The Unbosomings of an Ugly Duckling...

by jesriel

Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife by Francine Prose (I’m about halfway through Anne Frank’s Diary in Spanish, to improve my Spanish literacy. Although I had the vague idea that the best-known version had been heavily edited, I never really knew which version I was reading. It turns out I read (and re-read) the first printing; this Spanish version is the second version, still edited, but much more complete. I kept coming across scenes that I didn’t recognize and so I began the Francine Prose to unmuddle my reading. It worked. Her book works best when analyzing the writing (especially comparing Anne’s own edits to her father, Otto’s) and the reasons for the book’s appeal; here she’s both convincing and thought-provoking. The last chapter feels like padding (what do I care for the responses of her undergrad students?) and my other irritation is with the publishing industry… why must they release books in cheap hardcovers at all? Either release them in paperback straight away (which is what they should have done with this one; it’s about the size of a Master’s thesis) or make beautiful, sturdy, sewn (not glued) hardcovers, like the old Modern Library or Viking Portables. Grrrr! In any case, I’m halfway through Anne’s Diary itself and it’s excellent, even better than I was able to appreciate as a ‘yute’. Also, the Spanish translation is better than the 1950′s translation I”ve read in the past, which occasionally veers into Gee Whiz territory.)

How is it that I have enough junk to make a trip to the Salvation Army every three months? Went again today and still see things that need to go. Some of my green changes will have to wait until we move out (I don’t want to subject Saleh to them), like the phasing out of paper towels or drying clothes on a rack in the bathtub rather than in the dryer. But we’ve cut down both our trash and our recycling by about half in just a few weeks!

I do not like it when I see people wearing headphones while walking their dogs (or their children, for that matter, although you see it less often). Now, I love my headphones as much as the next girl and I absolutely value my time with my ipod, But! That is a disrespectful thing to do.

This weekend, Michael and I are going to Boston. I will show him everything good, we will meet young Master Watson and I will have dinner with Courtney and Josie. In spite of the predicted rain, I imagine Epic Win posts will be forthcoming.

And, on an unrelated note, we watched ‘Touch of Evil’ a few days ago. Even if it had not been very good (which it was… weird and trippy and original), if would have been absolutely worthwhile for Marlene Dietrich as a Mexican, Gypsy, Fortune-Telling Saloon Keeper (or even as any one of those things!). “Vat does it mattuh vot you say about peepil?” is battling against “You should lay off ze candy bars” for Best Life Philosophy in a Movie Where Charlton Heston Plays a Mustachioed Mexican. “Brief Encounter’, on the other hand, was disappointing, although Stanley Holloway is always welcome. Overly genteelly tortured (and adverbed… Sorry!) Britons keeping stiff upper lips.