I put about 5 hours into Dickens this weekend and two and a quarter more into Persuasion, fabulous film based on the Jane Austen novel of the same name. As a result, the voice inside my head has until just recently taken on a very British accent.
How lovely.
But the film was great. All the actors came off as terribly believable, which helped me believe the characters, too. (Believing in Austen's characters might be a little hard for cynical moi, otherwise.) I definitely need to delve into Jane Austen whenever I finish with Dickens.
And typing this "out loud" makes me realize anew how guilty I often feel for reading. Did I really spend seven hours reading books and watching movies this weekend, when I could have been calling people and asking for ministry support?! Yes, yes I did. Reading for pleasure can be overdone, I suppose, but I still feel defensive of the practice -- just the same way as I defended drama work at Covenant to my academic advisor. That line usually goes something like: "But I really need this outlet!"
Is it selfish or is it healthy? Or both? I'm sure nobody else ever does this kind of thing...
Posted by nickles at July 17, 2005 10:20 PM | TrackBackI never read for pleasure.... :P
Posted by: funkefreak at July 17, 2005 10:24 PMDude! I JUST posted this post! And what do you mean you never read for pleasure? Haha. The halls of academia are littered with the books you've read and digested. And you're going back for more on August 17th. Sheesh. I need to go confess my COVETOUSNESS! :)
Posted by: bob at July 17, 2005 10:27 PMI'm not sure why any hobby needs a defense, provided it isn't wrong in and of itself. You like to read? Great. Make some time to do that. Especially on Sunday. It's a day of rest, after all, and that doesn't mean simply taking a break from your job-that-pays-the-bills to do a bunch of work on other things like scrounging up ministry support, which is work any way you slice it. Take a break, dude. We all need it.
Posted by: ryan at July 18, 2005 06:41 AMI just got a box in the mail today. Contents? All the books I had had to mail back to myself from numerous Oxford used bookstore forays. Sigh. It was like Christmas.
Posted by: funkefreak at July 18, 2005 11:03 PMBTW, what (the) Dickens are you reading?
I am currently engrossed in Nicholas Nickleby.
It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.
Oscar Wilde
Jane Austen ROCKS!!!!!!!!!! :)
Posted by: KAC at July 25, 2005 01:10 PMThank you, Kim. Tell us how you really feel. :)
I'm reading Bleak House right now.
Yeah, I know about taking breaks and such. I just tend to take no breaks for awhile and then take BIG breaks, all at once. So I guess I average out nicely, I just don't hit moderation very well.
Posted by: bob at July 26, 2005 12:27 PMWho would guess a search for Jane Austen address labels would lead to a blog-read so pleasurable. No luck on the labels. Who but I would care about having the immortal Ms. Austen's silhouette gracing her bills? (For bill-writing is nearly the sum of my correspondence these days.) Only in a world with the World Wide Web would I think such a whim a remote possibility.
I *should* have been reading the classics this evening instead of surfing--I never realized how much time I have to spend in reading until I was without internet service for 6 weeks, in which time I wormed my way through several heavy tomes. Alas, serious reading & reflection are again relegated to the back burner (!) with the installation of DSL. But tonight such serendipity I've met for my squandering of time.
Posted by: rebecca at July 30, 2005 12:54 AMWho would guess a search for Jane Austen address labels would lead to a blog-read so pleasurable. No luck on the labels. Who but I would care about having the immortal Ms. Austen's silhouette gracing her bills? (For bill-writing is nearly the sum of my correspondence these days.) Only in a world with the World Wide Web would I think such a whim a remote possibility.
I *should* have been reading the classics this evening instead of surfing--I never realized how much time I have to spend in reading until I was without internet service for 6 weeks, in which time I wormed my way through several heavy tomes. Alas, serious reading & reflection are again relegated to the back burner (!) with the installation of DSL. But tonight such serendipity I've met for my squandering of time.
Posted by: rebecca at July 30, 2005 12:55 AMMy apologies...I didn't mean to litter your blog with twin posts! Is there a delete function?
Posted by: rebecca at July 30, 2005 12:57 AM