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As I wrote in an earlier posting, which I deleted, this week hasn't been the easiest for me, nor was this weekend the most renewing. I think, in some ways, I was running on empty, and need this week to be a week of contemplation. I've picked up my Julian of Norwich again to read and think about before office, and that has been helpful. Julian's one of my favorite spiritual writers, because she's so straightforward about her opinions about salvation. I hope to make time for contemplation throughout the day, as well, instead of focusing so much on the homework that needs to be done.
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Last night I had a blast watching the BBC's A Room with a View. I thought it was dreadful compared to the Helena Bonham Carter version put out years ago. Luckily, about a half an hour into the movie, three of my fellow Dominicans joined me in watching it, and we spent the rest of the time laughing at it. Dominicans are too good at commentary! To be honest, the film made the story look like: 1) Prim and Proper English girl goes to Italy, 2) Said girl enjoys wandering in the woods, where she kisses man she hardly knows, 3) A man who enjoys bathing publically. ---That's an odd plot. I've read A Room with a View, so I know that there's more poetry to it than that. But I really enjoyed the fact that the climax of the story is such an ordinary moment as when Lucy Honeychurch finally breaks down while talking to Mr. Emerson, and says, "But I've made a muddle of everything." That's all she had to say in order to admit her true feelings, and why she hadn't acted on them. It's wonderful. Of course, E. M. Forster is one of my favorite authors. Where Angels Fear to Tread and Maurice are excellent stories, as well.
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I've begun my paper of Mansfield Park. Two or three pages a day ought to do it. By the way, I highly recommend the movie The Jane Austen Book Club. I actually like it better than Becoming Jane, which I bearly liked at all, compared to Miss Austen Regrets, which I thought was well done.
P~
