My summer library school class is drawing to an all too rapid close. Isn’t that the case when there are not one but two big assignments due? My thesaurus is moving along. It is well into the tedious stage that calls for checking and cross-checking of terms and making sure everything is formated correctly. I still have to write an explanation of how to use the thesaurus and then I have to locate five documents that could theoretically be in a topical database covered by my thesaurus and then I have to index the documents using my thesaurus. Whew.
The other project is a group photo indexing project and that is moving along quite well. I get to be the lucky one who writes the section of the report about all the things we learned from the project. Yay (she says with heavy sarcasm).
The only reading I’ve been able to do outside of school work is during my commute and work day lunch break. I’m in about the last quarter of Mansfield Park. I must say my reaction to the book this time around is much different than when I read it in college. I actually am liking it this time, not loving it, but that is a significant improvement over hating it the first time I read it.
My projects for school will all be turned in by Thursday next week and I will then be free until my fall class starts on September 20th. The weekend of September 4th is a three-day holiday weekend here and I am so very much looking forward to it. I have decided to have a completely unplugged holiday. My computer will not be turned on once during those days. I am still planning my reading and other activities, but I am very much looking forward to it. I pre-ordered Jonathan Franzen’s new book Freedom and that should be here by then. Perhaps I will read that. Or maybe it will finally be time to read Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Or maybe I will finish some of the books I am in the middle of. Or maybe something else remarkable and currently unknown to me will sweep all other books away. Just thinking about it is absolutely delicious and is the only thing sustaining me through the tedium of my thesaurus which I now need to go spend some time with.
I know that many who otherwise think highly of Austen reject Mansfield Park, but it is her best book, a preeminence obscured by the personality of Fanny Price, but she changes as the book progresses and at the end triumphs as a person of stature and integrity. Its appeal may not be immediate but it is one of life’s durable satisfactions.
It was the same for me when I read Mansfield Park the first couple of times. It has grown on me for every reading, so maybe if you give it a couple of more tries, you will end up loving it
That’s one of the things that are so amazing about books – they change every time we read them because we have changed since we last read them.
Those sound like hard, slightly tedious, slightly thankless tasks that you are having to do there, so I am very glad indeed to think you have rewards headed your way – in terms of both freedom and books to read! And very interested to know that Mansfield Park is going down better. I am definitely moving towards an Austen moment, I think.
Bob, ” Its appeal may not be immediate but it is one of life’s durable satisfactions” I like that! Fanny is a hard character but I find I am more sympathetic to her now than I was in my younger days.
Willa, I don’t know if I will ever love MP but you never know! I agree with you 100% on how amazing it is that books change over time. We never read the same book twice.
Litlove, I am finding the closer I get to graduating the more difficult it is to concentrate in the last two weeks of the quarter. I get so worn out by this point that all I can think about is having a break and recharging my batteries. I am surprised at how well MP is going down this time around. It was a little bumpy at the beginning but it has much improved. Can’t wait to see which Austen you decide to pick up!
Hmm must get my hands on Mansfield Park if what Bob says is true.
I totally agree about unplugging Stefanie. It’s very peculiar what a huge difference it makes to your quality of life. Makes you wonder what we’re all up to every day!
Hang in there with your thesaurus project, lady!
I, too, am finding myself in desperate need of some unplugging, relaxing, no-obligation time. I hope yours is glorious!
Mansfield Park is one of the few Austen books I don’t have on my shelves. I almost ordered Freedom yesterday! I got a notice from BOMC and it was in their “Coming Soon” section. I liked the cover and when I read the description, I thought it sounded interesting although I’d never heard of Franzen, although the blurb mentioned “The Corrections” which I also hadn’t heard of. But now, I think I’ll wait and see how you liked it, beause I usually like what you recommend. (Sly of me, don’t you think? You’ll be kind of like my test balloon.)
I don’t envy you the next week as you finish your projects, but I am glad to hear you already have a great weekend planned after you’re done. You’ve definitely earned a long weekend just focused on reading and other fun things! I am very much in an Austen mood right now, thanks to your posts. I have a biography all lined up but I am trying to finish my current nonfiction read first. Should I just throw all caution to the wind and start reading now?
An unplugged weekend sounds like a great idea! I hope the school projects are coming along well and that the last few days of the class go smoothly. Enjoy the fun of anticipating what you will read!