A lot of reading goes on here in the evenings. Mary and I can both get very enthusiastic about what we're reading. When a book's really good you just have to share it. That can get confusing.

Yesterday Mary was immersed in a Wilkie Collins novel while I was chuckling, rather bleakly, over a collection of Kurt Vonnegut essays.

"Oh no," says Mary. "Apparently any will a man makes while single is invalidated when he marries. Or at least it was at the time. I thought one of the daughters might be cut off, but not both."

"Hmmphh," I reply, before quoting from my book. "'Do you realize that all great literature-Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn, A Farewell to Arms, The Scarlet Letter, The Red Badge of Courage, The Iliad and The Odyssey, Crime and Punishment, The Bible, and The Charge of the Light Brigade-are all about what a bummer it is to be a human being?'"

"The younger daughter is planning to get the money back but what it might be who knows."

"'The truth is, we know so little about life, we don't really know what the good news is and what the bad news is.'" quoth I. "How about some ice cream?"

"Ah. Coffee flavored."

"Yeah. Funny how I like coffee ice cream but hate iced coffee."

"Now the younger daughter is pursuing her plan to get the money back by going about London in disguise, a highly unlikely tale."

"'Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.' See, that's why I never use semicolons."

"The scene has moved to Suffolk and he refers to the German Ocean. That's the old name for the North Sea."

"Ha! Vonnegut says, 'If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts.'"

"That's unkind. Oh look, is it 11:30 already."

"He keeps mentioning Mark Twain. Maybe I'll read Huckleberry Finn next."

"Let me just finish this chapter before we go to bed."