On Being Ill and Doodling

I thought I'd read Virginia Woolf's On Being Ill over breakfast this morning, but I only made it through Hermoine Lee's 32-page introduction (I skipped the two pages of endnotes) before work beckoned. I'm eager to read it but bet I won't be able to claim as much insight as Ms. Lee, or an English lit student. I'm not exactly a deep diver when it comes to themes and answering questions like, But what did the author REALLLLLLY mean when she wrote...?" Ah, you know, I managed to imagine enough to get by in Honors English for a couple of years, but I agree with what a smart man once said: sometimes a pickle is just a pickle.

Speaking of pickles, I'm still in one trying to read Team of Rivals. Yes, I've been fascinated by a few things I didn't learn in history class, but golly. That's a long book with a lot of words in little print. A few pictures might prod me along...

And speaking of pictures (no, I couldn't think of another transition that time) I haven't read a graphic novel yet, but I've been easing into it with some cute middle-grade titles, first-person diary formats with doodles presumably included by the main character.

Are you reading my diary?

I LOVED the first of Dian Curtis Regan's Kaley books, The World According to Kaley, and just picked up the very similar Ellie McDoodle - Have Pen, Will Travel by Ruth McNally Barshaw. IMHO, Ellie isn't as smart or funny as Kaley, and I think even Kaley's sequel, CyberPals was better than the newer Ellie McDoodle title - still, it's bound to appeal to young girls. Ellie's travels with her not-exactly-favorite relatives (Aunt Ug, cousin Er-ick, and family) have just enough of a bite to elicit a few mean laughs, but because Ellie isn't mean, readers will like her. I'm not quite done, but I don't think there's a tear-jerker of a scene coming soon, like the one in Paula Danzinger's United Tates of America, another MG I enjoyed.

Now, if the work fairy would just show up and finish my newsletter, folks, I'd read all day, but she's nowhere to be found. So, it's time to shove the bookmark between the pages and get back to less enjoyable stuff. Read on!