*Chirp, chirp*

I am making shamefully slow progress through The Beautiful and the Damned.  It’s not that I don’t like it– quite the contrary– it’s just that my focus is all sorts of off these past few weeks.

I know things have been quite quiet on the blog.  There’s really no excuse.  I haven’t been reading as much, lately (beyond the Arts sections of the New York Times and Financial Times), and have been preoccupied with work and, well, living life.  I think I get self-conscious from time-to-time, feeling that if I can’t make some poignant statement on reading or literature, it’s best to just keep quiet.  So, that’s what I’ve been doing.

However, I must also remember the passion to learn that sparked this website, and realize that I cannot allow that to remain dormant simply because other things are getting in my way.  That’s what the Start Over Year is all about, any way.

I do have to say though: I really love my life.  Not a bad thing to be able to say while in the first quarter of My Start Over Year.

Oh, and while on vacation, I read Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (former NYTimes restaurant critic).  Now, I don’t particularly enjoy Reichl’s critiques.  There’s something a bit too stagnant about them, a bit too formal.  Perhaps I’m letting my Bruni-fandom influence this.  But, the woman knows her food, and she is a skillful writer.  Garlic and Sapphires focuses on the disguises Ruth created while operating as a restaurant critic.  To avoid detection (which would always ensure exceptional service and treatment by the restaurant she was visiting), she would don these elaborate costumes, developing and embodying new personas and characters.  The most interesting part of the piece, however, is how these characters influenced and changed her.  Whether it be the free-wheeling Brenda or stuck up Molly, each new personality brought out something very telling about Ruth, herself.  The way she navigates this– ultimately having to decide which parts of her best and worst selves she was willing to confront and/or keep– is what makes this memoir so interesting to me.  It’s a psychological study of the self in disguise– both to the public and to the person.  Though Garlic and Sapphires lacks any real, poignant analysis, what it reveals about the transformations we undergo on a daily basis is valuable and entertaining to any reader.  I definitely recommend this as a beach read.