It's a book, man

Monday, December 30, 2024, not going to go anywhere today, at least not planning to, because it's cloudy and chilly and I have a bad cough. No sore throat, just a thick, loose cough, which is a good thing, and about six Emergen-Cs left. When and if I run out of them pretty soon, I will need to go to the store. Oops, just discovered a certain book is at the library, only one copy. I better go down there. I'm not going to tell you which book. I wasn't going to go out, but a book foiled my plans. I'm thinking I need to take care of myself, but it's a book, man. It's not life or death, I have plenty of other books and I'm still reading one now that I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. this morning to see if the person survived the procedure. I skimmed a lot too. Why do books do that? Keep you on pins and needles with a lot of description when you want to find out if someone survived or not. Cardinal rule: if a book is too expensive to pay for, sight unseen, you check it out at the library. If the book is already checked out, you put it on hold. That's just what you do. Anyway, I love the library. Now I can tell you the book I checked out. The Philosophy of Modern Song by Bob Dylan (2022).I just felt compelled to head on down to the library and check it out. I was actually able to look at the catalog without creating an account or logging in with a username and password, which was a huge relief. I also called the library and left a message. They never called me back. I asked if I could have them hold a book for me for a few minutes because I was on my way out the door, but they never called me back so I ate some soup and took off as quickly as I could. As I was about to leave the library, I checked out a memoir called Stop-Time by Frank Conroy (1967).I went to the Reading Room where the "No Talking" signs are, and looked at one of their magazines that lists all the books they are recommending for the month or the year (as if I need to look at a book like that), and checked out the Dylan book, read about a few of the songs. They keep coming out with more and more books while the books in my apartment keep piling up. I only saw two books that I might be interested in, but not interested enough. I have books at home that I'm more interested in. The Dylan book is a bit different than I expected. It consists of his analysis and comments on dozens of songs not written by him, which is fine. Some of the songs I liked and some of the songs I didn't like. Most of them, honestly, I had never heard of. But I certainly never thought of the ones I was familiar with in the way that Dylan writes about them. He is such a brain, and so knowledgeable, so culturally savvy, anyone could learn a great deal from him about this topic. But I will have it for three weeks to decide if I want to go online and buy it. I haven't read any of his books. The songs are all stories, and the best songs are story songs. I guess all good songs are story songs, you just don't always know what the story is because the words don't make any sense or the story is very obvious, as in the majority of love ballads (broken hearts, love at first sight, etc.). I don't generally adore books about songwriting, in fact they are usually pretty dry, but I can't imagine Bob Dylan being dry. Deep, mysterious, dark, even, maybe, but dry? No. So there's little chance of boredom with this book, though the main decision is if I want to own it. I rather doubt it, to be honest. But I have it on loan for three weeks. That should be plenty of time to decide. It is humbling to realize how limited you are intellectually. As far as songwriting is concerned, I don't necessarily believe you have to be a genius to write a good song, but, at the same time, I think you have to be pretty close to it. Personally, I think of all the writing I have done, songwriting is the most difficult. I'm sure not everyone would agree with me on this. All I'm really saying is it takes a tremendous amount of effort, discipline and just plain work to write a good song, much more than most people probably imagine. The only purchase I made at the library today was 45 cents for the Cliff Notes to Moby Dick. (I'm a member of the Friends of the Library, so I get a 10% discount on purchases from the Booktique.) This is the second surrender I have made in my effort to read this great American novel. I have a 1964 (abridged) student copy complete with notes and vocabulary, and yet I have tried to read Moby Dick, literally, for years. I can't even count how many years. So I figured out where I am in the book and decided I could start there in the Cliff Notes. I was having a very hard time staying focused on the book because it takes them so long to get to the whale. The first surrender was when I got my video of Moby Dick and watched that. This is my second surrender, reading the final chapters of the book in the Cliff Notes. I mentioned that the version of Moby Dick I have is abridged. What I mean by that is it is missing chapters. Fortunately, the chapters all have names, not just numbers, so I was able to figure out where to start in the Cliff Notes. I have been a snob about many things in life, and one of them is about using Cliff Notes. I never used Cliff Notes in my life, never, in secondary education or post-secondary education. It would not have occurred to me at all, but now I have the Cliff Notes for Moby Dick and for Emily Dickinson. You see, I could never understand Emily Dickinson either. And I must confess I have never understood Shakespeare. I can rarely understand more than a sentence or two from any of his works. So there you have it. I am painfully ignorant of many aspects of literature that many of my peers are experts at. As a tutor for a girl from Mexico recently I had to sit through a couple of Shakespeare sessions. It was not easy for me, and I'm sure it was not easy for my student. I don't remember if she just got to drop that class or they went on to a different author, but my hopes of any increased understanding of Shakespeare by attending that class were dashed. What I am really in the mood for now is to rest. I might be able to finish reading In the Deep Mid-Winter, the one I stayed up until 3:00 reading this morning. Maybe that's why I'm tired, because I did only get about five hours of sleep last night. But I can't waste these days of Christmas Break. Have to keep them being fun and interesting. And they have been. The weather has even been nice. The only thing I am worried about now is if they get rid of Daylight Savings Time. I hate it being dark by 5:00 p.m. all the way until March. I am hopeful we will at least have one more season of Daylight Savings Time. I just found out they have Cliff Notes for the Bible. I didn't know that. I have plenty of Bible helps, I don't really need Cliff Notes for the Bible, but I do need help when I get to certain books in the Old Testament but I try to read through the whole Bible every year. I have done it many times, but lately I have been very sporadic in my Bible reading. I always loved the book of Genesis. It's the first book I wanted to read when I started seeking the Lord in the 70s. I don't have a problem reading Genesis. Some other books do present some challenges. But even a little bit of the Bible feeds my spirit and my soul, so I don't want to beat myself up too much. It gets in your head and heart at its own pace, no matter how much you try to cram or memorize. I haven't been one to do a great deal of memorization, honestly, but the Lord does bring precepts and principles to mind when I need them, or I know how to find answers in the Bible. I love reading Psalms every Sunday. This week the assigned reading is Psalms 1-4. I love the final verse of chapter 4. It says, "I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety" (Psalm 4:8). It's amazing to me how many people have trouble getting to sleep. If I can't get to sleep I get very anxious but it happens practically never, for which I am very thankful. I guess my main occupation over break so far has been reading, and that's okay. It's not bed time yet, but it won't be long. I have some reading to do. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve!