Well, the Halloween costumes for the ballroom dance party Friday night never came together. My Bookman just wore all black and I wore black jeans, an orange t-shirt and a Halloween cardigan sweater of the kind you would likely see a grade school teacher wear or would be worn for the Halloween equivalent of an ugly Christmas sweater party. Our problem when it comes to costumes is that we always think they have to be elaborate, but while there were a few people wearing elaborate costumes–one couple were his and her scarecrows complete with straw and crows–it is clear that the ballroom dance crowd goes for clever.
There was a woman wearing a formal gown with a sash ala Miss America that said “I’m Sorry” on it. Know what she was? A formal apology. Another woman was rather skimpily clad and sported a big bow on her chest and a sticker on her butt that read “Stimulus Package.” A man wore an unusual combination of a Minnesota Wild hockey uniform and a knight. He was, therefore, a “Wild night out.” Another man wore a halo and dressed all in fluffy white cotton batting. He was “St. Cloud” (we have a city in Minnesota called St. Cloud). So we are going to have to start thinking now for next year. It will take us that long to come up with something clever.
On the book front, I started reading Mentors, Muses and Monsters and am enjoying it very much. It is quite fun reading about the people (mostly other writers) writers are/were influenced by.
I finished the second and final volume of Emerson and Carlyle’s letters and will be writing about the final years probably tomorrow. Since I finished the letters I have returned to Wilkie Collins and The Woman in White I am in the midst of Marian’s narrative and ever so suspicious of Sir Percival Glyde. Poor Laura in her passive womanly goodness is now married to him while her dear cousin and sister-friend Marian rages about the fate of women. I am having a hard time deciding whether Collins believed in women’s rights or if he was making a bit of fun. Does anyone know?
If you are a Collins fan you may be interested in following Wilkie’s blog tour. The Classics Circuit is a recent addition to book blog world. Bloggers who want to read more classics and promote the reading of more classics have joined together to create blog tours except in this case the author has to be dead. No doubt there will still be author interviews owing to the cleverness of book bloggers. I will not be participating in the Wilkie Collins tour but Elizabeth Gaskell will be making a visit to this blog in December as she makes her tour around the blogosphere.
In some really magnificent (for me) news, I had been planning to take a week’s vacation from work over Christmas week. We get Christmas Eve and Christmas day off as paid holidays and the same for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. I decided on Christmas week because Winter Solstice is at the beginning of the week and that is the holiday we celebrate at my house. So I was happily looking forward to a week off. Well, here comes the really fantastic part, the university president sent out an announcement late last week that everyone will be getting the entire week of New Year’s off as a paid holiday. This means that I will be having a two-week vacation to conclude 2009. Great vats of chocolate Batman! This is SWEET! I can’t remember the last time I had a two-week vacation. I will also be between quarters at library school.
Do you know what this means? Reading binge! I am already juggling books in my brain and will shortly be starting a little pile on the corner of my desk. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that I will be adding to the little pile that is already on the corner of my desk. I’ll be sure to let you know closer to the time of the reading binge what ends up in the pile.
Hurrah for your holiday! Nice to have that to look forward to. Let it snow, eh?
Wilkie Collins was quite the feminist, or at least a committed social reformer, I believe. I wish I could remember it all, but I know his family life was unconventional and he was all for changing laws on illegitimacy of children (I think he had two families himself) and the rights of married women over their property. I have a novel of his – The Law and the Lady, which features the first ever woman detective. Having got it off the shelf to look at it for you, I’m quite keen to read it now!
Oh and marvellous news about the holiday. Two whole weeks of freedom sounds like bliss!
Oh and before I forget – loved the account of the Halloween costumes! So smart!
Thanks for pointing out the Collins blog tour.
I definitely think that Collins is a feminist for his age. The Law and The Lady is nice, but there are quite a lot of justifications as to why the heroin decides to act instead of passively waiting for her fate. It was not natural at all!
Btw, hurray for the 2 weeks holidays!!
Oooh! So exciting!! What fun to have two weeks off. You will LOVE it!! We are talking about winter holidays here — I think we’ll be doing both Solstice and Christmas. I’m very curious how it will be celebrated at the UU church, we went again yesterday (All Saints (souls?) Day) and it was really lovely and accessible. Anyway — total tangent. Yay for you about the vacation! Those clever halloween costumes are hard to come up with.
Solstice bilge binge!
I love the formal apology costume idea! How very clever. I would certainly have to start now if I were to try competing with your dance class. I found Wilkie Collins many years ago and for a long time was the only one I knew who ever heard of him. It’s getting crowded now.
Those costumes sound amazing!! How fun to see them. I think I’d just accept being a non-costume, myself. But I’m not creative.
I’m reading a biography for the tour (actually haven’t started yet, oops), so looking forward to learning more about this man that you all make sound so interesting!
And how great about the vacation. Enjoy it!
Incidentally the best costume I ever saw was when our provincial wildlife veterinarian dressed up as a dissection. She had a top that looked like an opened body cavity with all the organs inside, and the organs even had the appropriate parasites (liver flukes, tapeworms, etc.). Gruesome and scientifically correct at the same time!
Yay for the reading binge opportunity! Two weeks! Sweet indeed.
Oh man, I LOVE those Halloween costumes! Clever!
Sylvia, oh yes, let it snow! It will make the book reading cozy and provide me with exercise when I go out and shovel the sidewalks. As for the dissection costume, part of me says eww and part of me says cool!
Litlove, some interesting things to know about Collins, thank you! Glad you enjoyed my notes about the Halloween costumes, it was a fun evening. And bliss is right in regards to my end of year vacation.
Smithereens, thanks for the info about Collins and the tip about The Law and the Lady.
Daphne, what are you talking about? You had one of those clever Halloween costumes! The UU church here has a big Solstice celebration and I have heard it is quite lovely. Perhaps one of these days I’ll go check it out.
Maggie, oh yes, it will be marvelous!
Grad, isn’t the apology great? You’d think as readers we wold be good at the word play like that but I draw a continual blank on stuff like that. Collins does seem to be having a bit of a resurgence, doesn’t he? At least in book blog world.
Rebecca, well, I’m hoping that if I start thinking about costumes now, I might be able to come up with an idea by next Halloween. I’m looking forward to finding out more about Collins when he makes his tour stop at your blog!
Carrie, oh yes, two-week reading binges don’t come along very often. Maybe I should start training for it?
I’m so happy you will have such a long vacation! It’s well-deserved, definitely. Have fun planning your reading! Your description of people’s costumes reminds me of why I don’t like Halloween parties — I’m so absolutely awful with costumes of any kind, and I could never be clever like those people were. I’d want to stay home, I’m afraid.
I like the “formal apology” costume. I don’t get into dressing up, but I do like the cleverness of others who can actually think of good costumes! I’ll have to check out the Classics Circuit. I’m still enjoying Wives and Daughters and will look forward to your Gaskell post. And yay for a nice long winter break! It’s not so far off is it. I’m already contemplating vacation reading as well!
I think it’d take me at least a year to come up with some clever little costume like that too!
That’s wonderful that you are getting two weeks vacation – ooh just think of all that reading time and visits to the bookstore and stuff.