finally done!

10 weeks, $1.75 in fines, and a marathon reading section in the downtown library last night and I have finally finished Nicholas Nickleby...whew. It wraps up rather too neatly, but it had already gone on for almost 800 pages.  Nicholas goes on a rant at a farewell dinner for the Crummleses about the "playwrights" that take the writings of other authors, change a few details, perhaps write a new ending (or an actual ending if the novel was serialized) and claim it as their own.  It's funny because that was actually happening with this novel as it was being written, also I think I heard it was one of the reasons why Cervantes finally penned the second half of Don Quixote, there were so many other versions out there that he wanted to set the record straight. The other thing that stood out for me with this novel was how well Dickens understood human motivation and emotional depth.  He was 26 when he began writing this novel, it was his third. (I just read that, earlier I had read it was his second.  He published  The Pickwick Papers between 1836-7 and according to this source http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/#, must have written Oliver Twist  (1837-9) and Nicholas Nickleby (1838-39) somewhat concurrently.) He had had to drop out of school on two separate occaisions, the first when he was 12 and his father ended up in a debtor's prison and then again at age 15, for good.  He was remarkably driven and ambitious.  I realize now that his writing was much more prolific that when I first thought when I took on this challenge, much of it quite hefty in length.  I had been planning on reading The Pickwick Papers  next, however when I ran up to the Dickens shelves and grabbed it, I was thrown off by the thickness of it (around 600 pages) so I grabbed the thinnest one I could find, which happened to be Hard Times which was his tenth novel, not counting the Christmas books.  But that will have to wait, Riding with Reindeer is due tomorrow with 8 holds on it, so I can't renew it, and I've racked up enough fines...but I'm more than half-way thru.

Less than Zero

For some reason, had the inkling to watch this. I wouldn't watch it again, but I didn't hate it. A bunch of contemptible people, far too young to be that messed up, Robert Downey, Jr. is good, though pathetic, and the only other good thing I can say about it is that the Bangles' version of Hazy Shade of Winter is one of my favorite covers.  The whole time I was watching it, I kept thinking about someone I used to know, it made me a little sad, but also want to distance myself even more.  How does one fall so far down the rabbit hole?  Did his family fail him? What else could they have done?  I'm admittedly a fan of the "Hollywood" ending, I want to escape reality, we are bombarded daily with "news" of unhappy endings.  Still, I didn't hate it, wouldn't see it again, but it didn't make me want to scrub out my soul like "Leaving Las Vegas" did, which for the record is probably my least favorite movie of all time.  Such a sordid world, and such a waste.  I suppose it could be shown as anti-drug propoganda, all the people standing listless and numb in the clubs.  The glittery, sterile world of the wealthy in LA in the 80's. Ugh.

At any rate, got next to no reading done over the weekend. Just read a chapter on the bus this morning where a man who has dug himself so far into debt with the userers Ralph Nickleby and Arthur Gride, that they have descended upon him in an effort to have him "sell" off his daughter to the aged Gride.  So far he hasn't taken the bait, but I imagine he will in his selfish weak-mindedness.  The daughter would be Madeline Bray, the woman that Nicholas imagines himself to be in love with from sight alone.  The ulterior motive for Gride, would be that the elder Bray is close to death and Madeline stands to inherit some property.

don't think I will finish book by due date

And I will say that it's the worst first date ever, and is "prom" some sorta' code word? And does Andie really like Blane, or does she just want a prom date? Also, they are both socially inept, and we probably all were too, in high school, perhaps we still are. "We can go out with your friends.  We can crawl under a rock."  What??! Still, I like the movie.  I think I like the awkwardness of the "popular" kid, you don't get to see that much, the popular kids are often one-dimensional in teen movies, because, since most of us weren't popular, it's the underdog we are supposed to identify with, root for. Which would be why Duckie was written as the original "winner", if you will.  And he's honest (or trying to be, again, in an awkward way) and devoted, and damn, Jon Cryer just nails it...how amazing to be that good, and how difficult to live it down or follow it up.  And how lucky to have that good of material and direction and have right instinct.  Wow.

Sat in a southern Indian joint on the Ave and read for almost two hours, then walked home because it was getting dark, still, barely on page 500.  Smike has been apprehended by Squeers and set free by a fortunate encounter with John Browdie, and made his way back to London, to Noggs and then to the Nickleby's, who have fallen on good fortune for once.  I did skip ahead, I know that he dies, but I don't know why, and I know Ralph dies as well, but I've still got almost 300 pages (and here I am in the middle of watching Pretty in Pink for the millionth time.)  Turns out that the book is due on Friday, though my library branch is closed that day, due to budget constraints.  This is 300 pages of a very small typeface I still have to read, skipping ahead still left me in the dark.  Now, of course, I'm involved in the story, so I'd like to finish. I'll probably turn it in late and pay the fine ($.25/day.)  Pickwick Papers next?  I suppose it should be, it was the first one he wrote...perhaps I'll see how thick it is.  And it's late.