One thing that I noticed was lacking in my life in Ireland was reading, well reading outside of the art history world. Since my time over here I have only recreationally read two books
: The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins and
Animal Vegetable Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver. I did start reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, but got a bit bored with it.
So as a break from my classes and the overload of essays that I had been working on I decided to pick up on my personal reading. Between trips for my archaeology class exploring sites of West Cork, my up coming trip to Florence, and my few nights out a week, I need something to feel my time at night that is free.
My first book of choice, well more short story really was George Orwell's Animal Farm. This was my first time reading the story, and I loved is. I do admit that Napoleon scared me, but Orwell presents this political fable that is very much relevant today. My favorite character in it is Squealer I do have to say. Just the description of his skipping back and forth and swishing his tail when he argued automatically got me imagining a pig actually doing this. Animal Farm is a good quick read and I suggest it to those who've never gotten the chance to read it.
I am now moving on to Pudd'nhead Wilson. My dad has always claimed that it is not only one of his favorite works by Mark Twain but one of his all time favorite books. I remember trying to read it once when I was younger, but I don't think I fully appreciated books that didn't involve some type of fantasy. Now I am older and my taste in books have greatly changed so I'm giving Puddn'head another chance.
This weekend for the Super Bowl I'll be watching it at Captain America's, looking forward to that. Who'd of thought I'd be staying up all night just to watch the super bowl? Cork is just grand; it rained quite hard today, but I invested in a 6 euro Penney's umbrella and it kept me much more dry than my old 4 euro Penney's umbrella.
