It's not that I've been BUSY...

It's just that I moved (meaning packing, loading, unloading, unpacking) and then school started. Also, who doesn't have towel racks, nary a one, in a house? So husband has been installing towel racks while I look on approvingly. Also we had a gate built, which involved no actual work on my part, but also some approving-looking, and some fetching of ice water, which really was the least I could do. Also, moving, it turns out, requires that one download all kinds of owner's manuals for things one is now the owner of and has not previously seen before, that is, an air conditioner and a sprinkler system.
While we are on the topic of stupid things the previous owners did (that was the topic, right?), who sets the sprinkler system for half-an-hour per day? Every bloody day? People who like to water their grass, I'm supposing. I read the owner's manual, but it didn't take (because I don't understand why one would need three different watering plans for four stations, see, it's like algebra!!), so I'm going to let Husband field that one, along with installing just one or two more towel racks.
I think, perhaps, there are some boxes I have not yet peered into, because their depths hold those items I have deemed not necessary to my daily survival, yet. But soon the day will come when I actually need a sweater, and then I'll have to go looking for it (the way I was looking for blankets last night at 11 pm).
Did I mention my new house is awesome and has a kitchen that I could twirl in? Well, I could. It also has windows and a cute little table. I already made bread, for god's sake, but mostly that was because I had some blueberries that were just about to go bad.

10 Canonical Novels I Love

1. Jane Eyre: love it! I spent about half (okay, maybe I exaggerate) of my oral exams discussing this. Why? Unknown. But I did. I've read it maybe 3 times. Never tire of it. My favorite part may be the crazy lady in the attic. I identify with her. And with Jane.
2. All Jane Austen: Never met a Jane Austen novel I didn't like. I've read all except: Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey.
3. House of Mirth: I think this was my favorite of the novels I read for my exams. Since then I've vowed to read more Wharton. And have I? No, I have not. Hey, give me a break. It's only been 5 years!
4. Mrs. Dalloway: I love this novel. It is my favorite Woolf. Why? It's lyrical without being choppy. I much prefer this to The Waves, for example. (But, like hightouch, I have not read To The Lighthouse). I often use excerpts from this novel for my students to imitate.
5. The Awakening: Love it! I know, she kills herself in the end, but there are many descriptions of interior space and she moves from a house to an apartment. Plus many good details (especially the last two paragraphs).
6. Our Mutual Friend: I actually really liked this despite the fact that it is so long. It also has lots of interior space issues. One thing I didn't like is all the minor characters who never recur. I was left wondering, well, what happened to them?
7. Lolita: I once had a long fight with some friends of friends about authorial responsibility for writing novels about pedophilia. But I hadn't read Lolita when I had this discussion. I like to do that. But now I have read it, and I'm not sure how I feel about authorial responsibility, but I do know that Nabakov is a master. In his second language. Damn him!
8. Beloved: I reread this for my exams and I have to say I didn't love it so much the second time, but I still like it. And I love the structure, so I'll keep it on my list.
9. Tristam Shandy: I liked this book, but I liked the movie even more. I know the movie isn't in the canon, but still.
   
10. Wieland: This is a shocker, I know, but I really liked this. I wrote a pretty good paper on this that my professor liked. My thesis was: She must be unhoused! (Sorry, I can't remember her name!). As you can see, many of these novels concern houses or interior space. It's my obsession. Deal with it.