March.

First, sturdy March with brows full sternly bent,
And armed strongly, rode vpon a Ram,
The same which ouer Helleponyus swam:
Yet in his hand a spade he also hent,
And in a bag all sorts of seeds ysame,
Which on the earth he strowed as he went,
And fild her womb with fruitfull hope of nourishment.
The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser.

The first thing I did in March 2013, at just before three o' clock in the morning, was finish The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. You all know what a struggle it was, but suddenly, in the last canto of 'Mutabilitie' it was good: very good. It almost made up for the rest! I'm glad to have read it, all of it I mean, and yes, I do appreciate it's complexity, it's intricacy, and it's value, but I also have to admit that this one is too much for me. I read it with almost no understanding, and was dependent on other people's interpretations. I have nothing original to say, which I expected, and aside from the last canto it didn't stir me in the least. It's a book that I have no involvement or attachment to at all. All I can say is, "Yes, I have read The Faerie Queene" but there's no real pride in it. I did learn from the mistakes of Remembrance of Things Past in that I took this very slowly, however I have no wish to re-read it (however I do have plans to make a better job of Proust, and that does excite me). The Faerie Queene is ticked off, and that is no way to approach literature.

But I read it. As ever, I will try any book and I won't be put off by other people's warnings or bad experiences. That I take pride in.

Anyway, this is sounding like a miserable post, and it's not at all. And this, by the way, is my 300th post! That's a lot of posts, and as ever, I love blogging here. I love my little bit of the book blogosphere and I'm so happy to have written to much. 

And it's March! The sun is streaming in (I actually can't see what I'm typing because the sun is reflecting off the computer screen), and it's so warm again I think I'll pop the budgies in the aviary.

As for book plans. Well, it's a busy month ahead: I want to make a start with the old spring clean, and there's a lot of paperwork to get through. But books: always time for books. I'm thinking about focusing on my 'Ought to Have Read' pile: there are only four books left: The Canterbury Tales, which I'm itching to read now (it is the perfect book for spring, and we're only twenty days away now), Interpretation of Dreams by Freud, which is a good one for me at the moment whilst I'm still plagued by strange dreams, Gulliver's Travels by Swift, which I'm also very much looking forward to read, and finally Doctor Zhivago, also on my 100 Greatest. Some Anthony Trollope is also very definitely in order, and I do want to re-read Orlando (partly due to Adam, and partly for Allie's Modern March. I also just want to read anything, go in any direction, as I said a few posts ago. And I want to read Zola. And everything, this month I want to read everything! I'm drawn to every direction.

And I'm also drawn to going for a walk. I've been a bit frustrated with photography these past few weeks: nothing is jumping out at me, and I feel like I'm taking the same pictures over and over again (hence the radical change in my Tumblr in the past few days). Perhaps today I'll get a good one. 

So, that is what I shall do! I love that spring is in the air, and I'm full of enthusiasm for everything to come, even the paper work! March is about getting things done, and I'm going to start now.

Happy March, everyone!