Books, Books, Books

I am a bibliophile. Aside from the occasional desire for a piece of new gadgetry, the only shopping pleasure that I have is for books. I don't care much for buying clothing, though I will when I must. I don't have a fancy car, nor do I play video games (unless they are Fox's, at which point I might be tempted for an hour or so). Books and food are the essential purchases for life. Alas, I am not a wealthy man. If I were, I'd give large chunks of my fortune to charity, and the rest I'd spend on books. Since I am not a wealthy man, I do make good use of my university library. Today I took out nine books on a variety of topics. Most were on Roman topics, as they usually are. One was on the philosophical underpinnings of the modern and postmodern movements. I'm really eager to jump into that one. Another was a new Oxford World Classic containing stories from all three* Brontë sisters, and some contribution by the one Brontë brother. Since we may have an occasion to use Brontë as a middle name for the Raspbaby, I thought I might as well see how wide the family range was. At present, however, I'm working my way through books on women in antiquity. I grabbed my edition of Camille Paglia Sexual Personae off the shelf this afternoon. I think I may assign part of it to my students in the course I'm offering at University this spring. I also went hunting for a German book this evening, with the help of a friend. My mentor/advisor at Hopkins made a brief mention of a new book, but as he could not remember the title or the author, it has proven tricky to track down. Still, we made a go of it, and we've some contenders. We'll see if any of them pan out. Tomorrow is another book-filled day. Time to get my syllabi all wrapped up. Many thanks to Fox for editing my earlier drafts. As for tonight -- time to get back to Women in the Classical World.