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4 Books, 10 Episodes, a Musical, a Movie and 1 Trip.

I ought to have mentioned that besides eating some delicious stuff this past weekend it was a culturally infused weekend as well. I finished reading a short story, listened to 2 recorded books, I went to the theater, to the movies and watched an entire season of a TV show.

I finished reading “Diary of a Mad Man” by Nikolai Gogol; it’s a part of a collection of short stories but I don’t think I’ll finish the rest. Gogol was a genius and it’s said that the rest of the colossuses of Russian literature came from under his “Overcoat.” However, it takes a special frame of mind to enjoy his works. One needs to entirely disconnect from the present and step into the world of the sarcastic and surreal.

On my way to the Cape I finished listening to “Death on the Nile” by Agatha Christie and started “Death in Venice” by Thomas Mann which I finished on my way back to NY and started “The Renaissance: a short history” by Paul Johnson. I found it an interesting coincident that both books’ titles start with death and how different they are.

Death on the Nile, allegedly the author’s favorite, was very engaging and unfortunately intuition made me guess who the murderer was in almost the very beginning. Death in Venice, by contrast, was a bit over my head. With a special and exclusive introduction written and read by Michael Cunningham, this book automatically appeared as a highly regarded work of art. Although translated from German, the narrative flows very passionately and creates vivid images. It’s is a very dramatic story. I would say that as much as I enjoyed listening to it, it’s a book to be read as well.

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I got to Joan’s house on Friday, around 8:00pm, and we started watching the first season of “True Blood.” We were immediately hooked. I got up at 8:00am on Saturday and went for an oil change at the dealership and after that to the Cape Cod Nutrition Corner. Regretfully, the service at the dealership and the prices at the nutrition store weren’t as good as I remembered them. I made a solid breakfast upon my return and we continued watching True blood.

Saturday evening we hit Dunkin Donuts for Iced coffee and drove to Boston to see Rent, the musical. I had seen the movie a couple of years ago but wasn’t prepared for the awesomeness of the play. When Tom Collins sang after Angel’s death I was bawling my eyes out. We drove straight home after the play and watch the remaining 2 episodes of True Blood.

Sunday was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince day; the official reason for my visit to Hyannis this time. I, of course, enjoyed the movie; I’m a fan after all. We got up had coffee and met up with Kate for breakfast. After the movies we hung out for a short while but nowhere near enough, Kate!