When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return

So, I apologize in advance, but I'm sort of obsessed.

Things I do not like about this video:

• Final position
• Take off could have been better
• Hand stuff on the sit

Up in the air I go flying again

Step one, climb ladder.

 

Step two, take off and do trick.

Step three, dismount.

And yes, I do realize this is supposed to be a blog about the list project. The thing is, it's been a long time since I've read one that I really hated, and those make the best fodder for posts.

Find a circus ring with a flying trapeze/ Tell me on a Sunday, please

A Prayer for Owen Meany is one that I liked in spite of myself. The plot did not sound appealing, and, of course, there is zero street cred to enjoying John Irving. Plus, we all remember how I felt about The Tin Drum.

And yet. And yet.

It was just rather a lot of fun, as it were. My favorite chapter was the one about Christmas. It was timely and sort of hilarious.

Anyway, I'd describe this one as very enjoyable. I suppose that there is room for a deeper literary analysis here, but once again, I'm not sure I'm especially interested in that. At all. I think I'll leave it at enjoying this one.

This is not the proper way to hold a cat

Ready is not a question

So, I just finished Libra. Sigh. At first, I was really excited about this book, since it had a plot! It's been so long since I've read a book with a real plot that was the main focus. I soon realized, though, that a plot may not be enough. As I described the book to someone, it makes me think of the sort of book that I would buy and read in an airport.

Since I don't really feel like writing about this book's literary merits, I thought I'd put the book in its historical context instead. Apparently it was published in 1989. One of the main things that happened in 1989 was that we acquired a pet cat. Yay! Seriously, I adored this cat.

Here are some fun pictures from 1989. I like the first one because I look demonic. I like the second one because he looks furious; I appear to be squishing him.

Faith is knowing One of two things will happen: There will be something solid to stand on or You will be taught to fly

 

 

Has she been there all along? Was I too far gone to know?

I still feel a bit out of synch with my reading. Or maybe it's just that Henderson the Rain King isn't doing too much for me. Ah, well.

In the meantime, let's make this be a blog about my other hobby.

This is me attempting the pullover shoot. I've got the pullover part down, and I'm good at balancing like a meerkat. Pump and shoot, that sort of didn't happen so much.

You're not going to let me in there, are you? You've got your armour back on.

I was looking at the list the other day, and all of a sudden it all felt very overwhelming. That's never really happened before, so on the one hand it's a bit strange. On the other hand, I suppose that it's a fairly understandable emotion in some ways. Yes, I've read over 430 books on the list, but I still have nearly 570 to go, and that, my friend, is a lot of books.

Some may just be that life generally feels a bit overwhelming at the moment. It's been an intense and exhausting week, certainly. Still, I'm intrigued that this feeling would come now, so soon after meeting my goal for the year and so close to the halfway point.

Failing to achieve something doesn't really hurt when it never seemed possible. It's the narrow misses, the almosts, the things that felt sure, that sting. I'm not sure if it's that the more achievable the goal of reading all these books feels the more I see not reading them all as a failure of some sort that is overwhelming, but considering, I think it's a piece.

Of course, I know that I'd never actually quit. I'm having far too much fun.

Where did you get your pants?

Confession: I haven't actually read Joseph Anton yet. I also haven't gotten a copy of A Dance to the Music of Time, though I did make a first attempt, which sadly failed. It's been quite a week, though, so I don't blame myself exactly. Still, I do have the tendency to plan these little rewards and then never follow through. For example, I have yet to eat a Madeline cookie. Le sigh.

I'm begging you, please wake me up/ In all my dreams I....

Ah, Edith Wharton. Decided to knock off the last two of hers that I have left on the list: Bunner Sisters and Summer. Both are super short, so you could probably read them in about an hour and then come back and finish this.

In some ways, both are a bit unusual for Wharton, though in different ways. If you, like just about everyone in the entire universe, think Age of Innocence or even House of Mirth, you'll feel a bit disoriented. If you think of Ethan Frome, you'll be closer.

That said, both novellas (let's get real here) are interested in the same main topic as Age of Innocence: the ways women's lives and identities were controlled and constrained, and how the narrowness of roles for women was a destructive force.

In Bunner Sisters this is explored in relation to the roles available to unmarried women over 30. In Summer, we get a sort of Tess of the d'Urbervilles experience. It's as fun as it sounds. Essentially, women are punished for desire of any sort.

Rather than going on a Franzen rant, I'll just end this by saying that, though Wharton's exploration is interested in gender and its relationship to the regulation of desire, you could reflect on her themes through many lenses.