What would you read if you could?

[Rubia Warren]

Nono... I know you can actually read, silly! What I mean is, do you have a book in mind that you've been meaning to get a hold of and read, but you haven't gotten around to it? If so, what is it?

I have been wanting to read "Perestroika" by Mikhail Gorbachev for a long time now, but I've never gotten up and went to get it (I really don't even know if it's in English... I assume it is). What about you?

[Patroclus]

Wow! For starters, look at the "What aren't you reading" thread. Also, I just bought a different translation of Beowulf tonight. I got it because it has the original text in parallel to help me understand Beowulf And The Critics, by Tolkien.

[Rubia Warren]

:frown: Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't pay any attention.:doh: :no:

[Patroclus]

No problem!

[Woman]

Patroclus:

Wow! For starters, look at the "What aren't you reading" thread. Also, I just bought a different translation of Beowulf tonight. I got it because it has the original text in parallel to help me understand Beowulf And The Critics, by Tolkien.

You have very similar tastes to mine. I can remember being in biblio-heaven as a little girl when I discovered that fairy tales had an even more exciting genre...mythology!! But your post above made me blush when I remembered the unabased hutzbah I had in my sophomore English class...I actually wrote a sequel to Beowulf...ha ha ha ha - replete with heavy handed alliteration. Oh dear. I would love to read The Iliad and The Odyssey in the original, but that ain't gonna happen in this lifetime.

[Patroclus]

As far as Epic and Fairy Tale go, I do get a big charge out of them. However, the reason why I want to study Beowulf is so that I can better study Tolkien. I am in the beginning stages of a thesis.

Okay, writing a sequel to Beowulf is bad-a. You get ten extra bonus points for that. It may seem like a silly idea, but that is essentially what people did with older mythology. That is how mythology grew and diversified, especially in Greece and Rome.

[Bill the Cat]

Would love to read St Paul the Traveller. I have like 20 books on E-Sword I need to read. Spurgeon's stuff too.

[luv1another]

well there are lots of books I would like to read if I thought I could understand them enough and not go to sleep :lol:
like maybe pilgrims progress :) plus all the books I metioned in the whats on the shelf thread :) and one day I want to get through my whole bible front to back :tongue:

[Woman]

I would rather read than eat, sleep or ....well, most other things.

Books are my greatest expense and I don't feel a bit guilty about it!

[djnoz]

The rest of the Wheel of Time saga - I'd love to get through that. It seems to be takin' an awful long time... :read:

[NeilUnreal]

I'd like to read some of the important ancient Egyptian works in hieroglyphic form. Unfortunately, even when I was much better at hierglyphics than I am now, I could do little better than puzzle out a few selected passages. *sigh*

Also, I once read an excellent commentary on "Edwin Drood" that was published by some university press (Indiana?). I checked it out from a library where I was living, but I've never seen it again.

I'd also like to read J.M. Roberts history of the world, but I always get bogged down somewhere around the invention of agriculture...

-Neil

[The Curtmudgeon]

Yesterday @ 11:06 PM Patroclus:

Also, I just bought a different translation of Beowulf tonight. I got it because it has the original text in parallel to help me understand Beowulf And The Critics, by Tolkien.
Yesterday @ 11:37 PM Woman:
...I actually wrote a sequel to Beowulf...ha ha ha ha - replete with heavy handed alliteration.

Pat, if you're really going to get into Beowulf, you need to get Father Klaeber's edition of the text. Even if you don't read Anglo-Saxon (yet--if you're serious about the Wulf, you'll have to pick up at least some ability to puzzle your way through the A/S original because Modern English has really gotten far away from its A/S roots; your parallel edition will be a good start in that direction), the ancillary material included there about the manuscripts and all is terrific. When I took A/S at university, we also worked with Markwardt's translation of the Wulf, but that may be outdated by now; also, get the Clark Hall A/S dictionary. My first project for my A/S class was a study of A/S words in Tolkien, which blew my prof away--he hadn't read any JRRT's fantasy at the time, although of course he was at least familiar with it by repute--and I just basically started reading through my Clark Hall dictionary looking for words I recognised from Hobbit and LoTR (Silmarillion was only just being published at the time, so I couldn't cover that, although I would have killed to have had "Akallabeth" available to me!).

And, Woman, as my second project for that A/S class, I wrote, not quite a Beowulf sequel, but a new work along the lines of the Danish Hrolf Kraki's Saga (Poul Anderson did a great modern retelling of that story years ago) in modern English but with the Beowulf/Anglo-Saxon poetic metre, including also the alliteration and kennings and all. Even though I didn't exactly finish it, the prof still gave me a great grade on it, he was so impressed that anyone would even try it!

Hmm, I remember seeing that old thing a move or two back--I really ought to dig around the apartment and see if I can resurrect it. It wasn't all that great a poetic effort, but it was certainly fun!

The (hwaet ge Gardenum-ing you what) Curtmudgeon :read:

[The Curtmudgeon]

As for my own reply to La Rubia's actual thread-starter, I've always intended to actually sit down and read Toynbee's History of the World in the original unabridged. I know that he has some very outdated (and anti-Christian) ideas to present and uphold, but there's no doubt that he's one of the "really ought to (maybe not must) read" in world history. Also Macauley's History of England and Wells' Outline of History.

The (now, where's that round tuit I had a month ago?) Curtmudgeon :read:

[bar Jonah]

Needless to say, I would love to read the original, inerrant, autograph manuscriputs of God's infallible word. Would if I could, of course. LOL

I would love to read The Picture of Dorian Grdy by Oscar Wilde. (My interest was piqued when I saw trailers for the upcoming movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," based on a graphic novel about several Victorian literature figures brought together to face a world menace, including Dorian Grey.) The story is about ultimate corruption born out of the original sin of vanity, and how it destroys a once-innocent man's life, and through him the lives of others.

[The Curtmudgeon]

Today @ 03:40 PM The Curtmudgeon:
Hmm, I remember seeing that old thing a move or two back--I really ought to dig around the apartment and see if I can resurrect it. It wasn't all that great a poetic effort, but it was certainly fun!

HAH! "Seek and ye shall find" indeed! I just wandered into the library, and in the very first box I looked in, there it was, paper all yellowing and moldy. So as not to clutter this thread up too much with off-topic material, I'll go post at least some of it over in the "Open-Mike Poetry Reading" thread, for anyone that's interested. I may not type in the whole schmear--looking at the manuscript I got 223 lines actually written, plus a prose introduction and an appendix with family trees! (Can you tell I was overdosing on LotR in those halcyon days!? :lol: )

The (modern scop :yipee: ) Curtmudgeon

[$cirisme]

I want to finish my Programming for Windows book, but it doesn't have enough pictures. :eek:

:brow:

[Rubia Warren]

Forgive me for being stupid, but what is Beowulf about? The reason I ask is that when I was young, my cousin and I stayed together at my grandma's, and he had this book that he was reading, so when he was playing at the neighbor's house, I would pick it up and read it. I cannot remember the title, but Beowulf sounds so familiar. I only got through half of it when spring break was over, and I have asked him if he remembers the name, and he can't, but that book was so good.
All I can remember about it was that it was about a little boy, and he had hair all over, and the townspeople called him a bastard (I remember them calling him that so well because I never knew what bastard meant before that! LOL) and I vaguely remember something about him.. oh, I don't remember well enough to say for sure. All I know is that for years I have always wanted to go back and read that book... I feel like I have unfinished business, or something. Does anybody know which book I am talking about?

[Jaltus]

The Illiad is much better than the Odessy (sp) in the original. The Illiad has better rhythm and is more picturesque (and yes, I am a huge nerd). The Greek is VERY VERY difficult, though, worst Greek I have ever read. Homeric is a strange form anyway, but then add in poetic rules of grammar and it gets truly bizarre.

The Wheel of Time saga is quite good, though the last few books (8-10) have not been very good at all, though 11 looks promising.

I keep thinking I need to read the Brothers K.....even if I cannot spell it.

[The Curtmudgeon]

Today @ 04:54 PM
La Rubia:

Forgive me for being stupid, but what is Beowulf about? The reason I ask is that when I was young, my cousin and I stayed together at my grandma's, and he had this book that he was reading, so when he was playing at the neighbor's house, I would pick it up and read it. I cannot remember the title, but Beowulf sounds so familiar. I only got through half of it when spring break was over, and I have asked him if he remembers the name, and he can't, but that book was so good.

Beowulf is about three adventures of the hero Beowulf, the first two occurring at the Danish royal hall of Heorot (actually an historical location, even if Beowulf himself might not be). The first adventure is the killing of Grendel, a monstrous troll or ogre that has been haunting Heorot at night, killing the Danish warriors. 'Wulf lays waiting for him at night, grabs him and wrestles him when he comes in, and literally tears his arm off, from which he dies after slinking away to his lair in a mere or marshy pond. Later (second adventure), Grendel's mother comes looking for revenge, kills a few more Danes, and Beowulf tracks her to the mere, swims down to find her cave, and kills her, too. Much later in life, as an old king, 'Wulf is called upon to kill a dragon that has been laying waste his countryside; he does, but dies in the fight.

Although Beowulf is considered the great Anglo-Saxon (Old English) poem, and gives appearance of having been written down for the Angle king Offa in Mercia (central England, before the Norman Conquest), in fact all the action takes place on the continent, and 'Wulf himself is a Geat or Gaut from southern Sweden, not either Angle nor Saxon.

All I can remember about it was that it was about a little boy, and he had hair all over, and the townspeople called him a bastard (I remember them calling him that so well because I never knew what bastard meant before that! LOL) and I vaguely remember something about him.. oh, I don't remember well enough to say for sure. All I know is that for years I have always wanted to go back and read that book... I feel like I have unfinished business, or something. Does anybody know which book I am talking about?

Well, no, but I can confidently assure you it wasn't Beowulf!!! :teeth: The poem doesn't even mention 'Wulf's childhood, except one longish reference to a swimming match with his friend Brecca, seemingly in the Skaggerak between Sweden and Denmark; and other than possibly Grendel and Grendel's dam, I disremember anyone calling 'Wulf a bastard.

The (but they're descendants of Cain, so they don't count) Curtmudgeon

[Rubia Warren]

DARN!!!:argh: I was hoping that I would have finally found the title to that book! Drat. I really hate that. It's been bugging me for years.
Beowulf sounds cool, though.

[Patroclus]

Curt, Woman, you two rock!

Thanks for the advice Curt. If you ever find that Tolkien analysis, would you mind lietting me know?

[The Curtmudgeon]

Today @ 02:43 AM Patroclus:
Thanks for the advice Curt. If you ever find that Tolkien analysis, would you mind lietting me know?

I've got it; it's seven pages long, so it's a bit much to reproduce here. I'll try scanning it in and email you the images, although the 25+-year-old typing has bled a little into the paper, so I'm not sure how readable the scans will actually turn out. If that doesn't work out, maybe you could PM me your snail-mail address and we'll see if a xerox is any more readable.

I note as I re-read the paper's intro that while I don't actually credit Clark Hall (but I know that I used it, as it's the only A/S dictionary I had access to), I do credit Robert Foster's A Guide to Middle Earth for the inspiration. Without digging out my Fosters again :cheers: , I believe this means that he listed words from Hobbit/LotR that were derived from A/S, which I then looked up in my Clark Hall to find the original word and definition. There are 174 words in my list: two and a half pages from Rohan, one and a half from the Shire/Bree, and about a page from the remainder of ME (one word, first Tolkien then A/S, per typed line, double-spaced of course). Tolkien deliberately used A/S as the source for Adunaic ("Mannish"), the original tongue of men, hence Rohirric; and mentions that the hobbits' language was closely related and in fact derived a lot of Shire words from older English words still in use (in his day, at least) in rural areas of England.

The ('holbytla', Rohirric for 'hobbit', = 'hol' hole + 'bytla' builder = hole builder) Curtmudgeon