falstaff

Great, now I am going to imagine Tristram as Dudley Do-Right when I get back to Malory. I think you're pretty spot on with the idea, though. There really aren't very many redeeming qualities for Marke.

Yo, what are you reading these days?

Which Malory did you read? The book I have is the Complete Works and I'm working my way through all of it. The Sankgreal and Le Morte are both near the end, so it will be awhile before I even get to them. This book is over 700 pages, if you've really made it through all of Malory's works in this short of time.....wow, I'm impressed. It's taking me a long while. Right now I am working on The Book of Sir Tristram de Lyones.

My Malory is based on the Winchester manuscript. It does inculde Caxton's preface, though. I have Tristram's Madness and Exile up next, but I am taking a break to read Marmion by Sir Walter Scott. I don't know how you made it through all of Malory in so short of time. After about 40 or 50 pages, I just need to take a break.

The store I went to had a couple of translations of Piers and only abridgements of Richardson's novels, so I held off on those.

By the way....have fun with Spenser. I read Faerie Queene last summer. I'm glad he died. Apparently he was intending it to be over twice as long as it ended up being. I really enjoyed Book 1, but after that it just went downhill for me.

Bleak House and Old Curiousity Shop were the two I was thinking of. Bleak House is that good, eh? I never hear it classed with Oliver Twist, David Copperfield or Tale of Two Cities.

By the way.....what are you planning on concentrating on for Grad school? Are you doing a specific period or style of literature or anything?

As for Piers....I'll have to dig up a sample online or something and see if the language is beyond me. I've read Spenser, Chaucer and Malory (well, working on Malory), but Piers is older than all of those. I suppose with a good dictionary/glossary/footnotes I could get it done.

I look forward to Pilgrim's Progress. I absolutely loved The Scarlet Letter. The heavy-handed morality is entertaining to me. I imagine I'll enjoy Bunyan.

How can you eat Spam and Ramen? And, come on, Reduced Fat peanut butter? If you're going to eat peanut butter, you may as well do it right!

For some reason I was thinking Piers was a century or two earlier than that. Any recommendations between the A, B, and C-texts? I was just looking on Amazon and there's a translation from Penguin Classics. There's also a Norton Critical. And I saw editions of each of the different texts. I like the Penguin books, but the Milton I have of theirs has endnotes with no notification within the text that there is an endnote. Norton tends to have too many footnotes for me, distractingly too many. But the scholarly essays that accompany the text are usually pretty good stuff. I'd be tempted to go with one of those. Which version are you reading?

I like Dickens' long works too. Oliver and Copperfield are my favorites so far. I'll have to hit up the used bookstore and see if I can fish out a copy of Bleak House.

Let me know about Piers when it's all finished. I may take a crack at it. I need to finish Malory first. I picked up the Riverside Chaucer six months ago and have yet to crack it open. I need to re-read Canterbury and Troilus and Cressida. I'll probably just end up reading all off Chaucer. Maybe after all of that I won't even need the glosses for Piers.

I have a copy of Pilgrim's Progress mocking me from my shelf that I have been meaning to get to also. Have you read that one?

This is the Malory I have. Fuckers seem to have put it on sale. I got it for $39.95.....it's going for only $7.99. At that price, you should probably jump on it. I've been pretty happy with it. The glossary isn't very in depth and that's probably my only real complaint.

I never took the subject test. I was all signed up for it. I had been preparing for months. I was poised for success! Then the girl I had been dating/living with for a year and a half decided she was gay and kicked me out ten days before the test. It kind of crushed me at the time. I ended up skipping the test. On the bright side I found out (something I should probably have been more aware of in thhe first place) that all of the schools I was most interested in didn't even require the subject test for their MA programs. Eventually I changed my mind completely about going back to school.

You're a fan of Wheelock too? I have the Latin book, the workbook and the reader all sitting on my floor here mocking me. I keep meaning to dive in and I just cannot bring myself to do it with any sort of regularity. I'll be good for a week or two and get through some, then I get sidetracked and never get back to it.

Speaking of Tolstoy, I think I may move Anna Karenina up on my to read list. I was thinking the other night that it is just wrong that I haven't read it. I love War and Peace, I love all of the shorter stuff I have read by him. I just never got around to reading AK.

Beowulf makes me happy. In about 55 days or so (after the test is over and you go on a few day long bender), you should check out some Icelandic Sagas if you haven't. If you love Beowulf, you're bound to love stuff like Njal's Saga and Egil's Saga.

I have the same huge book of Sagas on my shelf, actually.

Tell you what....after you've finished the GRE and can read non-English stuff, we'll tackle Anna Karenina concurrently so we have someone to discuss it with.

Which GRE are you taking? The actual subject test or the general one? What degree are you going for?

It's so much nicer than reading things like, "Oooooo, have you read the new Dan Brown novel?" I appreciate the recommendations. I haven't read any Balzac....mostly because I had no idea where to begin. A lot of times I start with the most highly praised one or I try to go chronologically. But I had no idea with him. Next time I am at the used book store I will have to try to pick some up. Fielding is someone I could probably get into if your description does him justice.

I'd offer some suggestions in return, but you seem like the very rare person who is actually more widely and well read than I.....crazy, you're type are few and far between.

Holy shit was that a long response.....I appreciate the length. It's rather fitting considering what you were writing about. As far as 18th century writing goes....I love Swift and Voltaire. I hate what I have read of Defoe so far. I like Diderot. I've a soft spot for Wordsworth and Coleridge. Other than than that, I'm not well read for that century. I've read a lot of the philosophy of the 1700's, but I am not as well versed in the literature. Most of what I read is either classical Greek/Roman or from about 1850-1950. I don't know when I'll get to Richardson. However, the thought of being able to say I have read two of the longest (if not the longest) novels ever is quite tempting. Traditionally I enjoy long novels. I find myself asking, "Well, what happened next?" too much in shorter works. My biggest concern is that I have never been a fan of the epistle style. That worries me far more than the length.

Thanks again for the lengthy response.