Before I Hit The Bed

I’m writing this too late at night because I realized I needed a new post. I haven’t written anything for a bit and wanted to amend that before I hit the bed.

 Thus I sacrifice coherence for a word  count.

 When I’m tired I tend to get fancier as my meaning becomes more obscure.

 I hope I can still entertain you.

Finished Hamnet today which floored me. Unfortunately. I want to just think about it a couple of days before talking more, so that messes up this post. Sometimes when a book's so good, I feel immobile and shy to describe it. Like who am I? I think I may have read one of the best books in my life, suffice to say. 

We will be circling around Hamnet for awhile and even getting to it someday.

Meanwhile, I read my first Beowulf translation by Maria Dahvana Headley and it worked. Setting it in modern day bar lingo seems like a gimmick until you start reading the thing and see what passion and beauty and excitement is put into it. She did a really nice job and it was quite an adventure with some thoughtful things to say about morality and mortality thrown into the mix.

I first learned about Beowulf in fourth-grade where I read a little excerpt and Mrs. Gilbert introduced it as the first book written in english. I’ve been wanting to read it since, so it’s cool I did. A little triumph. You got to take ‘em where they come from.

I will try to do a more involved post next time. I notice spring is here where I live, so I might go outside instead.

After a series of flash fictions, I’m writing a longer story now. Wish me luck and I will wish you luck and we can be the lucky club together.

Zzzzzzzzz.

Good night.

Blue Skies and Books

photo by Elia Clerici

Blue skies and days like spring. Great, but a little disorienting after all that winter.

 I’ve read enough of Hamnet to realize I’m going to finish it. I feel like I’m there with  Shakespeare and family and Agnes, his wife, especially. The book has this really nice flow that involves me and hypnotizes me without drawing too much writer-word attention to itself. Beautiful.

Starting No Heaven for Good Boys by Keisha Bush about badly taken care of impoverished kids in Senegal. I thought it might just be a downer, but its written in a bitter-sweet humorous sad way and my feeling towards it are more complex. Although I’d love to have billions of dollars to just swoop in and put an end to the misery of the children the books based on, I’ll probably wind up sending twenty dollars to an African charity and think I’m doing something.

Finished Later by Stephen King which I enjoyed. The other characters were more vivid then the supernatural villain who kind of seemed grafted on  and a vaguer part of the story, thus making for a weaker ending. I’d definitely recommend it, however, superb fun and the characterization was generally top-notch three-dimensional which you don’t always find in adventure stories. 

Stars, Hamnet, and Blabber

Today is the winter solace. Jupiter and some other planet are supposed to line up to form a bright star-like object that hasn’t been there since the middle ages.

 Some people think it’s connected to the star of Bethlehem.

 Astrologically it's supposed to mean something amazing and I’m getting a lot of places with links to click that say they’ll tell me what, but I’m afraid I’ll have to buy something.

 Me and Roe went for a walk. We could see the moon, but it was kind of foggy and no star stood out. Nice walk, anyway. There’s something nicely brisk about winter air and the white snow and such. The Christmas lights looked a little creepy in the darkness, though. Don’t tell anyone. I know that’s not the right attitude.

 Finished the first 2 chapters of Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell Very good. Don’t know if I’ll finish it. I’ve gotten in the habit of only reading horror stories by morons. Hamnet doesn’t fit that bill. I don’t mean everyone who writes a horror story‘s a moron, but if they are, chances I’ll be reading their work. Sad.

 Got a few new age books I’m skimming through and a book written a long time ago in France called The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic: A New Translation by Eliphas Lévi. I’d love to be a master magician (magick with a k). Don’t know if I have the discipline. Still I keep reading. You never know where something could take you.

 Maybe great places.