Certainty

It was my hope that my reading would reach the fall of Vicksburg last night but fatigue and PBS's brief doc on Yalta vanquished such arrogance. Foote writes with panache, especially about glib observations of Sherman and Grant, especially b'twixt and between. Somehow the tragedy of the siege is muted, though of course it never assumed the proportion of such latter-day episodes. The plan remains that I will read with Shelby until Vicksburg capitulates and then I HAVE to return to Mann as N is building a healthy lead. Did I mention that I have been reading 3-5 pages of Applebaum's Gulag each night? Quite the lullaby.