SISTER SUNDAY
Are you feeling the joy and excitement of SISTER SUNDAY dear readers? Or are you a new reader and you have no idea what SISTER SUNDAY even is? For my dear readers, SISTER SUNDAY is when my sister, Alissa, peer pressures me into reading the kind of books that I would normally not read left to my own devices.
And, today she threw me a big blogging challenge in the form of a book that is out of print. So I was unable to find a picture of the book, or a description. So I had to settle for a picture of Woodrow Wilson and his wife Ellen Axson Wilson, whose love letters are the subject of today's book.
Before getting to my shallow thoughts for the day, it's time for my really shallow thought: The spine of today's book was upside down. So I spent the day looking like a four-year-old who was pretending to read. This amused me more than it should, because I'm simple when it comes to that sort of thing.
Now on to our regularly scheduled shallow thoughts:
- I started out really enjoying today's book. I got swept up into the letters, I contemplated reading more books about Woodrow Wilson, I talked about how if Woodrow and Ellen were alive today they would be on my mental list of celebrity couples that I would be upset if they ever broke up. And then my sister lowered the boom, and informed me that Woodrow cheated on his wife. To say that I was shocked and horrified would be an understatement. Alissa attempted to placate me by telling me that Ellen forgave Woodrow and they repaired their marriage. Well, Ellen may have forgiven Woodrow, but I haven't. I'm still, hours later, unable to look at his pictures without feeling extreme amounts of disgust (and normally I can't stay mad at anyone when I'm looking at a pictures of them.) I think I'm going to need some time before I can forgive him for his transgressions. Healing takes time.
- Favorite sentence, "It was considered most unladylike to show the least sign of interest until a young man proposed. . . " - So clearly Ellen was a Rules girl (I'm still irritated that The Rules remains the one book I can remember vividly from this year, by the way.) I'm very confused about these proposal rules - so a man just proposes to a woman with absolutely no idea whether she even cares about him in the first place. Sounds like a relaxing situation.
- Favorite passage, "He was only thirty-one, yet now he felt old, no longer able to capture the boyish high spirits that were a part of his nature, and very despondent about his future." - So basically I have 9 1/2 months left before my life is over. Why oh why do discussions about people my age - or close to it - being old amuse me so much? I just don't understand it.
