Friday, January 8, 2016

Resolutioner.

New Year's Eve 2014.

Me to Pea, age 6: People sometimes make New Year's resolutions.  You pick something you want to try to do or to improve on for the next year.  Would you like to make a New Year's resolution?

Pea: Sure.  (thinks)

Me: Have you decided on your New Year's resolution?

Pea: Well, I was going to have it to be less shy, but I think that will be too hard.  So I think I am going to try to turn myself invisible from time to time.

This year I made a few New Year's resolutions.  The one relevant to this blog is that I resolved to read more.  Specifically, to read a little every day.  Not counting numbers of pages or minutes, just a little bit daily.  I get out of the habit of reading sometimes, and when that happens I miss it.

Reading a little each day got me through volume 3 of Clarissa fairly quickly. I love how Richardson develops the story through the letters of the characters - I feel as though I am watching it unfold along with them.  In this volume we discover that Lovelace is not that great of a guy after all.  He's a womanizer who set Clarissa up because he wanted her.  He isn't sure he wants to marry her and probably won't be faithful if they do marry.

Clarissa is in a rough spot here.  It would probably make her life easier if she could turn herself invisible from time to time.