Location, location

Managed to spend a whole hour reading Greenery Street this morning, as I had to get up outrageously early to get into honors classes, and had to wait in line for ages. I'm still loving it.

Then after lunch passed a random book sale, which had lots of books all for under ten dollars. It's been quite a while since I browsed through a bookstore properly, so it was quite pleasant. I didn't buy anything, but I was rather fascinated by which books appealed. It was mostly nonfiction that struck my eye (though granted, the sale was mostly of nonfiction). I did consider buying a collection of Alan Bennett's writing, but didn't in the end.

After that I had to finish reading the assigned chapters of John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. I contemplated reading outside, as it was quite sunny today, but it wasn't really warm enough. Next best thing (or maybe better!), I went to sit in the Suzzallo Library reading room. I'm sure you've all seen this webpage, the collection of beautiful libraries. Most of them are photos of centuries-old libraries in Europe, but Suzzallo Library makes it in. Deservedly so. Reading there is like sitting in a church. The ceiling's enormously high and there's all sorts of lovely details, carving in the walls, beautifully painted ceiling, stained glass. Something about those long wooden tables with the lamps built into them make me feel like I should be wearing a 1950s suit. And reading there makes you feel kind of virtuous and pretentious at the same time.Given my sudden desire to read nonfiction and my recent discovery of the joys of reading in Suzzallo, has anyone got any good nonfiction suggestions? I'd like to brush up my history, but I'd like books that have a specific focus, that take history from a certain angle. Ideas?

Persephone

It's Persephone Reading Week, hosted here and here. I actually have no time to read anything that isn't for class, but I was seduced by the lure of Persephone, so I am rebelling against my lack of time and reading anyway. Which is kind of dangerous, because I've started Greenery Street, by Denis Mackail, and I already love it and am going to have to continue reading it.

I can already tell this is going to be one of those books that winds up with numerous post-it notes in it of paragraphs I want to quote. A compulsive reading aloud book, is what this is. It's the story of the first year of a happy marriage, basically, so it's nice and cheerful and funny. Here's one of the paragraphs I've already marked. It's on the occasion of Ian meeting his future father-in-law.

'How do you do, sir?' said Ian, courageously. As before, he extended the right hand of salutation.

But old Humphrey, who was at least ten times more embarrassed than anyone else in the room, found himself incapable of making the necessary contact. Instead, he nodded at Ian with an odd kind of familiarity - rather as though they had secretly spent the whole day together in not very respectable surroundings - and began rubbing the tips of his fingers against each other. (pg 27)

This entire scene is quite hilarious, really, tense in the way scenes like this are tense in a movie or on stage (which makes sense as Denis Mackail was in theatre), almost farcical.

It really is a lovely book, and I'm so excited to read the rest of it despite my utter lack of time.

Friday Ephemera #36

Not a photo, just a link. Wind-powered knitting machine. The bottom of the article also links to a little video of the machine.

Nonfiction

I've been musing a lot lately, though still not reading very much. After The Man of Property I was all set to blaze through the rest of the Forsyte Saga, but of course that didn't happen and now it's due back at the library. Instead, I've started reading a nonfiction book called The Victorian Visitors, by Rupert Christiansen. It's basically about various foreign personalities who visited London in the 19th century, and how they interacted with Victorian British culture. I'll have more to say about it when I've finished it.

I'm thinking about reading as escapism. Lately, it's nonfiction that does the best job of keeping my attention. Maybe the fiction I'm reading just isn't exciting enough. But given the amount of nonfiction reading I have to do for classes this quarter, it seems odd that I would choose more nonfiction for my pleasure reading.

I don't know if this has anything to do with this trend in my reading, but I wonder if in some ways nonfiction actually makes better escapism than fiction. In fiction, we get a more or less complete picture of characters. We know what they did, and more importantly, why they did it. In fiction, however, we have a fair chunk of facts, but little background knowledge, mere guesses at what influences and motives went into events. Nonfiction asks us to think about what happened. Fiction asks us to think about why it happened; it shoes us people's internal workings, and in that way probably makes us more aware of our own. And that probably takes more energy than just reading the tangible history and wondering vaguely what else was there.

I nearly always speed through nonfiction. I don't know why, really. I just always find something in it to fascinate me.

Links again.

Just popping in to link you to this. Stats from a 1992 survey about librarians and sex.

links

Much apologies about my lack of bookishness lately. I'm in the throes of writing a five page paper and three two page papers, and doing the reading to go with them. Haven't had much time to read anything but political theory and articles about education. Anyway, have some fun links to make up for my own lack of the interesting.

National Flags--in National Food.

Dalek Egg, made Ukrainian style.

Friday Ephemera #35

My tea collection. And the sugar jar.

Festivity!

Happy Tartan Day! I've no idea why today is Tartan Day, but my calendar says it is, so I'll spread the tartan joy. This particular pattern is apparently the official tartan of the state of Iowa. Who knew?

For the occasion, have a link irrelevant to the occasion: a page of illustrations from a 1912 fairytale book called In Powder and Crinoline.

Happy Easter!

Or, if you like, Happy Christian Appropriation of Pagan Symbols Day! I don't celebrate any of the other parts, anyway. (Sorry, I do not know where this image came from; my mother sent it to me.)

Friday Ephemera #34

My cat, Georgie, lying in the sun and looking at me like I'm crazy.