Ok to stop

Yesterday I allowed myself to stop reading a book. This is a big deal. I forced myself to read all of the short stories in the Henry James anthology that appeared in my house, even though I hated pretty much every second. I've pushed myself through challenging works including Moby Dick, enormous works like Johnathon Strange and Mr. Norrell, and now am happily plugging through Don Quixote.

But I'm sorry, American Gospel. It just wasn't going to happen. I don't particularly enjoy nonfiction to begin with, and you were dry dry dry. The idea of how religion has played a part in American politics since the days of the founding fathers is interesting. Even more so the realization of just how inclusive their ideas of religion were. However the way the story was being told was, to me, mindnumbing. And now I'm done with it.

In other news, although I'm glad my cat is happy, it drives me crazy when he drools on the keyboard. Gross.

Happy Thanks!

I'm really looking forward to our quiet Thanksgiving this year. I just bought brie, puff pastry and strawberry/brandied apricot jam. We'll also have some squash and a salad. And we'll spend the day playing games and baking cookies, and then go to a friends' house to have dessert with them and their guests.

I'm very thankful to get to spend the day with my sweet husband. I'm also thankful for our family and friends. I'm so excited to have completed my MLD certification and realizing all the possibilities this brings for my future. I'm glad our cats are healthy aside from some nasty cat breath. And I'm very pleased that dinner tonight is heating up leftovers. It's nice to be here.

Dangerous Book #6

I'm halfway through my dangerous book task, although it's true that I only had three books on the list to start with and have been declaring books dangerous as they arrive. But in August I finally read all of Hunchback of Notre Dame. I'm actually a little surprised that I was so scared of this book. I think what probably made me put it down in high school is the language, it's fairly challenging and convoluted. However now that I've read Moby Dick, I'm not sure I'll run into that problem again. Ok, that's asking for it, but I still feel like archaic sentence structure is much easier to tackle than it used to be.

Hunchback turned out to be an enjoyable, tragic action adventure, filled with lust and intrigue. In many ways it was soap operaish and predictable, but there was enough humor to keep it interesting. I'm glad I tried it again.

It was also good timing, to read it right before going to Paris. It has such lavish detail of the streets, it was almost a map (for that time period). In fact, the book is what prompted the restoration of the Notre Dame cathedral itself, as people had such a clear mental image of what it could be.

My dear wonderful and brave husband took himself to Jo-Ann Fabrics, chatted with a saleswoman, and bought me a sewing machine as a surprise for my birthday! I am both excited and scared about it. I can't wait to start using it, and I hope I live up to it as well...

Cooling

Today it was already 84 at 9:00 when I went to the farmers' market. Luckily, or dangerously, the farmers' market has: sorbet. Specifically rhubarb honey mint sorbet. Which now that I've had, is the only thing I want on hot days, it turns out. Perhaps it is time to begin experimenting with popsicles again...