Carolus Linnaeus

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Seen at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

More than six years ago, before the world tilted on its axis, I had found the adult equivalent of concert band — a group that meets twice weekly, includes a sectional, and chooses music that is fun but not too challenging. For so many reasons, I was unable to return until now, so I am currently “test-driving” the program, using the shorter summer session to see if I’d like to make a long-term commitment. So far, so good.

The Botanic Garden is not far from where we practice, so on one of the last cool days in the forecast, I grabbed an overpriced coffee and walked a couple of miles. Just lovely.

Currently reading: Septology (Jon Fosse; 2019-2021) with a dear friend; Moby-Dick (Herman Melville; 1851), The New York Trilogy (Paul Auster; 1985-86), and An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter (César Aira; 2000) for Roundtable courses; The Iliad (Homer, translated by by Emily Wilson; 2023) for a seminar; and Hole in the Sky (Daniel H. Wilson; 2025).

Acquisitions

By Posted in books, music, theater 4 Comments

The above are a few gifts to self.

Since my last post, I have celebrated a birthday, performed in the spring recital, and finished a terrific course on Dickinson, Rilke, and Celan given by Ulrich Baer at Roundtable. I have also seen two plays: Out Here at the Court and An Enemy of the People at Timeline. (Enemy is can’t-miss theater.)

This is also the season of mowing, trimming, readying the raised beds (and adding a few), and sowing the wildflower seeds.

Recent acquisitions

By Posted in annotated reading lists (2026), books 1 Comment

Over the weekend, I finished two books for the Wilder seminar — By the Shores of Silver Lake and The Long Winter. I also finished rereading Beloved for a Roundtable course. Today I began The Enigma of Arrival (V.S. Naipaul; 1987) with APS Together and worked on the first section of Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf; 1925) for a new Roundtable course. This evening, before the final meeting of the seminar on the Old Testament with Marilynne Robinson, I set aside the required reading list for a bit and read another hundred pages in The Every (David Eggers; 2021), the follow-up to The Circle (2013), which I reread with the Commonplace Philosophy book club last month. Several participants recommended the sequel, and after a slow opening, I am now engaged (if pretty certain that this can conclude in only one way). I will catch up on this month’s book club selection, You and Your Profile: Identity After Authenticity (Hans-Georg Moeller and Paul D’Ambro; 2021), tomorrow.