I liked the summary from Laura. It seems well past my writing skills to sum up Jorge Luis Borges, but I will offer up some impressions in the hope of tempting you to read him. I laughed at the apt ness of you checking out his books in the cause of deviling your librarian, for Borges is at heart The Librarian, though not of a type that would ever be frustrated with genuine patrons of libraries, the readers. His stories are wrapped (rapt) around the characters so that the tone is matter of fact, but the depth of each experience makes you utter the "yes." Of having felt that same thing. Only a handful have lived with Hyperthymesia, but reading Funes the Memorious touches the intensity of those vivid, living, breathing memories we all have, the ones you feel could swallow you and transport you back into the moment if only you knew the proper command. Borges' world brings a friend who understands the interconnectedness of all things. He sees the pattern I am certain I could see if I could take one more step back in my view of the word. I think you can find the text of Funes the Memorious online as well. Also, to the Hemingway readers, I have to throw in a recommendation for my favorite, A Clean Well Lighted Place.

My reading is going very slowly but I am enjoying it as much as ever. I would welcome any suggestions on just how to carve out reading time in a busy household. Last week I finished The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. It was a fun quick read. I loved the visual description of Ichabod, it made all the illustrations seem less over-the-top. Still reading: The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons Moby Dick or the White Whale by Herman Melville (ch. 25) I also wanted to add my appreciation for this thread and a high five to the Borges readers. I need to add a re-read to my to read list.

I am joining again this year. I am afraid to go back to check how early I stopped posting last year. Always reading, just slowly. :)

Sure thing, here's my history timeline. http://http://pinterest.com/notpaint/history-timeline/

I keep our history timeline on pinterest and I love it.:)

I have a blog of my digital sketches. http://notpaint.wordpress.com/ I get very little traffic, but knowing that the drawings end up where people might see them helps me to keep making time to draw most evenings. Someday, I hope to paint more. Come visit, I would love comments!

I am woefully behind on my reading, but for this month it is due to dedicating the larger chunk of my reading time to painting, so it is a profitable trade for me. I did manage to finish a book in the last week + a couple of days. Appropriately, it was art related. Two worlds of Andrew Wyeth, by Hoving It is an odd joy to rediscover things I dismissed out of hand in my teens. It is also pretty fun that my library's two books on A. Wyeth pre-date his Helga pictures, so I will have more to discover later. I'm also reading a little fiction, but lately it's 3-4 pages before I fall asleep. Makes any book a long read.

I'm reading The Secret Garden in parallel with my daughter. It is a great kids read for springtime. I also started the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Someone gave me a copy and recommended it enthusiastically. I'm not very far into it yet. It must be time to add in another short story to have finished something this week.

Because that's where the dropped pencil rolled.

Here's a word a day that has ok etymology & it is searchable. http://wordsmith.org/words/today.html

Week 15 was a total loss for me (readingwise) due to the worlds longest running family cold. Last week I finished Warrior Queen. It was ok, not remarkable. I also read a P.K. Dick short story Skull I found it pretty fun in the classic sci fi short way. I'm so glad to be moving on from the sickies & ready to start a new book.

I am pushing along slowly. Last week was a lost cause due to everyone being sick but this week I did manage to read another short story that has been on my list for a couple of years. Issak Asimov's Nightfall came highly recommended by my brother who always has a good one up his sleeve. Also in the mix have been bits of Warrior Queen - I have to say it's starting out on the trashy side. If anyone knows of another engaging biography or historical fiction about Bouddica, let me know. Also trying to get into Prophets Without Honour. This one is interesting subject matter but the opening seemed disjointed, probably not the thing to pick up when dealing with a fever.

I do have a blog - not paint Why did you start it? I started making drawings on facebook's graffiti app and was thrilled to have a creative outlet that I could pursue in short segments of free time. What's its theme? Just things I've drawn- very little text. Do you update it regularly? Almost daily for over a year. Do you get paid to do it? No. Or do you have one but find that you just don't give it the attention it needs? I also have a languishing diary-type blog, I enjoy looking back over it and having a visual record of things we have done but haven't gotten back to post on it for over a year. I would like to get to a point where I can keep that one up, too.

I just finished The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet. It did have a couple of interesting curves but was not as good as I was hoping. There were a few wonderfully constructed sentences, but far more that were comfortably commonplace. It was pretty fluffy. I'm not sure what I'll read next. I need to choose something& head off to bed.

My reading is going at a snail's pace. I'm reading The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet. It's not as good as some of McCollough's other work. I read most of The Tzarina's Daughter last week. I had a few chapters left but it was due back at the library. I also read another short science fiction piece from Year's Best SF 14 The Ships Like Clouds, Risen by Their Rain by Jason Sanford. It was different enough to be thought provoking over a few days. I am still plugging away at the audio of Agnes Grey, when I get enough quiet time to listen to a chapter.