I was very glad to read mimi smartypants� tale of the Darwin boat as it made me feel better about AJ�s and my current bathtime game in which we attempt to reenact Moby Dick with a plastic rowboat, an androgynous sea captain, and a rubber whale that squirts water out of its mouth. We tried using a Q-tip as a harpoon, but it pretty much disintegrated after one bath, so we�re on the lookout for something else. Perhaps a toothpick from a fat deli sandwich, if we can track one down. It�s never too soon to introduce your child to great literature.

My trek into Chicago was great. It�s been a long time since I�ve gone in for no reason other than fun � I�m generally doing research or going to meetings or something else along those lines. I stopped by my old office to say hello and discovered, to my horror, that my coffee cup is still sitting next to the sink in the break room, right where I left it two and a half years ago when I started going into labor. I hope someone�s washed it since then.

I got on the Kimball line (brown line, to all you newcomers) at Wells, my old stop, so I could do the full circle around the Loop. I love that ride. Not only can you get a seat at rush hour, but my voyeuristic side is satisfied by views inside second and third story windows. You also get great vistas of avenues. Looking north up State Street, for example, was a glimmer of red and green lights. By the time I got off at Armitage, it was already dark. Wandering around dark side streets at night always leaves me with the soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch�s Night on Earth in my head, the perfect walking music.

It was about as quiet as I�ve ever seen it in the Armitage/Halsted/Sheffield area (does that neighborhood have a name?), so I actually got some Christmas shopping done and finally ended my quest for sparkling earrings that still met the Catholic school dress code for my niece�s birthday this weekend.

Book group was great fun. The food is always wonderful and the house we were in this time was perfect for a cozy discussion � one of those great old row houses on one of those dark little streets off of Armitage. I didn�t quite finish the book beforehand, but I had read enough to discuss it. And the discussion was a good one. I take back some of what I said yesterday. That the main character is Dostoevsky is not incidental, although it is still not something I�d call an historical novel, as it goes far beyond the usual agenda of such a genre. It does, however, appear to have been painstakingly researched, although it doesn�t reveal its historical sources overtly. It has much more to say about the nature of reading and writing, about contemporary politics and spirituality and ethics. It is, in fact, so densely packed with layers of meaning and references, that I think I�ll be pondering it for some time. It does not, however, come off in anyway as coy or clever. It is very artful, but it does not wear its artifice on its sleeve, something that allows me to accord it a great deal of respect.

For me, the defining passage of the book is the following speech by Dostoevsky when being questioned by the chief of police:

�When you read about Karamzin or Karamzov or whatever his name is, when Karamzin�s skull is cracked open like an egg, what is the truth: do you suffer with him, or do you secretly exult behind the arm that swings the axe? You don�t answer? Let me tell you then: reading is being the arm and being the axe and being the skull; reading is giving yourself up, not holding yourself at a distance and jeering.�

After listening to others talk about the Master of Petersburg and Disgrace, I think I�d better try Disgrace again, because most felt that was more emotional, not less. Perhaps it�s my own emotional attachment to Dostoevsky that makes this more immediate to me. The themes of the two books are actually somewhat similar. Coetzee seems haunted by the ghosts of his own past in much the way that his characters are. That is, no doubt, why he selects them.

We also covered children updates (new photos, college applications, driving lessons), home renovation horror stories (contractors, unexpected finds), work (trials, book tours, fundraising dinners), vacations past (Europe, Mexico, New York) and future (Utah, more Europe), Thanksgiving (crazy relatives, dinner disasters, holiday cheer) and any number of other topics. The attempt to summarize our lives in short order was less frenetic than usual, as we will mostly see each other in two weeks at our annual Christmas party. Much wine and chocolate was consumed. A good time was had by all

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