Last Friday night I found myself reading James McPherson's "American Victory, American Defeat", in Why the Confederacy Lost (reviewed here). The book had stumbled its way into my hands almost by accident -- I was pruning the shelves to find room for my German science readers and thought "well, I'm never likely to read this, let's just get rid of it." One thing led to another, and soon it was in bed with me.
Of course I'm reading about the Civil War: it's late June. For some reason I always read about the Civil War in June and July, just like I'm always reading about the Gulag or World War 2 in January. There's a pattern here, and I'm sure if I kept a reading journal, I'd discover that I spend late spring of every year trying to brush up on a foreign language, or that the arrival of lightning bugs is a certain predictor of another vain attempt to work my way through Malory.
I wonder: do other people's reading habits follow the seasons?
Posted by Ben Brumfield at June 23, 2006 10:47 AMOne thing led to another, and soon it was in bed with me.
Sigh, this is what I have to put up with.
Posted by: Sara Brumfield at June 27, 2006 02:41 PMSara, I think there is at least one good short story in that comment.
Posted by: Bobby Farouk at June 27, 2006 03:03 PMAt least he hasn't made his way through Mallory yet. I just hope he doesn't develop an interest in Chrétien de Troyes.
Posted by: Alan Hogue at June 29, 2006 09:47 PMUh, that deserved a link.
http://omacl.org/Lancelot/
In general, that's a wonderful site for medieval texts.
Posted by: Alan Hogue at June 29, 2006 09:51 PM