I’m glad I stayed a little late at the office today sorting out some class-organization sheets—which I’ll upload tomorrow, they’re a handy resource for keeping track of what you taught and assigned for homework last time.
But anyway, because I stayed at the office late, my latest book order came in from Whatthebook.com. And then didst I feel a great and wicked joy within my breast, let me tell you.
What did I get? I’m gonna conceal this from the main page, because most people won’t care, but leave a link for those who are curious.
The Terrell Companion to Ezra Pound’s The Cantos. Now I can finally study this enormous, Bible-length, demonic monster of a poem with a little help. Should only take a few months or years or decades now, instead of my whole lifetime.
Seamus Heaney’s Opened Ground, which collects a ton of his verse. I’ve become a fan of the Irish Nobel laureate only since I’ve come to Korea, and after reading three slim books by him in Faber editions, I decided I ought to kill a few birds with one stone and get something more substantial.
A bunch of game books from the White Wolf Games Orpheus series. I have everything except the novel, which is okay; I tend not to like novels built in game settings anyway. Now I have the whole series, and I’ll enjoy reading through them even if I never get around to running the game with anyone… since prospective gamers are kind of rare here in Jeonju.
I also got Emanuel Swedenborg’s Heaven and Hell. This guy was the trippiest man alive in his century. Bizarre daily “visions” of Heaven and Hell, and you know what? They’re not anything like you’d expect from the mainstream Christian tradition. I personally think he was probably just nutso, but it’s fascinating stuff, in the same way the imaginary worlds of White Wolf Games books are. People in heaven getting married and having kids, having spiritual belongings and living in a spirit-landscape, things like that. This guy believed that the End of the World had already happened but nobody had noticed, because The End wasn’t manifested in the physical world, only in the spiritual. He was CRAZY. But entertaining.
A little Oxford Minidictionary for Lime. She’s excited, because it’s small and handy to carry. Just a little present. But also one of the reasons that the order took so excruciatingly long.
And then there were a couple of used books on the cheap: Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance—another novel set in India, but I loved his Such A Long Journey so much that I had to read it eventually—and Martin Rees’ Just Six Numbers, about certain absolutely crucial numerical properties of our universe.
I can’t wait to finish reading the book I’m currently working through, No Logo, so that I can get to one or two of these. They’re all so… intriguing…
That was a good read that “No Logo.”
Her second book, “Fences and Windows,” it was called isn’t as heavy as the first, and easily readable in an afternoon.
I stand in awe of Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance: a devastating read if there ever was one.
I’m getting close to finishing “No Logo” but have too many more books to get through now to think about ordering “Fences & Windows”. But I’ll remember it when the time comes.
Joshua, have you read or seen Mistry’s Such A Long Journey? It’s also a masterpiece. There’s a film that’s perhaps even as good as the novel, I think it was a Canadian/Indian co-production. Marvelous film, and stunning book too. I recommend it without hesitation, especially if you liked A Fine Balance.