Not very much has changed for me in the last few weeks. I thought that I’d post again when I had gotten through the Bible. Well, I’m not near the end, but I am that much closer (still have 400 pages to go…). The thing is it can’t be the only book I read. In general, I usually have several going at once. At the moment, it’s more like eight and counting. For whatever reason, ever other book looks more delicious than the ones I’ve started. Then I get into those and still others catch my eye.
I was craving a novel, but felt behind in my classics, so I reached for Anna Karenina, on the list but meant for later on in the year. It’s just so good and reminds me of how much I adore nineteenth-century fiction. Lucky thing I have a ton of it in the plans, although practically every selection is a brick. The binding in this one also hurts my fingers. The type dips too closely into the crease, which means I have to hold it a certain way, and that aggravates my arthritis. I wish publishers would think of these things.
Another phenomenon I’ve noticed is diminishing type size. In more than half of the classics on my shelf, the font is 8 pt or less. In French books, they just add ‘tomes’, but in English, they shrink the letters. I don’t even wear glasses but I probably will by the end of 2007. A month or two ago, I was wandering around a bookstore and noticed that there was Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in a single volume on the shelf. While it is true that it was abridged (a travesty in and of itself), it was unwieldy. If ever a book was not meant for paperback that was it. The letters were like tiny dots and it was three inches thick. Blech. There’s one I won’t buy…
So now I am faced with the end of January, and only five books finished. I am two discs away from the end of Mayflower; one disc into Good to Great; half-way through the Bible; 200 pages into The Great Transformation; 120 pages into Rwanda’s Genocide, 150 pages into Anna Karenina, 77 pages into Occidental Mythology, and 60 pages into a French book about Champollion. I wish I could just sit my tuchus down and finish one of them but it seems well nigh impossible.
Compounding this inability for completion is a new obsession with documentary films. My library has a great collection which I’ve recently discovered, and now I can’t get enough. I watch at least two a week, which, for a girl who hasn’t watched TV in years, is quite a lot. As long as there’s still learning…
Wow. I sometimes wonder what I'm doing when I have 3 books going at once... I think there may be a Multi-taskers Anonymous group you could join. (Seriously, I don't think it's a problem thought.) I have wanted to read many classics, but have been terrified to start very many. Which is strange because I loved all of the books we read in high school lit. Anna K. has been on my TBR list ever since Oprah put it in her book club. I had heard of it, but hadn't had a desire to pursue it. As I've learned more about the book, my desire (to read) has increased, but I am intimidated by the number of pages. Perhaps once I have finished the 3 Diana Gabaldon books on my night stand I won't be as intimidated by reading another doorstop.
Posted by: SherBears | February 02, 2007 at 08:01 AM
To whom it may concern,Hi, I was a mbmeer of the BDC when it started at Cal Poly. I just spoke with my old landlord in SLO, and there is an old gas pump still at my old house that belongs to the club. I was storing it there while I was in school for the club in the beginning .I was hoping someone in the club may be able to go pick it up? It'll take two guys to lift and a truck. Please let me know as my old land lord would like it removed. You can email or call .email being the best during the day.Thank you, Willi Ortner831.207.8543
Posted by: Maroun | August 19, 2012 at 03:09 AM