A Work in Progress

A Last Ditch Effort...

I've decided to make a last ditch effort to complete Carl's challenge.  Can I do it?  I admit I can be a lazy reader sometimes--easily distracted and ready to move on to the next shiny new book or reading challenge.  I had all but given up on this when Carl left a comment on a recent post urging me on just the tiniest little bit.  That coupled with my desire to actually finish something I start out to do (remembering all those many lists I've made all year...) has made me want to see this one through.  Or try to anyway.

I had planned all along to read Angela Carter's Saints and Strangers (for my folk tale choice).  It is a slim little book of only 125 pages/8 short stories.  Actually I am not sure they can be called short stories really.  The blurb says "drawing on American history, literary legend, and folk tale, Angela Carter transports us to that shadowy country between fact and myth."  I started reading last night and hope to finish later today (I am almost halfway through already).  All I can say so far, Angela Carter's writing is quirky--or at least the stories she tells are.  As much as I wanted to read this (and do want to read this), I think what put me off was the overwhelming sense that these were going to be dark sorts of stories.  Not tragic, but dense and heavy--just look at the cover art.  I'm not sure how to characterize her writing style yet.  But I'll let you know how it goes.  Carter seems to have a fairly substantial body of work (she died very young in 1992), and I think she is an important contemporary author, so I do hope to read more later.

The challenge ends tomorrow, which is the summer solstice.  I plan on watching A Midsummer Night's Dream tomorrow night.  If I read along does that count?  Since Midsummer is not for a few more days yet, I hope to actually properly read the play after I have seen a film version.  It worked for me well to watch/read/watch, so I want to try that again.  I have been doing a tiny bit of preparatory reading, as I am completely unfamiliar with this story.  What I've learned so far?  Shakespeare wrote this during a very creative period when he was approaching a more mature style.  It is likely that he wrote this to be preformed at a wedding that Queen Elizabeth would have attended.  There are four separate plots within this play: 1.) the story of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons, 2.) Hermia and her three friends, Helena, Demetrius, and Lysander--young lovers, 3.) the magical world of the fairies ruled by Titania and Oberon, and 4.) the adventures of Quince, Bottom, and the other amateur actors.  I get the feeling the play is about love and lust.  And, well, that is as far as I have gotten.  There is no sense in rushing a Shakespeare play!  I still have my Garber essay to read and all of the other extra material in my book as well.  Really this is the impetus I needed anyway to get going on Shakespeare once again!  It seems fitting to be reading it right now, doesn't it?

A Work in Progress

Sorry.  I had to play along:

As seen here, here, here, here, here and here.  Too much fun!

I only wish I could figure out how to stack the words (though it looks like they still wouldn't fit on the page).  How do people think up (and then make it work!) these creative things?

You can play along by clicking here!

*************************************************************************************************************

I feel the need to share something bookish...I am one book short of completing Carl's challenge (see yesterday's post).  I had planned on reading Angela Carter's Saints and Strangers, which is short stories--retellings of folk tales.  The book is a mere 128 pages.  Do you think I can possibly squeeze it in in two days?  I admit, I got lazy at the end (and distracted by other books).  And then there is still poor Shakespeare...

The thing about working in a library--books everywhere, all day.  My library is in phase two of its renovations.  This means the entire first floor (actually not the new expansion, but the rest of the floor) has been completely vacated.  All the concrete has been broken up and they are going to re-pour the floor.  All day long we get to listen to bulldozers, and thumping sounds, but I'm digressing.  I now work on the third floor where all the regular stacks are located.  Occasionally when I am on my way somewhere in the library, I will wander amongst the stacks.  Today I happened to pass by the PR 6000s.  British fiction.  Lo and behold, there were books by Anita Brookner.  Dorothy's recent post makes me want to read her newest book, Leaving Home (I'm curious about what Emma decides to ultimately do with her life--see Dorothy's post).  I also pulled out A Friend from England (one of the main characters works in a London bookstore!).  It's been too long since I have read anything by Brookner!  Now, when I am possibly supposed to fit these books in is beyond me, but these things always work themselves out in the end!

Over Sea, Under Stone

Whoever recommended Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series...thank you.  Actually if I recall correctly, more than one person has suggested these books as good reads.  I finished the first novel, Over Sea, Under Stone this past weekend.  The series is actually written for young adults, but I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and already have ordered the next title in the sequence. 

Isn't it always convenient in YA books when parents seem to absent themselves so readily from the story?  Of course what would be the fun of having too many adults around when you find an ancient map?  Thus begins the quest for the grail, which the three Drew siblings embark on after they find it under some floorboards in their vacation house.  Somewhere along the coast in Cornwall lays hidden the grail, and the Drews are not the only ones in search of it.  There is, of course, the omnipresent feeling of good vs. evil and a race to discover the treasure before all is lost. 

I read this as my fantasy book for Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge.  I have a feeling that "fantasy" is a label that is quite broad.  I'm assuming this is a fantasy book due to the idea of a quest and good vs. evil, but really it reads as a good, plain adventure story as well.  There is only the slightest feeling of the supernatural to the story.  Otherwise the setting and people are really quite "normal" (not to say that they aren't in fantasy reads...).  It will be interesting to see what the other books in the series are like.  I believe the next book, The Dark is Rising, is a different story entirely from the first with completely different characters.  I think eventually the story will continue on with the Drew siblings, which I look forward to.  Without giving anything away, the ending is somewhat tidy, but there are still unanswered questions!

Unfortunately I didn't manage to read all the books I set out to to with this challenge.  It wraps up this week.  I read books from three of the four categories, but I still haven't gotten to A Midsummer Night's Dream (hopefully this weekend--I do still plan on reading/watching it!). Still I did branch out a bit and read books I normally would not have (Stardust by Neil Gaiman and The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood along with the Cooper book), and that's what I like about challenges. 

Weekend Reading Notes

I have been very good lately.  I have managed to finish four books without starting a single new one.  Until this weekend anyway.  I had hoped to finish reading Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles as well, but I have a little guilt trip going with a library book.  It started out when I read  this post which led me to this review.  It sounded like something I would like, so I checked out the public library's catalog, and then my library's catalog.  No one had it.  From what I can tell it has only been published in the UK.  So the next step when I don't want to order a book--interlibrary loan.  It turns out that not many libraries here in the US own it.  My library managed to borrow a copy, but only for the sum of $12.00.  That seems like a rather steep borrowing fee when we normally get books free.  So now I feel guilty for ILL-ing it.  I had every intention of reading it when I got it, but now I feel a particular responsibility to read every last word, note each and every punctuation mark, read the acknowledgments...you get the idea.  The thing is the library covers the fee, since staff don't have to pay, so I feel bad for making the library borrow it on my account.  I hope it turns out to be as good as it sounds--I'll let you know how it goes!

I have been very involved in Tess.  It's weird sometimes when you think you have an idea of what a book is about--everyone talks about it, so you think you already know the story--and it turns out to be quite different from your expectations.  It isn't better or worse, but what happens is just different than what I thought would happen.  I really like Hardy's writing by the way.  Sometimes it is a bit heart wrenching, but I can sort of see how they (Tess and Angel) have managed to get themselves in the situation they are in.  At times I get mad at both of them, thinking I would never do the things they do.  But the thing is that it is always easier to say you would not do something, when in reality you might feel pressed to do (or not do as the case may be) some of the very same things.  If any of that makes sense anyway.  I hope to finish it in the next couple of days.  As much as I would love to start a new classic, I think it is time to get back to David Copperfield. 

The Slaves will be reading Sleepless Nights by Elizabeth Hardwick next month.  As tempted as I was to order the book, my library has it.  It looks like a short read, so I will set it aside for next month to read.  I also found a book of essays by Hardwick that look interesting, Seduction and Betrayal: Women and Literature.  The title essay discusses several novels including Hardy's Tess, so I am looking forward to reading that in particular.  There are essays on Ibsen's women, Zelda Fitzgerald, Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Dorothy Wordsworth, and Jane Carlyle as well.  One last book caught my eye at work this past week.  The Perfect Summer by Juliet Nicolson looks to be more anecdotal than scholarly, but actually I think I find that more appealing.  She discusses the summer of 1911:

"The granddaughter of Bloomsbury notables Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson chronicles the minutiae of the hot, sunny summer of 1911, when the rich crammed in a succession of parties as industrial strikes almost brought the country to a standstill, and WWI loomed on the horizon. Under Nicolson's lavish attentions, "upstairs" and "downstairs," the weighty and frivolous spring to vivid life."

It seems to fit right in with some of the other books I am reading at the moment.  I only wish I wasn't such a slow nonfiction reader.  I have several really good NF reads either started or lined up.  Perhaps I should concentrate on reading primarily NF for a while. 

My First Taylor Book, But Not My Last!

I have been looking forward to reading something by Elizabeth Taylor for some time now.  I had a feeling that I would like her writing, and I was correct.  I really enjoyed The Sleeping Beauty, which is "a love story of middle age".  From what I have read Taylor seems to have been more domestic than part of the literati.  She wrote her books while raising her family.  She wrote about middle class people, but in a variety of situations. 

"Her books are pleasing to read, and much taken from libraries; they are undogmatic, unpretentious, clear and kind.  But they are also more than this: quick-eyed and wonderfully funny investigations into the loves and loneliness of people's lives."

The Sleeping Beauty is set in a seaside town called Seething.  Seething is an apt name for this town, as there is more to it than what you see on the surface.  It has a nice respectable veneer.  It is the 1950s and everything seems so proper.  But what is underneath turns out to be very surprising.  Vinny has come to help console a friend, Isabella, whose husband has just died.  One night he spots a beautiful woman walking on the beach and essentially falls in love.  There are actually several story lines going, but all lead back to Vinny and his romance with Emily.  Emily lives a very secluded life.  There is some suggestion of troubles in her past that have caused her to shy away from people--hence our sleeping beauty.  She lives with her sister, who runs a hotel, and her niece. 

I'm never quite sure how much of the plot to give away--there are so many surprising things about this book I could talk about, but I generally prefer discovering things on my own and would rather not give away details to other readers.  Taylor's writing is yet another example of a story with not a lot of action, but she has wonderfully well drawn characters.  They all have breadth and depth.  One of my favorite characters is Vinny's mother, Mrs. Tumulty.  She's the perfect stereotypical idea of the interfering mother, made even worse since Vinny is middle-aged and she is constantly on his case about one thing or another.  He gets her to come to Seething on a bit of a ruse--a vacation, to give his continued stays in the local hotel legitimacy even though he wants only to be close to Emily.  Mrs. Tumulty has this very officious manner that you sort of love to dislike.  There were times when I was reading that something a character would say or a situation would make me nearly laugh out loud, which is not to say it is not a serious story, but it was all so well drawn--these people could be real.  And like real people, their foibles and faults evoke a variety of emotions and responses.  I was amused by the fact that some of the characters who seemed so very respectable on the outside, spent time betting on the horses, though they never seemed to want to admit to it.  As a matter of fact they would disdain the very activity that they would engage in in private.  It was all so typical of how people really are, which is what made me thoroughly enjoy this novel.

Part of the impetus for reading this particular Taylor novel was Dorothy's wonderful post on it last year.  She kindly let me mooch both books she wrote about.   I have several more of Taylor's novels, and I plan on reading more of her work.  Sarah Waters called her "one of the great under-read British novelists of the twentieth century".  I know I am happy to have discovered her!

On the Flip Side (of the 18th century)

Remember when I said that 18th century London must have been a stinky, dirty, foul place? At least from the sounds of some of the books I've read.  Perhaps I was hasty in my assumptions.  Perhaps it wasn't stinky, dirty and foul for everyone?  I've started watching the BBC production of Aristocrats, and I am completly enthralled by it.  So much so that I had to buy Stella Hillyard's two books--The Illustrated Companion and Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox 1740-1832.  I have only seen the first two episodes, but I have the other four lined up to watch this weekend.  It is a vastly different and interesting perspective compared with Clare Clark's book, which is set at roughly the same period the Lennox sisters lived. 

These costume dramas suck me in so easily, all the more so when they are based on actual historical figures.  The Lennox sisters were daughters of the second Duke of Richmond and great-granddaughters to King Charles II.  While poor Eliza Tally (okay so she was a fictional character, but surely grounded in some sort of reality?) was a housemaid, the Lennox sisters lead exciting, cushy lives in comparison.  They married into the world of high politics and the court, and were mistresses of some of the grandest houses in England and Ireland.  I am trying to refrain from reading either book yet, until I have watched the rest of the miniseries.  I can't help myself from at least browsing.  I think both books will be very good--informative and entertaining.  It looks as though Tillyard won an award for the biography.

Just as a little taste, I have at least read the short introduction:

"...the Lennox sisters' circumstances were extraordinary.  They were rich and well educated, speaking French almost as well as English.  Their connections gave them access to the newest ideas, the latest books and plays, the most fashionable thinkers, painters, doctors and all the products of the new consumer age.  They were the daughters of one cabinet minister and duke and the sisters of another.  Caroline Lennox married a man who, if he had played his cards better, might have become prime minister, and she was the mother of the most famous opposition politician of the eighteenth century.  Emily Lennox married the senior peer of Ireland, and one of her sons became a prominent republican revolutionary.  Louisa married Ireland's richest man.  Sarah caught the eye of the young George III and, half resisting, half complying, allowed herself to toy with the idea of being made Queen of England."

Yet another new obsession.  If you haven't already seen it, I recommend it.  There is a wonderful scene in one of the first episodes of Caroline and her suitor, Henry Fox, where they are discussing books--Caroline having just read Voltaire.  I only wish I remembered enough of their conversation to quote here.  Better yet--go rent or borrow it and watch it for yourself! 

They Always Come in Pairs

Occasionally I am offered an advance reader's edition or review copy of a book.  While I don't accept all offers (I wish I could, but I already can't keep up with my reading...), it seems that when something really appealing comes along--it usually comes in pairs.  Yesterday I received two completely different but intriguing books that I can't wait to get into.  The first is by Peter Pagnamenta and Momoko Williams, The Sword and Blossom: A British Officer's Enduring Love for a Japanese Woman.

"In 1982 a retired Tokyo teacher was going through boxes in a storeroom, when she found a stash of old letters, still in their original thick white envelopes, with foreign stamps and sealing wax.  They were bundled tightly together and there were over 800 of them.  The letters inside were on rolled, thick, hand made "makagami" paper, and many of them contained pressed flowers which disintegrated, as they fell out.  They were from a British officer who had been sent to Japan to learn Japanese in 1904, written to his love, Masa Suzuki, and they spanned a period of nearly thirty years.  The finder of the letters was a relative of Masa's by marriage, and she had heard about the Englishman.  But she had no idea of the full story."

Doesn't that sound lovely?  Can you imagine 800 letters over the span of thirty years?  Why is it that peeking into other people's lives, no matter how mundane they might have been at the time, can be so engrossing?  By the way, the front and back cover design are very elegant (may be hard to tell from the photo), and inside are more photos.

The Chess Machine by Robert Lohr is a new book coming out in July.  The main temptation for this one was the setting--Vienna 1770!  Actually I think it moves between Vienna and Venice.  It is an unusual story and apparently a true one of "The Mechanical Turk".  This was a chess playing automaton.  The catch is the machine was actually operated from the inside by an Italian dwarf (at least in this novel). 

"From the dark dungeons of Venice to the imperial court in Vienna, from the palaces of the Austrian nobility to the alleyways of the Jewish quarter.  The Chess Machine, based on a true story, is the breathtaking historical adventure of a legendary invention."

It's interesting how many novels are based on some nugget of truth, but I imagine authors must have to get their inspiration/the impetus for a story from somewhere.  I enjoying reading about these little known (to myself anyway) historical events.

The Calligraphers' Night

The kind people at Hesperus Press sent me a copy of Yasmine Ghata's The Calligraphers' Night for possible review.  It's wonderful when the right book can be matched up with the right reader (if you recall I recently posted about art and literature crossing paths--a favorite subject of mine lately).  This slim novel of just over 100 pages traverses the life of calligrapher Rikkat Kunt.  The story is lyrically told.  It has an almost dreamlike quality to it, weaving elements of magical realism into the story of Ghata's real-life grandmother who the novel is based on.

"I passed away on the 26th of April 1986, at the age of eighty-three".  Thus begins Rikkat's story.  "My death was as gentle as the tip of the reed dipping its fibres in the inkpot, swifter than than the ink being drunk by the paper.  I took care not to leave any mess behind me; I tidied away my life and my calligraphic instruments."  In a sense not a lot happens in this novel.  Yet an entire life is lived within its pages.  Rikkat is a calligrapher, practicing her art at a time when Turkey was becoming more secular.  No longer would the Turkish language be formed using arabic letters.  The calligrapher's language was the language of God or at least of the Koran, and now they would be thrust aside.

Not only does Rikkat narrate her story from the dead, but the dead talk to her while she is alive.  Her mentor, Selim, bequests his calligraphic tools to her after his suicide.  And it is through them and with his urging that she grows as a calligrapher.  Her passion for the art guides her through her troubles and turmoils.  She must endure two failed marriages and the loss of her second son when his father takes him away.  It is only many years later when they are reunited.  Through it all she has her art.

There is something of the calligrapher's arabesque to the story.  Ghata's prose flows and meanders, it swirls like the motifs Rikkat lays on the page with her brush. 

"My eyes close.  The meanders swallow me up, the labyrinths bring me back to the surface.  The zigzags, scrolls and spirals restore me to my life, to the happy and unhappy events in it.  In the twinkling of an eye I recognise the path I have trodden; it is difficult to get away from these figures.  Calligraphers are not free; escaping from a network of shapes is the same as disobeying the Most Great.  Where are my lines taking me?  My hand comes to a halt at the edge of the page; I will never know the rest."

This book was a wonderful little find for me.  I loved the intertwining of art and life to tell the story.  I imagine for an artist your art just melds with everything else in your life--they can't be separated.  I think for Rakkat it was only her success as a calligrapher (or the burning desire to create) that made up for the failures in other aspects of her life.  I wonder what other hidden treasures I can find amongst the other titles in the Hesperus catalogue?  And just in case you are curious (I am fascinated by jacket design, so I had to ask the publisher), those boxlike structures on the cover are groynes, which are used to stop coastal erosion.  They sound very utilitarian, but isn't the photo dreamy and atmospheric.  It seems quite fitting for the story!

A Little Book Lust

Do you ever come across a book that you absolutely love, but that you don't buy?  That's probably a silly question.  I used to buy art books all the time--lavishly illustrated, hardcover coffee-table type books.  That was when I worked in a bookstore and received a discount on books.  Of course these days you can usually find bargains online--especially from Amazon, but I still don't buy as many as I used to.  I have had In Praise of the Needlewoman: Embroiderers, Knitters, Lacemakers, and Weavers in Art by Gail Carolyn Sirna on my wishlist for a long time in the hopes someone would buy it for me.  No one ever did, and when I saw it in the museum gift shop last time I was there I lusted after it after seeing it in person.  Last week the gift shop had a sale (that ended yesterday), so I dropped by and finally bought the book.  I'm so happy to finally own it.  It's lovely!  It is the perfect combination for me--a book about art, with needleworkers as the subject.  It is a gorgeous hardcover, with the paintings on one page and on the facing page a short article describing the work.  The illustrations are all in color, and the paper is nice--glossy and heavy.  Well worth the money.  I can't wait to read it, but on first glance here are some of my favorite paintings:

Viennese House Garden, 1828-30 by Erasmus Ritter von Engert
Maybe I should take up knitting, so that I can read a book and knit at the same time.  Unfortunately I am not able to do that with cross stitch.

A Willing Helper, c. 1875-90 by Mihaly Munkacsy
Isn't this scene very serene?  I wish I had a conservatory (though I admit I don't have a green thumb--someone else would have to take care of the plants) where I could sit and read and stitch.

Madame Arthur Fontaine (Marie Escudier), 1901 by Odilon Redon
I love the etherealness of this painting.  I bet the colors must be stunningly vivid in person.

Penelope and the Suitors, 1912 by John William Waterhouse
As I recently read Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad, I thought it fitting to include this painting.  Here she sits forever weaving (and reweaving) the death shroud for her father-in-law as she awaits Odysseus's return and trying to fend off all those pushy suitors.

This book was published by Merrell Publishers.  I may have to indulge myself with some of their other books--in particular Women Who Write by Stefan Bollmann and Reading Women by the same author.  Art books are good.  A daily dose of art should be required (just like a daily dose of reading)!

Monsters...Indeed!

While I enjoy reading books set in the 18th and 19th centuries, I don't think I would have wanted to live then.  At least not as someone poor and without family or a protector.  Clare Clark's The Nature of Monsters presents a rather colorful yet menacing picture of London of 1719--full of superstitions and misinformation.  What a stinky, dirty, foul place London must have been at that time!  I mentioned the book earlier this week.  I couldn't put the book down until I found out what happened, and I must say it has been quite a ride!  In Clark's very informative afterword she says:

"And what of the spirit of England, of London?  What were they like, these people who would breathe life into my story?  As the late historian Roy Porter succinctly described it, 'The House of Hanover inherited a hard-working, hard-living, plain-speaking nation which only gradually became more preoccupied with refinement.'  Londoners had an ingrained tolerance of drunkenness and squalor and were notably unsqueamish in their habits (the diarist Samuel Pepys once nonchalantly defecated in a fireplace, leaving it for servants to clean up).  Emotions were near the surface; the stiff upper lip that has since come to define the English had not yet been invented.  Life was noisy and violent, compensated by the aggressive pursuit of pleasures and passions.  Foreigners were astonished at the licence permitted to the people and found the English extraordinarily politically well-informed and assertive.  The lifeblood of popular politics ran through the torrent of newspapers, handbills, ballads, posters, and cartoons that flooded the ubiquitous coffee-houses and taverns and spilled out onto the streets."

Clark evokes this London well.  If you like to feel, see, nearly smell the locale of a novel, this is your book.  To put it briefly--young Eliza Tally comes to London alone and pregnant.  She has been sent to work in the house of an apothecary as a housemaid.  Mr. Black has a rather unusual (though perhaps not surprising for the times?) obsession.  He closes himself up in his laboratory, forever writing his treatises that will ensure his fame and prepares for his experiments.  Already part of the household is a half-wit named, Mary (another maid), and the disreputable assistant Edgar Pettigrew.  It doesn't take long for Eliza to discover there is something sinister going on, but she is kept a virtual prisoner by Mrs. Black.  I don't want to give anymore detail and ruin the fun--if you want to find out more, you'll have to pick up the book.  I can heartily recommend it, though be aware there is a certain grotesqueness to the story.  It might not be to everyone's tastes, but it is indeed done well.  I will definitely be reading her first novel, The Great Stink.

There are a lot of great quotable passages in this novel, which I won't bombard you with, though there are one or two I'd like to share.  One of Eliza's duties is to swap out books Mr. Black has finished with for new ones that she gets from M. Honfleur, a bookseller, who turns out to be an unlikely friend.  I have read somewhere else that the area around St. Paul's Cathedral was famous for its booksellers.

"Mr. Honfleur's shop, when I found it, was a quite different looking place.  For a start, the books on the table outside were not bundled together higgledy-piggledy and tied up with lengths of twine.  There were no stacks of loose papers or dog-eared periodicals jumbled together with packets of sugar and tea.  Instead, they were arranged in neat rows, the spines all facing outwards so that they might be easily inspected, and above them a broad awning of canvas had been stretched to prevent the sun from fading their bindings."

And inside:

"The evening sun did not penetrate the shop, for thin calico drapes had been drawn across the windows, but the dim light had a pearly sheen, a quiet contemplativeness that was quite different from the sealed-up dark of Swan-street.  I stood in the doorway, afraid to enter.  I had never seen so many books in all  my life.  Not an inch of wall was visible.  Even the slice of space above the window contained two narrow shelves, both crammed with volumes.  As for the shop itself, it was a maze of bookshelves, all of them higher than my head and with barely enough room for a grown man to pass between them.  Where there was a crack of space between the books there were piled neat sheaves of writing paper, quills, ledgers, letter cases, sealing wax, wafers, slates, pencils, ink powder, even on one shelf a box of spectacles.  It was impossible to imagine that a proprietor might be accommodated in such a place unless he, too, were bound in leather and his name tooled upon his spine in letters of gold."

I love that description.  Even if I might not want to live in the squalor of 18th century London, that bookstore sounds pretty nice.  I think I will take a little break from such a picturesque place and finish reading Yasmine Ghata's The Calligraphers' Night next.  I am sure I will return to London later, but 20th century Turkey sounds like a nice change of pace!