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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
Bleak House
Yikes, this was a long slog. I got off to a bad start, probably because I was distracted by too many other things. But, Dickens is truly excellent, and this book was good. Not my favorite so far, but still good. I picked it because I read that "experts" considered this to be Dickens' finest. It wasn't for me, but it is a good book. I did, however, have some issues. It took me a while to become reconciled to the back-and-forth changes in story teller from Esther, who was writing up her own recollections of things, to some omniscient entity who was writing the mostly non-Esther parts in present tense. After a while, I did become reconciled and enjoyed the action.
Also, there were so many characters flitting in and out that I had rather a problem keeping them straight.
I think my major problem, however, relates to my feelings that it was rather creepy how women were patronized and manipulated in this book. I realize my problem is a sensibility from 150 years after the book was written, but none-the-less, it felt creepy. I had similar issues with the end of the Count of Monte Cristo. Thank goodness, we have come a long way in our views regarding whether or not women are fully human.
