A week gone by

Started on the Evangeline Walton welsh stories. Now that I've seen them I'm not sure why they were published separately, they're none too long. All four together might make a hefty tome, and fit right in with such things as The Once and Future King and the single volume versions of the Lord of the Rings.

Otherwise I've been trying to catch up on my New Yorkers. About four weeks behind right now. The advantage to that is that when I finish one and start the next I understand the letters to the editor much better than if it had been a week since I read the magazine.

Lanternguy is still studying his American Clocks and Clockmakers. The Seth Thomas Ogee clock is back from the repairman and seems to have sufficient internal evidence to support a circa 1850 date. Previous repair dates of 1909 and 1940 were noted inside the case.

Son and heir has started a blog for his new puppy at Xanga.com/Gryff. Such a cutie!

Eudora Welty

Quick read last night, The Optimist's Daughter. Welty shares that evocative texture of writing with Faulkner and Wolfe, but seems more concise and spare in her treatment. I have a volume of her collected stories on the to-be-read pile.

Finished the Wheels of Commerce, now the decision is whether to start volume three or polish off some lighter reading. Three may actually be the most approachable since it is the survey of world history--which reminds me of such favorites as H.G. Wells Outline of History and the works of Hendrik van Loon.

Son and heir bought a corgi last week and is considering names. In research on Welsh names I discovered that there is a four volume set by Evangeline Walton based on The Mabinogen Cycle.

Thackery wrap up

Finished the Hoggarty Diamond. A cautionary tale, warning against the evils of depending on speculation and the expectations of inheritance to make your fortune. Angelic love interest and sickly infant who dies promptly.

I've also discovered that Stewart Edward White, whom I've always thought of as a writer of western and outdoor themes, has a vein of books dealing with spiritualism. Just thought that was interesting.

Picked up a group of Misty of Chincoteague books from Wilson Book Research. Brings back fond memories of all the Marguerite Henry books I read. I never did get my son interested in those. As a matter of fact the other evening we were looking for his Lloyd Alexander books and ran across a set of the Mary O'Hara Flicka books and his only comment was that they were depressing. We never did find the Chronicles of Prydain we were looking for, I wonder where I've filed them?

Thackery

Finished Barry Lyndon and since The Great Hoggarty Diamond was in the same volume I've moved on to it. When you haven't read them for a while it's easy to forget how much fun the stories the victorian novelists like Dickens and Thackery were.

Still working on the Braudel as well, but haven't spent too much time there this week. Just getting through the New Yorker is a challenge most weeks, and I think I have about three issues backed up there. I also picked up some Booth Tarkington titles on Ebay lately that I wanted to read before I put them into inventory.

Lanternguy is looking through a history of American clockmakers that I picked up in a box of books at a local auction. He took an ogee shelf clock to a local repairman who told him it was a Gilbert Thomas clock, but we can't seem to find that name listed anywhere. He's not given as one of the Seth Thomas sons, and there is another Gilbert clock company.

Moving On

Finished P.J. and I think that about all that can be said is that he grew up, got a job, gained weight, fathered children and morphed into a republican.

There was a copy of Betty McDonald's The Egg and I in a box of books I was working through this past weekend. It's supposed to be a humorous look at egg ranching in Washington State, but scenarios of wifey washing dishes while hubby sits backs and smokes after both have spent the entire day building/plowing/whatever-farm-work make me wonder why she stayed.

I need to get back to the Alexander Hamilton bio I was working on, but I'm not sure where I left it. Somewhere in the office I think. Slogging through explanations of the development of the American financial systems is not quite what I expected, I thought he was supposed to have had an interesting personal life. You don't get shot at dawn at Weehawken by Burr for messing with the currency systems. Do you?

P.J. and the old Car & Driver

Yesterday I overlooked the fact that I'm about halfway through Age and Guile beat Youth, Innocence and a Bad Haircut by P.J. O'Rourke.

I became a fan of P.J.'s years ago when he wrote for Car & Driver under the editorship of David E. Davis. At that time there was a group of fine writers contributing regularly, many of whom moved to Automobile with Davis. The next time I noticed P.J. he had made the switch to Republican conservative, but still wrote with wit and style. So, even though I don't agree with his politics, I enjoy reading his work. I'm hoping somewhere in this book I'll find out what turned him to the dark side.

Starting Out

Right now I'm working through Braudel's Wheels of Commerce, interesting but dry.

For recreational reading I have the Library of America edition of Edith Wharton's Short Stories.

I'm thinking of looking around to see if I have a copy of Thackery's Barry Lyndon somewhere. It was featured last week on the Page a Day calendar and sounded as if it might be a fun read.

The Lantern Guy is reading another one of his Louis L'Amour books, again.