112 pages, 112 pages left to read, ah-ah-ah (insert voice of the count)

When I was really little, my mom used to take me to the library with her and we would go to story hour. I remember that the library smelled like books. It was exciting, too, because you never knew which story the lady was going to read. Then you got to choose books to bring home, and they always had good covers with amazing illustrations and things for your imagination to latch onto. Then, later, when I moved on to the Baby-Sitter's Club books I realized that you could have a chapter book that was just as amazing, and entertaining as all those pictures. I've read books about teaching, magazine articles about politics, and lots and lots of books that I just couldn't put down because I HAD to know what happened (Harry Potter; Eat, Pray Love; Julie & Julia) In short...I'm writing this post because its been a really long time since I've read a book that made me want to stay put on the couch, curled up in my PJs reading it....There is even a sort of guilty feeling you get when reading a good book. You know that there are a bunch of other responsible adult things to do in the world...but you just have to keep reading.

The question is...have we changed so much that all these old timey books are just not that way anymore, or did the old timey people just not read in the same way. If it is the latter, I feel really bad for those people. Books should be loved...which means the reader should not be counting down the pages until the end. hmmm...just a thought.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by

This week I read a play by Calderón de la Barca called "La vida es sueño." It is about this prince in Poland (Segismundo) who was locked up by his dad in a tower because he was born under a star that said he would be this tyrant king. So the crazy dad, Basilio, locks the boy up and when he is grown up, more or less, decides to drug him up and bring him to the palace. Note,this is just in case he is still tyranical and rash. Because then, if he winds up being a meanie, they will just throw him back in the tower and tell him it was all a dream. Well, after he throws a servant off the balcony, that is what happens. There is a side plot with a girl who is the daughter of another character...and is royalty from some wierd country called Moscovia. Yeah. Back in the tower, Segismundo the prince, decides it must have been a dream, but then again, how do we know that everything is not a dream. "La vida es sueño y los sueños, sueños son" (Life is dreaming and the dreams are just that.) He goes on to say, that who knows if the king is a king because he dreamed it so, and acts accordingly. Eventually the people break Segismundo out of his tower prison, he acts right this time around and gets the crown, gets the girl, and lives happily ever after in his little kingdom of Poland. Everyone say "huzzah!"

My thoughts? It sounds a lot like Don Quijote's plan of inventing reality, but this time we are dreaming reality. The difference here is that you act accordingly to your dreams, but almost without realizing that it is a dream. And then, in death you wake up. A bit morbid. Sort of a version of "The Emperor´s New Clothes." Life is what you believe it to be...same as DQ...same as all of us really, because who´s to say any of us know which way is up. Or maybe all of us know.

finding reality

I think that what I gleaned from reading a version of Don Quijote... {I know, you are all going to be like, WHAT? You didn't read the real deal??? um, no. I was not about to sit down and read the ye olde spanish version of Don Quijote...nor did I want to read a translation into English. So I read a modernized version. Regardless, between reading my little DQ and seeing Man of La Mancha, I think that's enough. } ...as I was saying, I think what I gleaned from my friend DQ is that you make your own reality. Now, to those of you who believe in The Secret, this is old news. But I think the point of someone like DQ who lives for his ideals and goes after them with gusto (although maybe leaving reason by the wayside) well, that is admirable. It would be no good to go through life thinking you were a knight errant if you were not going to act accordingly. Just as we should all live our lives, and believe in our dreams and basically disregard all the Sanchos who tell us that the obstacles in our life, the difficulties, the dreams we have are not giants but windmills. I'll fight my windmills gladly if it means holding onto my dreams, my imagination, and the 5 year old Abigail that I hope never to lose completly. And, in the end, DQ knows that he acted like a crazy person...but he doesn't regret it. Sounds about right.

To dream the impossible dream!

Hello all!

So as most of you are aware, as part of my masters in Spanish Literature, there is this crazy essay test at the end of the program on a list of 70 or 80 books from Spanish and Latin American Literature. I know. 70 or 80 are way too many books to remember. You are talking to the girl who cannot remember what happened in the movie she saw last night. "There is a guy and this girl, and they start out not friends, and then they fall in love..."

So in an effort to not go too insane (a la Don Quijote) I have decided to write a blog about the reading I am doing for my masters. However, I am going to also take the liberty of adding in some stuff about my life, the other books I read, the weather, the foods I might be snacking on, etc. Basically a hodge podge of tid bits from my own "quest."

Enjoy!