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You can tell by the way the bound-in bookmark is still folded back into the book that this one has never been read before. Also, the spine is in pristine condition. (But we all know that THAT won't last.) |
Again decided to try to do a little "clean up" on the non-novels so that I won't be left holding the bag on The Least of Dickens when I finish the last novel. So this: a series of essays published 1860 to 1861.
It's XV + 425 = 440 pages, so we're probably looking at a couple of weeks or so.
Day 1 (DDRD 1,955) March 9, 2023
Read to page 30.
In the second essay, "The Shipwreck," people come from Australia to visit the graves of their family members who have drowned when their ship went down. In some cases, these people had travelled great distances. And it made me think about my new-found niece, L. She lives near Baltimore, home of my birth. Her mother, my oldest sister, is buried here in Louisville. L. has talked about how she wants to come down to visit the grave, and part of me is just baffled by that. I mean...it's not like my sister is really here, after all. Another part of me understands that the same force which compels L. to make a 61,220 mile journey (round trip) to look at a patch of ground is the same force which compels me to wear a cross around my neck that my grandfather wore.
In the same essay, Dickens suggests that seamen were tattooed in order to make identification of their bodies easier. 🙆 Makes sense, doesn't it.
In "Wapping Workhouse": "It was something to be reminded that the weary world was not all aweary, and was ever renewing itself...." (26) Which I think is quintessential Dickens...and the opposite of Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead--a book which I read and loathed.
Day 2 (DDRD 1,956) March 10, 2023
Read to page 60. As with so many--in fact, most--books, it's still kind of like work at this point, but at least it has some rewards (unlike much of Sketches By Boz or the Christmas volumes).
And here's Today's Word:
perquisitionnounper·qui·si·tion ˌpərkwə̇ˈzishənplural-s: a thorough searchspecifically : a search by warrant
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perquisition?fbclid=IwAR1-RMPkAh3EeOtRcfCkyLrshNMjCJC95KqXgbempTQR1D82SEO387GI9mo
So there's that.
Joe had basketball practice, so I read a bit more...to 77. Hard to make a lot of progress when you're reading at basketball practice....
Day 3 (DDRD 1,957) March 11, 2023
Read to page 109. Several excellent words today, my favorite of which was
shako: Borrowed from French shako, from Hungarian csákó (“cylindrical military dress hat worn by the Hungarian hussars from the 18th century to World War I”).
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/shako?fbclid=IwAR0DAxVB5Gr9V-nsY_D9vQidp-h8h3a8T_3NnnDOhrwMq6wQvdI0jQyW5SQ
I was still kind of trudging along during the first pages of today's reading, but began to perk up quite a bit as I got farther along in VIII, "The Great Tasmania's Cargo," which featured a bit of a spoof of Candide. It also included this memorable line:
"I never heard of any impeached public authority in my life, who is not the best public authority in existence." (89)
I then moved on to IX "City of London Churches," and was delighted to read that Dickens had done a one year "tour" of the churches of London...which is what I did in THIS and THIS. Further proof that Great Minds think alike, I'd say.
And oh, here's another word which must be preserved:
adjective
sap·o·na·ceous ˌsa-pə-ˈnā-shəs
: resembling or having the qualities of soap
saponaceousness noun
Saponaceous is a New Latin borrowing by scientists that is based on sapo, the Latin word for "soap." It describes natural substances, like aloe gel or some plant roots, used in making soap or having the properties of soap. It also describes things that feel or appear soapy-for example, some shales and clays, mica, and certain chemical preparations. In the 19th century, saponaceous began to be used for people having a slippery, evasive, or elusive character. One famous example is the elocutionist Bishop Wilberforce whom British politician Benjamin Disraeli described as "unctuous, oleaginous, saponaceous." In The Devil's Dictionary, author Ambrose Bierce uses Disraeli's quote to illustrate the word oleaginous, noting that "the good prelate was ever afterward known as Soapy Sam."
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/saponaceous
And here is how Mr. Dickens uses this wonderful word:
"On summer evenings, when every flower, and tree, and bird, might have better addressed my soft young heart, I have in my day been caught in the palm of a female hand by the crown, have been violently scrubbed from the neck to the roots of the hair as a purification for the Temple, and have then been carried off highly charged with saponaceous electricity, to be steamed like a potato in the unventilated breath of the powerful Boanerges Boiler and his congregation, until what small mind I had, was quite steamed out of me."
Oh, Charlie...you so FUNny.
Day 4 (DDRD 1,958) March 12, 2023 42
You know, seems to me that I'm pretty near the point where I should start counting down to Daily Devotional Reading Day 2000...as I would very much like to round out that landmark day by finishing a book off. So I shall begin to note the Days to 2,000 in red next to the date of each reading henceforth. To wit: see above.
Read to page 140. Not very good stuff today, sorry to say.
Day 5 (DDRD 1,959) March 13, 2023 41
Read to page 180.
Here's a funny Macbeth allusion:
"By that time, he felt he was ‘in furniture stepped in so far,’ as that it could be no worse to borrow it all. Consequently, he borrowed it all, and locked up the cellar for good. He had always locked it, after every visit. He had carried up every separate article in the dead of the night, and, at the best, had felt as wicked as a Resurrection Man. Every article was blue and furry when brought into his rooms, and he had had, in a murderous and guilty sort of way, to polish it up while London slept."
Day 6 (DDRD 1,960) March 14, 2023 40
Read to page 210.
Day 7 (DDRD 1,961) March 15, 2023 39
Read to page 240.
Here's another fine word Mr. Dickens has gotten me into:
Funny to have known what something is without knowing what it was called.
In another news...this book has gotten pretty tedious again. Most of the "stories" of late have been of the trivial kind, primarily aimed at humorous effect which I, alas, do not find humorous. Sigh. 185 pages to go.
Day 8 (DDRD 1,962) March 16, 2023 38
Read to page 271 (end of XXII).
Dickens really does have a preoccupation with breasts. The word "buxom" appears regularly, there are several mentions of breast feeding, and check this out. When introducing a ship named The Amazon, Dickens notes:
"Her figure-head is not disfigured as those beauteous founders of the race of strong-minded women are fabled to have been, for the convenience of drawing the bow; but I sympathise with the carver:
Day 9 (DDRD 1,963) March 17, 2023 37
Read to page 300. I don't want to invoke bad luck by mentioning it, but (knock wood) with a mere 125 pages (4 days) left with thus volume, it looks like there's a very good chance that the spine will remain intact. I'm not sure that that has happened before. Well...🤞and Time Will Tell.
In today's reading, Dickens made many references to the Black Country, and I had to stop reading and let my Brain Tape of Bowie's " Black Country Rock" play through. I probably haven't listened to that song in 20 years or more, but every note of it was there. Who needs a CD player?
I miss Bowie.
LATER....
Read a bit more...to page 320. Also picked up A Child's History of England and wondered if I should just go ahead and read that now... knowing that (1) Bleak House is up next, and that is definitely something to look forward to, (2) once I finish that, there are only 3 more non-novel Volumes to read, and (3) it's relatively short, XVIII + 473 = 491 pages, so it would only take 16.3 days to finish it off. I don't know. I'm really ready to get back to where I once belonged on the novel thing...but I am also very cognizant of the fact that every time I do a Complete Oeuvre job on a writer, I end up reading some shitty stuff at the end...either stuff published posthumously or stuff that was scraped together once his/her/their primary work was finished. I want to leave my Dickens Project on as high a note as possible.
P.S. Speaking of...maybe that means I should read The Mystery of Edwin Drood out of order and make Our Mutual Friend my final Dickens. I mean, if it's good enough for Lost's Desmond and for John Irving, it should be good enough for me, right? Also, although I don't know know, I suspect that a complete Dickens novel is going to be far superior to an incomplete one. Just sayin', sir.
Day 10 (DDRD 1,964) March 18, 2023 36
Read to page 350.
You know...Dickens had an excuse for his tedious frivolity in Sketches by Boz. He was young. He'd not yet experienced a great deal of the wold. His sense of humor...and outrage... had not yet jelled. He has no such excuse in The Uncommercial Traveller, who chose was written in the 1860s, when he was 50 years old, and after he had written great works such as Bleak House and David Copperfield.
At any rate...only 75 pages to go now, so I'm just going to put my head down and churn my legs until I break on through to the other side. I'd definitely suggest that you skip reading this one, though. There's really not much to be gained here.
Day 11 (DDRD 1,965) March 19, 2023 35
Read to page 400. This time out, added to the usual nonsense there was a dollop of racism as well:
"My object was to hear and see the Mississippi Momuses in what the bills described as their ‘National ballads, plantation break-downs, nigger part-songs, choice conundrums, sparkling repartees, &c.’ I found the nine dressed alike, in the black coat and trousers, white waistcoat, very large shirt-front, very large shirt-collar, and very large white tie and wristbands, which constitute the dress of the mass of the African race, and which has been observed by travellers to prevail over a vast number of degrees of latitude. All the nine rolled their eyes exceedingly, and had very red lips. At the extremities of the curve they formed, seated in their chairs, were the performers on the tambourine and bones. The centre Momus, a black of melancholy aspect (who inspired me with a vague uneasiness for which I could not then account)...."
And the last character referred to turns out to be a White guy in Black face, which makes it even worse, I think.
Also, when I was searching the text of this book for this passage, I found there was another racist reference earlier in in the book:
"‘Now den! Hoy! One. Right and left. (Put a steam on, gib ’um powder.) La-dies’ chail. Bal-loon say. Lemonade! Two. Ad-warnse and go back (gib ’ell a breakdown, shake it out o’ yerselbs, keep a movil). Swing-corners, Bal-loon say, and Lemonade! (Hoy!) Three. Gent come for’ard with a lady and go back, hoppersite come for’ard and do what yer can. (Aeiohoy!) Bal-loon say, and leetle lemonade. (Dat hair nigger by ’um fireplace ’hind a’ time, shake it out o’ yerselbs, gib ’ell a breakdown.) Now den! Hoy! Four! Lemonade. Bal-loon say, and swing. Four ladies meet in ’um middle, Four gents goes round ’um ladies, Four gents passes out under ’um ladies’ arms, swing—and Lemonade till ’a moosic can’t play no more! (Hoy, Hoy!)’" (Chapter IV: TWO VIEWS OF A CHEAP THEATRE)
Which doesn't increase my love for Dickens, though I suppose that historical context would go far to mitigate his 'guilt' on this one.
On the plus side, I'm finished with this book tomorrow! Woot!
Day 12 (DDRD 1,966) March 20, 2023 34
Read to page 425, aka The End. And not a moment too soon. This was not a good book. Not as bad as Sketches by Boz, and not without some good moments, but for the most part full of trivial, uninteresting, pointless bits, with humor that was very forced, insincere, and juvenile. I'd strongly suggest that you pass on this one if you want to keep your live for Dickens intact.
And now...we join A Child's History of England, already in progress.
P.S. The spine didn't crack on this book! I'm pretty sure that that's a first for this collection.
P.P.S. 22 1/2 down, 13 1/2 to go!
(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
(13) The Pacific Trilogy: The Conquering Tide 28 days, 656 pages
(14) The Pacific Trilogy: Twilight of the Gods 31 days, 944 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
(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
(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
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