Yes, I know it's February...my three year old daughter reminded me first thing this morning that we needed to change the calendar page. She's been learning the months of the year and finds the whole concept fascinating. Not to mention that she got to choose our kitchen calendar this year; we will have 12 full months of chocolate labrador retriever pictures as a result! :-)
I didn't get a chance to post yesterday. But I've decided that somewhere near the end of each month I want to post a kind of "odds n' ends" batch of notes on things I've been reading that somehow didn't make it into any other reflection. I also hereby give myself permission to throw in other things that strike my fancy -- movies I've seen, inspiring quotes, songs or poems that have been stuck in my head. Hey, it's my journal so I get to make the rules!
During family reading this month we've been reading Prince Caspian. We read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe during December, mostly during our Christmas travels in the car. I had hesitated briefly over whether to start these books with Sarah so young, but she's already listened to a lot of things way past her "age range" and Dana and I really felt like doing a re-read of the Chronicles, with all the hoopla surrounding the movie release. I probably read them every four or five years anyway, at least.
Our family reading time is very relaxed. We don't have a set time, or a regular place, or even try to do it every day -- in fact, sometimes a whole week can go by without us reading anything all together except our morning/evening prayers and Bible stories. Oh and we usually do one bedtime story all together too, assuming D. doesn't have evening meetings or work. We tend to do most of our family reading in the car or sometimes at dinner. I think S. has liked PC mostly because it has the name "Trumpkin" in it so often, though she's been a bit confused that he's not a bear. Her beloved brown bear is Trumpkin -- it's how she's always known the name. She didn't know that her Mommy named that bear (in college...he was my going away from home present from my Dad) after a dwarf in a beloved book. Of course, I didn't know then that one day my fuzzy friend would come out of retirement to become the favorite animal of my daughter!
I'd forgotten how much I like PC, especially the characters of Trumpkin and Caspian, and the whole "return to Narnia" theme. Not much happens in the book in some ways, and yet there are a lot of scenes in it I love. I especially like the whole "following Aslan" section in the middle, when the Great Lion reveals himself to the children and Trumpkin, but one at a time, and basically in the order of their willingness and openness to seeing him and following him. It's so telling that Lucy sees him first. And then there's that wonderful moment when she tells Aslan he's gotten bigger, and he explains to her that it's because she's gotten older -- so she can see more of him.
Lucy's a marvelously drawn character, here and elsewhere. One day I will have to make a list of my favorite heriones in fiction. Lucy is definitely on that list!
In the reading as total fluff category, in January I also read the Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries. I got this through inter-library loan and was very pleased with it, though a bit disappointed that Emma Thompson (who screenwrote the wonderful movie and starred as Elinor Dashwood) didn't spend more time in the diaries section actually detailing her creative process in adapting/updating the Jane Austen story for a modern audience. Instead it's mostly notes from the set, but they're so funny and droll I didn't mind too much that it wasn't all I'd hoped for. I actually dug out the movie again (we got a VHS copy last fall for something like $2!) and followed along watching it while I read the screenplay. Didn't quite get through the whole film this way yet, but hope to -- it's really interesting seeing how actors interpret the directions in the screenplay, not to mention to note scenes they've cut. I was surprised they cut a kiss between Elinor and Edward...perhaps they felt it was just too "lover-ly" for Austen. She was always so reserved in the way she wrote those tender, romantic moments.
I read almost no poetry in January. Must makes amends in February. February is a month that cries out for lots of poetry! I have read some poems from the fall 2005 issue of The Penwood Review, which I'm published in. (But there's a typo in my poem, which sort of makes me want to bang my head against the wall...it feels like such a long road to get anything published, so to see the final result with a typo is a bit maddening. Ah well. Patience. I am learning patience.) I may post some thoughts about one or two of the poems in that issue later as there are some beautiful ones.
Most interesting video I've seen this month (and I didn't see many): Bride and Prejudice. It's a "Bollywood musical" of the Jane Austen classic, and I thought it rip-roaringly exuberant and fun. Very bold retelling, though not without its flaws.
Song I've listened to a lot this month -- Derrick Harris' Cup of Life. More on that and perhaps a few other odds n' ends later. It's nearing midnight and I'm fading.
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