Friday, December 15, 2006

Reading Update

In reading news, I've finally finished Marie Antoinette: The Journey. I have to admit, it kind of slowed down after the storming of the Bastille in 1789. I was going through it at a pretty good clip up to that point. Antonia Fraser is a great writer and I was really getting a much better sense of who Marie Antoinette really was. Poor Marie did not fare well in the history books (or in her own lifetime, for that matter). After 1789, the book seemed to focus much more on the politics of the Revolution and I seemed to lose a sense of who Marie really was. But it was definitely worth reading.

I've moved on to The Memoirs of Helen of Troy. Although I will finish it (because I'm compulsive and I pretty much have to finish every book I start), I will not be recommending it to anyone. It's a pretty interesting story but the writing is, well, not good. I think this book could have used a good dose of editing before printing. But I read enough Greek and Roman lit in school that at least all the characters and some of the general storyline is familiar.

I still have nearly half of Race and Reunion to finish. I really don't need to; the Civil War project I was going to work on fell through. But, as I said, it's hard not to finish books I start. And I know I'll learn something, which makes it harder to pass by. This book is fascinating; learning about the aftermath of the Civil War makes the present day problems this country still has with race a lot more understandable. But that book takes a lot of concentrating. We'll see if my desire to learn can outweigh my occasional laziness.

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