One of the (other) nifty accomplishments of my 2009 was reading the book Trinity by Leon Uris. A grand, sweeping (long) historical novel that follows the history of the Irish people from the great potato famine to the turn of the 20th century. It was an awesome book, one of the best I've ever read. At 800-something pages it also took awhile to get through. This was exacerbated by the fact that I often only read 10-20 pages a day. Shameful, I know, especially for a teacher. But reading is something I tend to do at the end of the day, just before going to sleep. So I get myself all tucked in, warm and cozy, and move my eyes back and forth over the words until I can't keep my eyes open anymore.
This, of course, has been another part of our daily lives that has been altered with our house guests. It shouldn't be. All my reading takes place after they are well in bed. But since they arrived, I have noticed a strange decaying of the quality of my reading material.
Before they arrived I was reading Nana by Emile Zola. He was a French writer and this novel's setting of early 20th century Paris was appealing because of our recent trip. (Truth be told, I bought it to read before the trip, and brought it along to read on the trip...neither of those happened.)
But at the end of that long first day, I was just too shagged out to expend energy on a British translation of a 100+ year old French novel. Instead I grabbed for It Must Have Been Something I Ate, by Jefferey Steingarten. Short, thoughtful essays on food and eating. Perfect for a post kids day.
After a few more days I found Steingarten required too much of an emotional commitment for the end of a long kid-filled day. So I traded him in for a cookbook I've been slowly working my way through. Perusing recipes, contemplating great Italian cookery, now THAT was a great way to wind down.
By the end of last week I had slid even further into the literary abyss by stepping away from the cookbook to a cooking magazine. I don't know why that was somehow easier and better. Maybe just the fact of it being literally, as well as figuratively, lighter weight.
Then this week, cooking magazines just became too much a drain on my mental capacity. I actually turned to catalog mailers, the adult equivalent of a picture book, to help ease me towards slumber. That's right, I can no longer process the written word after 9:30 at night.
Next week I should be able to resume Monsieur Zola and his dancing showgirl. Good thing, too. Much longer of this and I might have to find some pop-up books.
I haven't read a book since the first child was born---until four months ago. He's 8.
If I can't read a book for "me", you can bet money I sure as HE$$ haven't read Harry Potter. Therefore, you can correctly assume I haven't had any in depth discussions with my students about the most popular children's literature selection of this decade. I've felt a fraud at times, but, what are you going to do? Oh, that's right....google a summary...thank God for that.
Posted by: kw | October 28, 2009 at 10:17 PM