There. I finally got the mammogram done. I don’t mind them. There is some briefly-uncomfortable SQUEEZING, yes, but it’s okay. I HATE gyn exams, more for the embarrassment than for the discomfort, but I don’t mind vertical chestal nakedness much.
(photo from Amazon.com)
I finished reading The Headmaster’s Wife. First of all, I am so tired of The _____’s Wife/Daughter titles. Why so many? It reminds me of that test: “What’s wrong with this sentence: He shot his neighbor’s wife,” and the answer is that his neighbor’s wife is ALSO his neighbor, so it should just be “He shot his neighbor.” (Another thing wrong with that sentence is that you shouldn’t shoot your neighbor.) There can of course be REASONS for phrasing things that way, GOOD reasons, but the GIST is supposed to be that there can be things in our language that reflect unconscious or outdated attitudes, and that is the sort of thing that comes to mind when I see too many “The Man’s Woman” titles.
Secondly, the plot made me very, very uncomfortable, and then even more uncomfortable, until I decided I wasn’t going to read any more of it. Then I took it back out of the library bag and read a little more—and no, I’m NOT reading this. Then I started skimming—and things took a turn for the different, and I finished the whole thing and found it quite mesmerizing. I don’t even know if I RECOMMEND it or not, because I found the first part so unpleasant to read, and the second part is not exactly uplifting or happy. But I was very interested in it.
I have that book on my to-read list and was not sure whether I should keep it there or delete it. I think I will read it soon because now you’ve really piqued my curiosity.
Seriously? I much prefer gyno exams to mammograms. But I’ve had the same gyno since before I was married (really!) and we spend the whole time talking about what our families are doing and I completely forget that I’m on my back staring at the ceiling. The mammo technician, on the other hand, I’ve never met before, and she’s RIGHT THERE running a Volkswagen over the cement blocks on my chest. Ick.
I’ve also noticed the proliferation of Somebody’s Wife/Daughter titles and have just lumped them all together in my brain as one book that I didn’t love but was good enough for the beach.
I had to come back here and report to you that I JUST NOTICED I am 1/3 of the way through a book that ends in the word “Wife” and that DIDN’T EVEN OCCUR TO ME when I commented two days ago.
I just realized today that I hadn’t read any Swistle in over a month and that is just ridiculous. I’m still shaking an angry fist at Google for killing Google Reader because they have ruined blog reading I say, RUINED.
Oh and my next point was, I am reading back-posts TODAY and just finished reading this book YESTERDAY and so I can comment on it:
Warning: Vague Spoilerish Comments Below
I can totally understand your comments. I had the same feelings and for a few minutes in the middle I was all “Wait. What? Did it happen or not?” ALSO I was very suspicious from the beginning when one person’s name was a common nickname of another person’s name. I was waiting for someone to point that out and felt very satisfied with my sleuthing abilities when the reason for that became clear. I’m glad this was under 300 pages as it was a quick read and enjoyable but also I didn’t want to put up with much more of it. Oh and I ALSO have an issue with the “The _______’s Wife”, when I went to add this book to my goodreads read list, there were three different books with that title alone. Why wasn’t she The Librarian or really – the book was less to do about her and more to do about him. The Headmaster would have been sufficient. Or Crazy Dude Who Walks Naked in the Snow…