Reading material

I have several books to read this spring.  I've been reading Ragtime for the History Discussion Group next month and At the Back of the Dawn Wind for John Snow's book club.  And I'm also reading the winter issue of Lapham's Quarterly. (The spring issue has arrived and it's been a quite while since I got behind with this magazine.) When I'm finished this stuff, it'll be time to read the second half of Our Mutual Friend.  Also, I'll be looking at parts of Barbara Tuchman's The Proud Tower and The Guns of August for the History Discussion Group.

Sunday I went to the Walks With Profs Meetup.  We started at the Dufferin Station and walked all the way up to Yorkdale Mall, though it turned out to be closed for Easter.  I had a good time, telling a teenager about the history of East Asia and talking about several other things.

The weather has been funny.  Thursday was so warm that I wore my spring jacket outdoors for the first time this year.  But Sunday before going on the walk I saw it snowing outside!  So I took down my winter cap from my closet and wore it on the walk.  It turned out I didn't need it:  the snow stopped pretty quick and it wasn't that cold.

This afternoon there was no memoir slam because of the holiday, so I tried to go to an intellectual-sounding Meetup group, but after I got to the hostess' apartment building I couldn't figure out how to get in touch with her so I went home.  Too bad--next week the memoir slam will resume and it'll be a while before my next opportunity to attend this group.

This evening I saw Robert Wise's movie of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music at the Event Screen with the Movie Meetup group.  It was about the sixth time I've seen it, but I hadn't seen it on a screen this big since I was a kid. (It suffers somewhat on TV.) I don't hate it as much as my Captain Snark post may suggest, though Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer don't have much chemistry:  I can't avoid the feeling it's his children she's marrying rather than him.  The beginning and middle are well-paced, but it drags in the last hour.  Too many reprises.  I still like that "Lonely Goatherd" number with the puppets.