Sprung....

Spring has indeed sprung; a week after the vernal equinox the weather is finally more spring like. I awoke to a beatiful, sunny day with the sounds of singing birds. Our expected high today is 69º; I don't expect much snow to be left on the ground when I get home tonight.

Today I was able to finish The History of Tom Jones - A Foundling by Henry Fielding. Amusing by today's standards, it was most certainly shocking, and perhaps scandalous, when it was first published in 1749. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it, despite taking a bit to get into. In fact, things didn't start picking up until about 100 pages into it. Once things got going, though, it was a very entertaining read. In my opinion, it has stood the test of time much better than, say, Jane Austen's Emma.

Next is King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard. This particular edition was published by Reader's Digest, and illustrated by Walter Paget. I'm not familiar with any of Haggard's work, and have heard little of the book itself, other than that both the book, and its hero, Allan Quatermain, have been the subjects of numerous movies.