“The Asses found themselves once so intolerably oppressed with cruel masters and heavy burdens, that they sent their ambassadors to Jupiter, with a petition for redress. Jupiter found the request unreasonable, and so gave them this answer, that humane society could not be preserved without carrying burdens some way of other: so that if they would but join and piss up a river, that the burdens which they now carried by land might be carried by water, they should be eased of that grievance. This set them all a pissing immediately, and humour is kept up to this very day, that whenever one ass pisses, the rest piss for company.”

Ummm…not reading that to my kids…

Aesop is over and I’m not sorry. I must confess to my first “skimming” of the year though. I didn’t fully read the “Reflections” following each fable. They were so dull, so often illogical and so long, that I just couldn’t take it after about page 150. Forgive me.

Don’t you just hate it when all your inspiration comes after you’re in bed ready to fall asleep? Yeah, me too. I was up writing until midnight. I know that is not late to you young things; I too used to be up until 2, 3 or 5 for homework, for “hanging out” or just to read, but now with two little ones waking me up early and running me ragged all day, 10 or 10:30 looks pretty good.

I finished up the last of Naguib Mahfouz’s books Thebes at War and encourage you to get out there and pick up a copy. His Cairo Trilogy was excellent and now his three novels of Ancient Egypt are my list of recommends. They are simply lovely books. I couldn’t put them down…and not just because of some reading goal!

Now I’m trying to get Aesop finished up quickly so I don’t lose it at the dry style and moralizing “Reflections”.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention! This is the day 12 years ago when I first met my little brother. My mom insisted she wasn’t sure if she was really in labor right up until she almost broke my hand squeezing it during contractions. So lucky me got to play “catch” with an incredibly slippery, incredibly precious baby boy. I love you bro!

I didn’t finish Aesop’s Fables in time for book club. shocking I know. With the inevitability of having to finish before the year is out, you would think finishing within a two-week time frame would be simple. But you would be calculating without the dull, soulless morality of the Greeks. I simply cannot believe that a child would ever want to read this book. Dull little “fables” with boring but improbable events, extrapolated into highly complex and equally unlikely “reflections”.

I am done with Beloved. A huge relief. It is sad, improbable, sad, unappealing and, oh, sad. I’ve read it before and didn’t remember how horribly off-the-rails it goes. I listened to a “Slate” audio book club about it several years ago and was relieved to find that it has not entirely entered the canon despite Oprah’s Seal of Approval.

I’m working on developing a new literary theory. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Sixty-five days and thirty-nine books. Scary…

I am working on staying up later to get more reading in. Now I drink a pot of coffee every morning and half a pot every night. So far it has meant an extra few hundred pages.

I finished Sons and Lovers and I just want to say thank you Pam for not being an obsessive unhappy freak who lives through her sons. It makes my life easier and is giving me a good example for when I’ll have to let go of mine. Sheesh! Literature can be downright disturbing. The novel is about a woman who had an unhappy marriage and so clings to her sons, poisoning their relationships with women and sucking the life out of them at home. Her husband was kind of a jerk but she was a self-righteous shrew. Lawrence is good enough to make you feel sympathetic and pitying to each character in turn but they were not a very admirable lot.

I’ve accepted advice and started Robinson Crusoe. So far he sounds just like Sinbad the Sailor but next to Paul and and the rest of the Morels he’s downright jolly even if he doesn’t understand the concept of risk… Hopefully by tonight we’ll be down to 38.

I WANT MORE SLEEP! Alex was up crying again last night and since Luc spent all day yesterday crying unless he was actively being held or fed I didn’t really feel up to dealing with more fussiness. I’d already stayed up kinda late reading so when the screeching started I had barely dropped off to sleep…I think maybe I need more Grace as much as I need more sleep.

I wanted to start a short book yesterday and get it finished so I picked up Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. I only read about half because in addition to all the stress mentioned earlier, the boys only took a one-hour nap! (Normal is at least two.) It is an odd but kind of amazing little book and I’m looking forward to finishing it today.

Book club was great though small. It was just MB and I and we easily reached a consensus on preachy children’s books. The Secret Garden wasn’t terrible but we deplore the trend. Our next book is Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. Chosen because she and I are both headed to the Hermitage next weekend. We even settled on our next book already. We’ll be reading Aesop’s Fables. I guess we are extra decisive when it’s just two of us. Now it is COFFEE TIME.

I read all of The Secret Garden yesterday and I’m really over pedantic children’s literature. Ok, ok, I get it, fresh air and plain food are all the world needs…

In other news the boys and I had an absolutely fabulous day. We played, I worked and hardly a fussy note escaped either of them! It was really quite amazing. I’m not at all certain what the magic formula was but we’re going for a repeat of the experience today.

They came and took the empty POD away. The driveway is much nicer now that there is a little room in it. And, also on the shedding possessions front, we sold our teevee last night. We are now $80 and fourteen cubic feet richer.

My dear friend MB had a fantastic idea and was kind enough to let me in on it. We are looking into spending the weekend at a Hermitage. Such a great plan on so many levels. In another life I might have been a member of a contemplative order so to visit that life for a weekend (and get some reading done) sounds simply wonderful. Now I just have to apply and hope they accept me…

I read quite a bit today. After finishing The Rights of Man this morning and blogging the boys and I went for a walk to the bank. I read about half of Hawthorne’s A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys on the walk and then finished it over the too short nap time. It was a pleasure to read. Then I started Joseph Roth’s The Radetzky March. It came with an enthusiastic blurb from Harold Bloom so it must be good right? I’m about a hundred pages in and think it must be.

Jared and I collaborated on a spaghetti dinner. Alex and Luc collaborated on it’s consumption/destruction.

Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault Page: 134

The Human Factor by Graham Greene Page: 335

I’m writing this at seven on a Saturday morning. I vaguely recall the delights of sleeping in. the drowsy comfortable feeling as you snuggle down in your sheets, the peaceful tug-of-war between your mild hunger and the pleasure of snoozing for another half-hour, the indolent slowness of finally rising and determining how you are going to spend your day. These pleasures were even deeper after marriage. Having someone to share the slow peaceful morning with is simply great, especially if that person is your favorite in the whole wide world. Now Saturday morning is just like every other morning, hoping the boys sleep until 7, rising bleary-eyed to face making their breakfasts and starting the endless round of cleaning toddlers make necessary, oh, and enjoying every minute of their wide-eyed wonder at the world. Different, of course, but also wonderful and an experience I wouldn’t trade for all the lazy days in the world.

I think I’ll have to recommend Perrault over the other fairy-talers. His stories are articulate, clear and not repetitive.

Graham Greene is now on my list of “must-explore” authors. He clearly understands the human condition and writes in an inquisitive way about moral failing and about affection and love. Their is a sadness to The Human Factor but it is a grave sadness not an existential despair. I think I’ll read more.

The Wind in the Willows Page: 249

The Magic Mountain Page: 405

I’m with Lewis on Wind in the Willows and not just because it’s the safest position. It was a fun, adventurous book, full of exactly the kinds of things that delight children’s hearts: exploring, just enough danger to be frightening but not paralyzing, good food, loyal friends and a fool who becomes wiser. It wasn’t as polished as I expected it to be and while I enjoyed it I’m not sure that it will become as deep a part of my soul as Narnia is. I think that it’s strengths lie in glimpses of myth rather than in an actual myth. There are visions in it that resonate while the whole is less powerful than the pieces. I especially loved Mole’s coming home, “messing about in boats”, finding Portly, and the visit of the sailor. But don’t bother to buy it without the Rackham illustrations…they are worth more than the price of the book by themselves.

So…guess what I did today…yep, I finally crashed on the bike. It was coming, it had to, but oh, how I wish it hadn’t. The boys are ok, I think the bike is too (Jared hasn’t looked at it yet) but I’m so very sore. My hands, chest, pelvis and knee are quite bruised and scraped. I’m glad that I’m always going so slow with the boys because despite the sudden stop, they were hardly even scared. After checking on them, I just had to make sure no one saw me. I think one person did but they kindly walked away before I could be too embarrassed. I limped part way home and Quinn came and rescued me and graciously took care of the boys while I cleaned up and calmed down.

Oh, and by the time you read this it is probably my birthday…I’m 28 now. Wish me well!

Great Expectations Charles Dickens Page: 544 Finished

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham Page: 120

It’s been awhile since I read The Wind in the Willows and I don’t think I finished it then. It’s been on my list of things I ought to know and love ever since I read CS Lewis saying that it was a book a young man would loan his lady and if she didn’t like he would ask for all his letters back. That seemed like a strong recommendation and even though I’m less than halfway through it I begin to understand. It is the kind of book that ought to be read in childhood and I’m sorry I didn’t. Of course the Arthur Rackham illustrations mean that the book should be looked at too, not just read. I can’t believe that guy could paint like that. If he were still alive I’d write a children’s book just to get him to illustrate it. Sometimes I wish I was extremely wealthy and lived 300 years ago just so I could be a patroness and own my own artist… I would buy my friend JJ and his wife Heather and lock them in a dungeon to produce art on demand…or something like that.

Seriously, who can really do things like this?