...been listening to the new Coil rather more, I think I must amend my previous statements...it is certainly among their best work. It just takes some time to fully appreciate what they have accomplished, and how they've done it. Make the time, you won't regret it.
Does anyone read anymore? Of course, anyone reading this "reads", but I mean, does anyone sit down and read real, printed books--literary endeavours--cover to cover? I've recently started on Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth", which I have been intending to pick up for nigh unto ten years or so (never let it be said that I do anything in a hurry). Wharton is best known for having written the tragic "Ethan Frome", although it is far from her best work, and to a lesser extent "The Age of Innocence", which some of you might recall having been made into a film over a decade or so ago starring Daniel Day Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer. It is a toss-up among critics whether "Innocence" or "Mirth" is her best book, but they are really not so different, as they both deal with the limitations of the highly structured, "monied" society of New York City around the turn of the century, and specifically how the artificial mores of that society affect its more free-thinking, colorful citizens. "Mirth" is very good so far, although you can see the ending a mile away. It will almost certainly depress me, but then, most things do these days.
That's the trouble with the truth--it really does hurt. All the more appalling, however, is the lie that hurts no one. After all, if we are never injured, and if we never bring harm to others, how are any of us supposed to grow?
That's quite enow "zen" talk for one day, I think. Time to stomp on a basket of puppies or something...
