Happening

This is the thin book I mentioned a few days ago.  It took me less than two hours to finish, and if one looks at it, there doesn't appear to be much in it.  When I was done with it, though, I fully understood why Annie Ernaux won the Nobel Prize for Literature this year.  I like and appreciate and love her writing in much the same way I deeply enjoyed the works of another Nobel Prize winner, Patrick Modiano.  Both Ernaux and Modiano are French, and now I wonder if I shouldn't read more French literature.  It is definitely something to consider.  Dutch literature is different, and of course that can't be helped, but there is something about it I can't define that doesn't attract me in the same way.  I have Harry Mulisch's The Discovery of Heaven here at home.  It is biblical in size and I should start on it one day, but that day won't be tomorrow.  If I had to begin on a book tomorrow, I would much rather start on Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy, and it's just as thick.

AW is getting better -- no fever.  On the other hand, he is still coughing and this has led to some back pain.  He has decided for the second time in his life to stop smoking.  I am very cynical and wonder how strong this resolve is and how long it will last.

Kitchen duties, some housekeeping, and the inevitable correction work, which now looks more like an oversized hill rather than Everest.  In short, progress.  There will most likely be no hunting next week as much rain has been predicted.  With the days so short, it is difficult to time my departure to coincide with sunlight and successful cloud-dodging.  And, anyway, AW needs some cuddling and likes to give back the same.  Plus, I shouldn't forget, it will be the last week at work before the winter break.