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Reading: Twain
I may have mentioned this before, but I wish that LiveJournal had a "Currently Reading:" option as well as a currently listening to option. I'd use it more often, since I'm ALWAYS reading and only listen to music about half the time. And I suppose it might be more interesting to hear about, too.
I just finished reading the complete short fiction of Mark Twain. To be honest, this was sort of a "desperation" book; one of many that I've picked up from the three for a dollar room at the Boston Book Annex, which is down the street.
(Interesting; I see on their website that they're having a sale today and all weekend. I'll have to see if I can run over there.)
Anyway, at three for a buck I can pick up all sorts of odd books that I wouldn't normally try. The Twain book doesn't really fall into that category, of course; I've read a fair amount of Twain. But the thing about this book was that it was over 600 pages long with small type.
I'm sure I've already mentioned it, but I have the reading bug - badly. I'm always reading one book, and more often than not I have two going at the same time. For example, right now I'm re-reading The Silmarilion at home, and reading Touch of Evil (which was the basis for the Orson Welles film) on the road. The latter is surprisingly good so far, by the way.
Anyway, I grabbed the Twain collection (which also includes short stand-alone fiction taken from within longer novels and non-fiction books) because it was long, not too big (the paper is extremely thin and delicate), and would take a long time to read. I expected that it might be a little dull. Twain's language has dated a bit, after all. But the old boy has life in him yet.
I laughed out loud - loudly - more than once, and one story got me so choked up that I spent half an hour fighting back tears. Yes, I'm a big sap. No, I'm not going to tell you which story.
I was sorry when I came to the end of the book, so I went back and re-read an old favorite of my teen years, A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court. It was as powerful as ever - maybe more so. I'd forgotten how very sad the ending was, which probably explains why I haven't read it in so many years. Well, that and the fact that my copy of the book is probably buried in the bottom of a box in my basement.
I just finished reading the complete short fiction of Mark Twain. To be honest, this was sort of a "desperation" book; one of many that I've picked up from the three for a dollar room at the Boston Book Annex, which is down the street.
(Interesting; I see on their website that they're having a sale today and all weekend. I'll have to see if I can run over there.)
Anyway, at three for a buck I can pick up all sorts of odd books that I wouldn't normally try. The Twain book doesn't really fall into that category, of course; I've read a fair amount of Twain. But the thing about this book was that it was over 600 pages long with small type.
I'm sure I've already mentioned it, but I have the reading bug - badly. I'm always reading one book, and more often than not I have two going at the same time. For example, right now I'm re-reading The Silmarilion at home, and reading Touch of Evil (which was the basis for the Orson Welles film) on the road. The latter is surprisingly good so far, by the way.
Anyway, I grabbed the Twain collection (which also includes short stand-alone fiction taken from within longer novels and non-fiction books) because it was long, not too big (the paper is extremely thin and delicate), and would take a long time to read. I expected that it might be a little dull. Twain's language has dated a bit, after all. But the old boy has life in him yet.
I laughed out loud - loudly - more than once, and one story got me so choked up that I spent half an hour fighting back tears. Yes, I'm a big sap. No, I'm not going to tell you which story.
I was sorry when I came to the end of the book, so I went back and re-read an old favorite of my teen years, A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court. It was as powerful as ever - maybe more so. I'd forgotten how very sad the ending was, which probably explains why I haven't read it in so many years. Well, that and the fact that my copy of the book is probably buried in the bottom of a box in my basement.