We go to sleep pretty early (we aim for 9:30, but it’s usually 10. I hate seeing the clock go past 10 pm). I usually fall asleep quickly (my sleep problems are early waking), but Jeremy uses his Kindle to help him sleep. He reads in a dark room and then when he’s sleepy enough, he gently lets the book fall to the bed and closes his eyes. He enjoys not needing to turn off an extra reading light. The book that he picks needs to be pretty specific – not too exciting to prevent the sleepiness, but not too boring to not want to keep reading. It’s usually non-fiction about transportation or urban planning. I’ve not known him to be a great fiction reader. But recently, he’s gone through the entire Dickens oeuvre, culminating in Bleak House which he finished on Sunday night. But it broke his rules – it was too exciting so he stayed up until 1 pm on both nights! I kind of can’t believe he stayed up late reading Dickens. Most people binge was episodes on Netflix. My husband stays up late reading Victorian era novels.
We had a long discussion about the word Dickensian and which one of Dickens’ novels was the most Dickensian. Apparently being Dickensian involves: an orphan, a stage villain, a beatific virgin, a ludicrous spinster, a wily cockney factotum (?, had to google that – an employee that does all kinds of work), a shabby genteel sponger, a bachelor philanthropist, a sadistic schoolmaster, a devious lawyer, a spirited cripple and a child destined for an early grave and Bleak House is 10/10. He loved this book.
This resulted in an unusually behaved husband. A little grouchy, and a little daytime sleepy. I was walking in/out of our bedroom yesterday afternoon to find Jeremy sound asleep. Snoring with the dog nestled under his arm – also apparently snoring. Both blissful and happy.
