I think I'm addicted to Jane Austen

Earlier in the year, I broke down and finally read Pride and Prejudice, which I really liked. I have a rule about reading a book if possible before seeing a movie, and when I found out Emma Thompson had done the Sense and Sensibility movie, well, I had to read that one as well.

Browsing the shelves, I ran across Persuasion. By the time I finished that one, I was completely hooked. I started Emma today and have Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park on hold at the library.

I started the year off with George Eliot's Middlemarch, which took me awhile to finish, and I suspect my next foray will be into Silas Marner and The Mill on the Floss. This year's reading challenges are shot because few of these are novels I listed as intended reads, but I have greatly enjoyed all so far.

If I'm not completely burned out and needing to re-read The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit by then, I might try some Dickens. Who knows?

And have I said lately how much I love my library?

Middlemarch by George Eliot

I started this book on Jan. 4 and finished it today. It's a long book and I'm tired.

A good basic outline can be found here, so I'll save my fingers the trouble. Every page was worth reading, though, and it was every bit as satisfying as I had hoped. Oh, and don't do like I initially did and put it on your "classics by men" list. George Eliot was a woman.

Lessons from a stuffed animal

Velveteen Rabbit: "What is REAL?"

Skin Horse: "When a child loves you...REALLY loves you...then you become Real."

Velveteen Rabbit: "Does it hurt?"

Skin Horse: "Sometimes." (For he was always truthful.)

Velveteen Rabbit: "Does it happen all at once...or bit by bit?"

Skin Horse: "It takes a long time. You become. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or who have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept."

Clapton: The Autobiography

"Music will always find its way to us, with or without business, politics, religion, or any other bullsh** attached. Music survives everything, and like God, it is always present. It needs no help, and suffers no hindrance. It has always found me, and with God's blessing and permission, it always will." -- Eric Clapton

"Steve and Me" by Terri Irwin

"Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first."
-- Steve Irwin

I remember sitting up late, watching Steve Irwin's memorial service and sobbing. We enjoyed his shows when we caught them and thought he was fun, but I wouldn't say we were huge fans. What saddened me more than anything was his wife and the dry-eyed, soul-crushing grief on her face.

Their kind of relationship is one I recognize because I'm fortunate enough to have a similar one with my husband. Pragmatic and unromantic, to some people, but a merged life, the way it ought to be.

Terri Irwin's book is a matter-of-fact story of her life with The Crocodile Hunter. No self-pity, no romanticizing their life together. She leaves you in no doubt about the kind of man he was by simply documenting hundreds of events in which he proved his commitment to and love for the important things in his life. From standing down a half-dozen drunk croc killers to surfing building-high waves, from proposing to Terri ("So, do you want to get married?) to nearly mooning an American television network reporter, Steve Irwin was the man you saw on television plus some.

Nothing juicy or tell-all about this book, but a terrific tribute to a beloved naturalist and one I'd enthusiastically recommend.

The five books I'd meet in hell

Hours of my life I'll never get back, thanks to:

1. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. Assigned reading for a college lit class, this was an agony of a story frequently interrupted by pompous sermons.

2. The Lovely Bones by Alice Seabold. Nothing really is wrong with the writing, but the story is too incredibly tragic and unredeemed.

3. Little Children by Tom Perotta. Any book in which a child molester is the most likeable character is not for me.

4. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Are you kidding me? Made me want to take a shower.

5. Steps in Time: An Autobiography by Fred Astaire. This was the first indication I'd ever had that any person, much less a famous one, could truly not have an interesting story to tell.

On my bedside table

I finished Death of a Murderer a couple of days ago. It was mildly interesting and fairly well-written. It jumped around and went stagnant in a few places, so I doubt I'd recommend it.

More interesting to me is the non-fiction, almost-completed read Idoleyes, which I wanted to read because I love Mandisa's song "Only the World." Her story is more complex than fiction tends to be. She is a strong Christian who auditioned for American Idol and made it into the top 10 contestants before being voted off. Her outspoken Christianity, her weight struggles, her incredible talent and her brutal honesty about her life make this a compelling read.

And then there's Healing the New Childhood Epidemics. This book, written by Kenneth Bock, M.D., outlines Bock's "groundbreaking" program for the 4-A disorders (autism, ADHD, asthma and allergies). It's chock-full of good information for me, as the mother of asthmatic and allergic children. Bock relates all four disorders, puts forth some thoughtful theories about the alarming rise in autism cases and documents the work he has done in helping children with the 4-A disorders improve.

I blush to admit that I never have read Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. Those are next on my list from my library basket.

Music-wise, I am loving Mercy Me's Coming Up to Breathe. So many of their songs speak to me, but a couple on this album keep me hanging on most current days. I get a particular kick out of this one, as will anyone who's ever been on a deadline and gone blank.

Each year, I buy myself one or two Christmas CDs. Last year, it was James Taylor's At Christmas, which instantly became one of my favorites. I think I talked my friend Angela into buying it last night, in fact. This year, I went a little retro and picked up Christmas With the Chipmunks and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

And just for fun, I put this on my Christmas list!

The wonderful world of...William?

Shakespeare, that is.

Geddy and I got hooked on the library's copies of "Father Cadfael," which led to a discussion about his favorite actor, Derek Jacobi.

Jacobi begot Kenneth Branagh. (Well, not literally, unless ol' Derek's got something he needs to tell his longtime male partner.)

Branagh reminded us of "Tales from Shakespeare" by William and Mary Lamb, a copy of which already was resting gently on our shelves.

Lamb begot a crate full of library books on and by Shakespeare, and both Jacobi's and Branagh's versions of "Hamlet" on hold.

Oddly enough, the children went with it. After seeing the art in a picture book of Shakespeare's poetry called "Under the Greenwood Tree: Shakespeare for Young People," they started asking questions, which begot Geddy reading Hamlet's soliloquy from said book.

Which begot a lunchtime reading of the story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark from the Lamb book.

After several peripheral readings of the Weird Sisters' chant from "Macbeth," Curly Sue has been using her creepiest voice to repeat the first few lines as often as possible, so Moe likely won't sleep tonight. Which will beget my reading of some of the comedies.

And if you want to see something terrific without having to pay $35 for the DVD, you can check out Jacobi's soliloquy on YouTube.

"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind..."

"If I Am Missing or Dead" by Janine Latus

Please read this book.

I understood it to be a woman's account of her sister's murder. In truth, the murder is a very small part of the book. What's fascinating and terrible is Janine's long, long road from abusive encounters to abusive relationships to an abusive marriage and its ending just as her sister Amy, trying to ignore her own mistreatment and bad judgment, loses her life.

One reviewer described this book as "unsentimental." It's because of that detachment that the book is one of the most important I've read. You will see yourself in this book, in black or white or a shade of gray. You need to see yourself in this book.