Reading
Want to read: Will and attention: a memoir by Meghan O’Gieblyn π
Currently reading: The Future of Truth by Werner Herzog π
I do have some sympathy with Jamesβs hatred of βthoughtβ β by which he meant expansive theorising and philosophy β as I know from experience that speculative reasoning can sometimes be the enemy of determined attention to detail in antiquarian pursuits.
A very good review by Dr Francis Young of the new M.R. James biography.
But M. R. James was first and foremost an antiquarian; the last of the great antiquarians. The eclecticism was the point, and the ghost stories were part of that eclecticism.
Read the whole thing. π π
Finished reading: The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. Another remarkable novel from Towles; itβs the inverse in many ways of Gentleman but equally tender-hearted and wise. π
Finished reading: Axe in Blossom: Last Poems & Fragments by Franz Wright π
Currently reading: The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles π
I recently found & ordered a nice used copy of Audenβs For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio.
It arrived today; I was delighted to discover that it came from the library of the Anglican writer & priest Fleming Rutledge. π
Rise at dawn, and read something that matters as soon as you can.
~Take Arms against a Sea of Troubles by Harold Bloom
Challenge accepted, Professor Bloom. π
Currently reading: Take Arms against a Sea of Troubles by Harold Bloom π
Finished reading: Gilgamesh by Simon Armitage. Iβll have more to say about this remarkable translation. π
Currently reading: Axe in Blossom: Last Poems & Fragments by Franz Wright π
Finished reading: Bells in Winter by CzesΕaw MiΕosz π
Currently reading: Bells in Winter by CzesΕaw MiΕosz, at Zippel Bay State Park up on Lake of the Woods, far northern Minnesota. π
Finished reading: Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth π
Finished reading: In the Dark Places of Wisdom by Peter Kingsley. The pre-Socratics as youβve never seen them before. (Plato & Aristotle are the villains.) π
Finished reading: Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. A much stranger & more interesting book than I remembered! π
Currently reading: Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth π
