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The cats have been dozing all afternoon in the house. Ash is now up and about and wants to go out, but it is almost five, and I do not want to take any chances on having these cats lost out in the storm of fireworks tonight, New Year's eve. I am keeping them in the house.
Dec. 31st, 2015
Reading Life
Dec. 31st, 2015 10:46 pmResuming Shaara's "Rise to Rebellion". I stopped before going on to Part Two, feeling in the mood for a Shakespeare break. It's not that I am not glad to have taken Shaara back up, and expanding my selection of 'rereadables', but it is a little dry and flat for the evening reading.
I was going to take up "Romeo & Juliet", but then I remembered when I last read "Hamlet", I gave short-shrift to the last Act or two. I have a tendency to do that with Shakespeare. By the time I get to the end of his plays, I am kind of eager to start the next book that I have my eye on, and I am aching to get past the well-worn play. So, to remedy that dysfunction, I thought I'd read the final Act now, read it fresh, without having to plow through four Acts first. It worked, too. I enjoyed it more this way. ... Absent thee from felicity awhile, and in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, to tell my story. ... I need to make this part of the routine, to stop with the Fourth or Fifth Act, and then finish the play when I feel like picking Shakespeare back up again, so that I can get more out of the endings. There is no need to read it all at once, knowing the plays well enough by now, forward and backward. In this instance, I was also glad to take only a very short Shakespeare break, because I do want to get back to the American Revolution, with the Philadelphia convention about to get started, as the British troops occupy Boston. What Shaara lacks in flash and bite, he makes up for in historical ambiance.
I was going to take up "Romeo & Juliet", but then I remembered when I last read "Hamlet", I gave short-shrift to the last Act or two. I have a tendency to do that with Shakespeare. By the time I get to the end of his plays, I am kind of eager to start the next book that I have my eye on, and I am aching to get past the well-worn play. So, to remedy that dysfunction, I thought I'd read the final Act now, read it fresh, without having to plow through four Acts first. It worked, too. I enjoyed it more this way. ... Absent thee from felicity awhile, and in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, to tell my story. ... I need to make this part of the routine, to stop with the Fourth or Fifth Act, and then finish the play when I feel like picking Shakespeare back up again, so that I can get more out of the endings. There is no need to read it all at once, knowing the plays well enough by now, forward and backward. In this instance, I was also glad to take only a very short Shakespeare break, because I do want to get back to the American Revolution, with the Philadelphia convention about to get started, as the British troops occupy Boston. What Shaara lacks in flash and bite, he makes up for in historical ambiance.