Some random Friday thoughts

• It's pouring rain right now. This is going to wreak havoc on my bicycle riding plans, I'm afraid. I might even, God forbid, have to ride indoors on my trainer (which turns my bike into a stationary bike). I think it's a crime to ride indoors in May, but I'm training for races here, and the rain ....
• I'm really liking Cloud Atlas. I've been wanting something I can't put down, and at first I didn't think this was going to do. I figured out the structure -- the interlocking stories -- and then I wasn't that excited about having to begin new stories all the time. This is why I don't read many collections of short stories -- I think it takes a lot of work to orient myself to a new story with new characters, setting, etc. And in that respect, I can be a lazy reader. The first story in Cloud Atlas didn't grab my attention right away, and I got a bit worried. But when the part about Robert Frobisher began, things turned around. I liked his character quite a bit. And now I'm into the Luisa Rey part, and am feeling like I don't want to put the book down. So all is good.
• I'm beginning to get into The Tale of Genji a bit more. I've been reading a chapter here and there, and at first each chapter was about a new woman Genji was chasing after. I was having to get to know new characters every chapter. I'm trying to figure out where Murasaki's perspective as a woman comes in here, if at all. I mean, the narrator has sympathy with the women who suffer because of Genji, but the story is told from his perspective, and the narrator doesn't condemn what he does, in any way I can pick up on. But lately (I'm 300 pages into a 1,000-page book), there are new plot elements besides Genji pursuing women, and I'm getting drawn in. The story has its own rhythm, and you just have to go with it. There's something appealing to me about the slow, slow development of a story. I'm guessing this is why I didn't hate Clarissa. If 1,500 very large pages with tiny print that contain three major plot events sounds like fun to you, Clarissa is your book.
• After all the discussion about connections between love and reading, I came across this in Cloud Atlas: Frobisher says, "A half-read book is a half-finished love affair." Indeed.
• For poetry Friday, I thought I'd leave you with the lyrics to a song I've had stuck in my head all week. I don't listen to much music these days, alas, since I don't read very well with music in the background, and in the car I'm usually listening to NPR. But a friend sent me a CD recently, which I've fallen in love with. Here are the lyrics to "Roll my Blues," which in the version that's in my head is sung by Jolie Holland.
  
  I've been knocked out
  Drugged and loaded
  River's roarin' on before me
  And I look down at my reflection
  Where its headed, no direction
  River
  Won't you roll my blues away
  
  All my life I've been alone
  And never have I had a home until you came
  But now love's gone bad
  Its kind of sad
  But I guess that I'm to blame
  'Cause I'm just untamed
  
  Oh I can see that I have fallen
  From your grace which was my calling
  West wind is blowin' hard against me
  Flat out road is all that I see
  Highway
  Won't you roll my blues away
  
  Oh never have I longed so dearly
  My mind sees you oh so clearly
  Freight train is coming fast and strong
  Steady rollin' on and on
  Freight train
  Won't you roll my blues away
  
  Oh I can see that I have fallen
  From your grace which was my calling
  West wind is blowin' hard against me
  Flat out road is all that I see
  Highway
  Won't you roll my blues away