Happy New Year!

Some days you feel classy and refined

Sue Halstenberg -  Woman Writing in Chair

Other days, not so much!

Happy New Year. I've been contemplating this new year and once again, I can't find one word that defines what will take me through the year.   Perseverance came to mind and the little engine's mantra of I think I can, I think I can.   Yoda's wise Do or do not, there is no try.   I'm already feeling a bit disorganized as both James and I struggle to get back into lessons and writing classes.  The internet distracts, yet I can't unplug because so much of what we do is online.  My attention span...Squirrel!

Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~Author Unknown

Actually I think I will just gather up all the pebbles, mix with a bit of concrete, create stepping stones, make a path and see where it takes me. 

I usually start my year off with a dusty or chunky classical book and this year's choice is by far the longest story yet. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth and it is a rather chunky chunkster at 1474 pages, I am learning quite a bit about the history of India and their culture and have been marking passages, looking up unknown words.  To be honest I've never heard of James Elroy Flecker nor Tagore so it will be interesting following rabbit trails. Loved this particular bit of conversation

"Please do not misunderstand me, Professor Mishra," he said, "but that line of argument may be taken by those of us not well versed in the finer forms of parliamentary byplay to be a species of quibbling."

I'm by no means a monogamous reader and have already cheated on A Suitable Boy with Jayne Castle's Deception Cove from her Rainshadow series. Paranormal and urban fantasy stories have become my comfort reads.  James and I are listening to the Harry Potter series in the car and just finished the first book.  Very enjoyable since it's been several years since I read the books. James is constantly dipping into the novels, reading one passage from one for a while, then another.  Perhaps his comfort read in between other books or inspiration for his latest story he is writing.     

On my plate for literature classes coming up is a reread of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as well as new to me author Joan Didion and her collection of essay's Slouching Toward Bethlehem. 

I'm working my way through Dinty Moore's Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Flash Non Fiction in one of my online classes and the current exercise involves writing a piece using 2nd person point of view which should prove to be quite interesting.  I've read very few books written in 2nd POV but discovered Italo Calvino seems to do it flawlessly in If On A Winter's Night A Traveler, and doesn't throw the reader completely out of the story in confusion.   

Well, I'm off to continue exploring 1950's India.

Happy New Year!