Sunrise, Sunset

A life changing event took place this week.

I got a job.

An actual, honest-to-goodness, must show up every day at a regular time and do things kind of job. For the past decade, I’ve been a freelance editor. It’s a good gig, but not even remotely steady. It is feast or famine. There are just too many people willing to work for beer money, and while I am not against honest work for honest pay, if I wanted just enough extra dough to buy a case of Rolling Rock, I’d take my time machine to college where I wrote papers for $10 a pop. I’m a grown up now. At the very least, I want enough money for some artisanal root beer. I’ve also filled my time subbing at a preschool and while that was Heaven on a Goldfish cracker, the staff could only be out sick so many times before it would have become obvious that I was poisoning them. I have filled in all the gaps with volunteering and reading, which, while emotionally gratifying, are not exactly paying the Barnes and Noble bill. (Speaking of which, I actually calculated how much money I spent on books last year and it was terrifying.)

While my new job has nothing to do with my career (such as it was), it does have everything to do with being a parent: great location, great hours, and great wardrobe. Scrubs! Considering the sartorial nightmare that is my closet and my complete lack of fashion sense, this last part is a godsend. I’ve got a desk with a big window, a quiet room to get work done, and lots of free snacks I am going to do my damnedest to avoid. However, I can’t read at work. I have a feeling that would be a really big no-no. Hence, there will be a shortening of my reading time. Sad, I know. Have no fear though – I’d still much rather read than parent, cook, clean, or launder, so I’ll find the time regardless.

#11 – The Paris Wife – Paula McLain
Recommended by: DM and JS

What a sad, heartbreaking book. It is a fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway’s marriage to his first wife, told through her eyes. It kills you to read about their love, the first mad urgency of it through to the final gasping days of pain and betrayal. He is such a passionate man, but fueled by inner demons that cannot be tamed by alcohol, or anything other than the rush of writing something new and important. She just wants to love him and be loved by him. It is one of the love stories for the ages and really shows how love doesn’t always work. That loving one person isn’t always enough, even when it should be. The language really evokes the spirit of Hemingway and his writing, giving you a strong sense of his character as well as those who surrounded him. I almost wish I had time to reread The Sun Also Rises to really see how one was influenced by the other.