Wolf at the Door

Robertson's A Greek Grammar of the New Testament in the Light of Historical Research arrived from AbeBooks and I am absolutely delighted with it! In my opinion, the Victorian/Edwardian Grammarians/Exegetes still stand head-and-shoulders above their modern equivalents and no amount of clever linguistic shenanigans or novel exegesis will ever replace the awesome scholarship of the likes of Farar, Lightfoot, Swete and their ilk.
Other books for the doctoral studies come in on a regular basis and, to be quite honest, they are pretty dull fare that are easier to buy than wait my turn for at the library. Henceforth, I shan't necessarily mention them by name unless they are particularly interesting. I can always sell them later, I suppose.

I did buy a second-hand Penguin Classics copy of Petronius' Satyricon through Amazon, which I had been intending to do for some time, having read and enjoyed The Golden Ass by Apuleius some time back. In the main I'm not big on Latin literature (finding it pretty turgid fare) but for the Roman 'novel', I make an exception. I may take it with me to Milan. Or I may not. Regular readers will already know that I am extremely picky about what reading matter I take abroad with me, demanding works which are simultaneously well-written, diverting, absorbing, but not too heavy-going. I have identified a new Alexander McCall Smith - Corduroy Mansions (or some such) in Waterstones, but I am actually reading Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, which kept me captivated on my train journey down to uni. for my PhD 'upgrade' panel. She is an excellent writer (although didn't like her Beyond Black much), clever enough to keep me intrigued, but accessible enough for the plot to advance at a satisfying pace. I am simultaneously working through a generic sort of book that gives etymologies of words that have made it into the English language, but only v-e-r-y slowly as after a while one stops caring about individual word histories. The pile of unfinished stuff at the side of the bed grows ever-bigger, but I've stopped feeling quite so guilty about it as I used too. One book I did finish was Neil Gaiman's American Gods, but it doesn't get onto my list of great novels (I seem to be in a minority here). I just felt that amongst the verbosity and meandering digressions was a much leaner, better book, waiting to get out. Sadly, it didn't. And I couldn't have cared less about the main character 'Shadow' either, which didn't help. Daughter #3 was working her way through Marina Lewycka's Short History of Tractors in Ukranian. Having received that author's Two Caravans for her birthday, she immediately started to read that, abandoning SHoTiU! Tut! The youth of today!

May: the (Parcel) Force Be With You!

Well, the books continue to flood in - faster than I can read them, really. Most of them are studies of consciousness and the concept of 'I', but as interesting as I'm finding the whole consciousness studies business, my supervisor has hinted (rather heavily) that I need to forget the interesting digressions and get nailing specifics. At this point I realise how far I've drifted from the core of my thesis and am currently simultaneously panicking and trying to pull myself back on course!
Language, grammar, style....that's the meat in the sandwich, and that's what I'm going to concentrate on! To that end I made my way to the Brotherton Library at my old university. It was a visit that I was really looking forward to. Feeling nostalgic, I caught the train to Leeds, walked up to the uni, stopping en route at the Opposite coffee shop for a large latte and a piece of brazil-nut chocolate brownie, which was every bit as delicious as I remember it to be. I was very cheered to find that my Birmingham approved 'SCONUL' card entitled me to borrowing rights and I wasted no time in getting stuck into the catalogue to pick out a few juicy winners. (Actually, I had to go down into the circular basement and walk around the radial shelves just for the sheer fun of it, breathing in the wonderful smell of OLD BOOKS. OK, so I am a bit weird).
I knew in advance that they had a couple of titles that I needed for my forthcoming seminar paper as I done an online search on COPAC, so I still had two spaces on my card to fill. Rummaging around, I came across a copy of Robertson's 1909 Grammar of the New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, a whopper of a book, but sadly a reference volume only. I resolved to track down a copy of this grammatical behemoth online, and turned my attentions elsewhere. A few hours later saw me trotting happily back down to the station with a bulging and very heavy backpack, which has made my back rather bad in the past couple of days. I loved being back in Leeds and, because I have books to return, I have an excellent excuse to go back soon!

As I have my upgrade panel next week, and have to deliver a seminar paper a week later, in adddition to revising/expanding my current thesis chapter, I've had to be absolutely scrupulous about dividing my day up into work parcels. It's working well thus far, and is staving off subject burnout. I also managed to find, during my lunch-break, through AbeBooks a copy of the Robertson grammar, which should be arriving early next week. Amazon has been working overtime on my behalf too, although I experienced my first book-failure from one of their marketplace subsidiaries. Dunn's Unity and Diversity in the New Testament got lost in the post, and, after a visit to the sorting office and an exchange of emails, I got a full refund with no hassle at all. It didn't really matter as I had sourced a copy down in the Birmingham campus library. Books are piled up on my desk at the moment: I have a prodigious amount of reading to do!

Recreation-wise, I'm still trundling through Neil Gaiman's American Gods when I have the energy to stay awake and read. It's OK, but I'm not exactly gobbling it up. The Husband has just finished his Stardust and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've lined up Paul Torday's The Irresistable Inheritance of Wilberforce (charity shop 80p bargain!) for him next. He's already read Salmon Fishing in Yemen and says he's looking forward to starting on it. I was quite annoyed when the woman in the shop hissed 'Drinks himself to death' as I handed over the cash. Talk about a spoiler! Suppose I'd bought it for me? I kind of bought it as a holiday book, as we've booked a couple of days in Milan, but never mind. I'll get another before we go. Seeing as it was the Husband's birthday, I'd got him a copy of the Eyewitness travel guide to Milan and the Lakes. It all looks very exciting, and he sits up in bed happily planning our itinerary.

My insomnia hasn't been too much of a problem recently, despite a trapped nerve in my neck/back which can wake me up unexpectedly. In fact, my lack of insomnia has been a problem - I haven't been able to do my 5am stint of reading for a few weeks now. Before it 'disappeared', I'd got into the swing of waking up, getting a cup of tea, reading for an hour or so before falling into the most delicious doze complete with lucid dreaming. Excellent! But now I am sleeping right through until 7 o'clock. Shouldn't complain I suppose!

**BTW, why do I get so many Chinese comments? Are they comments, or is it in fact, spam tags? I am deleting them to be on the safe side, as I haven't a clue what they say!***