Which books matter most to you?

[Ulpianus]

Benissimus recently established just how many books we all have. I have a slightly different question: Of your many books, which ones do you like or need most? If you had to strip your library down to just three books, which ones would you keep, and why?

My choices:

Oxford Latin Dictionary A simply amazing resource for identifying all subtle shades of meaning.

Woodcock, A New Latin Syntax because of all grammar books it makes the best attempts to explain why grammar is as it is, and display it as a rational system, rather than just as a load of jargon

Virgil, OCT Because I can get the Georgics and the Aeneid in one volume and I've got to have something to read with my dictionary. A hard choice though, and partly a matter of mood.

[Barrius]

Right now, since I'm just learning, I'd have to say D'Ooge's "Latin For Beginners" is the only book I need. I'd love to be in a position to possess three Latin books ;o)

[annis]

Smyth, Greek Grammar. Still the best reference for the basics, and obscure dialect matters.

The Middle Liddell - I don't know all those words!

The Oxford Book of Greek Verse - 596 pages of lyrical goodness, from large selections of Homer to Cometas (10th century).

[chad]

what a horrible prospect. for me it'd have to be the ones i flick through every day:

sidgwick's greek prose composition: i find the 100 pages of notes in the front of this book the best summary of greek, for writing as well as reading.

my big lsj.

OCT iliad books 1-12, although aristotle would never forgive me for abandoning his topics, which i've been studying for over 3 years now...

[klewlis]

That's really hard! I have to do three for each language:

Latin:
501 Latin verbs
Latin dictionary (I just have the mini oxford)
Greek-Latin New Testament

Greek:
Middle Liddel
Kubo (Reader's Lexicon)
BGAD

[benissimus]

Most of the resources I use are online, but the books I tend to use most are Cassell's Latin Dictionary and Oxford Latin Dictionary as references, N&H Latin Prose Comp and M&F: Intensive Course for schoolwork, and Allen & Greenough's for grammar reference. I just got Woodcock, so that may yet become one of my main consorts.

[Emma_85]

Well, the books I just can't do without for my translation work (though in the exam all I'm allowed is a dictionary of course ) are all German.
One very short grammar (which includes an aorist table, which I need ) with only about 100 pages, my dictionary and my vocab book (the most important Greek vocabulary. I've copied all the words onto vocab cards) - that's about it really.

[PeterD]

The Oxford Book of Greek Verse - 596 pages of lyrical goodness, from large selections of Homer to Cometas (10th century).

Hi Annis,

Which edition of the Oxford text would you recommend?

Thanks,

PeterD

[annis]

Which edition of the Oxford text would you recommend?

I grabbed the first and only edition I have ever run across, a 1954 printing, so I have nothing to offer as guidance.

[Bert]

If you had to strip your library down to just three books, which ones would you keep, and why?

I would keep Pharr, Cunliffes Homeric lexicon and Refresh Your Greek by Perschbacher.
Pharr and Cunliffe because I am studying Homer right now.
Refresh your Greek because it is a very convenient way to read the Greek NT.
(When I feel I am ready to move on from Homer I would want to trade Pharr and cunliffe in for Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics by Wallace and the shorter lexicon by Gingrich and Danker, so I might as well keep them )

[klewlis]

(When I feel I am ready to move on from Homer I would want to trade Pharr and cunliffe in for Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics by Wallace and the shorter lexicon by Gingrich and Danker, so I might as well keep them :) )

We had to read Wallace in second year greek... there's a ton of good stuff in there, but I found that I absorbed very little upon first reading--I learned so much more when I was actually reading the text and had to look something up, instead of simply reading through all the technical stuff!

The shorter lexicon rocks, although I generally use Kubo instead since it's arranged by book. :)

[dlp]

It seems odd that most replies to the original post responded with lexicons and grammars. I would ask instead that I be allowed the following:

Merrill's complete Catullus
Harrington's Roman Elegiac Poets
Dante's Divine Comedy (Dent edition)

But that's only if I have to choose in a hurry...

[Episcopus]

A book case violation...interesting...

Basic Chinese, a grammar and workbook by Yip Po Ching.
Latin Prose Composition based on Cicero, Henry Carr Pearson (NH doesn't want none like)
Zulu: Teach Yourself.


Others whose departures I would tearfully lament:

Hugo Italian in 3 months
Cambridge Latin Anthology
Help Yourself to Advanced French Grammar
Armenian, Hippocrene grammar

Chinese Grammar because 900 million speak this mandarin. Useful if you want to spend insane amounts of money then flee for a treehouse in the rice growing marshlands of china.

I want to see whether I can write better than Cicero, and Pearson introduces some of the more advanced grammar, especially indirect conditions which look tasty.

You need Zulu in your life, not for any formal holiday but for any situation in which you be captured by those savages. Speaking their language could lead to not only freedom but the trust and admiration of all Zulus. You could become a chief and invade neighbouring white-owned platinum mines.