Scandalous

I'm currently reading Thomas and Jane Carlyle, Portrait of a Marriage by Rosemary Ashton, an historical biography. What me pretentious? Nooo...

I first became aware of the Carlyles in Weekend 7 of my London countdown. At the suggestion of Lonely Planet: London, I took Corrinne with me to visit the preserved home of one of London's most intriguing couples of the 19th century.

From that visit, and the few pages from many that I've managed to understand so far from the book, the Carlyles were a power couple; he/she capable of commanding great respect, admiration and/or money earned from their individual and/or collective talents/genius/success. Today's example would be Brangelina. Posh and Becks. Bill and Hilary Clinton. Kylie and Jason back in the day.

I would love to be one half of a power couple. Admittedly I am a LONG way off that dream. But if we don't have dreams, what do we have? And having these dreams makes it easier going to bed at night. (It's the morning when you wake up that's the horror.)

But I digress. A book devoted to a celebrity couple. Wholly on the subject of their marriage, from courtship to death, when they parted. Doesn't this just sounds like a lifetime's worth of tabloid magazines bound together? But because this particular couple was exceptionally intelligent, witty and scholarly, an examination of their relationship is deemed academia. Go figure.