Ok…now that I’m done with school for the semester I can start reading for fun again.
I’m currently really into the Thomas Covenant series by Donaldson. It’s pretty good, mildly sick, and very well written, even though I think he (along with almost every other fantasy writer) is horribly ripping off Tolkien.
I am also trying to get ahead on next semesters required reading, so I am reading “How To Read the Bible for All It’s Worth” by Fee, and “Five Views on Law and the Gospel” Edited by Gundy.
I’m almost done with the second book of the Covenant series, after that I think I might pick up another LeGuin book, I really like her stuff.
Hi, this is my first post here. I am currently a first year college student in the US, but my college is small and does not have a classics department. I’m trying to transfer to a more competitive school, and hope to study Classics there (either as a minor or part of a double major).
I studied latin in high school for three years but did not take it my senior year. I’m currently working through Wheelock’s at about a chapter a day, completing the workbook as I go along. My goal is to read The Aenead (in latin) and The Odyssey (in greek) before I turn 20. I have a little over 11 months to complete this goal.
As for the the topic in this thread, I’m trying to find an english translation of Henrik Ibsen’s play Catalina, but currently am reading nothing. I just finished Jude the Obscure.
I am currently reading Phormio (by Terence), An Actor Prepares (by Stanislavski - it’s high time that I read it, so I’m doing it now), and I also have some shoujo manga for when I feel like dropping into a lower IQ bracket (not that all shoujo is that silly … but the ones I checked out from the library a few days ago are).
My California history textbook came in the mail today, so I plan on reading a little of that before the quarter starts, just to prep myself a bit.
Three Greek Romances, by Moses Hadas
The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins
Company: A Novel, by Max Barry (very funny)
A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller Jr.
The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus, by Owen Gingerich
Kopio, The Thomas Covenant series is amazing. I read that a while ago and enjoyed it. Stephen Donaldson has another series out that is quite a bit more sick and not as good but still interesting.
I am currently reading “Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World” by Nicholas Ostler. I have been enjoying it. Beyond that, I need to read Augustine’s Confessions sometime…
Let’s see..
George R.R. Martin for work (though I would anyway)
The pile next to my bed consist right now of
Small Gods my T. Prachett for a few laughs
a collection of poems from Cavafis (just because I love his poems)
The Da Vinci Legacy by Lewis Perdue (I have to finish that one today; one of my long standing obligations is to read books of the kind and if I deem them worthy pass them on to my mom who just loves them for some reason; this one passes muster)
A book on the latest Greek civil war (just because I am a masochist and trying to make sense and find the “truth”)
Are you talking about the second Thomas Covenant series? This is the first of his works that I’ve read…so far I’m enjoying it.
Confessions is a must read book for anyone remotely Christian (IMHO). I read it early in my Christian walk, and it moved me deeply. I read this translation, and I highly recommend it. I have another, but it isn’t nearly as poetic and graceful.
Are you talking about the second Thomas Covenant series? This is the first of his works that I’ve read…so far I’m enjoying it.
Sadly, I haven’t read the second Thomas Covenant series. The series I am talking about I believe is called The Gap series. It is set in space with space pirates, aliens, corrupt corporations, and the like. Once you get through the first two books, it becomes a joy to read.
I just finished Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield, which I enjoyed. Presently, I’m reading: The Americans: The Colonial Experience by Daniel J. Boorstein. Next on the list is How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker and the History of Rome by Michael Grant. (Though I may just spend vacation watching the Gilmore Girls Season 1 again.)
I decided to try to learn Old Norse over the break. Thus my reading is An Introduction to Old Norse by E.V.Gordon, who was a friend and collaborator of Tolkien, it turns out. On page ix, we find written, “For help in preparing the apparatus of the book I am indebted especially to Professor J.R.R.Tolkien, who read the proofs of the Grammar and made valuable suggestions and corrections.”
This is apparently the standard text for learning ON, but it’s very hardcore and assumes you know something about linguistics. Not for the faint of heart. Imagine trying to learn Latin only by reading Gildersleeve’s grammar. That sort of approach. Nevertheless, ON is much, much easier than Latin or Greek (in spite of the fact that there appear to be 15 verb conjugations).
I’m really looking forward to acquiring the power to read the Sagas in the original. They are heroic, beautiful and tragic, and represent some of the greatest literature ever produced in the west.
Gordon writes, in the section of his introduction devoted to the nature of heroism: “The only difference in principle between the tragedy of the sagas and the tragedy of Shakespeare is that Shakespeare usually makes the disaster result from some flaw in the hero’s character; while in the sagas the disaster is inevitable simply because the hero is heroically uncompromising.”
Practical Common Lisp is available online, but I have it in hardcopy, too, for easier reading on the bus. I actually know Common Lisp already but this book covers a few matters I’ve not previously paid much attention to. Now that I understand the condition system it gives me tinglies. Note to non-computer types — that I’m reading a book on Common Lisp is a sign that my interest in unusual, obscure and somewhat academic languages extends to programming languages, as well.
My bedside reading has been The Oxford Illustrated History of Ancient Egypt. I’ve just arrived at the Amarna section.
I have a few smaller books I really want to read before the semester starts, in particular West’s Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique, which I’ll be fetching from the library very soon.
