Summer!

Well Summer is finally here! Despite all the rain this last week, I am nevertheless quite happy with the thought of coming afternoons filled with sunshine and perhaps some swimming.  I find it very difficult to write anything during the school year; teaching can be so draining -- physically and mentally. Next year I will have to find a way to continue reading, writing and drawing even during the sometimes tedious weeks of the school year.         Last summer I had a goal of reading 35 books, both thick and thin, light and serious. I got to 19 before September rolled around, I think.  Let's see, what did I read? Tintin (got it as a surprise gift from my Principal), The Great Gatsby (been meaning to really read this classic, beyond skimming it for my Comp Exam), The Prophet (many thanks to William Michaelian), Mere Christianity and A Grief Observed by CS Lewis (Lewis is so incredible, I need to reread The Silent Planet trilogy again), Literary Converts and The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde (by Joseph Pearce, so grand! Can't wait to read his bios of Belloc, Solzhenitsyn, and Shakespeare; he blows me away!) Huh, well, I can't remember any others, and I'm too lazy to turn on the light to look at my bookshelf. More on those later, perhaps? Ha.
Speaking of bookshelves, you would think there would be more being given away on Craigslist etc., what with the declining state of bibliophilia.  Come on people! I know you don't love books as much as you used to! Give up those unused bookcases! I have stacks and boxes of books that need a good home besides my floor! Please? :)
Well, this summer I have a plan to read 35 books as well. Hopefully I can do better than last time? I've finished Lord Jim and am in the middle of The First Circle. Up next I need to finish Essays by Tate and Essays by Milosz, then finish the collected works of Yeats, and finally get through Hirsch's How to Read a Poem. But first I have to find Poe's Short Stories and finish that.  I start a lot of books during the school year if you couldn't tell! It's the finishing I have trouble with!  It can be so difficult just to sit down and read sometimes! It's not that I do pointless surfing when I'm on my computer -- I read over 100 blog posts a day and follow every post of various design sites -- but it can never feel as comprehensive as reading an entire book.  I suppose the remedy would be to set a reading schedule, but I think we can establish the fact that I am not very good with schedules.  Ah well!  I should be able to get through Solzhenitsyn and Poe by Monday methinks.