Wow--70 degrees

Sometimes my stupid 1pm-10pm schedule doesn't suck; an example would be today. While all the other suckers in Tech Services had to work during a simply gorgeous morning, I was going for a run, cooking a marinated rainbow trout on the grill, reading on the patio with a glass of wine, and thinking: "If I worked 8-5, I'd have missed this entire day!" Even the fact that Wednesday we're supposed to get snow showers and a bitter cold front couldn't dampen my delight.

Because I neglected reading so much this winter, I'm starting to go nuts again, reading too many books at one time:



Very pleasurable--the "friction" that often exists in the act of reading, the knowledge that "I'm reading words now"--nearly vanishes here. Twain is so charming and ebulliant, so funny, and so powerfully descriptive that I actually lose all sense of time and awareness of the act of reading while experiencing this book.



My new hero! Or, I suppose I should say: My new heroine! This is my second foray into Doniger's many books, and rarely have I encountered writing so erudite, so packed with surprising and challenging associations, and yet so accessible. She's got one foot in Hollywood, the other in the Ganges, and is apt to use popular music and TV shows to explain myths and philosophical ideas at any time. Fantastic.



Yes, I started this a week ago and I'm only halfway through. Not as punishing as most modernist bruisers, but still a tough slog. Twain is a good counterweight to Mossman, who leans toward Faulkner and thereby loses any sense of humor. Still, despite some self-indulgent prose, a worthy trek.