Thursday, January 24, 2013

Books and writing

 Well, I didn't notice until I had published my last post, but I had a comment!  An honest-to-goodness comment!  From someone I'm not related to!  I am so surprised.

The comment asked for some information on the books I am reading for my class.  Well, here is a partial list.  I will have to add more as I go.  I will also comment on my impressions of the books. 

First up is The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.  I am not sure how I feel about this novel.  It's relatively short, about 150 pages.  I am about a third of the way through it.  It is - unusual.  Written in the mid '60's, it's the story of a women, Oedipa, who is the executor of a past lover's estate.  It is kind of interesting.  I keep plugging through it.  What is making me a bit unbalanced are words like 'groovy' being used, not as dialogue, but as adverbs throughout the description.  It really brings home how we should try to leave description as generic as possible to allow for the longevity of a text.

Next up is going to be Sula by Toni Morrison.  I love this book.  Sula and all the characters in this book are interesting, well developed and wonderfully multifaceted.

In other news, I am working on several projects I want to complete before the month is over.  There are about 4 more I am dying to cast on, but want to complete these first.  The first one is the Frolicking Deer hat.  This is for Baylor.  I am better than halfway done, but am looking at about 15 hours of work on it yet.  The second is Platomon, a shawl.  I have 7 rows to complete an it will take about 7 hours to complete.  Well, I guess I am further along than I thought!

I found out a dear friend of mine is having surgery on Tuesday.  She'll be in the hospital for 5 - 6 days.  That is a long time.  I am going to try to go see her on Thursday, then see about making her something to heat up the following Wednesday.  Something easy to digest.  I worry because she is under a lot of personal stress.  This stress has nothing to do with her surgery but other events in her life. 

Well, I guess I better get on my knitting.  It looks like a good night to knit.

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