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Reading Slothfully
I was told in elementary school that I only could read at half the speed for success in college. Oh well, one benefit of slow reading is you get to live with the characters a longer period of time. I read in a vain attempt to better understand people. At my other homes, I'm known as a spouse, pop, guy in the choir, physical chemist, computer/web dilettante and child-care provider. In theory, I'm a published author, if you consider stuff like Quenching Cross Sections for Electronic Energy Transfer Reactions Between Metastable Argon Atoms and Noble Gases and Small Molecules to count as publications. I've strewn dozens of such fascinating things to the winds.
Currently reading
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas
The Spirit of the Border
Ramona the Brave (Ramona, #3)
The Underground Man (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
Delilah of the Snows
Mrs. Miniver
Betsy-Tacy Treasury (P.S.)
A Christmas Carol
The Way Some People Die
Envy of Angels
Persuasion
I think this might be the only Jane Austen book that I'd not read previously. I have, however, seen the video multiple times, as well as all other Jane Austen videos my spouse has managed to find. I believe Persuasion is one of her favorite Jane Austen books/videos. As for books, I would rate it at the bottom of the Jane Austen collection, although to be fair, it's been so long since I read Sense and Sensibility or Mansfield Park, that I might not be remembering either particularly well. It's also possible my view of the book is colored by my repeated exposure to the video. The video, fwiw, is much superior to those we have of Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey, but as I said, I'm not convinced the book is superior to either of them. The writing style struck me as being more stilted than the other Jane Austen books I can remember, and the subject matter doesn't much interest me. An interfering acquaintance has broken off the proposed marriage between Capt. Wentworth and Anne Elliot. Some eight years later they find themselves still carrying the torch for each other, but unsure as to how to ascertain if the other still feels similarly. In the end, of course, it's all unicorns, rainbows and bunnies, but getting there is a bit tedious, and we're constantly exposed to pages of emotion-laden idle speculation. My suggestion is to watch the video and then go read Pride and Prejudice or Emma, both of which I've read within the past year, so remember clearly that they were, indeed, good reads.
