Long Version

Both of my younger kids (who are not that young) go to day centers for adults with disabilities several times a week. They also play several sports for the Special Olympics teams that the day centers field. Through a combination of day centers and sports teams, I met one of their friends, a young woman who was very smart and sweet, but had a very big problem: she repeatedly cut herself with sharp objects (razor blades or whatever else she could get hold of). Her arms and legs were covered with hundreds of scars, and despite everyone's best efforts to prevent her from harming herself, she still found a way. 

She liked to draw, and she often showed me pictures she had drawn and even gave me a couple of them.

I don't know why she cuts herself, and I don't think it would be a good idea to talk to her about it (unless she brings it up). I'm not a skilled therapist, and I think the possibility that I could do harm rather than good is very real. But I have found out (inadvertently, not through prying) from others who have known her for some time that she had a horrific childhood in a Romanian orphanage, and that at times she does not think that that she deserves to live. Hence the self-harm.

I've tried to be very positive and complimentary whenever I have a chance with "Sharon," but she finds it hard to take a compliment. Which I can certainly understand, as I am of like ilk. I think it's connected to having a very shitty self-image. 

And you know, words are so insubstantial, anyway. So I was thinking that maybe I could find a drawing tablet to give her. Nothing says, "I like you" quite so well as an unexpected gift, you know? And I found one in Barnes & Noble which had a lovely Van Gogh painting on its cover, so I bought it and let it sit on my dining room table for a week or so (I've found that I am usually compelled to let things simmer before I go into action these days), and on the morning that I was going to give it to her it hit me: the tablet was bound with wire, and if that wire were removed it would make a pretty good cutting implement. So I gave the tablet to someone else and resolved to find one that was more like a book. It took me a few more weeks to get around to that, but I finally did, and I took it to "Sharon" this morning. When I saw her, I told her that I had a little present for her and gave her the sketch book. Her eyes lit up and she hugged me and said, "How did you know it was my birthday?" Well, "Sharon" is a bit of a smart aleck, so I thought that she was just having me on, but it soon became apparent that she wasn't. It really was her birthday.

Now, what are the odds on that? Not only that I happened to give her a present on her birthday--which I knew nothing about--but that I had gone through all of the contortions of buying it that I've listed here, and all of that led me to give her a present on her birthday.

It's a very strange world.

But "Sharon" likes her sketch book a lot, so sometimes these things work to our advantage, don't they?

Lourdes and the Real World

Finally got a chance to see the 60 Minutes segment about Lourdes which aired on December 18th, 2022. I mostly taped it for Jacqueline, but she was only vaguely interested in it. I, on the other hand, was fascinated. Of course I've heard about people being healed there before, but this program took us into some amazing details. For instance, it tells the story of a nun who was healed, whose case was examined by 300 physicians, none of whom could explain how it was possible for her to have been cured of her condition.

Of course there are still a thousand questions, but for now I'm just letting those sit and allowing myself to wonder if there are not more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in my philosophy. Or, as a priest in the program said, 

 

"The real world is wider than the visible one." 

DDR: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

This is one of the Dickens books which I had read previously...but way back when. Like 1985 or 1986. I remember that because at the time I was working as a cutter at Label Specialties...which meant that I would take big rolls of labels, put them on a machine, adjust a bar with several (up to four, as I recall) razor blades to cut the labels down into smaller rolls, and then watch as the wheels went round and round. Sometimes I'd have to stop to adjust the blades. Sometimes I'd spot a bad batch of labels and have to insert a piece of paper so that they could be cut out (and the roll spliced back together) later on. But for the most part it was just standing there, watching. Believe it or not, I liked that job. However...at the time, my wife and I shared a car, so she had to drop me off at my workplace about an hour early so that she could be on her way. There was a donut shop a couple of blocks away, so I had her drop me off there, and I would read and drink coffee until it was time to go to work. I remember that David Copperfield was one of the books I read at that time because when I took the book to the workplace with me, one of my fellow label makers spotted it and asked me if it was about "that magician." I replied (kindly and gently) that it was not, that it was an old book that was written long before the magician was born, and that he had no doubt taken his name from the book. The fellow label maker picked the book up and turned to the publisher's information, then pointed to it and said, "This wasn't published that long ago. I'll bet it is about that magician."

So it goes.

At any rate, David Copperfield is a whopping 1,092 pages long, so it's probably going to be a 36 day journey. And since this was Dickens' personal favorite novel, I'm looking forward to it. I blush to admit that I remember almost nothing about it from my previous (37-ish years ago) reading...except for the unintentionally hilarious bit where David is informed that his mother is ill. 

Day 1 (DDRD 1,934) February 16, 2023

Read to page 30. Actually, I read the Introduction and the first Preface...both by John Boynton Priestley...last night. And that was pretty good stuff. I looked up Mr. Priestley to see who he was, and Wikipedia informed me that he was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. Quite a mouthful, that. And he wrote a lot of books. I didn't recognize any of the titles, though. This morning I read the second Preface, which was by Dickens...and which indicated that there had been another Preface by him in a previous printing. And since that Preface wasn't included here, I guess we once again have an omission from The "Complete" Dickens. So let's rectify that here:

PREFACE TO 1850 EDITION

I do not find it easy to get sufficiently far away from this Book, in the first sensations of having finished it, to refer to it with the composure which this formal heading would seem to require. My interest in it, is so recent and strong; and my mind is so divided between pleasure and regret—pleasure in the achievement of a long design, regret in the separation from many companions—that I am in danger of wearying the reader whom I love, with personal confidences, and private emotions.

Besides which, all that I could say of the Story, to any purpose, I have endeavoured to say in it.

It would concern the reader little, perhaps, to know, how sorrowfully the pen is laid down at the close of a two–years' imaginative task; or how an Author feels as if he were dismissing some portion of himself into the shadowy world, when a crowd of the creatures of his brain are going from him for ever. Yet, I have nothing else to tell; unless, indeed, I were to confess (which might be of less moment still) that no one can ever believe this Narrative, in the reading, more than I have believed it in the writing.

Instead of looking back, therefore, I will look forward. I cannot close this Volume more agreeably to myself, than with a hopeful glance towards the time when I shall again put forth my two green leaves once a month, and with a faithful remembrance of the genial sun and showers that have fallen on these leaves of David Copperfield, and made me happy.

London, October, 1850.

There we go. Now that wasn't so hard, was it, Heron Books?

It felt good to slide back into a Dickens novel, for sure. And pretty much from the get-go DC has been filled with wit and humor. I'm looking forward to this ride.

Day 2 (DDRD 1,935) February 17, 2023

Read to page 60. It's just brilliant stuff. Check out this initial description of Miss Murdestone:

"It was Miss Murdstone who was arrived, and a gloomy-looking lady she was; dark, like her brother, whom she greatly resembled in face and voice; and with very heavy eyebrows, nearly meeting over her large nose, as if, being disabled by the wrongs of her sex from wearing whiskers, she had carried them to that account. She brought with her two uncompromising hard black boxes, with her initials on the lids in hard brass nails. When she paid the coachman she took her money out of a hard steel purse, and she kept the purse in a very jail of a bag which hung upon her arm by a heavy chain, and shut up like a bite. I had never, at that time, seen such a metallic lady altogether as Miss Murdstone was."

And the name...not overt enough to be annoying (like Mr. M'Choakumchild  in Hard Times), but obvious enough that the point can't be missed: this is a nasty and dangerous woman.

BTW: You know, the actual title of this book is The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery. How's that for a mouthful?

LATER: Read to page 100. Yep, got sucked right in. Probably read some more in a little bit, too.

STILL LATER: Yep. Read to page 130. So 100 pages today. And it wasn't a strain at all. Read a but after walking in the park with daughter. Read a bit more while "watching" Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! with same. And read a bit more after said daughter and son went to bed. Would actually like to read more now, even, but ni, its time for sleep.

Day 3 (DDRD 1,936) February 18, 2023

Read to page 160...though I wouldn't be at all surprised if I read a bit more today. One of the reasons that this book (this part, at least) is so compelling is because David is treated so unfairly. In fact, it reminds me a lot of Harry Potter. We are pulled into his story because we want people to stop being mean to him, to understand that he is a good boy, that he shouldn't be treated this way...and because we long to see him escape the situation or, perhaps, see his tormentors get their comeuppance. 

The final sentence of Chapter IX is so startling that I want to quote it and talk about it a bit, but I am pretty committed to avoiding spoilers, for the most part, so I'm just going to do it in white. If you want a peek, just highlight it and all will be revealed.

Okay, are the kids out of the room? This is the quote: "The mother who lay in the grave, was the mother of my infancy; the little creature in her arms, was myself, as I had once been, hushed for ever on her bosom." David's identification with his dead infant brother just hits you in the heart. It speaks to his love for his mother, his despair at the treatment he has received at the hands of the world, and his inability to see any life for himself beyond the misery of this moment. Also, he sees his mother as having returned to a happier time in her life, before Mr. Murdstone brought an end to her happiness...though she doesn't seem to realize that that is what happened. Speaking of Mr. Murdstone, it's interesting that even though he is, for the most part, depicted as a heartless son of a bitch, when David comes back from school and enters the room where he is sitting, he is weeping silently. Clearly he would not be doing this in front of David and his heartless sister unless it were sincerely and deeply felt, which means that he must truly have loved David's mother. Which is sad, as you would never have guessed that from his words and behaviors.

Okay, kids, you can come back now.

ADDENDUM: Read a bit more...to page 180. Also watched a bit of  The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019). It's a 2 hour movie, but I had to stop at 21:21 when David meets Mr. Micawber...because that hadn't happened in the book yet. Well...the movie only has two hours to work with, so I guess you have to compress things a bit. I'm not always happy with the compressions...not to mention the amputations...but the movie is very quirky and so far it's working for me. And now...I think I'll read a few more pages.

Mmm-hmm.

But just ten more, to 190, so "only" a 60 page day.

Day 4 (DDRD 1,937) February 19, 2023

Read to page 270. So another big day. I've enjoyed (many) other Dickens books, but thus is the first one I've found truly compelling. In fact, I wouldn't at all mind reading another 20 or 30 pages right now. But duty calls, I cannot linger....

Day 5 (DDRD 1,938) February 20, 2023

Read to page 330. Hmm. At the rate I'm going, I'll be finished Volume I before the weekend. It's still compelling stuff, as you probably intuited.

Day 6 (DDRD 1,939) February 21, 2023

Read to page 360. 7:44 am: 370. 10:24 pm: 380. I don't trust Steerforth. Haven't from the moment he came onto the stage (so to speak.) 

166 more pages and I'm at the halfway point in this novel, BTW.

Also, towards the end of this reading, something happened that occurred in the 21:21 I watched of the movie. How's THAT for compressing a plot?

Day 7 (DDRD 1,940) February 22, 2023

Read to page 410. 10:50 am: 430. Which means less than 100 pages to go in this volume. 1:50 pm: 450. Hmm. 70 page day. Not bad. Another 70 (+3) page day tomorrow would finish off Volume I. Dunno...it could happen.

Day 8 (DDRD 1,941) February 23, 2023

Read to page 523...The End...of Volume I, anyway. Great fun it's been, for sure. It's going to be hard not to head straight into another Dickens novel after I finish Volume II, but I'm going to try to push myself to read one of the non-novels. I don't want to finish all of the good stuff and be left with the not-so-good and possible even terrible stuff, after all. Maybe A Child's History of England, then?

Day 9 (DDRD 1,942) February 24, 2023

Read to page 30 60. 

I've now finished 20.5 of the 36 volumes of The Complete Dickens...meaning that this Volume II of David Copperfield will make it 21.5. So I'm well past the halfway point, and I'd have to say that it now looks like I will be able to finish the whole shebang. So of course I'm already thinking about What Comes Next. Might be time for some non-fiction. Though I've also been thinking about the female Victorian writers I should have gotten 'round to long ago: the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen (I've read two of hers, but could use a refresher). Or maybe have a go at The Complete Dostoyevsky. So many great things to read....

Something I just realized: with 58 days left in my second 2,000 days of Daily Devotional Reading, I have more than doubled the number of pages I read in the first 1,000. In fact, at the end of my first 1,000 I took a picture of myself holding all of the books I'd read during that time. It wouldn't even be possible to do that this time around...though I'll try to think of something clever when I get to that point. At any rate...Hey, Man, this army's alright!

Day 10 (DDRD 1,943) February 25, 2023

Read to page 90. Busy day.

Day 11 (DDRD 1,944) February 26, 2023

Read to page 121. Another busy day.

ADDENDUM: But I still snuck in a few extra pages--to 137.

Day 12 (DDRD 1,945) February 27, 2023

Read to page 190.

Also watched a bit more of the movie...but not up to where I am in the book. Hugh Laurie does a lovely job of portraying Mr. Dick, and on the whole I like this movie...but my, don't they jumble the plot and characters. And while I appreciate a diverse cast, here it just seems a bit much...as if it were cast by A lily livered liberal who'd been drowning in White Guilt long enough to have deprived his/her/their brain of oxygen for three and a half minutes. There are white men with Black daughters, Indian men with White daughters...combinations that make no sense genetically or historically. 

Day 13 (DDRD 1,946) February 28, 2023

Read to page 220. There were a couple of references to putting Dora's dog, Jip, into a plate warmer because he wouldn't stop yipping. I had a general idea of what that would look like, but wanted something more specfic, so I Googled. I found this:

Plate Warmer

1815–20

Possibly made in England; Possibly made in United States

Tin

Dimensions: 27 3/8 x 19 x 13 5/8 in. (69.5 x 48.3 x 34.6 cm)

Which certainly looks like it would do the part of containing and limiting the auditory influence of a small dog.

This is one of the things that a good annotated version of this book would do...and no doubt with greater authority than my Googles. Just thinking about this makes me want to read more annotated books. And makes me regret that I've not been able to find something of that ilk for David Copperfield.

And would you look at that...a mere 52 more days until DDRD 2,000. I'd expect that I will read about 1,600 more pages in that time, which will put me well through David Copperfield and, I think, a couple of volumes more. It might be a good time to try to knock out Miscellaneous Papers I and II...if I can bear it. I'll have a peek to see if that looks do-able.

ADDENDUM: Today I was at Baptist Hospital with my daughter, pushing the Beverage Cart around. And collecting four miles' worth of steps. And as I was going through one of the waiting rooms, I saw a lady who was reading Demon Copperhead, so I stopped to chat with her about it. She told me that she was really enjoying it (and I noted that she was about 3/4ths of the way through) and that she wished that she had read David Copperfield before it so that she could "get" it on that level. Which definitely whetted my appetite for some Demon C. But I'm currently 41 of 55 on the holds list, so it doesn't look like that will be happening soon. 

Watched a bit more of the movie...to 1:44, which leaves about 15 minutes. Most of which is probably credits. Once again I had to stop because the movie had gotten ahead of the plot of the book. Keeping in mind that I still have 314 pages to read...which is about 1/3rd of the whole...and you can see how much this movie has twisted the story around...and how much of the juice has been squeezed out of it. Ah, well. It's still an interesting movie, at least.  But it's not really David Copperfield.

 

Day 14 (DDRD 1,947) March 1, 2023

Read to page 300. I haven't noted any New Words Courtesy of Dickens for awhile...mostly out of laziness, but laziness prompted by my immersion in the story. This morning, however, whilst sitting in a gazebo out front of the Jefferson town Library Branch, I encountered the word marplot, and I had to consult Mr. Webster on that one: 

noun

mar·​plot ˈmär-ˌplät

: one who frustrates or ruins a plan or undertaking by meddling

Well. I've known a few of those, for sure. Married one for awhile, actually.

Oh, and why was I in the environs of the J-Town library branch?

Yep. I found a work-around. It's not really the best time to embark upon this 548 page reading experience as (1) I still have 234 pages of David Copperfield to read and I want to finish it before I finish Demon Copperhead and (2) it's only a 7-Day  Loan, but I'm going for it anyway. In act, I'm going to start on it in a minute, and then push myself to read my Dickens faster, so that by the time I finish it I'll be within striking distance of finishing the Kingsolver. Can it be done in 7 days? Stay tuned for the exciting answer!

Demon Copperhead

Read to page 32 (of 548).

Interesting and written with wit, but it hasn't

Really grabbed me yet. Would've read more,

but babysat instead.

Day 15 (DDRD 1,948) March 2, 2023

Demon Copperfield is due 3/8/2023, so 516 ÷ 7 = 73.7 pages per day.

That would mean 234 + 7 = 33.4 pages of David Copperfield per day, which is just a little bit over my normal gial, and well under my actual current pace.

Sounds do-able. Let's see how today goes! 

David: Read to page 335 (35 pages). Stopped there so I'd have more Demon time.

Demon: Read to page 

Re: David: The oft-repeated line "There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose." begins to seem more than David's idea of what is wrong with his marriage to Dora. It seems to be Dickens thinking about his marriage to Catherine Thomson Dickens (née Hogarth). In fact, when I saw a picture of her...

Public Domain

                                                                   ...it immediately struck me that almost every description of Dora mentions her curls. What a shame...what a tragedy...to fall in live with someone who then proves not to be "of like mind." 

I know how that goes, for sure. 

A moment after writing the above I put down my Dickens and picked up my Asimov (Nightfall and Other Stories) and within a few seconds read this: "Usually they held their moods in common. That, Norman claimed, was why he remained sure that he had married the right girl." ("What if-") 

Yep.

Demon Copperhead 

Read to page 110  (of 548).

Re: Demon: I've picked up some speed here, but it's not feeling effortless, you know what I mean? When a novel really clicks with you, you feel like you're switchin' to glide...and that hasn't happened yet. Which is not to say that it's a chore to read, because it isn't. And there are moments which really dig in, like this:

"...a thing grows teeth once it's put into words."

Maybe part of it is I just can't really get a handle on the David Copperfield angle. I mean...why? The story would work just as well without the Copperfield parallels. In fact, I'm sure that most people could read this without even noticing that angle unless it was pointed out to them. So why, Barbara? Can you just tell me that?

So...thus ends Day 1 of 7, and at least for the moment I'm keeping pace in both DCs.

Day 16 (DDRD 1,949) March 3, 2023

Read to page 370.

Demon Copperhead 

Read to page 190  (of 548)

Starting to fall into the story a bit more, and

there was a time or two when u felt that the

modernization of the story did give it a greater

impact...like when the crack whore Stoll Demons 

money.

So...thus ends Day 2 of 7, and I'm still keeping pace in both DCs. Woot.

Day 17 (DDRD 1,950) March 4, 2023 aka Day One of the Great Power Outage of 2023.

Read to page 410.

Demon Copperhead.

Read to page 260 (of 548)

So...despite adverse circumstances...thus ends Day 3 of 7, and I'm still keeping pace in both DCs. Woot.

Day 18 (DDRD 1,951) March 5, 2023 aka Day Two of the Great Power Outage of 2023.

Read to page 440.

Demon Copperhead.

Read to page 400 (of 548)

Here's something that really shows the difference between David Copperfield and Demon Copperhead. On page 459 of David, we have a letter from Agnes to DC. She says, in part, she knew (she said) how such a nature as mine would turn affliction to good. She knew how trial and emotion would exalt and strengthen it. She was sure that in my every purpose I should gain a firmer and a higher tendency, through the grief I had undergone. She, who so gloried in my fame, and so looked forward to its augmentation, well knew that I would labor on. She knew that in me, sorrow could not be weakness, but must be strength. As the endurance of my childish days had done its part to make me what I was, so greater calamities would nerve me on, to be yet better than I was; and so, as they had taught me, would I teach others...then proud of what I had done, but infinitely prouder yet of what I was reserved to do."

Meanwhile, in Barbara Kingsolver's "version," Demon becomes a drug addict and seems to turn everything he touches into shit as he crumbles beneath the load he himself has made.

Yep.

So...despite continuing adverse circumstances...thus ends Day 4 of 7, and I'm still keeping pace in both DCs. Woot.

Day 19 (DDRD 1,952) March 6, 2023 aka Day Three of the Great Power Outage of 2023.

Read to page 470.

Demon Copperhead.

Read to page 467 (of 548)

So...despite the ever growing saga of adverse circumstances...thus ends Day 5 of 7, and I'm still keeping pace in both DCs. Woot.

Day 20 (DDRD 1,953) March 7, 2023 aka Day Four of the Great Power Outage of 2023.

Read to page 500.

"...what such people miscall their religion, is a vent for their bad humours and arrogance." (481) Yep, Dickens knows which way the wind blows.

Demon Copperhead.

Read to page 504 (of 548)

So...despite blah blah blah adverse circumstances...thus ends Day 6 of 7, and I'm still keeping pace in both DCs. Woot.

Day 21 (DDRD 1,954) March 8, 2023 aka Day Five (& The Last Day, Thank You Jesus) of the Great Power Outage of 2023.

Read to page 534 = The End.

"Nobody appeared to have the least idea that there was any other system, but the system, to be considered." (501) Yep, Dickens knows which way the tornado blows, too.

Demon Copperhead.

Read to page 548 (of 548) = The End. 

So...thus ends Day 7 of 7, and I finished both of these books. HOO-ah.

It has been a very rough five days, including about a half-dozen autistic meltdowns, sleeping in a baby bed, and spending many hours each day driving. I have more to say about Demon Copperhead, but I think I'm going to GoodReads it instead. Just don't have the energy to get to it right now. So...aloha.

Oh...just one more thing. I am now 2/3rds of the way through The Complete Dickens. Oh, yeah.

DDR Day 1 to 1,000: 13,449 pages read, 13.45 Average Pages Per Day

A History of Philosophy Volumes I - XI

History of Civilization in England by Volumes I - III

Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works of Henry Thomas Buckle Volumes I - III

Civilization and Capitalism, 16th - 18th Century Volumes I - III

The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip IIl Volumes I - III

This Happened In My Presence: Moriscos, Old Christians, and the Spanish Inquisition in the Town of Deza, 1569-1611

The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates

Peat and Peat Cutting

+

DDR Day 1001 to Day 2000:
(1) Leviathan 63 days, 729 pages
(2) Stalingrad 27 days, 982 pages
(3) Life and Fate 26 days, 880 pages
(4) The Second World War 34 + 32 + 40 + 43 + 31 + 32 days = 212 days, 4,379 pages
(5) Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming 10 days, 572 pages
(6) The Great Bridge 25 days, 636 pages
(7) The Path Between the Seas 29 days, 698 pages
(8) Blake: Prophet Against Empire, 23 days, 523 pages
(9) Jerusalem 61 days, 1,266 pages
(10) Voice of the Fire 9 days, 320 pages
(11) The Fountainhead 15 days, 720 pages

(12) The Pacific Trilogy: Pacific Crucible 23 days, 640 pages
(13) The Pacific Trilogy: The Conquering Tide 28 days, 656 pages
(14) The Pacific Trilogy: Twilight of the Gods 31 days, 944 pages

(15) Jazz: Its Evolution and Essence 13 days, 304 pages
(16) Toward Jazz 18 days, 224 pages
(17) The Worlds of Jazz 13 days, 279 pages
(18) To Be or Not...to Bop 14 days, 571 pages
(19) Kind of Blue 4 days, 224 pages
(20) Kind of Blue: Miles Davis and his Masterpiece: 5 days, 256 pages
(21) Miles: The Autobiography 16 days, 445 pages
(21) A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album: 8 days, 287 pages
(22) Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest 8 days, 304 pages
(23) Living With Music: Ralph Ellison's Jazz Writings 11 days 325 pages

(24) The Pickwick Papers 28 days, 983 pages
(25) Oliver Twist 16 days, 542 pages
(26) Nicholas Nickleby 27 days, 1,045 pages
(27) The Old Curiosity Shop 22 days, 753 pages
(28) Barnaby Rudge 24 days, 866 pages

(29) Master Humprhey's Clock 4 days, 145 pages
(30) Martin Chuzzlewit 32 days, 1,045 pages
(31) American Notes 10 days, 324 pages
(32) Pictures From Italy 7 days, 211 pages
(33) Christmas Stories Volume I 10 days, 456 pages
(34) Christmas Stories Volume II 15 days, 472 pages

(35) Christmas Books 17 days, 525 pages

(36) The Annotated Christmas Carol  7 days, 380 pages

(37) Dombey and Son 30 days, 1,089 pages

(38) Sketches by Boz 22 days, 834 pages

2nd 1K Total: 26,834 pages (to SBBII) = 28.76 Average Pages Per Day

Grand Total: 40,273 pages, 20.83 Average Pages Per Day

(39) David Copperfield 21 days, 1,092 pages

George Orwell: Master of the Space Opera

 Remember those great George Orwell Science Fiction novels, Keep the Aspidistra Flying (wherein the Earth is invaded by perspicacious flowering plants) and The Road to Wigan Pier (the dystopian sequel where we see humans relegated to living beneath the earth and consuming coal as their primary sustenance)? Good to see that someone at Half-Price Books remembers, too.

America vs Russia via Ukraine

                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                          

I just saw the title of an article in New Eastern Europe online entitled "Russia-Ukraine: Only One Will Remain." I'm not currently a subscriber, and I haven't seen an issue of New Eastern Europe on the stands for several months, so unfortunately I could only read a couple of paragraphs of this piece (HERE). I'd like to read the rest of it, and will try to do so, but really, isn't that title alone enough? Postulating that this war between Russia and Ukraine will spell the end of one of these countries is about as dire as it gets. I imagine how I'd feel if I were a citizen of one of those countries and was made to believe that this prediction was an inevitable truth. The desperation. The desire to do ANYthing to protect my country and my loved ones.

I've also just finished reading an article by Benjamin Abelow entitled "How the West Brought War to Ukraine: Understanding How U.S. and NATO Policies Led to Crisis, War, and the Risk of Nuclear Catastrophe." (You can buy it as a Kindle book from Amazon or read it for free HERE.) By the time I got halfway through it, I was convinced that a very large part of the responsibility for this war fell on the heads of Western leaders...and especially upon the heads of four U.S. Presidents: George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. That's not an easy pill for me to swallow, since I voted for and mostly approved of two of those four fellows...and genuinely believed that they were good, moral men. 

But nothing is truer than truth.

Under the leadership of these four presidents (and others extending back to the end of World War II), the United States of America was responsible for expanding NATO into close proximity of Russian borders--despite assurances that it would not do so; for withdrawing from arms treaties that gave Russia some assurances of its safety; from staging provocative military exercises within spitting distance of Russia; for supplying Ukraine with weaponry which could be used offensively long before Putin's invasion of Ukraine; for announcing that Ukraine could be accepted into NATO at any moment; and for seeing to the ousting of pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych, who was the democratically elected 4th president of Ukraine.

In fact, even though I find Putin to be a loathsome individual at best, it seems clear to me that he is not merely a crazed leader who wants to recapture the lost glories of the Soviet Empire. (I actually never believed it was that simple; in fact, I'm pretty sure that anytime someone tries to defend their position by saying that the opposition is "just crazy" that that is bullshit.) 

Which makes me wonder why the U.S. of A. would want to provoke this fight.

Unfortunately, there seems to be an obvious answer. By using Ukraine to fight a war it might be deliberately prolonging, the U.S. of A. is leading the Russian military (and its economy in general) into depletion and exhaustion. It's a proxy war in which American lives are not at stake (except for the boys who go there of their own volition), and it's probably well worth the money being expended on it.

I'm sorry to say that this brings me into some kind of agreement with many of the most loathsome Republican congresspeople...and even makes me sound anti-Ukrainian or, worse, pro-Putin.

Which is not the case at all.

But where does it go from here? Ending support for Ukraine would obviously just insure that the New Eastern Europe article's title became the truth, and that Ukraine would cease to exist as a soverign nation. Entering the war directly would only insure that World War III...the one preceding Einstein's war with rocks and sticks...would happen. As much as I hate to say it, it seems that the only solution is to sit down at the table as see what would satisfy Russia...even if that meant surrendering parts of Eastern Ukraine.

It's a shitty solution. But when you're trapped between Scylla and Charybdis, you are going to lose something. A lot of something. It's still better than losing everything, though, isn't it?

P.S. "The April 2008 Bucharest Summit communiqué re-affirmed the NATO allies' "commitment to keeping NATO's door open to any European democracy willing and able to assume the responsibilities and obligations of membership, in accordance with Article 10 of the Washington Treaty."[6] At that summit, Ukraine was invited to join the Alliance." 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_open_door_policy

Waiting For the Iceman...er, Godot Cometh....um....

I finally got around to reading Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh. It's a remarkable play. More than a bit dated, but its power is still profound. Yet it seems to break most of the rules of theater. There's a large group of characters, which makes it hard to identify with any of them. And almost all of them (and all of the major ones) are alcoholics who seem hell-bent on destroying themselves, which is way out of my realm of personal experience. Also, there's very little movement on stage. There's very little onstage violence. No romance at all. And the damned thing lasts for four hours. And just to top all of that off, The Iceman never actually Cometh.

And yet...this thing pulled me along like a fast-paced action movie. 

Some of that is O'Neill's wordcraft, of course. Like this:

"As history proves, to be a worldly success at anything, especially revolution, you have to wear blinders like a horse and see only straight in front of you. You have to see, too, but this is all black, and that is all white." 

Or this:

"Hasn't he been mixed up with some woman? I don't mean trollops.. I mean the old real love stuff that crucifies you."

And the big kapow of this:

"I discovered early in life that living frightened me when I was sober."

I've often thought that at least some people who become alcoholics do it because they need some insulation from the daily atrocities of living. 

In fact, if I had the stomach for it (and I mean that literally), I think I would have been an alcoholic for that reason. Alcohol not only makes you feel good, it also pushes the world away, makes it less barbed, can even make it funny. There have been many times when I needed that. There've been many times when I got that from alcohol.

But despite the fact that I haven't had a hangover since I was in my early twenties, I pay dearly for any heavy drinking I do. My guts quiver and shake themselves to pieces for days. Nausea fills up every crevice of my soul. 

So I rarely drink at all anymore.

But my father was an alcoholic. My oldest sister, too. And one of the most important relationships in my life was with a woman who was floating in a sea of alcohol. So I have definitely taken in the view.

There's more to The Iceman Cometh than alcoholism, though. In fact, I'd have to say that the play isn't really about alcohol abuse at all. And that hit me around the halfway point of the play, when I started thinking about it as a counterpoint to Waiting for Godot.

I know Waiting for Godot. I wrestled with that play for years, actually loathing it, before it finally clicked into place in my brain, and I've since read it dozens of times and taught it at least two hands' fingers' worth of times. I've watched two movies of it several times apiece, and travelled to New York City to see it performed onstage (with John Goodman as Pozzo). I can't stop myself from quoting it on a regular basis. ("What do we do now, now that we are happy?")

I don't know The Iceman Cometh very well at all, having just read it for the first time and never having seen it played, live or in movie, all the way through. But it is fresh in my mind, so I think I have a tentative grasp of it...at least for another hour or so.

So here it is: I think that when O'Neill wrote The Iceman Cometh, he essentially reduced all of the elements of playwriting to what he thought was the absolute minimum. He made the stage pretty flat: tables and chairs. And he made it virtually the same for four acts. He gave a large cast of characters, then gave them only the most superficial...and cliched...characteristics. Then he drained most of the plot out of the story, so what was left were a series of small arguments. 

And then Beckett took it all one step further: he took all but five (you could argue six, but you'd be wrong) of the characters away, took away almost all of the setting, and killed the plot. It might be as far as you can go in terms of reductionist theater...unless you want to get into some bullshit where a character stands on an empty stage for an hour and a half and then the lights go down, and I'm hoping that none of us wants to see that...not even Mark Rothko.

To what end? 

In my mind, to the end of getting down to the essence of life and reality. 

Do I contradict myself?

No.

If you're not running away from a bear, then you're really just wasting time. (©Brother K Enterprises) I have a friend who spends hours several times a week playing bridge. She herself says that it's a waste of time...but she enjoys it. And isn't that what time is for? I spend at least an hour of every day reading. I'll forget most of what I read in a few weeks. And much of what I retain will be inconsequential. So most (possibly all) of that is a waste of time. But I enjoy it. And you can name your poison here. Anything you name wherein you are not running away from a bear (metaphorically speaking, of course) is a waste of time. Watching television, going to the movies, going to plays, eating at restaurants, going on dates, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Penny a point, ain't no one keeping score. 

Which made me wonder if Beckett had been influenced by O'Neill. I wasn't sure of the timelines, so I went to the Wikkans.

For Godot, "The original French text was composed between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949. The premiere, directed by Roger Blin, was on 5 January 1953 at the Théâtre de Babylone [fr], Paris. The English-language version premiered in London in 1955." 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot

For Iceman: "First published in 1946, the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 9, 1946...." 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iceman_Cometh

I found it interesting that both of these plays had a delayed birth experience. Beckett's had to wait 4 years before it hit the stage. And according to the front matter in Iceman, it was copyright 1940 as an unpublished work, so it really took 6 years for it to make it to the stage.

But clearly Iceman preceded Godot. I'm not going to go to the trouble of finding out if Beckett actually knew of The Iceman Cometh (assuming that could be discovered), though, so I'll just leap to my own foregone conclusion: yes.

I have spoken.

Now I'm going to go read some more of Eugene O'Neill's plays.

Coincidence Journal

Weird coincidences happen to me so often that I sometimes can't keep track of them. So I thought I'd try to start doing that.




2/3/23

I was reading The Iceman Cometh while Jacqueline was watching Jeopardy! The answer to one of the questions was Eugene O'Neill.

2/9/23

Just a tiny one, but this happens so often that I thought I'd go ahead and note it. I was reading with the tv on, and just as I read the word "state" in Sketches by Boz, Jonathan Lemire said the word "state."

2/22/23

Just going to give a short version here, but I think it's worth a long version, too, so I'll put that moment HERE.  

I bought a sketch pad for one of my son's friends a  bunch of weeks ago. On the morning I was going to give it to her, I realized that the wire binding could be dangerous for her--she's a serious cutter, and has proven resourceful in finding ways to cut herself. So I gave it to someone else and decided to buy my son's friend a different kind next time I was out and about. Being me, it took a few more weeks to get around to that, but last night I did, and this morning I took it to her. When I gave it to her, she said, "How did you know that today was my birthday?" I thought she was kidding me at firsr, but nope, today was her birthday. What are the odds on THAT, I wonder.

More to come.

My Milestones

The second Milestone Compendium is going to arrive at my door tomorrow--courtesy of Thrift Books, whose price on it was $10 less than Amazon's (HA!). Which got me to wondering how many (if any) Milestone Books that left uncollected, which led me to search through my old blogposts to see what I'd had to say about Milestone previously, which led me to dig up this old and unposted post:

🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌

I've been reading and thinking about Milestone Comics since they first appeared on the scene in 1993. I bought at least an issue of most of their monthly series, several issues of some of them, and all of the Shadow War and Xombi books--the latter of which was the only one which seemed really different from other comic book concepts to me.

I'm pretty sure I have some other stuff, but it might still be mixed in with my other books.

Blood Syndicate 1 - 2, 10, 17 - 19, 21, 27 - 28, 33

Hardware 1, 4 - 5, 7 - 8, 10 - 11, 28, 36 collection 1 (1-8)

Heroes 1

Holocaust  2

Icon 1, 3, 8 - 9, 26, collection 1 (1-8)

Shadow Cabinet 0 - 17

Static 8, 11 - 12, 20

Worlds Collide 1

Xombi 0 - 15



And here's a complete list of Milestone Books from Wikipedia:

Monthly series (8)

Hardware – 50 issues. A trade paperback Hardware: The Man in The Machine was published in 2010, collecting issues #1-8.
Blood Syndicate – 35 issues.
Icon – 42 issues. The first eight issues were collected in the trade paperback, Icon: A Hero's Welcome in 1996, and a second edition was released in 2009. The issues that feature Buck Wild, Icon's return to his home planet, and the rampage of Icon's enemy Oblivion have been collected as Icon: Mothership Connection in 2010, collecting issues #13, 19-22, 24-26 and 30.
Static – 45 issues. Also made into an animated series Static Shock. The first four issues were collected in a graphic novel: Static Shock: Trial by Fire in 2000; and a new mini-series was published in 2001 called Static Shock: The Rebirth of the Cool, it ran for four issues.
Shadow Cabinet – 17 issues.
Xombi – 21 issues.
Kobalt – 16 issues.
Heroes – 6 issues.

Miniseries (4)

Deathwish – 4 issues (Hardware Spin-off)
My Name is Holocaust – 5 issues (Blood Syndicate Spin-off)
Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool – 4 issues
Wise Son: The White Wolf – 4 issues (Blood Syndicate Spin-off)

Crossovers (3)

Shadow War – Company-wide crossover. Involved all comics, including the newly premiered Xombi and Shadow Cabinet.
Long Hot Summer – Company-wide crossover: three issues of the comic by the same title, plus tie-ins in every Milestone title. – July–September 1995.

Worlds Collide – 1 issue (crossover with Blood Syndicate, Hardware, Icon, Static, and DC's Steel, Superman and Superboy).

🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌🥌

So now, of course, it's time to do some color coding. Red for all of the books collected in Compendium 1, Blue for all of the books collected in Compendium 2. Go!

Hardware 1-12, 13-21, of 50

Blood Syndicate 1-12, 13-23, of 35
Icon 1-10, 11-21, of 40

Static 1-8, 9-20,  of 45 + 4

Shadow Cabinet 0, 1-4, of 17
Xombi 0-11 of 21
Kobalt
Heroes

Deathwish 

My Name is Holocaust
Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool
Wise Son: The White Wolf

Shadow War

Long Hot Summer

Worlds Collide 1

  Steel #6-7, Superboy #6-7, Superman: The Man of Steel # 35-36 

So clearly there's plenty of room for another Compendium. In fact, I'd say at least two more. Will sales be high enough on Compendium 2 to warrant a third and fourth volume?

It's up to you, friends. I'm sorry to say that the Thrift Books edition has gone up in price so that is pretty much identical to Amazon's now--a mere $1.53 cheaper now--but buy it from them anyway, they're good people. There is a cheaper price on AbeBooks...which lists it as used, which is weird, since it was literally just published... but don't buy it from them, they're owned by Amazon, too.

Make yours Thrift Books!