Alllmost finished Vincent O’Sullovan’s Let The River Stand. I still think it’s a masterpiece but it has all gone a bit odd, or maybe I’m just not educated enough to understand all the allusions. Anyway, it lost me for a bit, and now the main character is at war in Spain, which I knew was going to happen, but I’m  disappointed. I’m not a fan of war stories and the politics too often escape me. I was kind of hoping he’d be a conscientious objector or something. Still, I learned where “Where the apple reddens, never pry” comes from, which thrilled me quite a lot, even though I’m not really into Romantic poetry. It’s about curiosity killing the cat I guess, from Robert Brownings’ A Woman’s Last Word.

Where the apple reddens
Never pry—
Lest we lose our Edens,
Eve and I.

I’ve been interspersing O’Sullivan with chapters from Twenty Contemporary New Zealand Writers, and today I scored Are Angels OK? The parallel universe of New Zealand writers and scientists (edited by Bill Manhire and Paul Callaghan) from Ferrit on Cuba St, so I guess that’s next on the list.

Back to studying – current topic: How to  make your endings Not Suck.