(no subject)

[ru]

Dangerous things in the world:

1.) Falling from a skyscraper
2.) Black mambas
3.) Library book sales

The uni library has been holding its annual book sale, today being the last day. I went with Eien-chan on Sunday, and came out with a large armful of books, so I don't quite know what possessed me to go back. I think maybe because I was half-hoping I'd find the first volume of Le Morte d'Arthur, the second volume which I acquired on Sunday. I didn't find it, but what I DID find when I walked in was that they were using the standard last-day-of-a-book-sale pricing scheme. Namely, that you could fill a shopping bag to the breaking point full of books, and pay only $5. I wasn't planning on buying any more books, but guess what? I came out struggling with the bag that I had, yes, filled to the breaking point. *sighs at self*

I did find some interesting things, though! Among others, I found a British copy of "Make Room! Make Room!" (a.k.a. the book "Soylent Green" is loosely based off of), a somewhat beat-up, but still readable book of Mythology, looking like it may have come from the late 1800's, a book of Isaac Asimov short stories, and the book "Twisted Tales from Shakespeare". I've read a little of the last one, and it looks like it's great fun. Basically it appears to be a Cliff's Notes version of several of Shakespeare's plays, written very casually and having way too much fun with the language. I quoth a passage from the recap of "Hamlet" from the segment, "Ophelia goes to pieces":

"But he and the Queen get a nasty jolt when Ophelia comes in, singing off-key and strewing (Footnote: It is one of the oddities of the English language that everything else you throw, but flowers you strew.) flowers all over the place. The death of her father and the madness of her lover have lowered her I.Q. to a point where it can no longer be measured. To make matters worse, Laertes has suddenly returned from France and makes a scene (Scene V) because his father was buried before he could get to the funeral. Here they've spent all that money for mourners, when he would have done it for nothing."

Each recap also has discussion questions at the end, such as "How long can you discuss Rosencrantz without mentioning Guildenstern, and vice versa?", "What did Queen Gertrude see in King Claudius?", "Where did Polonius spend his time when he was not skulking behind an arras?", and "Consider the effect on Ophelia's future if she had known how to swim." It looks to be great fun. XD

I am so so dorktastic today.

Comments

[peppermintberry.livejournal.com]

Sure, if you'll be there. I doubt they'll have the version I'm looking for, though. The copy I got was from the 1930's, I think. Had a really nice title page, though.

[grant-p.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean! I will never forget finding for a buck an 1895 science book for high school that reads in part, "Roll the quicksilver from hand to hand and feel the unusual density of the liquid metal."

In other words, EVERYONE PLAY WITH THE MERCURY!