Books I've been reading

Constance wrote:Yesterday I started Mad, Bad, and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors by Lisa Appignanesi. The first chapter is about Mary Lamb. Then the author talks about reformers in the field of mental health in the late 18th century. A few enlightened souls among a lot of wicked jailers.

Seen this?:

Yes, good catch. The author only mentions King George. She wants to keep the discussion on women.

I'm going to resume reading my book while Julia plays Club Penguin on the computer. She did over an hour of Chinese school homework and now she's rewarded. Madeleine is working in the library till 4:30, so we'll wait for her and then go home.

THe Complete Sherlock Holmes- Arthur Conan Doyle.

Picked this up for a song at Waterstone's last week and I'd been looking forward to some under-the-duvet-on-a-winter's-night Xmassy nostalgia, but to my surprise and disappointment the first two long-ish Holmes stories (A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four) seemed dreadfully clunky by modern standards: holes in the plot you could drive a coach and horses through; clumsy exposition; artificial denouement. The only positive features were the character of Holmes himself and the atmosphere of Victorian London. No wonder ACD considered the Holmes stories unworthy of his best work and tried unsuccessfully to kill off the character.

I turned in relief to the much shorter Holmes stories, which were a great improvement. ACD seems to have got into his stride with these brief tales of scientific detection and discovered the most suitable format for the character.

Before Judy Collins' book I read ""Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstoncraft" by the prolific scholarly writer Lyndall Gordon. I read her book on T.S. Eliot years ago.

Finished Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz.

Summary: Dogs need to sniff.

Yesterday I took Ginseng for a long walk and I let her sniff to her heart's content. The walk took twice as long as usual but I want my canine sweetheart to be happy.

My dog looks just like this:



Yesterday we met a young Siberian Husky named Maya, two huge Bernese Mountain dogs, an Australian Shepherd and a Golden Retriever.

Now reading Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massey. Just finished reading about her betrothal. Her husband used to make his servants dress up in military garb and perform fake military maneuvers.

I am finally reading "Platero and I". I think I read it when I was a child (or at least parts of it). But Juan Ramón Jiménez said he didn't write the book for children. It is a book about a donkey and his "owner" but more than owning a donkey, the donkey is his companion. In case you're thinking that's corny let me make you know it's not. It doesn't even tell a story to follow all through the book but it is compelling.


Here's a line I just read:

It is a familiar spot, but the moment transforms it, and makes of it something strange, decadent and monumental. One would think that at any moment we were going to discover an abandoned palace...


Here I started this thread some time ago: http://acrosstheuniverse.forummotion.com/t1249-platero-and-i

(I read that Eloïse Roach's translation is good... if anybody is interested in reading it)

I'm interested. I liked what you posted before about the book--it was charming. I'll order it from the library (if my library system owns a copy, I hope so).

I usually have to force people into getting interested in the things I'm interested. It's been an easy work with you, Constance... thanks

Seriously... I have read very little for the last couple of years. At first it was due to concentration problems. But lately it was just that I lost the habit. I'm glad this book (I have read the beggining only but still) is making me feel pleasure while I read it.

I'm at the tail end of the most amazing book. It's called the Boy in the Mon by Ian Brown. It's the story of a man and his family and their profoundly handicapped son. No self-pity, no religious sentiment, but the most intelligent and sometimes witty and ironic story of a very sad situation.

...I just happen to be on a computer in the mall where my favourite bookshop is.
When I log off I'm going there to order 'Platero and I' and 'The Glass Castle'.

I can't wait to read and then discuss them.

...done.
They should be in my hands in a few weeks.