Women Talking, Working on Syllabi, and Champagne Friday-Saturday

 

“No, Ernie, says Agata, there’s no plot, we’re only women talking.”
― Miriam Toews, Women Talking

"Where's my syllabus to guide me through life?

                                Megan Mc Cafferty

"Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!"

- Dom Pérignon

I was having a hard time sleeping a few nights back.  So, I stayed up reading Women Talking.  It has been on my Kindle a long time and I started reading it a while back. I put it down partly because of difficult content, but also I was having a bit of difficulty following all the characters. I've picked it up here and there but I got hooked into it this time read it to the end and was completely blown away.  What an amazing book!   It is so well-written and well-crafted.  Anyway, with the excellence of the end in mind,  I was still not sleepy so I started reading it again.  This time around the parallels with Augustine's Confessions just hit me over the head.  August narrator.  His mother's name is Monica.  Sins of the flesh   etc.   I'm sure someone has already written that article, but it would be a good one.  

I also think it would be a fantastic book to teach in a feminism class  or a philosophy in literature class particularly at a religious school.  It would be a good way to get a lot of difficult to talk about themes on the table.  

I'm looking forward to reading Miriam Toews' other books now too.  Always fun to find a new author. 

I've been listening to  Daniel Brown's The Boys on the Boat.  Jeff and I went to see the movie a couple weeks ago. I enjoyed it as it is the type of movie I generally enjoy. However the book just blows the movie out of the water, so to speak. It is so rich in historical detail and places the story of the movie it a broader more nuanced context.  

In other news,  it is cold.  Jeff and I went to the Symphony last night for the first time since the pandemic.  We used to go regularly.  The  "Good Things Come in Threes"  trio was awesome in the Beethoven Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Cello   and the Dvorzak Symphony #7 was really great with lots of good  clarinet pieces   and the opening Grieg number.

The sunset was spectacular  yesterday as well.   

Lately, I have been feeling like we are living in a bit of a liminal space.  Some of it is just the in between time of the semester, but it is also waiting for the cold to come  and the feeling of unease about Dad's declining situation.

Though a bit of good news there.  His long term  care insurance claim was approved  so we will be getting some financial help with the home health services we have set up.  And he actually Face Timed me last night when I was out looking at the sunset.  They took him off BP meds because his BP was so low and he really seemed very with it, perky even.  He hadn't been answering his phone the last few times I called so it was nice to have a good conversation.  

Syllabus constructing is going well.  Have a bit more to do on the Plato syllabus, but the Teaching Seminar one is more or less done  except I don't have all the guest speakers lined up.