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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
The Vicar of Wakefield (Oxford World's Classics)
This is one of those books that get mentioned in high school English (or did anyway), but which no one ever reads anymore, probably because it is so dated. Basically, this is a sort of morality tale. The protagonist and his family go through a series of calamities, each worse than the preceding one, and then in the last little bit, it all comes out well in the end. Parts of the book reminded me of Pride and Prejudice. The protagonist was a bit like Mr. Bennet, well meaning, moralistic and somewhat ineffectual. His wife was a silly woman who spent her time scheming up ways to marry off her daughters.
There were a number of moral digressions, which seemed to me rather apropos to our current situation. Which is to say, scoundrels and corruption have ever been with us and have ever shared a pretty common strain.
Anyway, it was an enjoyable read, although not at the top of my list of favorites.
 - Oliver Goldsmith)