I've settled on Herodotus as the book to read for the next while. I'm not allowing myself to buy more books till I finish three things I have here. I'm going to cheat and make one of those three a book of poetry (The Ghost Soldiers, by James Tate, which I bought because of a positive review by Tony Hoagland in Poetry, and am finding to be not all that impressive). I won't finish Herodotus any time soon, but he's a good book to read at night. The Histories has a boys', swords and sorcery book feel to it. Oracles, kings visited by dreams, battles--it's actually something of a page turner. Last night I read Herodotus' theories for why the Nile floods each year. That was not a page turner, but it was fascinating. He suggests the flooding is due to the motion of the sun, which sometimes moves over Libya, absorbing extra water from the land and then....well, actually I don't know. The theory was incredibly confusing. I might have skimmed there, a little. It's 700 pages long; I'm allowed to skim a little.
Wife comes back home today. Yay! We'll celebrate by eating a leftover lentil and sausage soup that I made last Friday. That was not the greatest recipe, but it wasn't bad.
I've reduced the number of major questions to answer in the play to two. Rilke says to treat your problems, your questions, as your friends, to love them, to revel in them. I need to read the entire passage to get the context (it's from Letters to A Young Poet) because I'm curious what, if anything, he means by that.
All right, have to go.
3 comments:
If I stuck to just reading the books I own that I haven't already read, I probably wouldn't be able to buy another book for 10 years or so. And that would make me sad. Also, I wouldn't be able to follow new paths. Like, I'm reading Geoff Dyer for the first time, and now I'm going to buy three or four of his books.
It's funny you mention Geoff Dyer. I recently read the one about him and DH Lawrence and the entire I was reading it, I thought of you. Really. I kept thinking: John would love this. But somehow I assumed that because he's so obviously someone you would like, you already knew about him. And had read him.
Which one are you reading? That might be a good subject to post about in the future.
I've known about him for a long time, and have had the Lawrence book recommended a few times. I'm buying that tonight, along with his book about jazz and the new collection of his reviews, essays, etc. I'm reading Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It, which is a book of linked travel pieces. It's very funny (in a way I think you would like), among other things.
Post a Comment