200 Books

The Confessions by St. Augustine Page: 120

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen Page:488 Finished

The Sleeping Beauty by C.S. Evans page: 108 Finished

I had a friend mention the other day that reading about my project (to read a freakin’ lot of books) was making her feel “even worse” about herself. After passing it off with a hopefully self-deprecating joke I started to think that there might be a fairly universal misunderstanding among those who know what I’m trying to do this year. If anyone thinks that this is a super-human feat or is motivated by a righteous quest for self-improvement let me set the record straight.

I love to read. Books and I are like ducks and water, hands and gloves, PB and J. I love to read so much I’d rather read than almost anything else. If I had to give up all pleasures but one I’d probably keep reading and discard chocolate, wine, rock climbing, etc…sex I’d keep, but I’d fight hard to get it counted as a marital duty so I could keep reading too! I crave the written word like no one else I know. So setting myself this kind of task is a challenge but a pleasurable one. I also read absurdly fast. I’ve not taken a reading test since fourth grade but then I tested at the college level so I’m thinking I must be off the charts now. This isn’t a developed skill the way an ability to play an instrument is, rather it is like being able to “play by ear” without ever having worked for it. Quite simply it’s a gift of God not of works so I do not boast I simply explain so you don’t despise yourself for not keeping up with me. Please feel free to be inspired to try something challenging but don’t set yourself a marathon reading schedule unless you find yourself similarly inclined and talented.

Now that we set that straight…I read The Sleeping Beauty today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only are the Arthur Rackham illustrations lovely but the text was quite charming. This is a re-telling by C.S. Evans of whom I know little but I like the way he expanded and embellished the tale and I look forward to reading it too Alex and Luc when they are old enough to understand and have the attention span to sit through it. I also finished Mansfield Park and as I was ruminating on it’s peculiar charm I was struck by the way Jane Austen deals with gentility. Now I’m sure there have been reams written on every conceivable (I couldn’t spell conceivable there…you’d think I’d have it down by now!) aspect of her novels but allow me to venture into well-trodden territory. Her many characters either are well-mannered or not and they may have come from a genteel family or been raised in rougher circumstances. They may have been well-raised but not of gentle birth as was Fanny Price. But neither their birth nor their upbringing necessarily puts them in one set or the other but some combination of both can lead to either. Now I know many people not brought up in anything like a genteel home (and our society is as far as it can be from that) but they still conduct themselves with scrupulous propriety. I think that sometimes their education may come from books but still I begin to think that there might be something kind of in-born gentility.  Anyway it’s a good book, of course and you should read it. Augustine likewise was excellent today and he is on the verge of conversion as we come to the end of book six of The Confessions.

And now I have two more books I want to read in 2009…The Pirates in an adventure with Scientists by Gideon Defoe (the bio on the back flap says “Gideon Defoe…wrote The Pirates! to convince a woman to leave her boyfriend for him. She didn’t.”) and The Body Never Lies by Alice Miller. They both came into the store and now I wish I could read them before they sell, which isn’t likely. I already sold the Phillip Pullman trilogy (sorry Brent, sorry Sam) which bodes well for the profitability of the bookstore but not for my 2009 reading list.

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