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Friday, April 8th, 2005
I have been reading Foucault's Pendulum for a week now. (I started it last Friday, when I had a long train ride, because I thought I was going to need a long period of concentration in order to get into it.) This is another book that has been on my shelves for years, taunting me and intimidating me. But guess what: it is not difficult to read. Quite the contrary -- it is difficult to put down! I was anticipating a Gravity's Rainbow-type of experience where I get a lot out of reading the book, but only after putting huge amounts of effort and concentration into it. But this book is like a clear pool of warm water on a sunny day. Early in the book I was identifying strongly with Belbo and wondering how sincere that identification was. I am still not sure quite how to put into words, what my suspicion was -- somehow I was afraid that I was being conned into liking Belbo, that I was buying an incomplete characterization. I am not thinking about that as much anymore, since the section where Casaubon was in Brazil. I am assuming that the citations at the head of each chapter are genuine though I don't know that I'll ever actually check that out. If they were inventions, that would be kind of disappointing. I was thinking this afternoon, that reading the book is giving me a curious time-dilation effect, and that this effect is common to the books I have really enjoyed.
posted evening of April 8th, 2005: Respond
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Okay, it did! My "Edit Post" facility is however broken.
posted afternoon of April 8th, 2005: Respond
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Tuesday, April 5th, 2005
Okay, it did! My "Edit Post" facility is however broken.
posted morning of April 5th, 2005: Respond
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I'm just trying to see whether this one will come through.
posted morning of April 5th, 2005: Respond
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Monday, April 4th, 2005
The site is back up and ASP is scripting courtesy of Selisoft. I'm tired right now and am not going to link to them but I will do it tomorrow. This computer is pretty slow so the blog is going to take a little while to load. I have ideas for improving the performance but they will have to wait a while too. I am going downstairs and watch "The Daily Show".
posted evening of April 4th, 2005: Respond
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Wednesday, March 23rd, 2005
My former employers, Xyris Software, who have been graciously providing me with web space free of charge for several years now, are reorganizing their server space and givin me the boot. So I've got to look around for an ISP or figure out how to host the site on my home computer. So this site is going to go down at some point in the next week or so and not come back until I get off my butt and work something out.
posted evening of March 23rd, 2005: Respond
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Tuesday, March 22nd, 2005
PZ Myers introduces me to the latest meme going around the academic blogs. Here are my answers: - You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
Not sure, I think an epic poem like Iliad or Beowulf but that is a hasty thought, such an important decision would take some consideration when the time came. - Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Don't be silly. Well maybe. When reading short stories, I think that happens; but not in novels. Mostly. (Note: the name "Jessica Swanlake" was running through my head when I wrote this but I'm not sure why -- it's Roger has a crush on her, not me...) - The last book you bought is:
The Economist's Tale by Peter Griffiths - The last book you read:
Ditto - What are you currently reading?
Call it Sleep by Henry Roth - Five books you would take to a deserted island:
I'll think about this for a while and then update. (Or not.) - Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons)? And Why?
Whoever reads this, consider it passed. Update: Roy did this too, and passed the stick to me, so I am retroactively crediting him.
posted afternoon of March 22nd, 2005: Respond
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I've been reading Call it Sleep by Henry Roth for a little while now, and enjoying it. This is a book which I bought many years ago (either at Yesterday's Books in Modesto, CA, or at the used book store on Market St. in Potsdam, NY) meaning to read right away, and has been sitting balefully on my shelf ever since... I think a good essay topic would be the difference in experience between reading a book you have just acquired (and shades of such experience depending on the source -- bookstore, yard sale, second-hand shop, found...) versus a book that has been on your shelf for a long time pleading to be read. Lord knows I have enough of the latter sort to keep me occupied for a while. As I was turning the pages in the middle of Part III, The Coal, I ran across a bookmark from some previous reader. It is a piece of tan paper about 2 1/2" square, on which has been scribbled, "He's having a nervous breakdown".
posted morning of March 22nd, 2005: Respond
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Monday, March 21st, 2005
We have always had board games around and Sylvia has always enjoyed playing them. All of a sudden she has developed a real fascination for them, touched off by learning how to play Monopoly Jr. (which is sort of like real Monopoly, with most of the strategy simplified out.) Every time I have walked in the door in the past week and a half, she has run to meet me and said, "Hi Dad, how was your day, want to play Monockoly?" So we do; and when that is done (we each seem to win about half the time), we play Candyland and Chutes & Ladders.
posted evening of March 21st, 2005: Respond
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Thursday, March 17th, 2005
Our venture into chapter books continues apace -- two nights ago we finished Winnie-the-Pooh, last night we started Just-So Stories.
posted morning of March 17th, 2005: Respond
➳ More posts about Just-So Stories
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