A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is done. Stone me, but it's a corking good read. Again, I've done my utmost lo these past eight days to have no cause to sound alarum that spoils are nigh, and shall endeavour to keep faith. Without betraying any of the story, I'd have to say that reading this in the time of its original publication would make it the equivalent of reading "Steam-Punk" literature today. What is fascinating to me is the way Twain critiques the unpleasantness of everyday life in the Middle Ages in an frankly imaginary setting as the England of King Arthur. It's as if he wanted to tell a great adventure story in a fantastic setting, but still let a modern day American viewpoint into it. I hate that in those biblical cast of thousands movies I like so un-ironically.
I love it in Twain's writing.
In case the subtext of the last eight days isn't coming through, I love Mark Twain.
Two days left, and I need to try start and finish Roughing It. I'll skim any short essay or short story whenever I can in the next forty-eight hours, but I know I won't come anywhere near to targeted objective on this project. I'm pretty sure that I don't care. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I will have read everything Twain has ever written eventually.
I'm actually pretty flu-ish tonight, and I don't think I'll be reading till 2 am, but I got in 5 hours of reading, so I don't feel like I wussed out. I may not be the world's fastest reader, but I get there in the end.
-Mike
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