All the news that’s fit to print

I haven’t really settled into an update pattern for my online News from the Dead Zone column, but installment two is now up. In addition to news, it contains part one of my ongoing FAQ.

I’m reading the Elizabeth Grossman translation of Don Quixote, a book that’s been on my TBR pile for far too long. Grossman’s translation uses the modern idiom, so it is very readable and I’m enjoying the story so far. I was generally familiar with some of the story’s elements, and I saw Man of La Mancha many, many years ago, but I don’t think I understood that Quixote was insane from the page one, driven there by his obsession for epic tales of heroism. The book also has a very sly sense of humor about it. The chapter I just finished has two men going through Quixote’s library deciding which books to keep and which to burn, making derisive comments about many of the works and/or their authors.

Have I mentioned how crazy the weather is around here? It’s been in the 70s consistently for at least the past week. I can’t remember the last time I sat in the back yard in shorts in early January. When the next cold snap arrives, and arrive it will, I think it is going to be hard to take, both for people and foliage.