The Medici Popes, How Boring

This morning, I was up early. Rain against my window. Coffee brewing. And reading Innocents Abroad – literally SNORTING with laughter. Especially when Mark Twain just went OFF on the Medicis. He just goes OFF on them for about 3 pages, and … it’s just feckin’ hilarious. He was like PISSED at the Medicis. He started to mess with the tour guides – who were showing this or that Medici corpse – with an air of reverence that Twain couldn’t stand. He would say, in a tone of horrified uncertainty, as he stared down at the blackened skull of some Medici pope: “Is … is he dead?” He KEPT doing this, on every tour across Italy. He was so sick of the Medicis that he reFUSED to be in awe of them. “Is … is he dead?” Just to see the befuddled expression on the guide’s face.

Mark Twain, come to think of it, has the same response to the Medicis that Cashel did – my dad scrolling through the television, stopped for 2.3 seconds on the History channel – a brief picture flashed on the screen of some be-ruffed velvet-hatted Renaissance dude – Cashel saw that one picture, and rolled his eyes in boredom, saying, “The Medici popes.”

Cashel is OVER “the Medici popes” – Mark Twain seems filled with righteous anger about them.

It’s a great book. A rollickingly wonderful read. It’s a really good book that can make you laugh out loud at 6:45 in the morning.

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3 Responses to The Medici Popes, How Boring

  1. triticale says:

    There used to be a street gang in Chicago called The Insane Popes. Their turf-marking graffiti was among the first things my brother noticed upon returning from a year studying his art in Italy…

  2. Just1Beth says:

    I hate the fact- and yet love it- that Cashel is so much smarter than I could ever hope to be.

  3. red says:

    beth – hahaha I know … can you imagine being BORED by the Medici popes??? Or even knowing what the hell a Medici pope is? At 8 years old??

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