The Importance of Being Earnest, and Taking a Sick Day

I recently re-read The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. As usual, I laughed my head off. If you haven't read this marvelous play, you should...even if you've seen the movie. It's different from the movie (as books usually are).

I was going to write a review on it, but I read in an introduction to the play that Wilde himself said it was meant to show people that they should treat trivial things seriously, and serious things trivially. I suspect that Wilde's play, though it may seem rather trivial, is actually a serious thing, and to treat it seriously would be against the author's intent.

You might be shaking your head in disbelief at me, but seriously. Wilde wanted the play to be laughed at, and although there's certainly plenty for English majors to debate over all day, I'm not sure that's what he really would have wanted. And I've already done more debating over the social issues raised in the play in my English classes, so I certainly don't want to beat the poor thing over the head with it in my blog.

Besides, I have lots of other books to think and write about today! I am taking a sick day. And let's be real--a stuffed-up head and a sore throat are a small price to pay for the chance to sit in bed all day and read.



I'm usually in the middle of more than one book, but now I'm reading quite a few, as you might see from my Goodreads widget.

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau: This is one I've been in the middle of for an embarrassingly long time, but I may actually get it finished today. I only have about 50 pages to go. It will be nice to finally know how it ends!

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: This is the perfect book to read after Frankenstein. It's absolutely lovely so far. I might not finish it for a while because I'm really trying to savor this one.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells: This is certainly not the sort of book I would normally dive into, but I'm reading it for a class. I'm only a few pages in. I'll have it finished by Wednesday.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway: I tried to read this a long time ago but despite its extremely easy length, I never finished. It's going to be a super quick read. I loved The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway and I'll be glad to have read this one, too.

I'm loving being surrounded by books and having so many to choose from! This is what being sick is all about. (I think...)