I don’t have the plague. The strep test came back negative, which is good because I don’t have strep, not so good because now my throat just hurts and I can’t take drugs to make it stop. So, gargling with saltwater and drinking 10-12 glasses of warm liquids it is.
I still have to take the dumb glucose test.
I knew that Evelyn Waugh and Nancy Mitford were close friends, and I’d heard their work cited as similar, but I’d never really noticed it for myself. That is, until I read Put Out More Flags by Waugh. I was struck by the similarity in feel it had to Christmas Pudding and Pigeon Pie by Mitford, which is interesting as they were her earlier books and she was less pleased with them as time went on. Luckily, I loved them, and loved Put Out More Flags as well. It’s the story of Basil Seal, a lounge-about who has gotten away with living his own brand of life for quite a while. When WW2 begins, the women in his life decide that it’s high time he join the army and do something substantial. Of course he wants nothing to do with that, and his pursuits into other arenas are predictably amusing. (Not to say that they’re predictable, just that it’s safe to assume that the contortions Waugh puts him through will be entertaining.) Waugh has a nipping sense of humor (not quite biting), and captures character clearly and quickly. I feel like his characters exist, and enjoy visiting them. I think it’s time to try Brideshead Revisited again, now that I have a feel for him.
I reread Bonjour Tristesse and loved it again. In some ways it’s obvious that it was written by an 18 year old- the emotion and turbulence of that age are so fresh, so purely captured. In other ways I can’t believe that someone so young wrote so gorgeously, there’s not a wrong phrase in the whole thing.
Now I’m reading The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh, and loving it, epic monstrosity that it is. These two are so witty and so funny, and their affection for each other is so evident, that the letters are a joy to read. Seeing the progress of their books as they council with each other about them is fascinating, as is seeing the progress of the world as they mention it in passing.
Current total: 16
Just finished: Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan
Currently reading: The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh
Why it kind of sucks to be me today:
1) I very possibly have the plague, better known as strep throat.
2) I have to take the 3 hour glucose test for gestational diabetes AGAIN. This consists of me going into the lab on an empty stomach, drinking pure glucose, and then having my blood drawn every hour for the next 3 hours, (it actually comes out to 4 times) so they can check to see what wonky things my body does. That’s my idea of a good time, let me tell you. I’m so looking forward to this, I can hardly say. And knowing my luck, the results will come back the same as last time, which is to say, weird. The doctor will call and say, “Well, you don’t have gestational diabetes, but your results weren’t normal, so we’re not really sure what’s causing that. So, just eat often, and keep an eye on it”, which is what they told me last time I went through this mess. Ah well.
Why it doesn’t suck to be me today:
1) I have great insurance. I called the advice nurse about my throat and she talked to me for a good 10 minutes, asking my symptoms and being really thorough. Instead of just dismissing my concerns, she told me to go in for a culture, just in case. I was able to show up at the hospital today, walk in, get my paperwork, get my throat culture done, and get out in about 10 minutes. Next week when I go in to get my blood drawn for the glucose test, chances are high that I’ll get one of the technicians who uses the little needles to be nice, and tells me what to say to the other technicians to get them to use the little needles. And I didn’t and won’t have to pay an extra dime for any of that. No fee for the visit today, no fee for the lab work next week, no fee for the call to the advice nurse. I can get any and all health assistance I need without worrying about money, and for that I’m truly grateful.
2) I got my drivers license in the mail today! My real live drivers license. Add one more thing to the list of accomplishments I’ve achieved before 30. I know it’s not big for most people, but it is for me. Hooray!
I’m behind in my posting again, but not by too far this time.
I’ve solved the riddle of the ages. (Maybe.) Gwyneth Paltrow is just a big Truman Capote fan, and that’s why she named her baby Apple- after the sister in Capote’s novel Summer Crossing. Actually, I would have solved the riddle of the ages had the book been released before Gwyneth’s baby was born, but it wasn’t, so it’s back to the drawing board on that one.
Anyway, Summer Crossing is a wonderful book. It was Capote’s first novel, and in it you can see the raw talent he possessed, and signs of what was to come. It’s the story of Grady, a young woman in 1945, who is left on her own for the summer in New York. Her parents are in Europe, and she is in love. Of course she’s not in love with the person she should be, the boy who is her best friend, but with the far more romantic and completely unsuitable Clyde. It’s a story of the first love that sweeps you off your feet and pushes you to make incredibly stupid decisions, and what happens when that goes unchecked. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would put it in a nice bundle with I Capture the Castle and Bonjour Tristesse.
It’s no secret that I love Nancy Mitford, but until recently I’d only read her fiction. I was excited to try her non-fiction, and The Water Beetle fit the bill precisely. Unlike her other non-fiction, which is mostly biographies, The Water Beetle is a collection of essays on topics as diverse as the race to get to the South Pole to the history of the salon in France. No matter the topic, her tone is delightfully readable, even when she writes about topics I care little about. Her interest in her subjects is contagious, and as I finished I realized that I now had a number of topics I want to research farther. And it inspired me to finally look up the word parvenu.
Now I’m reading Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh, and loving it. I love his subtle, crazy style.
Current total: 14
Just finished: The Water Beetle by Nancy Mitford
Currently Reading: Put Out More Flags by Evelyn Waugh
In a little over a month I’ll be turning 30. That fact, in and of itself, doesn’t really bother me all that much. I’ve gotten to the point where I realize that for the most part age doesn’t really matter all that much, as is evidenced by the fact that I really have no idea how old most of my friends are, and don’t know how old I am most of the time.
But I remembered the quote at the top of this post the other day; it comes from Reality Bites. I’ve never actually seen the whole movie (I know, that’s probably some sort of crime), but I have seen that part, and it made me cry. I know that feeling, the sorrow over the childhood dreams that reality took away. When I was little, and then in high school, I knew who I was going to be when I was 23, and it certainly was going to be somebody. I was going to accomplish and be and people would know me.
But life takes us in different directions than we think, and my life now is nothing like the life I thought I was going to have. I haven’t accomplished the things I wanted to, but those things aren’t important or even realistic to me now. I realize now that the “somebody” I thought I wanted to be isn’t really what I want at all.
Instead, I’m somebody completely different, and I like the person that I am, and the things that I’ve done. I’ve started to compile a list of things that I’ve accomplished in the 13 years since I graduated high school, and I have to admit that I’m kind of impressed with myself.
So what have I done? Here’s a partial list (in somewhat chronological order):
* Graduated with a BA of Literature with Honors
* Managed Atlantis for 5 years and stuck with it despite people saying I should get a real job, because I loved it so much.
* Planned and pulled off the 25th Anniversary year at Atlantis with at least 1 event a month and didn’t kill myself or anyone else
* Edited the 25th Anniversary comic
* Became somewhat known and gained a good reputation in the industry
* Went to New Orleans twice
* Had the nerve to get out a bad situation, and fix a mistake rather than make it worse
* Got married 
* Wrote 2 novels
* Edited a novella that’s been published
* Got the job I’ve wanted for a long time
* Got a gig writing graphic novel reviews
* Read 300+ books
* Learned how to knit
* Got pregnant
Do you know of something else I’ve accomplished? Remind me so I can add it to my list!
I’ve been in a weird non-reading mood lately, where I want to read but don’t, at the same time. (Don’t want to and just plain don’t read.) So reading has been happening, it’s just taking a while. I’d read two books that I hadn’t posted about, and then went to the library yesterday and got through another two, so I should catch up.
I’ve already posted my thoughts about The Royal Tenenbaums, so I’ll just say that I reread it. It was good.
I picked The Castle of Otronto by Horace Walpole of my bookshelf because I hadn’t read it in years and couldn’t decide whether to keep it or throw it on the ever growing pile of books that will be donated to the library. I read it originally for a Gothic Literature class in college, which was fitting as it was the first Gothic novel to be written. It’s good and creepy, with all the requisite dark corridors, unexplained manifestations, young noble ladies in peril, and protective monks. The only frustrating thing is how its formatted- there are no paragraphs or quotation marks, which makes for somewhat of a headache of a read. But nevertheless, it’s enjoyable and holds up even after more than 240 years.
The House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez was a library pick up, and it was short enough to read on the bus ride home. For such a little book, it sure packed a ton of ideas. The story begins with a professor who is hit by a car as she crosses the street while reading a book of poems by Emily Dickenson. Her successor recieves a package for her shortly thereafter, which contains a volume of Conrad, encrusted in cement and inscribed by the dead professor. He decides to investigate, and discovers that the sender was a bibliophile that the professor met at a conference. He also learns that he (the bibliophile) may have gone crazy in his pursuit of the prefect collection of books, and that when tragedy struck (in the form of a fire that wiped out the vast index by which he catalogued his thousands of books), he may have taken some drastic and unbelievable actions.
The story is straightforward enough, but it brings up some great questions about reading and collecting books. Why do people keep books they know they’ll never read again? What is it that makes it so hard to get rid of books? What purpose do they serve, literally and symbolically? It really is a thought provoking book, and one that will be sticking in my mind for a long time to come.
I mentioned a short story by Aimee Bender not too many posts ago, and when I saw her latest short story collection, Willful Creatures, at the library, I had to get it. Bender’s stories are surreal and odd, but delightful and evocative. From a story about a man who buys a little man (size of a lizard, little) as a pet to a family of pumkinheads who have an iron headed baby, the stories definitly wander into Twillight Zone territory, but never in a way that is gimmicky. Instead they function as a kind of fairy tale set in the real world; never do you get the sense that you’ve left reality, just that strange things are afoot, and could be happening just around the corner. I think this collection is stronger than her last, and can’t wait to see what she comes up with in the future.
Current total: 12
Just Finished: Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender
Next Up: Summer Crossing by Truman Capote
I love Prince everyday, for a number of reasons. They include, but are in no way limited to:
1) He’s a musical genius
2) He has amazing cheekbones
3) Even though he’s short (5’2″- same as me), he somehow looks 7 feet tall when he performs
4) He’s taken the swear words out of his songs since he doesn’t use them in real life
5) He’s sexy as all get out
My reason today, however, comes from one moment in his performance on Saturday Night Live this weekend. He was towards the end of the song, doing a guitar solo, and he hit one of those riffs where guitar players usually get that screwed up look on their face that says, “look at how hard I’m concentrating, playing the guitar is really hard, look how well I play”. The look on his face was entirely different. It simply said, with no hint of pride, “This is what I do. It’s what I was put on this Earth to do, and it’s the easiest and most joyful thing in the world”. What he was playing was complicated and beautiful, and looked completely effortless. I watched part of Purple Rain today (it happened to be on TV), and the look is the same in his performances there. I don’t know that he ever felt the need to make it look hard, or maybe it just never was.