More Bibliophilia

Though I haven’t mentioned it recently, I’ve long suffered from bibliophilia. I say ‘suffer’ because it is something of a disease. Though I do occasionally sell a handful of books, I buy far more than I sell, and significantly more than I can even read. I’ve got three completely full bookcases, have taken over a couple other shelves in other parts of the house, and also have a stack on my floor.

Lately, though, I have tried to buckle down and start getting through some of my backlog. So far, I’ve made some progress. Here’s a highlight reel:

Deliverance, by James Dickey - I read this a couple years ago for a class on Southern literature, and loved it. Re-reading it now, it’s definitely holding up. I remember considering writing an essay for that class on the novel’s portrayal of masculinity, and now I wish I had, since I’ve taken an interest lately in how masculinity is portrayed in the stories I read and watch. Perhaps that’ll make for a future blog post?

Reflections on the Revolution in France, by Edmund Burke - classic political stuff. Despite the occasional hint of whiggery, I can see why Burke’s so highly regarded by conservatives, at least here in the US. Burke has excellent style, and comes up with some great lines, e.g., ‘This sort of people [French Revolutionaries and their sympathisers] are so taken up with their theories of the rights of man, that they have totally forgotten his nature’. I could probably expound on this more, but I’ll save that for a political blog.

Paradise Lost, by John MIlton - I was in the mood for poetry, and I figured this is a work I need to have read. I like the formal structure and high tone, but stopped partway through Book IV. I recall Ezra Pound, in ABC of Reading, accusing Milton of wordiness, and I’d agree. There are words and phrases that don’t really add much of anything to the meaning, but feel like they’re there just to fill out the metre. I’ll probably go back and finish it someday, though.

Nicomachean Ethics, by Aristotle - Reading some St. Thomas Aquinas earlier in the year made me realise that I need to familiarise myself more with Aristotle, since all I’ve read of him is the Poetics. I’m about halfway through, and so far, so good. Most of it’s been a run-down of the nature of different virtues, which isn’t quite what I expected, but I look forward to finishing the rest.