The Bibliophage

Better late than never…

July 24th, 2006

Well, at this rate, I’ll have another post actually related to reading and books by the end of this century!

I just finished upgrading to Wordpress 2.03, and everything appears to have gone smoothly.

I recently decided to attempt to tackle Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. I’m reading the newer Penguin translations, and am on the first volume, Swann’s Way. I’m enjoying it so far, although it is taking me a while to really get into it. I’m hoping that I’m going to recognize it for the masterpiece it’s made out to be. Time will tell.

I’ve also got a bunch of recently read books I’m planning on posting on soon. I’m hoping to take a more active role in the blog, and actually build something of value here. Wish me luck!

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Back from the grave…

May 11th, 2006

Well, after nearly a year’s hiatus from the last entry, I am back! I am hoping to do a better job on keeping things updated around here more frequently on my second attempt at making this blog a success. Anyways, I’ve bought a ton of books in the meantime (and even read a few), and will be posting an entry with some meat on its bones in a bit.

I’m also hoping to upgrade the site to Wordpress 2.0 soon and check out some of the new features. If all goes well, I won’t blow up what little blog there is in the process. Wish me luck!

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Time enough at last…

July 25th, 2005

mrbemis

Anyone remember that classic episode of the Twilight Zone Time Enough At Last starring Burgess Meredith as the bookish Mr. Bemis who is constantly reading to the detriment of his personal and professional life? In the requisite TZ twist, our protagonist finds himself alone, the sole survivor of World War III, with all the time in the world to catch up on his reading. Just when things seem like they are finally going to work out for our nebbish, he drops and shatters his reading glasses in his excitement, and is left unable to read the piles of books on all sides. Ah, cruel irony…

I’ve been feeling a lot like Mr. Bemis for quite some time (in his prebellum condition anyways). I keep buying books but can never catch up with the ever growing piles. I mentioned starting a queue in a previous entry to try to work through a small portion of the backlog, and still plan on implementing that idea, but lately have felt like more draconian measures are necessary.

With that in mind, I have decided to declare a moratorium on all NEW full price book buying for as long as possible (realizing my gentle madness will only allow this to continue for a limited time). I’m excluding bargains at the used book store or library sale from this decree, but this means no new purchases from Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, and all my other usual haunts.

I’m doing this for a few reasons, but the first and foremost right now is financial. I’m trying to get my financial house in order and buying massive amounts of books as each paycheck rolls in is not the most ideal way of getting there. I’d like to have a real personal library some day, and it ain’t going to happen when I don’t even own a house.

The other reason is that I’ve been feeling guiltier than usual lately with my book buying addiction. I look at all the great books I have to work through that I currently own, and just don’t feel right adding more to the pile right now with so many already there.

Any of my fellow bibliomaniacs ever feel this way?

A few other quick comments…I finished Don Quixote fairly recently. I’m planning on sharing my thoughts on it, for what they’re worth in a longer, separate post, but in a nutshell, I really enjoyed it! I went into it because I felt obligated to finally get through such a classic, and came out of it with a profound appreciation for Cervantes and his amazing book. I also thought it was often hilarious.

I also just finished Dirda’s Readings which is a collection of essays from the Pulitzer Prize winning literary critic. Again, I’m planning on offering more detailed thoughts on this one in another post, but I am hooked on Dirda after reading this. If you love books, it’s hard not to love his style, breadth of knowledge, and enthusiasm for reading. I am looking forward to reading his new collection Bound to Please which is in my must read pile right now.

I’m about to start The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa, by the Japanese writer, Yasunari Kawabata.

I’m hoping to be more consistent with my blog entries going forward; real life just has a troublesome habit of getting in the way lately.

Posted in Reading, Ramblings | 1 Comment »

Where in the world is Francis Dickens…

July 21st, 2005

From the little known facts department:

Francis Dickens (yes that Dickens), the third son of famed Charles Dickens is buried in a cemetery overlooking the Mighty Mississip in the small town of Moline, Ill.

For the full story, head over to the Chicago Tribune.

To see exactly where he’s buried courtesy of Google maps, click here.

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New novel by Dumas tops bestseller list!

July 21st, 2005

A previously unpublished Dumas novel has been discovered in serial format by a retired lecturer in a now defunct 19th century journal called The Universal Monitor.

From the full article (link via yahoo news):

“The novel, which Schopp gave the title ‘Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine,’ charts the life of a dashing young nobleman, Hector de Sainte-Hermine, whose father and brothers all die by guillotine or firing squad in an heroic fight for the restoration of the monarchy and the fall of the republic.”

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Imagining the death of Dumbledore…

July 14th, 2005

The Guardian has a very cool contest going to imagine how Dumbledore of Harry Potter fame will meet his end in the style of another author. There are a ton of really great entries here.
(via Making Light)

Tags: Harry Potter

Posted in Reading, Cool Links | No Comments »

Some thoughts on blogging…

July 12th, 2005

I’ve been looking over some different canned themes for Wordpress lately. I’m not entirely unhappy with the vanilla Kubrick theme you’re looking at (if anyone is actually reading this that is!), but I would like to jazz things up a bit. I am thinking about three (or maybe even four) column layouts, but am worried about things getting too busy on the page.

I still plan on improving my CSS and PHP skills when I can find the time. For now, I’ve added a little ‘What I’m reading’ list on the sidebar.

I’ve also added some stat tracking behind the scenes via a very cool plugin for Wordpress called StatTraq that delivers a host of tracking info in graphical format.

I also like the idea of showing a reading queue (I got the idea from a cool litblog called The Millions) that catalogs stuff in my ever present ‘to read’ pile. He uses a random number generator to determine which book to read next. It’s definitely geeky, but I may give it a whirl myself. Expect my list soon (at least a partial one, like many bibliophiles, my backlog is completely out of control and ever growing!).

Anyways, I’m still sailing through part two of Don Quixote and really enjoying it. I’ll post some final thoughts when I’m finished.

Tags: litblog Wordpress blogging

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Halfway through Don Quixote

July 10th, 2005

I finished up the first book of Cervante’s Don Quixote today. I’m reading from Edith Grossman’s translation. I haven’t read any of the other ones or the original Spanish to be able to compare, but I found the translation to be a great read in terms of style. There are also some helpful annotations throughout the text.

As far as the story itself, I never realized something written in the early 1600s could still seem so fresh, and at times absolutely hysterical. I found myself laughing out loud often which is an incredibly rare occurence for me when reading a book. I have had a ball reading this one so far.

I’m looking forward to the second part of the Don’s adventures.

For some great commentary on Don Quixote, check out 400 Windmills.

Harold Bloom on Don Quixote at The Guardian

Tags: Don Quixote Cervantes literature

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The Great Books…

July 6th, 2005

I first came across the Reading Rat around this time last year, and figured I’d mention it as a fantastic resource for reading ideas in the Great Books vein. In the unlikely event you’ve run out of reading ideas, check it out. It’s organized chronologically and begins with Gilgamesh in 2300 BC and ends with Winterson’s The Passion in 1959 AD. There are also links to criticism and other cool bibliophile sites.

This is another worthwhile Great Books site.

Here’s a metalist of canons and other Great Books lists.

Speaking of Great Books, here’s a few books on them I found good reads:

Harold Bloom’s The Western Canon

I happen to be a big fan of Bloom despite the fact he worships Shakespeare. I think most of his writing is interesting, and often insightful, even if you don’t happen to always agree with it. He also isn’t afraid to state his mind, and is unapologetic for picking a canon full of dead white men.

David Denby’s Great Books

Denby’s book really got me excited about reading some classics (whatever those are). At the age of 48, he decided to go back to school at Columbia and take a Great Books course. He chronicles his experiences doing so and his impressions of the books read in this one. I enjoyed both his commentary and his asides on what he learned about himself.

One of the quirks of my personality is a tendency to get obsessive about whatever my current interest is whether it’s a favorite author, homebrewing, etc. When I was on my last Great Books kick about a year ago, I also picked up a full set of The Harvard Classics relatively cheaply on Ebay. It was touted as the 5 foot shelf of knowledge at the time, and supposedly contained a full liberal arts education in a 50 volume set. Some of the translations are dated, and it does show its age in many ways, but it’s a neat collection to have around to dig into. I think I got mine for around $100.00 plus shipping.

Tags: great books western canon harvard classics

Posted in Reading, Cool Links, Reviews | No Comments »

The children are our future

June 29th, 2005

I was killing time before a cocktail party last night in the local B&N, and stumbled across a very interesting looking children’s book that I had never heard of before. I ended up taking it home with me.

It’s an English translation of the classic German book of twisted kiddy tales called Struwwelpeter. It was written back in the good old days when corporal punishment and stern moralizing were still acceptable items in the child rearing toolbox. This is the Feral House edition which includes a nice introduction to the book, a modern edition with some killer illustrations by Sarita Vendetta, and a copy of the original edition.

The author, Hoffmann, wrote the book in his spare time (when he wasn’t managing the local insane asylum) as a Christmas gift for his son Carl after being unable to find a suitable one in the local shops.

Apparently Struwwelpeter served as inspiration for later works such as Dahl’s ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and the work of Edward Gorey among others. The rhyming moralizing of the Oompa Loompas in the Chocolate Factory is very reminiscent of these tales.

Here’s an excerpt from Struwwelpeter from a story meant to discourage thumbsucking:

One day Mamma said “Conrad dear,
I must go out and leave you here.
But mind now, Conrad, what I say,
Don’t suck your thumb while I’m away.
The great tall tailor always comes
To little boys who suck their thumbs;
And ere they dream what he’s about,
He takes his great sharp scissors out,
And cuts their thumbs clean off—and then,
You know, they never grow again.”

There is a very nice illustrated edition available for free online at Project Gutenberg.

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this one when I have the time. It should dovetail nicely with the Annotated Brothers Grimm that I also picked up recently.

The cocktail party turned out to be a lot of fun also; I got to sample a bunch of delicious tapas and drink some good Spanish wine with friends. For a moment there, I actually believed I wasn’t an antisocial misanthrope!

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