Recent Acquisitions

This time of year makes me feel so conflicted — it’s beautiful outside and I’m happy about that, but it’s one of the busiest times of the academic year as the semester gets near the end (it’s not nearly close enough though), and that makes me feel tired and listless. I can’t go outside because I have so much work to do, but I can’t seem to bring myself to do my work …

Anyway, in this post, I’ll console myself by thinking about the books I’ve acquired recently that I’ll be able to read soon enough — maybe before the semester is over, but if not, certainly after.

• I’ve got Adam Sisman’s Boswell’s Presumptuous Task on the way from Book Mooch — this comes highly recommended by bloggers, so I’m looking forward to it, and it’s the perfect follow-up to reading Boswell’s Life, of course, as it tells the story of how the Life got written.
• Also through Book Mooch, I recently received John Brewer’s A Sentimental Murder: Love and Madness in the Eighteenth Century. Isn’t that a great title? Sandra wrote so eloquently about this one, I couldn’t resist. It tells the story of a murder, but goes on from there to meditate on history and storytelling and eighteenth-century culture.
• I got a copy of Denis Johnson’s book of short stories Jesus’ Son; a book I’ve been meaning to read for quite a while and which I’ve heard wonderful things about. This book is part of my attempt to read more short stories; I’d like to read at least two collections this year, if not more.
• I ordered the last two volumes of Proust, The Prisoner and The Fugitive combined into one volume, and Time Regained. I’m getting close to finishing Proust! Well, sort of. Actually I’m a little over half way, in the middle of volume four. I had to order these last two from the UK, and they look nothing like the first four in their American versions, unfortunately.
• Cam recently sent me a selection of W.B. Yeats’s poetry. I’ve read some Yeats, but he’s a wonderful poet I need to read more of. Thanks Cam!
• And, of course, there’s Don Quixote, ready for me when I’m ready for it. Here’s the template I set up for the group reading blog; I’ll get invitations out to people during April so we’ll be ready to begin in May. Let me know if there’s cool Don Quixote stuff on the web you know of so I can add some links to spice up the site a bit.