Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Alan Jacobs recently wrote a review of a couple of new annotated editions of The Wind in the Willows which prompted me to reread the book. I followed Jacobs' method--only one chapter per night. The book was, as Jacobs noted, utterly charming. If you haven't read it for some time, I'd highly recommend it. I'd also highly recommend the one-chapter-at-a-time rule. It is not a book to be rushed.

I must admit, though, pace Jacobs, that Toad is the best character; the model of charming conceit is terribly appealing. Perhaps this is simply a Rorschach test, but how can anyone resist:

"He got so puffed up with conceit that he made up a song as he walked in praise of himself, and sang it at the top of his voice, though there was no one to hear it but him. It was perhaps the most conceited song that any animal ever composed.

'The world has held great Heroes,
As history books have showed;
But never a name to go down to fame
Compared with that of Toad!

'The clever men at Oxford
Know all that there is to be knowed.
But they none of them know one half
As much as intelligent Mr. Toad!'

[...]

There was a great deal more of the same sort, but too dreadfully conceited to be written down. These are some of the milder verses"

I talked Clara into reading it too--she really enjoyed it at first, but gave up around chapter 10 (out of 12)--then again, I didn't encourage her to read it at a slow pace.

The ride at Disneyland has been one of my favorite rides since I was very young.