Done. And. Dusted.

[lady_schrapnell]

Although the dust may well be from the ashes of my post-graduate 'career'. E**ay is sent off, and I can now forget it for a whole two months. (Yeah, right. I'll probably have screaming nightmares for one-and-a-half of them.) And I'm taking leave of absence from the MA next year, so nobody will have to listen to me moan about studies for ages and ages and ages... Now in the slightly manic, slightly depressed and fully exhausted mood that usually follows these things, as I can't quite muster the energy even to decide what to do next. I don't think I've read a non-course-related book since the 48 hour challenge in June, though I may be exaggerating my own discipline just a tad. (And I have a print copy of The Wide, Wide World to give dorianegray as a prize for being the only person I know to have tried reading it! What a prize, too. Its heroine is every bit as weepy as she said, and her eventual husband is just creepy, though I didn't read page-by-page far enough to find that out.)

As I'll be going off to Cornwall ::knocks on wood:: on Sunday, priority has to go to choosing among the droolishly tempting books that have been piling up around here the last month or two: Sherwood Smith's Senrid is number one on the list, but there'll be a need for number two, three and hey - maybe even a four and five! I may make lists here, just for the fun of wallowing in purely-for-pleasure reading again.

Other things that have to be done before Sunday include preparing for O.D.'s twenty-first (gasp) birthday tomorrow (but we have leeway on presents since she still hasn't made up her mind what she wants), catching up on the woefully neglected blogs (I've just about managed LJ, without commenting), deciding what knitting to bring to Cornwall (a guilty pleasure if ever there was one, as I've almost finished a cardigan, and it's just at the point where I'll feel bad about not bringing it to finish, but would be frustrated if I did), finding if there's a house left still under all the crap piled up, getting Y.D.'s school books and new school shoes (not a good idea to leave till I get back and the week before school!), and ... stuff.

Did manage to meet gair and gerald in a really nice cafe in Bristol while I was there - finally! A long-postponed meeting, which was just as nice as I knew it would be. Now I'm getting less depressed, just thinking about it...

Comments

[dorianegray.livejournal.com]

Um...I'm not the only person you know to have tried to read "The Wide, Wide World". My mother actually found it online first and passed it on to me. (Mind you, her opinion of it was quite similar to mine.)

But wow! A dead-tree copy of it! I bounce.

Have fun in Cornwall, and with reading fun things.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

You're scrupulous! As the only person who'd mentioned having read it to me, I'd never have known your mother had read it too. The Lamplighter - 4 years later, even more popular, similar but in several ways a sort of reply to The Wide, Wide World, is a lot more fun. That I'd want back at some point, but your mother might like to have a look at it too. It gets less fun as the heroine gets good, but I enjoyed the early part quite a lot.

Have often quoted your mother's plaintive "I have no conversation" line in my head lately. Not sure I could match her delivery of it though. :)

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't know you wanted to meet people who have tried to read The wide wide world, or of course I would have mentioned it! I have to admit I didn't get through the whole thing - will borrow Dorian's copy and try to finish.
Dorian's mother.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'd tried it myself back in March, so didn't know I was looking out for people who'd tried to read it then! I haven't finished it either, btw - read enough to get the idea and then some, and then skimmed. It's maybe worth having a look at the bizarre extra chapter at the end - she's married to John but it never actually *says* so. I think Warner didn't get it to the editor in time for publication and then he thought it wasn't worth adding when he read it.

The Lamplighter is pious in the extreme as well, but not nearly as weepy, and Gerty's much more likable than Ellen. She bashes her landlady over the head with a block of wood at the beginning!

[vierran45.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday to B! I still remember the year we did the surprise birthday thing on the dwj list, that was fun :).

I hope you have a great and very relaxing time in Cornwall!

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Thanks on all counts! You guys were great doing that - I think you were the first one, too.