Up All Night

by Bethanne 05:27 PM

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a teenaged girl in possession of an invitation to the senior prom must be in want of a dress -- and so last night I and my own Lizzie Bennet set out to the dressmaker's (read: Tyson's Corner Center) so that she might be properly clad for this splendid event.

The Jane Austen allusions are mainly here because my daughter persisted in treating me as if I were Mrs. Bennet: A silly, blathering, not-very-well-educated idiot. Not only do I not know how dresses should fit, I have no idea what's in style, what looks good on her, or how much cleavage is too much.

By the time we'd wound up locked inside of a department store because she'd insisted on trying on three more dresses as the loudspeakers blared "Please take purchases to the nearest cashier now; we are closing in five minutes," I was more done than a roast forgotten in the oven. I wearily piloted our car back home and kept my mouth firmly closed the entire way, lest I say something regrettable twixt mall and driveway.

I was so wrung out by the whole experience that I couldn't sleep, so of course, I decided to read. Fortunately, I'd recently purchased several books I really wanted to read, so I picked up Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

What a mistake! I think everyone should have a special nightstand stack dedicated to insomniac moments. This stack would include some French literary theory, an old history textbook or two, and perhaps some nursery rhymes -- things that are guaranteed to either stun or lull your brain into slumber. What shouldn't be in that stack are books of such beauty and truth, like "Olive Kitteridge," that they keep you awake. I didn't sleep a wink, and while I regret the lack of rest, I don't regret a second of Strout's story collection. If you haven't read this Pulitzer Prize winner, I highly recommend it.

But what do you read when you're trying to fall asleep?

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by on

The Silmarilion or the Hobbit by J R R Tolkien

The collected What If?

or a magazine

Just something to get the mind coils to relax.

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Harold Bloom - right now I'm just past the halfway point of Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human and I'm wishing Bloom would just get the heck over with it and have Falstaff's children already. Oy. When I manage to finish this one, Genius is on tap for beddy-bye reading.

I never went to prom (no date combined with dance recital night - and dance recital is far more important) but I was in both my brothers' weddings and went along for the obligatory bridal-dress hunt.

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I go to sleep to any Nero Wolfe book on CD. I have to be careful with which books on CD I use. Sue Grafton keeps me awake waiting for the next part of the story. With Nero Wolfe, I'm so comfortable that I fall asleep. If I wake up during the night, I start that CD again and go back to sleep. Obviously, this can't be the first time I've heard the story, but soon after.

KathyH

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Up All Night