Remember woman that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return.
I will try to write a larger post later today on Graham Greene's Ministry of Fear. Today being Ash Wednesday, a Graham Greene post seems appropriate, n'est pas?
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Our Heroine Consults a Giant Squid
Tentacle-y goodness: Ask A Giant Squid
This being a semi-literary blog, I highly recommend the Giant Squid's advice regarding a certain "Dickens Conundrum." This quote from the inquiry made me laugh out loud.
This being a semi-literary blog, I highly recommend the Giant Squid's advice regarding a certain "Dickens Conundrum." This quote from the inquiry made me laugh out loud.
[Tiny] Tim was quite a floater when he drifted down the dirty and wretched river which may or may not be the Thames on his days of recreation, and so Tim is placed in the ground floor of a charitable institution which remains unnamed because the previous owner of my copy pasted small pictures of a cat over every appearance of the word for reasons which are naturally quite beyond me, but didn't seem worth fretting over at the time since I was able to talk the bookseller down to fifteen for my copy, cats and all, and also the parts where a previous owner, possibly the same one, took a hole-punch and excised every noun in chapters fourteen and three, so it really was a deal as you can plainly see, Giant Squid.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Our Heroine Makes a False Start
Y'all, it is not a good sign for the success of this project that my first, post-intro post has nothing to do with The Iliad.
It's just that before I get started on that 800 lb. gorilla, something came up that I have got to focus on. BAM Rose Cinemas, very near to where I live, is screening "Graham Greene Noir" from February 22 to March 30. Wot's all this then? Well, allow me to quote you from the program:
Word. I am so psyched! Especially to see Ministry of Fear, because it contains a trifecta of things I love: British film noir, Graham Greene and Ray Milland. Pretty awesome, right?
Here's the rub, like The Iliad, I've never read Ministry of Fear. And I can't see the movie without having read the novel first, it's a personal credo. So I bought the book today at Barnes and Noble and have to read the whole thing by showtime Thursday. With some cafe mochas from Starbucks I can totally do it, but I can't read The Iliad concurrently.
If you know Greene, I think you'll empathize. If you don't know him, trust me on this, in my shoes you'd be doing the same thing. He's such a compelling rascal, our Mr. Greene is. And don't worry, I'll tell you all about it!
It's just that before I get started on that 800 lb. gorilla, something came up that I have got to focus on. BAM Rose Cinemas, very near to where I live, is screening "Graham Greene Noir" from February 22 to March 30. Wot's all this then? Well, allow me to quote you from the program:
Novelist Graham Greene was a master of murder and mayhem—from international
intrigue to back-room deals gone bad, no one does British noir better, as this
series of four features based on his writings proves.
Word. I am so psyched! Especially to see Ministry of Fear, because it contains a trifecta of things I love: British film noir, Graham Greene and Ray Milland. Pretty awesome, right?
Here's the rub, like The Iliad, I've never read Ministry of Fear. And I can't see the movie without having read the novel first, it's a personal credo. So I bought the book today at Barnes and Noble and have to read the whole thing by showtime Thursday. With some cafe mochas from Starbucks I can totally do it, but I can't read The Iliad concurrently.
If you know Greene, I think you'll empathize. If you don't know him, trust me on this, in my shoes you'd be doing the same thing. He's such a compelling rascal, our Mr. Greene is. And don't worry, I'll tell you all about it!
Our Heroine Explains What She is About
To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born. Just kidding, y'all! Don't panic, we haven't even gotten to Dickens yet -- it's just that Homer doesn't have any good heroine's origin lines (that I know of, which is sort of the point of this blog).
Who am I? Alas! I am a very daydream-y and distractable bookworm. What does that mean? It means that despite a degree in English, there is an awful lot of wonderful stuff out there that I've never read, either because the vagaries of college syllabus-planning meant something was never assigned to me, or, because I was too busy daydreaming about marrying Lord Byron to actually pay attention to reading Lord Byron.
I've tried to correct the oversight. In fact, every year for the past five years, my New Year's resolution has been to read the big five works of the Western Canon (aka: the 800 lb gorillas of Western lit): The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Inferno and Paradise Lost. And every year, I get to Book Three of The Iliad, love every word of it, but get distracted by the new Oprah magazine, or Lost, or some spy thriller from the 1930's (Graham Greene, you are a rascal, you are!), and I put it aside, never to be revisited until the following January.
This year I intend to finish what I started, get through all five, and tell y'all about it. Of course, being who I am, it is likely you will also be peppered with my thoughts on food, fashion, the aforementioned Lost, movies, friends and family, and finding the perfect duvet cover.
Who am I? Alas! I am a very daydream-y and distractable bookworm. What does that mean? It means that despite a degree in English, there is an awful lot of wonderful stuff out there that I've never read, either because the vagaries of college syllabus-planning meant something was never assigned to me, or, because I was too busy daydreaming about marrying Lord Byron to actually pay attention to reading Lord Byron.
I've tried to correct the oversight. In fact, every year for the past five years, my New Year's resolution has been to read the big five works of the Western Canon (aka: the 800 lb gorillas of Western lit): The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Inferno and Paradise Lost. And every year, I get to Book Three of The Iliad, love every word of it, but get distracted by the new Oprah magazine, or Lost, or some spy thriller from the 1930's (Graham Greene, you are a rascal, you are!), and I put it aside, never to be revisited until the following January.
This year I intend to finish what I started, get through all five, and tell y'all about it. Of course, being who I am, it is likely you will also be peppered with my thoughts on food, fashion, the aforementioned Lost, movies, friends and family, and finding the perfect duvet cover.
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