I awoke with a headache today. Even though my scheduled chapter was a shorter one, I wasn’t up to it. So I started Twain on audiobook. I listened to his introduction—his typical jocularity—and then all the set-up. First a long quote from Mallory (I think), then the prelude to the manuscript of the story being handed off to Twain’s framing narrator. Then I fell asleep.
I wound up sleeping the day away. When I pick Twain back up I’ll go over everything in the text to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I expect mainly to read from Project Gutenberg or Libby if they have it. Given that my scheduled chapter was shorter—the next is shorter as well followed by a long one—I decided to squeeze it in before bed (the headache having abated). Now I have done.
Truth is, most of this archeology stuff flies over my head. Actually Chou/Zhou marks the beginning of literature and my authors do draw on that, but it still doesn’t feel like what we commonly designate when we call something “a history”. My first book of 2026 will be on the Eastern Zhou, after this on the Western Chou. (Though both part of the same Yale series the transliteration is different.) In spite of missing a lot, I am gradually picking up an overall chronology of Chinese history.
My authors, Hsu and Linduff, have not let me down.
David Novak Reads Poetry
I awoke with a headache today. Even though my scheduled chapter was a shorter one, I wasn’t up to it. So I started Twain on audiobook. I listened to his introduction—his typical jocularity—and then all the set-up. First a long quote from Mallory (I think), then the prelude to the manuscript of the story being handed off to Twain’s framing narrator. Then I fell asleep.
I wound up sleeping the day away. When I pick Twain back up I’ll go over everything in the text to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I expect mainly to read from Project Gutenberg or Libby if they have it. Given that my scheduled chapter was shorter—the next is shorter as well followed by a long one—I decided to squeeze it in before bed (the headache having abated). Now I have done.
Truth is, most of this archeology stuff flies over my head. Actually Chou/Zhou marks the beginning of literature and my authors do draw on that, but it still doesn’t feel like what we commonly designate when we call something “a history”. My first book of 2026 will be on the Eastern Zhou, after this on the Western Chou. (Though both part of the same Yale series the transliteration is different.) In spite of missing a lot, I am gradually picking up an overall chronology of Chinese history.
My authors, Hsu and Linduff, have not let me down.
5 hours ago | [YT] | 1