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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
Ramona and Her Mother (Ramona, #5)
Ramona, now 7 1/2, worries that her mother doesn’t much love her. It seems that her older sister, Beezus, is “her mother’s daughter”, or at least so Ramona hears some folks tell her mother. Her parents have secretive discussions at night, and so forth, and Ramona figures it revolves around what to do about her. But, it as is the case in earlier books, we find that small children don’t always understand the nuances of adult speech patterns, nor of life in general, quite clearly. Ramona wants to be her mother’s little rabbit, so she twitches her nose a lot. People think she has medical issues.
But, some good things happen. Beezus wants to have a haircut like Dorothy Hammill's (Dorothy isn't named, but those of us around in the late 70s know exactly who is being tagged as "that skater"). She saves up her allowance to pay for one. But it comes out all teased and poofy, more like Dolly Parton, totally inappropriate for a 7th grader. Ramona gets a “pixie” cut and is told by one an all how “adorable” she is. She loves being "adorable". Who wouldn't?
Whatever, it was fun. My Ramona is only 3 1/2-months old, but adorable. My Anderson is 7 1/2, and appears to be much like Ramona in the book in many ways, creative, fanciful, but not always getting the adult approaches to things. Some of us think he's adorable as well.
 - Beverly Cleary)