Distraction Infraction!

The past week has been a whirlwind of inactivity. I've been making something of a break in terms of the serious reading, and turned towards some straight up fun reading, in the form of Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer, which I've read once before. The initial reading was shrouded in booze and sun (the first cruise in the Caribbean with my family coincided with my starting and finishing. If you haven't been on a cruise, my first experience led me to believe that only three activities occurred on these floating Disney Worlds: eating, drinking, and gambling. On a week long cruise, I spent quite a few nights staking out a solitary spot on the deck with a gin and tonic while reading). This time around, there's less booze. Also, less sun. And 100% more snow.

It's resinous stuff. And as I fade into the words, I definitely recall bits and pieces from the last read. The introduction says that you can pick up a Miller book, flip to any page and start reading passages at random and still get the experience. As I've tracked through linearly, I can see that being true. And in reading it, I think I need to get a bit more Miller for later. A trip to the Half-Price Bookstore is forthcoming.

I looked back at the dates, and it seems that Miller came to Paris just as Hemingway was headed back stateside. Two views of Paris. It seems so much dirtier with Miller. Both seem to love it though. Hemingway's just seems a bit more idealized. Hemingway was 8 years younger then Miller. He was there from the age of 21 through 28 (1921-1928). Miller was there from 36-48(1928-1940). I suddenly have an interest in knowing if they had any interactions (face to face or otherwise) .

I should be getting back into the swing of things this week. I want to knock out a few chapters in the Theories of Personality book I have. It'd also be nice to start on another Chomsky essay (linguistics). And I should be getting the Douglas Hofstadter books I ordered.