State of the union

I've managed to post every single day since the 7th of August, now exactly a month ago, which I am decidedly proud of, and it's been very nice to have so much time to read and blog. Going into the autumn, though, this may start to change. I'm planning to spend September organizing the Nova Project's drama department and hanging out there, even though I graduated. The idea of getting to be at school but never having to go to classes is entirely lovely, and I've been wanting to organize all the costumes and props for the last three years, but not had time because of classes. So it's an ideal situation. And then at the end of September I start college, and no doubt my posting at that point will become much less frequent. I'll try to keep it regular, though, and no doubt I'll be reading lots of interesting things and have them to talk about.

I've still got that huge pile of books to read, and it's gotten even bigger with more books I keep remembering I've been meaning to read, like The Forsyte Saga and That Hideous Strength, so far that I had to turn it into two piles. I am slowly but steadily working at The Worm Ouroboros and Brideshead Revisited, so keep a lookout for posts on those.

I haven't bought any books lately, having been of an odd mood that talks me out of buying anything. Funnily enough books are the one thing this mood least applies to, despite being of the least immediate use. My text file of books I want to find has gotten considerably longer lately, though, what with finally catching up on all the book blogs I read, so there are some things I'm definitely on the lookout for used copies of. And Connie Willis is starting to look appealing again, after To Say Nothing of the Dog and The Doomsday Book last year.

There's many a man hath more hair than wit

And here's proof of what Tam Lin does to my reading--not just Euripides but Shakespeare, E.R. Eddison, and a smattering of poets. I finished Tam Lin, promptly got out the Norton Anthology and just as promptly gave this over for my Complete Works of Shakespeare, and read Comedy of Errors. I've never seen this play, and not read it before. Shakespeare in the park was doing it this summer, and I did very much mean to go see it but with one thing and another never did. It's a very interesting play though in some ways distinguishes itself from the others, and I begin to see how greatly varied Shakespeare's plays can be. There's less of romance than most of the comedies I'm familiar with. By the formula of those I've read before, the comedy and the errors should be in mistaken identity which turns out funny situations between lovers, but not one of these characters is really much of a lover. It's a very funny play. I noticed far more couplets than seems usual, and is it just me or is this rather a shorter play? But I liked it. It's more symmetrical and better tied off than Twelfth Night.

Having finished both Tam Lin and Comedy or Errors, I then got the great joy of choosing a new book off the stack. I'm still reading The Mother Tongue, mind you, but slowly, and I like to have a novel on the go at the same time. So I picked The Worm Ouroboros, which I've already started and put aside twice, and which is a Tam Lin-associated book so hopefully that particular wave of reading inspiration will last me the book, at least until it begins to carry its own weight.

This evening, the lasting effects of Tam Lin in combination with watching History Boys produced a desire for some poetry, so I hauled out another literature textbook I for unknown reasons possess, and read a bit. For some reason Keats' "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer" is at present particularly in my mind (maybe because Homer is), despite a little whirlwind tour of modern poetry (which according to this book begins with Hardy). I still associate "silent, upon a peak in Darien." with Swallows and Amazons. The poem in general I associate with Tam Lin, but the bit about Darien is all Swallows and Amazons.

Had I read something out of the 18th century and something medieval, I'd have sort of done a stop on my tour in at least one bit of every age, and I did do drama, novel, and poetry, which is rather a lot for one day, really. I have to confess I have gotten pretty much nothing done but reading.