Rob Baker > Recent Status Updates

"Once can begin so many things with a new person!--even begin to be a better man" (117)

Ah, Dorothea..so tragically idealistic...

"There would be nothing trival about our lives. Everyday things with us would mean the greatest things. It would be like marrying Pascal. I should learn to see the truth by the same light as great men have it by. And then I should know what to do, when I got older" (25).

"And certainly, the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it" (68).

"It is painful to me to see these creatures that are bred merely as pets," said Dorotea, whose opinion was forming itself that very moment (as opinions will) under the heat of irritation" (26).

Two-word phrase that shows up on p. 25 that sums up Dorothea in a nutshell:

Soul-hunger

What an amazing prelude! Worth reading and re-reading, both for contents and writing style:

"Here and there is born a Saint Theresa, foundress of nothing, whose loving heart-beats and sobs after unattained goodness tremble off and are dispersed among hindrences, instead of centering in some long-recognisable deed" (2).

Excited to read this for the fourth time, this time for my book club.

I first read it in my 20s and was bowled over by it. Read it again in my 30s, then in my 40s. Now I'm 65. I'll be interested to see what I think now. Amazing how little I remember of it :)

As a retired English teacher and past owner of a used bookstore, people often ask me what my favorite book is. My answer: "Middlemarch".

Picked this up in Books, Etc., in downtown Ruidoso, NM

I love visiting local bookstores while on the road and finding books by local authors..

Double fun to read because there’s a lot of local references that I understand now which I wouldn’t have two days ago .

So far a fun group of characters and an interesting mystery developing ….

Interesting and rather graphic addition to vampire lore in terms of what they are capable of romantically speaking...

So a vampire walks into a bar and orders a bottle of synthetic blood...not as satisfying as the real thing but it should tide him over...

A little light Halloween reading :)

"He liked the idea of television--the way it promised people an escape from daily life. That's why he'd chosen it--because who didn't want to escape? He did.

"But as the years wore on, he began to feel like he was the prisoner permanently assigned to digging the escape tunne. A the end of the day, as the other prisoners scrambled over him to freedom, he stayed behind with the spoon" (182).

"....wasn't that the every definition of life? Constant adaptations brought about by a series of never-ending mistakes?" (169).

"When Calvin claimed he held no grudges and hated no one, he only meant it in a way that some people say they forget to eat. Meaning he was lying" (82).

"It's not to say they were incurious of each other's roots. Who didn't want to dip into the deep end of someone else's childhood and meet all the usual suspects--the strict parent, the competitive siblings, the crazy aunt? Not them.

Thus the topic of family was like a cordoned-off room on a historic home tour" (33).

I love a pithy poem.....


A Cedary Fragrance
Jane Hirshfield

Even now
decades after,
I wash my face with cold water--

Not for discipline,
nor memory,
nor the icy awakening slap,

but to practice
choosing
to make the unwanted wanted