LoTR

I can't go very long without reading my favorite book. I finished Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises yesterday afternoon and then realized I had read everything I brought with me on the trip. So I went to a used bookstore after work and bought my second copy of Lord of the Rings. Ahhhh....wonderfulness.

I don't get the big deal with Hemingway, anyway. If you want to understand the disillusionment of a generation, all you have to do is watch a few minutes of MTV's The Real World, or observe any number of platinum blondes with fake nails driving third-generation Hummers whilst drinking Venti Soy Non-fat Lite Raspberry Mochafrappacchinos and texting friends about how disappointed she is with the latest Gossip Girl plot twist and how annoyed she is about the BP oil spill, because, like, can't they get over it already?

Now *that's* disillusionment. And we didn't even have a World War to disillusion us--we did it all by ourselves. So take that, Ernie.

Although, in the end I liked the book okay. It made me want to go to Spain. That's how disillusioned I am-- that I read a book chronicling the subtle but poignant love affairs or denials, waning friendships and existential crises among a group of young expatriates, and I thought the best part was Hemingway's description of the Matador's shiny green pants. Oh well. I do love green pants. And shiny things.

Yesterday Guido and I wrote a book proposal and sent it to Cambridge University Press. We did it in one hour, which got Guido very exited. He thinks we broke some sort of book-proposal-writing record. Maybe CUP will give us a trophy. That'd be nice. Maybe it will be shiny. OR green.

Today I am working on proposals for grants again (and the peasants rejoiced?). But if I work hard, then I can go home and read more Tolkien! (and the geeks rejoiced!) But really, how can one help it? --here, surrounded by shires and sheeps and Lothians and...well, the mood is trés apropos. As it were. This weekend I will take a day trip out of Aberdeenshire to do some "tramping" of my own. It has been far too long...