Seven Pleasures by William Spiegelman

William Spiegelman, a professor of English at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, has written a collection of essays, Seven Pleasures, about everyday things that make him happy: reading, walking, looking (at art), dancing, listening (to music), swimming, and writing. Each essay is a light, personal meditation on one of these activities. The essays are engaging and enjoyable to read, but ephemeral and soon forgotten.

I am glad I read this book, though not for the Spiegelman's essays themselves. More intriguing is this idea of ordinary activities that can bring one pleasure. Reading Seven Pleasures made me wonder what ordinary activities I would class as bringing me joy. Like Spiegelman, I too enjoy reading, looking at art, listening to music, and writing, but are there any other activities?

I couldn't think of many beyond those I share with Spiegelman. Just hanging out with my eight year old son can bring me real joy. I love tea and drinking a cup good Chinese black tea is a very ordinary happiness I enjoy every morning. But truly, reading is the ordinary happiness that I come back to over and over.

What about you? What are the ordinary everyday things that make you happy?

3.00/5

Read for:

• Numbers Challenge


• GLBT Challenge - because Spiegelman happens to be gay, although he only mentions it in passing and it doesn't really have anything to do with his essays.

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are separated by a disastrous shipwreck. Viola, believing her brother dead, finds her way to the court of Duke Orsino in Illyria. There, dressed as a man, she becomes the confidant of the Duke under the name Cesario. Orsino is madly in love with Olivia, a wealthy countess. The duke sends Viola to woo Olivia in his name, but Olivia falls in love with Viola and Viola falls in love with the Duke.

While all the wooing and falling in love is happening, Sir Toby Belch, kinsman to Olivia, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a friend of Sir Toby's and suitor to Olivia, pull a practical joke on Olivia's steward, Malvolio. Maria, Olivia's lady in waiting, forges a letter that she drops where Malvolio will find it. The forged letter convinces the steward that Olivia is in love with him. It instructs him to dress and act in a way guaranteed to annoy the Duchess. Upon doing so, Malvolio is thought to be mad and finds himself confined to the cellar.

Sebastian, rescued by the sea captain Antonio, now arrives in Illyria. Antonio gives Sebastian his purse to use while sightseeing. Antonio cannot go with Sebastian because he is a wanted man in Illyria, and so leaves to find lodging. Meanwhile, Sir Toby decides to prank Sir Andrew, convincing him to challenge Viola/Cesario to a duel over Olivia. Sir Toby conspires to convince both would be combatants that a duel is unavoidable. When the fracas begins, Antonio stumbles in and intervenes, mistaking Viola for Sebastian. Antonio is promptly arrested. He asks Viola for his purse, hoping to pay his way out of his legal troubles, but she of course knows nothing about it. Antonio curses the confused Viola.

Sebastian, while wandering about the city, encounters Olivia. The countess takes him for Viola and bundles him off to the church where they are married in secret. Later, Orsino visits the Countess. When he once again proclaims his love, Olivia reveals the secret marriage to Sebastian. But it Viola in attendance, not Sebastian. Viola denies the marriage, but the priest is called in to verify it. Orsino curses Viola as a betrayer and Viola is finally forced to reveal the truth that she is a woman. Orsino falls in love with Viola. Sebastian returns to the court and is reunited with his sister. Malvolio is freed from the cellar. Everyone agrees that his was badly used, but Malvolio remains angry and stalks off at the end of the play.

I rather enjoyed this play. It is certainly not on the level of Hamlet or King Lear, but it was a delight to read. I would recommend it if you have already read Shakespeare's great plays already, but this is not where I would recommend the new reader of Shakespeare begin.

4.00/5

Read for:

• Much Ado About Shakespeare Challenge - an extra because it's Shakespeare and he is that good.


• Numbers Challenge


• GLBT Challenge - because of Viola's cross-dressing and Antonio's professions of love for Sebastian along with what he says about his time with Sebastian: ... and for three months before, / No interim, not a minute's vacancy, / Both day and night did we keep company.

36 Arguments for the Existence of God by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's newest novel, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God, is about a professor Cass Seltzer. Cass is a professor of psychology and his field of academic study is the psychology of religion. Cass has written a book, "The Varieties of Religious Illusion", that discusses the novel's eponymous 36 arguments. The book, a best seller, has propelled Cass to fortune and fame. If academic success weren't enough, Cass has garnered the affections of a beautiful mathematician, Lucinda Mandelbaum. Cass, in the midst of this extraordinary luck, feels as though he has been mistakenly given someone else's life.

The novel alternates between Cass' famed present and his past. We learn about his ex-wife, Pascale; his ex-girlfriend, Roz; and his ex-mentor, Professor Klapper; as well as his relationship to Lucinda. Goldstein does a fantastic job of moving events in the past and present forward toward toward a climax. Will things work out with Lucinda? What about Roz, who, retired from an academic career as an anthropologist, has resurfaced in Cass' life? What about Azarya, a child prodigy who must choose between his phenomenal mathematical gift and his duty as the next Rebbe to the Waldeners?

I loved this book. It is everything a novel is supposed to be, an engaging narrative about human life and relationships. It is full of memorable characters: Professor Klapper, Azarya, Pascale, Roz, and Lucinda. The characters are so wonderfully developed I found myself rooting for a particular outcome. I cannot recommend you read this novel enough.

4.95/5

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

A Thousand Acres epitomized for me what the Reading Challenges are all about because it is a book that, but for the challenge, I would not have read. It struck me as much more Women's Literature than I would normally enjoy.

A Thousand Acres is a retelling of William Shakespeare's King Lear. In Iowa of the 1970s, Larry Cook decides to split his farm, all 1000 acres, among his three daughters. The youngest daughter, Caroline, is not interested so the farm is split among the remaining two, Rose and Ginny. But the family is soon torn apart by both new and old wounds.

Jane Smiley is a wonderful writer. She did a fantastic job of describing both the land and farm life. The book deserves its Pulitzer Prize. However, I did not find the book itself to my taste. I did like that in Smiley's retelling of King Lear the two older daughters are not villains but victims, a change that added nuance and ambiguity to the story. Be warned though, a monster lurks in the pages of the book; a monster that made reading many parts of the book an uncomfortable experience.

3.75/5

Yet Another Challenge

Despite already participating in a number (get it) of challenges this, I could not resist doing the Numbers Challenge again this year. Especially since I have already read a book with a number in it, Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres. I hope to go for the brass ring and read five books with numbers in it. My tentative list is:

1. A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley


2. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare


3. Seven Pleasures: Essays on Ordinary Happiness by Wilard Spiegelman


4. 2666 by Roberto Bolaño


5. Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

Alternates include:

• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens


• Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado