untarnished view of life, which was certainly a possibility as it would have given Onegin something to do.

As for Tatyana, so far she appears to be a sheltered country girl, who lives in her books.  She has too much idle time on her hands and the time she spends staring out the window only seems to serve to increase her illusions.  I found it perhaps telling that, in my translation, it says that she never learned to show affection.  I wonder if this will be pertinent in an occurrence coming up in the poem??

Olga, Tatyana’s sister, seems quite one-dimensional but perhaps this is deliberately done, since the spotlight is not meant to shine upon her.

While I prefer the Falen translation over the Johnston translation, I bought it on my Kindle and the fact that it contains no stops between chapters is driving me nuts.  A small price to pay for increased enlightenment, I guess.  😉

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Posted on by
10
First edition 1925 (sourced Wikipedia)

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.”

Decadence, adultery, narcissism, vast wealth, idealistic love, betrayal, death, revenge, murder; a vast array of scope for a novel, and Fitzgerald delivers an impacting tale in The Great Gatsby.  Nick Carraway, a young man from the Midwest, begins to form a relationship with his neighbour, the wealthy Jay Gatsby and eventually learns of Gatsby’s connection to his cousin, Daisy.  Daisy, who is married to Tom Buchanan, while casually enduring her husband’s adulterous relationships, has led a very vapid and frivilous life amongst the society scene of the 1920s.  When Gatsby reappears in her life, their rekindled romance sets off a series of tragic events, the repercussions reverberating through the lives of all the characters.

Gatsby, the created man; Gatsby, the idealist, a man who is love with an image that formed five years earlier, and that he has nurtured through time.  Did I understand his infatuation with Daisy?  No, but I sympathized with it.  He had grown up isolated, broke relations with his parents reasonably early on and had no one in his life to set a good example that he could draw from.  Daisy was perhaps the only person whom he had loved, and so he loved her passionately, unrealistically and terminally.  And he realized, that he would need money to keep her love.  When Nick Carraway says to him, “She’s [Daisy’s] got an indiscreet voice …. It’s full of —-“, Gatsby answers, “Her voice is full of money.”  Even though he knows what she is like, and has known from the beginning, is he desperately trying to hold on to his fantasy of her —- this illusion of perfection — because he has nothing else?  Gatsby fails to examine any of the decisions he makes in his life ……… perhaps he truly believes that money can buy him happiness and cannot see the superficiality of the life and people with whom he surrounds himself.  His life is built on illusion and throughout the novel we hear the faint ticking of the bomb that will shatter his misperceptions.

The Plaza Hotel in the early 1920s
(source Wikipedia)

As for Nick Carraway, I felt uncomfortable with him as the narrator.  He went to unusual lengths at the beginning of the novel to establish his credibility with the reader, and if his observations are to be believed, he was the only one in the novel with any compassion, discernment or standards.  While the society he moves in is portrayed in a harsh, decadent, unforgiving light, he is the angel that hovers above it, the star that shines through it.  He is the only one who cares for Gatsby, the only one with a moral compass.  I had a difficult time buying into his golden-boy image.

The tragedy of this novel is a wasted life.  In spite of the grandeur, in spite of his fame and money, Gatsby left no real lasting effect on anyone, other than perhaps Nick Carraway.  He buried himself behind a persona, only emerging to be drawn towards the flame of Daisy and then perishing, as his wings brushed the heat of her consuming light.

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Paradise Lost Read-Along – Books I and II

Posted on by
4

Paradise Lost by John Milton Books I & II

Lost, did someone say LOST?  Well, actually I’m not as lost as I thought I would be while reading this magnificent epic poem written by John Milton for my Paradise Lost Read-Along.

Wow, where do I begin?  I absolutely love this poem.  Why?  I love the compellingly beautiful and haunting imagery; how each word is not superfluous but enhances the story; the ideas that are both obvious and subtle; the development of the characters which Milton paints with a fine-pointed brush; the echoes of other great poets and great ages, Biblical images mixed with classical ones …….  I could go on and on.

To give a short summary for Books I & II, Milton calls upon his classical and spiritual Muse to introduce the poem, relating the disobedience of man, and then dives right into Satan’s fall from Heaven after a battle, the Consult in Pandemonium where Satan and his angels decide their next tactic and Satan’s journey to earth with the purpose of ascertaining whether they can exert their influence there to revenge themselves on God.

Interestingly, Milton creates a Satan that is both appealing and evil, a fascinating and unsavory character, so I’m going to concentrate my comments on his and his minions machinations!

Satan rising from the Burning Lake (1896)
by William Strang
(sourced NYPL)

If we listen to the words of Satan and his angels describing their plight, they sound compelling, at times even justifiable, and perhaps one could even feel a sympathy for them.

“What though the field be lost?
All is not lost; the unconquerable will,
And study of revenge, immortal hate,
And courage never to sumit or yield:
And what else is not to be overcome?
That glory never shall his wrath or might
Extort from me…”  (105-111)

Yet there is a delusional quality to their reasoning and, if we listen to the poet, we see that their hope is futile against the power of God.  Even Belial, the fallen angel, seems to confirm this premise.

“They dreaded worse than Hell, so much the fear
Of thunder and the sword of Michael
Wrought still within them, and no less desire
To found this nether empire …”   (293-296)

And:

“What if the breath that kindled those grim fires,
Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage,
And plunge us in the flames ……”  (Belial: 170-172)

The poet also gives us consistent glimpses of Satan’s true persona and the fallen angels’ perception of their fate:

“By falsities and lies, the greatest part
Of mankind they corrupted to forsake
God their Creator, and the invisible
Glory of him that made them to transform
Oft to the image of a brute, adorned
With gay religions full of pomp and gold,
And devils to adore for deities …..” (367-373)

And:

“……. All our glory extinct, and happy state 
Here swallowed up in endless misery …”  (141-142)

Though they admit they have lost happiness and prestige, the hatred they harbour towards God is like a putrefying emination, and their diabolical desire for vengeance is at once powerful and terrifying.  There is a sense of a lack of humanity, a disconnect to any emotion other than overwhelming enmity towards the Creator.  Satan even exhibits a curious impersonal indifference to man, seeing him only as a vehicle to play out his revenge.  In spite of evidence to the contrary, Satan and his followers are certain of victory, and plan to work relentlessly towards that goal.

Sin and Death at the Gates of Hell (1896)
by William Strang
(sourced NYPL)

Milton does not make Satan an horrific, evil monstrosity; his Satan is articulate, calculating and, in the eyes of the other fallen angels, has admirable artifice.  While the Satan of Dante (The Divine Comedy) is gruesome, hideous and quite terrifying, our Satan in this poem has a more pleasing guise.  And so he should have.  Dante’s Satan was in Hell, evil personified, there to enlighten inmates as to the horrors of their fate.  On the other hand, it is important for Milton’s Satan to be appealing.  He travels to earth with the design to tempt men; his deviousness and evil require cloaking in order for him to succeed in his mission.  But for us as readers, it pays to be diligent in recognizing the true qualities of Satan and the fallen angels.  They value power, might, ill, revenge, war, strength, vice, hatred, death, and they despise weakness, goodness and virtue.  In fact, they don’t simply despise good; they seek to pervert it, and far from wishing to do ill to a specific person or for a specific wrong, they desire “ever to do ill.”  The trick is to see behind the facade.  To trust anything presented or said by Satan and his angels would be unwise.

Book I and II were ripe with an incongruous tension between the grandeur of Satan, and his evil scheme of vengeance, paired with the futility of his actions.  I cannot wait to see what transpires in Books III and IV!

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Posted on by
4

“Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer’s wife.”

Whether first introduced to the book or the movie, which one of us is not familiar with the story of The Wizard of Oz?  As I child, I remember feeling dizzy as Dorothy was whirled away in the cyclone to the land of Oz; those shoes she inherited from the dead Wicked Witch of the East, just dazzled; the Scarecrow who wanted a brain, the Tin Man who wanted a heart, and the Lion who wanted courage stirred my sympathies, and I was as in awe of Oz as Dorothy and her companions, until I found out, as they did, that his persona was all a hoax.  All throughout Dorothy’s adventures with the Munchkins, the Flying Monkeys, and  the Wicked Witch of the West, I cheered for Dorothy to find a means to return safely to Uncle Henry and Aunt Em and her home in Kansas.

Dorothy meets the cowardly Lion
from the first edition
(source Wikipedia)

Re-reading this book as an adult, I admit I’ve lost the delight of the childhood experience, yet I found if I focused on the story’s simplicity, there was charm in it.  Both Dorothy and her companions were straightforward, uncomplicated personalities, trusting, honest and unquestionably sincere.  In spite of the dangers they encountered, somehow their innocence and naiveté helped them pass through their trials and realize their dreams.  While the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion each desire a quality that they perceive they lack, their actions in situations of danger, show that they already possess these qualities, and that they simply had to employ them, in order for them to be revealed.  Perhaps this shows that we all have special qualities within us that only rise to the surface in the face of adversity.  
All in all, I found this a short and pleasing read, a chance to travel back to a childhood favourite and revisit memories that still linger in spite of childhood left behind.

Wuthering Heights Read-Along Week #1

Posted on by
6

Wuthering Heights is one of the few Brönte novels that I have not read and, in spite of previously feeling somewhat ambivalent towards this book, I’m looking forward to it for this read-along hosted by Maggie at An American in France blog.

Chapters 1 – 9

Wuthering Heights begins in media res, with Mr. Lockwood visiting his landlord, Heathcliff at his home, Wuthering Heights.  While initially curious about Heathcliff’s strange means of living and intrigued by his caustic manner, his second visit arouses a much altered response.  Treated to disrespectful treatment by the servants, occupants and master alike, he is dismayed to find himself an overnight guest courtesy of a snowstorm.  While in his room that night, Lockwood has a horrifying dream that ends with a young girl named Catherine Linton (yet he has also seen her name scratched on the windowsill as Catherine Earnshaw and Catherine Heathcliff) grasping his hand through the window and begging to be let in.  His cry summons Heathcliff who, pale as death, agrees with Lockwood’s decision to leave early and as Lockwood leaves the room, Heathcliff calls out in despair to his “Cathy”.  Later Lockwood is told the story of the Earnshaw family: how Heathcliff was brought home by Master Earnshaw from the streets of Liverpool and brought up within the family, although both the wife and brother hated his presence, while Catherine, the daughter, eventually chose him for a constant companion.  We learn of Heathcliff’s dark, silent suffering that perhaps conceals more than we have yet seen, and of Catherine’s willful, selfish spirit, each negative quality of these characters, nurtured by the lonely, loveless environment in which they live, and the harsh or indifferent treatment they receive from the father, mother and especially Hindley, Catherine’s brother, who becomes their guardian after the parents’ deaths.  At the end of chapter 9, Catherine has agreed to marry Edgar Linton, a son of a respectable family, yet she vows a lifelong faithfulness to Heathcliff and a desire to enhance his life by her new respectable and influential position.  Given Heathcliff’s sullen pride, dark brooding tempers and possessive inclinations towards her, one wonders how she can justify her decision using such an untenable explanation.

YORKSHIRE
Photo courtesy of Steve Calcott (source Flickr)
Creative Commons License

What connects the reader to the two main characters of the novel?  So far neither have engaged my admiration but I think we can all feel a silent sympathy for their plight.  Their sheltered lives, amongst people who failed to nurture even a sentiment of human feeling in either character, evoke a tentative compassion, as their choices seem to have already been made for them, instead of being products of stable, empathetic temperments.  The tension at the end of the chapter is palpable, as a shocking car wreck that we cannot look away from, the foreshadowing of intensity of the coming situation evident.

And so we continue ………… can Catherine convince Heathcliff of the merits of her marriage?  Will she be happy?  Or will Heathcliff instead chose a destructive path that will affect more people than just himself?  ………  


Read-along posts:  Chapters 1-9 / Chapters 10-17 / Chapters 18-26 / Chapters 27-34 / FINAL REVIEW


Read-A-Thon Update – January 4th

Posted on by
7

My first participation in a Read-A-Thon happened on January 4th and, for my first initiation into this 24 hour marathon, I was pleased how it went.

Beginning at 8:03 am, I got off to a great start, reading one-third of Wuthering Heights for a read-along that I was considering.  The weather was lovely for this time of year, yet I resisted its lure to delve into one of my History challenge books, The History of the Ancient World.  In fact, I was doing so well, that I figured I could relax my rigid regime and take my reading outside along with my silent reading sentinel.

Reading Sentinel!

Warm, yet brittle sunshine flooded the pages of Mrs. Dalloway but I had perhaps made a calculated error in bringing my camera with me, and for the next hour I was distracted by texture, light and layering.  Sigh!

Texture, light, layering …… Voila!

I consoled myself with the excuse that I was still engaged in a creative task but Mrs. Dalloway was not happy, so I went inside, read some more and then convinced myself that I needed a walk to open my mind to Woolf’s “stream-of consciousness” style of writing.

The end of Paradise

The hike sent oxygen to my brain but, sadly, didn’t make me more enamoured with Woolf’s novel, so I began The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe before dinner to get a start on my C.S. Lewis Project.

After dinner I was able to buckle down and get a good 4 uninterrupted hours of reading accomplished.  I really tried to get to War and Peace because I am baby steps to the end, but after reading a few chapters and realizing that I was not understanding anything because of need of sleep, I decided to end the experiment.  My first read-a-thon completed!

I would consider it an initial success with room for much improvement.  In the 16 hours I was awake (you notice I have deliberately avoided the word “reading”), I managed to read:

Wuthering Heights  – read one-third
Mrs. Dalloway – read one-third
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – completed
The History of the Ancient World – read about 60 pages
Prince Caspian – read one-quarter
War and Peace – read a pitiful 2 chapters

A Paradise Lost Read-Along

Posted on by
4

Carolyn at Rosemary and Reading Glasses is hosting a Paradise Lost Read-Along that will happen over the months of January and February.  Since I have always wanted to read this poem but have been too scared to read it by myself AND because I have had a great start to my reading for 2014, I’m in!

Here’s the scoop:

January 1st will mark this blog’s one-year birthday, and what better way to celebrate than with an epic (literally) readalong?  I’m hosting a Paradise Lost readalong from January 1 to March 1, and I hope you’ll come along to brighten up the winter doldrums.  I’ll be tweeting with the tag #ReadPL if you want to follow along.

January 1:  Introductory post

January 10:  Books I & II reaction

January 20:  Books III & IV reaction

January 30:  Books V & VI reaction

February 10:  Books VII & VIII reaction

February 20:  Books IX & X reaction

March 1:  Books XI & XII; Wrap-up

I’m so excited about this read-along that I’m not even feeling guilty in the least.  Please join us if you can fit it in!

And I’m Off! – Beginning 2014

Posted on by
6

 A new year, new challenges and some resolutions!  The beginning of the year started, not with reading, but ………… a “Polar Brrrr Swim”!  Brrrr, is right!  I didn’t join the swim (my husband did) but I did dip my foot in, just to get a taste of what I was missing.  However, after the excitement of the morning, I have come home (well, to our temporary home —— we’re dog-sitting for a friend, but we do have a wonderful view) and have curled up in a comfy chair to start the momentous task of my January reads.

I started The Great Gatsby, which is the January read for my Dead Writers Society group on Goodreads, and also began the Children’s Literature Event, hosted by Amanda on Simpler Pastimes, with The Wizard of Oz.  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will count for that event too, and I also have plans to begin Daniel Deronda and Mrs. Dalloway.  Marian at Tanglwood is hosting a Eugene Onegin read-along which I will participate in.  As for books still in-progress from 2013, I am right on schedule with David Copperfield, The History of the Ancient World, Son Excellence Eugène Rougon and Once and Future King .  War and Peace is still not finished but I am close.  The depth and breadth of Tolstoy’s novels always entrance me and I don’t want to rush this one, though I know I should be done by now.  Wharton’s, Tales of Men and Ghosts is left over from October 2013 —– even though I liked the stories I have read, I am not feeling the urge to pick it up, so it may take awhile for me to get through it.  Add to the above, two other read-alongs, I’m considering:  Maggie’s Wuthering Heights Read-Along and a Paradise Lost Read-Along hosted by Carolyn at Rosemary and Reading Glasses.  I have never read Wuthering Heights and need an event like this to push me.  Why this book has remainder on my TBR shelf for so long, I’m not quite sure.  While I have loved most of the Brönte novels, this one has not had the appeal of the rest.  Am I doing it an injustice?  Perhaps I should find out!  In the case of Paradise Lost, I have been wanting to read it for ages but the intimidation factor stopped me.  This read-along is exactly what I need.

As everyone can see, I am completely overloaded for January and perhaps need professional help.  Not to mention that I’m already failing in one of my new year reading resolutions.  Ah yes, resolutions …….  Shall we talk about those?  My reading resolutions for the year are:

a)  to read less books.  I have challenged myself to read 60 which is down from 68 in 2013 and 78 in 2012.  The reason I have resolved to read less is because I want more time to sit with a book, to converse with it, to get to know it better.  Yes, I am not off to a great start with this resolution.  :-Z

b)  to journal about some of the books I read.  Following The Well-Educated Mind questions, I’d like to take the time to summarize chapters, note items of interest or annoyance, list characters, etc.  I will get much more out of a book that way.  Ruth of A Great Book Study is my example for this resolution so I just have to keep reading her blog for inspiration.  Of course, I don’t want to journal every book.  I think I managed to journal three books last year, so if I can improve on three, I will be happy.

c)  expand my reading choices — I love reading old books!  Period.  But I do realize I need some reading choices to connect me to reality, so for this year I’d like to concentrate (a litttle) on reading books that pertain to present social, health and environment issues, such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The 100-Year Lie, The World Until Yesterday (I loved Collapse by the same author), and perhaps I can even throw a classic into this group …… Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

As you can see, I have a host of hopes, wishes, dreams and books on my plate for 2014, a smörgåsbord  of reading and learning.  Whether I realize all of my goals, remains to be seen, but the fun is in the trying!  All best to everyone for 2014!