December 24, 2003
Reading
One thing that I have noticed is that my preferences for reading material change when I am in Sacramento. It might be the drizzly grey weather, or the quiet of the place, but I always seem to have a Sacramento book going that only gets read in Sacramento, at least on the current round of readings.
The problem with this is that when I am in Sacramento for any extended period of time I often pack the wrong books. So I get here and have a bag of books that are great reading in my Bay Area mood, but not for Sacramento.
There are some types of books that work equally well in either place, but I did not seem to pack any of them this time.
One thing that is a constant is that I get most of my reading done late at night. Even in the days before Amalia, I found it easier to focus on serious reading after my evening espresso. Being in Sacramento is no different. When the day is fresh I am much more inclined to read lighter stuff: Rumpole, Don Camillo, etc. But after that 9pm espresso, I am in the mood for something I can dig my teeth into.
For this reason, I do not read in bed. I must maintain my reading space in a different place than my sleeping space. When they get confounded I end up reading until 4am. A book by the bedside is deadly. If I find myself awake only minutes after going to bed, I assume that I have insomnia and grab the book. I learned this the hard way. After a few nights of only a couple of hours of sleep, one's body rebels.
Anyway, I am not happy with any of my choices of fiction, and have not been in the mood to read Jonathon Culler's Structuralist Poetics, which I have been finding amusing the last days before coming to Sacramento. When I look through the bookshelf in my old room I keep lingering on The Lord of the Rings. I have not read it since I was in Junior High School, so I might just give it a go. It should be interesting to read it again, as my memories of it are not that great (I get the books all mixed up and have to admit that my eyes glaze over when my Tolkein fanatic friends talk about how Peter Jackson missed this or that point from the book).
With that, Hobbits are calling!
Erik:
It is not so much that Peter Jackson missed this or that point, rather that he missed THE point. Jackson's films are like Anglican litugries--as pretty as they are insubstantial.
Stephen
I read through the LOTR when I was in High School and re-read with my husband early in our marriage. I like the stories and appreciate the mythos, but do not have the urge to constantly re-read them. There is too much else in the world to read!
I am right now resting between Christmas morning brunch (quiche, sausage, orange/cinnamon rolls, fresh grapefruit and oranges) and getting started on Christmas dinner.
I hear the hype.
I crapped out midway through The Two Towers in tenth grade and never went back, though I kept the books fully intending to push myself through them someday for proper self-edification.
We'll see what Erik thinks.
Erik:
Are you certain that your eyes do not glaze over from your constant sleep deprivation?
SC
Dear Erik,
I don't know that your instincts are that far off. I have read Tolkien many, many times and I am far from satisfied with him as a prose artist. However, as a story-teller and one who weaves in the fabric of myth--unexcelled. Worth reading with a more mature eye.
shalom,
Steven
Posted by: Steven Riddle at December 24, 2003 5:36 AM