Armada At My Doorstep

On my desk are many books about Spain.  There is a large book of poems by Fredric Garcia Lorca.  Perhaps like you I have always know of him but I haven’t actually spent time with his poetry.  Neither do I know his plays.  “Blood Wedding”, “Yearma” and “The House of Bernarda Alba” are also on the desk in a collection.  That great legitimizer for what might be worthy to read, the NYRB, had tagged both “The Life of Lazarillo De Dormes” written anonymously and banned during the Counter Reformation as well as “Tristana” written some three-hundred years later by Benito Pérez Galdós both call out to be read, right away.  The first time I’d gone to Spain, thirty-two years ago I read the Nobel Laureate, Camilio Jose Cela’s “The Hive” which I don’t remember well but it didn’t stop me from ordering “The Family of Pascual Duarte” and “Journey to The Alcarria” both of which look like they will be quick reads and perhaps more memorable.  Neither the “Imprudent King:  A New Life of Philip II” nor Hugh Thomas “The Spanish Civil War”, the latter demanding 943 pages of attention, will be quick.  “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho will be and I suspect “Ornament of the World:  How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain,” by Maria Rosa Menocal will be consumed at a crisp clip.   I got “The Sun Also Rises” to read with my younger daughter and am hoping I can persuade the older one give “For Whom the Bell Tolls” a try.  And out on the kitchen table are “Grape, Olive, Pig: Deep Travels Through Spain's Food Culture” by Matt Goulding, “Duende: A Journey Into the Heart of Flamenco” by Jason Webster, “Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past” by Giles Tremlett are all out on the kitchen table for the Mrs.  There are more on the way, but you get the point.  I’m preparing to go to Spain. 

I’d asked a few friends who might have had opinions.  They all said: “Cervantes” Yes.  Of course.  I read 'DQ' thirty-two years ago, and it would grand and appropriate to read it again.  I remember laughing aloud the first time.  But perhaps, evolving as one ought to do, I’ll broadcast the ebook for part of the drive through Castile-La Mancha.  My kids are OK.  The CDC seems to be OK.  The Spanish government and the United States government seem to be OK with vaccinated Americans traveling to Iberia.  My wife still isn’t sure.  But she never is, until we’re on the plane. The books help to make it real.   A fledgling approach to commitment. 

 

This will interrupt the China reading I’d finally gotten back into.  I’d finished “The flood Myths of Early China” by the Stanford professor Mark Edward Lewis yesterday and “Every Day Life in Early Imperial China” by the Cambridge prof Michael Loewe today.  Both of whom I learned about from the “Cambridge History of China” series.  This morning dug into the other work of Mark Edward Lewis I have “Sanctioned Violence in Early China” just as Amazon was depositing this Spanish armada at my doorstep.  I’ll finish the Lewis, but then I can’t wait to dig in.  My older one was saying that grad school was appealing because . . . you got to research and read all day.  Aye, that’s a very fine and illusive objective.

It is my sister’s birthday today.  She was getting a lube job when I called her but apparently, she’s off to play some tennis and then will be here not long from now.  I must go out and get a present.  The Disney princesses cap I got at Aldi shopping a few hours ago, will not suffice.  I was at Aldi’s in Kingston you see, because I was dropping the older one off at her first day at work.  She has a summer job at Target, which is good money from her perspective at $15.00 per hour.  And it works well as long as she has a driver.  Sleepy, suddenly.  I best go gift shopping before I give in to the call of the pillow.

Saturday, 07/17/21