My Life in Spurts

I am, like so many people out there, waiting for the next/last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7). It should be delivered by Amazon on Saturday and if it arrives, I won't get to read much because my daughter has a birthday party to go to (a reptile party - how fun!). A big fear is that I won't be able to read it fast and the plot or ending will be spoiled for me.

I've only been able to do things in small spurts. This morning, I tried to do 10 minutes - yes, just 10 minutes - on the treadmill and was off and on it three times over kid issues. So reading will be slow and steady as long as I can keep myself awake at night.

I realize I can only have 1 or 2 things to focus on. If I am reading a classical book, I can't keep up with reading the bible. In my bible readings, I am now at Song of Songs and am waiting for a nice chunk of time to read all of it at once. I am nearly a year behind the schedule I set for myself but I remain optimistic. Have been trying to finish some fiction books that were partially read, like Diana Gabaldon's A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander). Next on the classical list is finishing the audio version of Beowulf: A New Verse Translation read by author/poet/translator Seamus Heaney. I listen to it on my ipod, sometimes while cooking dinner if the kids are properly entertained elsewhere.

I've also been watching the arrival of Posh & Becks. I'm a soccer fan and was glad to hear that the LA Galaxy signed David Beckham. Even before the Beckhams move was announced, I read Learning to Fly: The Autobiography: The Autobiography by Victoria Beckham, which gives an interesting view of the life of celebrities. I appreciate both of the Beckhams for their dedication to excellence in their professions and to their children. Look beyond the media frenzy and media slant: I can't believe how critical and judgmental the press can be. That's a topic for another day.

Where I started II

Back to where I started... I bought a book called The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer. I learned about this book after purchasing a book Bauer co-authored with her mother, Jessie Wise, called The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home. The Well-Trained Mind is a home school book that outlines the classical pattern of education called the trivium (more on this later). The Well-Educated Mind is for all us adults who want to have a simple plan for self-education through a sampling of classical and important books.

In Bauer's personable way, she describes how she returned back to graduate school at thirty-years-old and with four children. Yet the book she wrote is for any person who wants to learn and train their mind. As she read through her graduate course's required reading list, she says she "wrote better, thought more clearly, read more." These are the things that drew me to this book and its reading plan.

The Well-Educated Mind has reading lists divided into five sections: the novel, autobiography and memoir, history and politicians, drama, and poems. In 2004, I started the novel section with Don Quixote (Modern Library MM) by Miguel De Cervantes. I read the Modern Library edition - The Well-Educated Mind offers the best editions to use. It took me 16 months to read it, chapter by chapter with short notes after each reading, read mostly during my daughter's morning nap time. I really thought I'd never get through it but when I finished, I could hardly believe it. I read Don Quixote! It was a great accomplishment for me.

Currently, I am almost finished with the second book on the novel list - The Pilgrim's Progress (Oxford World's Classics) by John Bunyan.

I stopped reading classics from mid-2005 through 2006 for a reason I'll talk about later.