This is one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me. I’m not sure what year they gave it to me–this is a ninth printing of the fourteenth edition. I think it was a Christmas gift.
It was the starting point for many essays I wrote in college. A reference to help me jump start literary criticism from time to time. I used it to find quotes that illustrated my points in letters to friends (I used to be a voluminous letter writer; whereas I once hoped people would save my letters, now I fervently hope they disposed of them). It was my ally in composing cleverly subversive screen savers on my monitor when I was a corporate drone. Along with some other references, it’s helped me pair the thoughts of the brilliant and the famous with photos right here on this LiveJournal from time to time.
I see that it’s in its seventeenth edition now. I suppose I could update my library so I could access quotes from more modern and contemporary thinkers. But I have such affection for this physical book and can’t imagine getting rid of a happy connection to my parents. This is another of the times that I can see the value of Kindle. I could have the newest version, and it wouldn’t nudge my old companion off of its shelf space.
Gimme a quote!
Joachim Du Bellay
1522-1560
From Les Regrets
Thank you! Had to Babel Fish it, which was cool, like using a decoder ring. : )
It’s in English in my book, but in French in the footnote, so I just had to mess with your head a little bit. =)
Books are my exception to the purge rule.
Books and meals.
But I have such affection for this physical book and can’t imagine getting rid of a happy connection to my parents.
Yep! I’m not a Luddite, or at least an extreme one. On one hand it’d be great to be able to have a whole library on one electronic device. However, there are copies of books that I’ve had since I’ve been in middle school and I have a great affection for these battered old friends that have been with me so long. I can’t see myself having the same affection for a electronic file, although I might have for the reader itself. 😀 They have to get rid of the DRM crap that keeps you from viewing it whereever you want. I want to be able to save files on a computer so that the ebooks I buy don’t just vanish into thin air or I can’t view them when the device becomes extinct.
I’m trying to remember… Does Amazon keep a record of everything you buy for your Kindle, so even if you remove it, you can reload it if you want to? I seem to remember that. Of course, I have no idea if it’s true for other e-readers.
I don’t know. I’m holding out for more improvements. And also, I don’t have the money for one at this time.
Though I bitched and complained every time I had to haul one of those mammoth Norton Anthologies to class I’d still take a real book over an electronic substitute any day.
Your book looks like it’s still in mint condition. What a treasure to have in your collection. 🙂
I love real books best, but I have a space issue. I think of all the books I buy that I want to read once and won’t ever read again, and then I can see the value of a Kindle.
However, one problem is that people use electronic readers for convenience when they travel or are in public places, and I LOVE to see what people are reading in airports and restaurants. A person’s library and reading habits make me snoop, and you can hardly say, “Hand over your electronic reader so I can judge you. Please.” Well, you CAN, but people might not like it, and it’s also not as much fun as checking them out surreptitiously. (And there’s that whole having-to-talk-to-them thing.)
BTW, my copy is not mint, but it’s definitely in much better shape than this other book that I could NOT have done without either as an undergraduate or a graduate. This book was a lifesaver. Mine is a Third Edition, Sixth Printing, and I see on Amazon it has added an author, changed publishers, and is in its Seventeenth Edition.
i have letters and I will NOT distroy them…
Nor will i share them
Thank goodness.
I mean, thank goodness about not sharing. I’m sure if you ever went back and reread them, you’d know destroying them would be a mercy killing.