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Hedrigall posted:
Yep. It's in Texas. Mostly school books though. I use little scraps of paper or train or tube tickets as bookmarks. New Yorkers have the handy subscription card. Whenever I try and remember the number I find I only remember the number when I find the page I was reading: "Oh yeah, I remember p60 now." D'oh! I never dog-ear pages, but I do break spines. Books are there to be read - but not necessarily defaced.
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Mar 30, 2010 16:06
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I won't dog-ear pages in a hardcover, but paperbacks are meant to be used and abused. Dog-earing a page is much more convenient than trying to find a place to hold the bookmark while reading.
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Apr 6, 2010 04:51
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jmaze posted:I won't dog-ear pages in a hardcover, but paperbacks are meant to be used and abused. Dog-earing a page is much more convenient than trying to find a place to hold the bookmark while reading. leave the bookmark where it was and continue reading from there? Doesn't seem too tricky. I've just bought Wolf Hall, but it's just too drat big to carry around with me to read while commuting. Small novels and magazines for me. That's why I never buy hardbacks (cost too, of course)
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Apr 6, 2010 12:05
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I carry about six or seven thick books (all hardcovers) with me on a regular basis. The joys of being a postgrad  I finally gave up on getting them all in my handbag, now I just wear a backpack everywhere like a little schoolgirl.
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Apr 6, 2010 12:46
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I'm trying to read some Shakespeare plays, but I'm not sure which editions I should get. As far as I can tell the Arden, Oxford and New Cambdrige are supposed to be the three best editions generally. The plays I want to read first are King Lear and Macbeth, and once I'm done with them maybe I'll read more. So far (judging from Amazon previews of the various editions) I'm slightly in favor of the New Cambridge ones, because there's the occasional explanation of a difficult word more than in other editions, where footnotes are mainly for explaining context or variations. Something that would be good to know is which edition makes the least emendations as far as punctuation and spelling is concerned (I guess there won't be much difference between the three editions). What can you guys recommend? Ideally, I would like to read the plays and look up stuff I don't understand directly in the footnotes as opposed to going to a dictionary or the internet for that.
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Apr 6, 2010 12:47
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therattle posted:leave the bookmark where it was and continue reading from there? Doesn't seem too tricky. When I was in grade school and the teacher would read to us, I always thought she moved the bookmark to the end of where she meant to read. It confused the hell out of me when she got far enough in the book to move it earlier than she started.
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Apr 6, 2010 15:00
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Rison posted:Shakespeare I've got a bunch of different editions and I'd open them up and offer some useful advice, but my books are boxed up right now. I think I liked Arden best; I believe they use marginal glosses (which I prefer to footnotes/endnotes if I'm going to be referring to them often) and have updated spelling. The notes are good, but I don't know if they explain vocabulary stuff. And I've got the Norton Tragedies; it's really good and cheaper than buying the plays individually. The Norton things are based on the Oxford texts, I think? A good edition, if it contains contentious emendations, should provide explanatory notes. I'm not sure you'll benefit greatly from reading the edition most representative of original idiosyncrasies of spelling etc. Some people might have good reasons for resisting the modernization of spelling but I don't think it "cheapens" the reading experience (at least for your first read-through of a play) to the same degree as would reading a "translation" of the Canterbury Tales.
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Apr 6, 2010 17:22
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Rison posted:Shakespeare question tl;dr: Norton = cheap, Oxford = good notes, some textual changes, Arden = pretty good notes, less textual changes I'm taking a Shakespeare course at the moment and just finished a close reading of one scene (1 Henry IV, 4.2 in case anyone's interested) a few days ago, for which I used a few different editions - the Norton collected works (our set text), a modern Oxford, and an Arden from 1961. I didn't use the Cambridge, so I can't give you any advice on that, sorry. I've still got the photocopies lying around, and seeing a sample of the layout and level of detail for the same scene is probably a good way for you to figure out which one you like best, so here goes: Norton:  Full size This comes from the huge, single-volume tome we were set this semester. Pros: all the plays and sonnets in one place, marginal glosses, great historical introduction, juicy bits like Shakespeare's will, contemporary reviews and three versions of Lear, relatively cheap (paperback $90AUD) Cons: all the plays and sonnets in one place: 3500 fragile onionskin pages, really loving heavy, footnotes are limited in comparison with single-play volumes, minor textual changes aren't noted & major ones only mentioned in the introductions. As Facial Fracture pointed out, they use the Oxford text with a small number of emendations. It feels pretty faithful to me (but I really don't know enough yet to be passing judgment on emendations), but the footnotes are definitely minimal compared to the other scholarly editions. It sounds to me like you'd prefer to have more detail than the Norton provides, so I wouldn't recommend any of the Norton editions unless you really want to get lots of plays for minimal $ (there's a reason my book has 'International Student Edition' plastered all over the cover). Oxford:  Full size Pros: Great footnotes. As you can see, I'd highlighted everything useful I found in these two scholarly editions that wasn't in the Norton, and I think the Oxford footnotes came out slightly on top in terms of usefulness. Textual notes under the text itself. Cons: No marginal glosses, slightly less faithful to the original text than the Arden. The Oxford's notes are the best I've come across, and the textual changes are very minor (the only one that sticks out in my mind after studying this scene for hours on end is their choice of 'away at night' over 'away all night' in the Quarto, Arden, and Oxford). It's worth keeping in mind that these changes are usually made to remove what editors see as corruptions to the text, and are pretty conservative even then. (Although spelling modernisation is another matter and all the scholarly editions I've seen have modernised spellings - the only way I know of avoiding that is to get a facsimile of the Quartos or the Folio). Arden:  Full size This is a 1961 edition, but I checked a modern Arden I had lying around and the format is still pretty much the same except for minor typographical changes and the textual notes now being below the footnotes. Pros: Great footnotes. Maybe a little bit less relevant (although that could be the age of my edition showing) than the Oxford, but still enormously useful. Arden editions generally have great, detailed introductions as well (my Othello has ~150pp), and a pretty decent number of illustrations and maps. Not sure how the Oxford introductions compare. Cons: No marginal glosses My impression of the Arden was that the footnotes were slightly less useful than the Oxford's. They seem to refer to the same sources pretty often, though. I'd probably recommend the Oxford for your purposes (although I haven't seen the Cambridge editions). For a first read, any of these editions are going to be pretty good, but generally the more background info you can get/stand looking up, the more you'll enjoy the play. Good luck! kelmaon fucked around with this message at 16:14 on Apr 12, 2010 |
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Apr 12, 2010 16:02
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First of all, thank you very much for your detailed write-up. I think I'm going to go with the Oxford if I can't find a copy of the Cambridge to check out before. The notes in the Oxford seem best and the layout is the most readable. I kinda dread the thought of buying any kind of Norton anthology because I really hate handling the super-thin paper. Also, as you said, the big plus of getting individual editions of the plays is all the secondary materials they include. I didn't know that all of the editions modernize the spelling, by the way. It's not such a big deal to me, though. I guess if someone really needs the original spelling for a scholarly essay or somesuch thing and absolutely has to own a copy the cheapest way to go would be the Norton facsimile of the First Folio (which is still pretty expensive at $100). Or you could just locate the passage you want in your modern edition and then use the act and scene to find that passage in an online edition of the Folio. On a just slightly related note, Such Tweet Sorrow has started today. It's a modern-day Twitter adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. I find it way too confusing to follow, but anyway, the site is http://suchtweetsorrow.com/
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Apr 13, 2010 00:32
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I don't know if anyone here can help me, but. I just read a book called The Baker's Boy--picked it up used and was looking for a pulp fantasy "young man finds noble destiny/spoiled princess discovers own strength" kinda read--and I hated it. I bought the sequel at the same time, and I may end up reading through it (because I'm weird like that), but really disliked the fact that the author seems obsessed with the darker/ickier aspects of human sexuality and the incredibly lame, pseuso-Dickensian religious villain. So I'm wondering if anyone here has read the full trilogy and can tell me what happens, because I really don't want to have to read two more full books to find out that the titular character dies unexpectedly, mourned by his love interest, but not before bringing low the blah blah blah. Thanks! And if no one can help, uh, I advise you not to read these.
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Apr 13, 2010 03:01
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Susan B. Antimony posted:I don't know if anyone here can help me, but. I just read a book called The Baker's Boy--picked it up used and was looking for a pulp fantasy "young man finds noble destiny/spoiled princess discovers own strength" kinda read--and I hated it. I bought the sequel at the same time, and I may end up reading through it (because I'm weird like that), but really disliked the fact that the author seems obsessed with the darker/ickier aspects of human sexuality and the incredibly lame, pseuso-Dickensian religious villain. So I'm wondering if anyone here has read the full trilogy and can tell me what happens, because I really don't want to have to read two more full books to find out that the titular character dies unexpectedly, mourned by his love interest, but not before bringing low the blah blah blah. Thanks! And if no one can help, uh, I advise you not to read these. You're weird! I read to enjoy. if I don't enjoy, I stop. I have no qualms about not finishing a book I don't like. YMMV. It's like saying "This movie was terrible, but I am gong to watch the sequel anyway!". Haven't read the books, can't help you. Would love to be able to allow you to stop reading terrible book 2 though!
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Apr 13, 2010 10:42
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I need help identifying a story. It is typically taught in most American literature classes. I don't remember anything about the plot or characters except for the ending. The main female character in the story was depressed (maybe from the loss of a child, can't remember) and decided she was going to swim out into the ocean and drown herself. Thats all I remember. I know its vague as poo poo but its a classic book so I'm hoping TBB can help me. I initially thought it was written by James Joyce or Emily Dickinson but I can't seem to find it. Thanks!
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Apr 14, 2010 02:39
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Hughmoris posted:I need help identifying a story. It is typically taught in most American literature classes. I don't remember anything about the plot or characters except for the ending. The main female character in the story was depressed (maybe from the loss of a child, can't remember) and decided she was going to swim out into the ocean and drown herself.
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Apr 14, 2010 03:59
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vegaji posted:The Awakening by Kate Chopin. There is a whole thread for identifying books, I think. Or maybe not. This is it, thank you. I didn't see a thread for identifying books so I figured the Chat & Questions thread was the next best option.
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Apr 14, 2010 04:48
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Grushenka posted:I carry about six or seven thick books (all hardcovers) with me on a regular basis. The joys of being a postgrad I'm a grad student, too. I'm stuck carrying a crapton of books in my backpack, and they can sometimes get pretty heavy. They can be quite a burden sometimes.
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Apr 14, 2010 08:09
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therattle posted:You're weird! I read to enjoy. if I don't enjoy, I stop. I have no qualms about not finishing a book I don't like. YMMV. It's like saying "This movie was terrible, but I am gong to watch the sequel anyway!". This is a fair point, and I am totally guilty. Never really liked Wheel of Time, but read all the ones that were out at the time (up through Winter's Heart, I think it's called) just to see what would happen. Oh, well, I think my partner has helpfully "lost" the sequel for me, so I am free to write the series off.
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Apr 15, 2010 01:33
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Don't worry, there's a couple more books after you stopped reading the series, but nothing happens in them.
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Apr 15, 2010 03:05
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Hughmoris posted:I need help identifying a story. There's a thread for that, which I can't blame you for not noticing because it's fallen to the middle of page 2. 
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Apr 15, 2010 11:09
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LooseChanj posted:There's a thread for that, which I can't blame you for not noticing because it's fallen to the middle of page 2. I can. Not bothering to look beyond the first page! sheer laziness which deserves a thorough horse-whipping.
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Apr 15, 2010 13:21
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therattle posted:I can. Not bothering to look beyond the first page! sheer laziness which deserves a thorough horse-whipping. Ha ha. I just noticed your avatar. That's awesome.
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Apr 15, 2010 14:13
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Time to play the Wangernumb round, let's rotate the board!
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Apr 15, 2010 14:23
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Hedrigall posted:Time to play the Wangernumb round, let's rotate the board! uh, um, 23!
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Apr 15, 2010 17:02
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jmaze posted:uh, um, 23! I'm sorry, that isn't Numberwang!
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Apr 15, 2010 22:27
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Someone needs to start a Numberwang thread in GBS 
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Apr 16, 2010 00:42
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Hedrigall posted:Someone needs to start a Numberwang thread in GBS Maybe I will.. maaaybe I will... I was thinking of Mornington Crescent, actually, but Numberwang works too Well, that got gas-chambered pretty quickly. Fun while it lasted. therattle fucked around with this message at 13:07 on Apr 16, 2010 |
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Apr 16, 2010 11:25
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Earwicker posted:Don't worry, there's a couple more books after you stopped reading the series, but nothing happens in them. Shamefully, I lurk the WoT thread here so that I can be assured of that. [sighs] Anyway, bought Drood, going to read it instead of things I know I don't like. One step at a time.
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Apr 16, 2010 18:57
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A quick question: How do you people remove the sticky residue from the "used book" stickers? I hate those ugly stickers and end up picking at them until I get them off. Unfortunately it leaves behind this sticky crap that sticks to you.
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Apr 20, 2010 07:46
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A dab of Eucalyptus oil on a rag - works like a charm. You can get a little bottle of it from most pharmacies last time I looked.
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Apr 20, 2010 08:30
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I have this stuff-- http://www.magicamerican.com/googone.aspx --because I did some roofing and the man at the hardware store said it would get tar off my hands. It did, and it also removes pretty much any adhesive stuff from any surface. Failing that kind of specialty purchase, a dab of dish detergent and a fingernail or butterknife should get it off.
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Apr 21, 2010 03:45
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There's some fiction series about a British soldier (mercenary?) around the Victorian era, with at least some of the stories happening in Afghanistan and India. It's a relatively well-known work, I think relatively modern historical fiction, and the character's name somehow reminds me of "Lord Flashheart" from the Blackadder comedies. I've tried googling up variants of all the above, and coming up short. Any ideas?
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Apr 22, 2010 11:32
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:There's some fiction series about a British soldier (mercenary?) around the Victorian era, with at least some of the stories happening in Afghanistan and India. It's a relatively well-known work, I think relatively modern historical fiction, and the character's name somehow reminds me of "Lord Flashheart" from the Blackadder comedies. I'm 99% sure you are looking for the hilarious, superb, historically accurate "Flashman" series by George MacDonald Fraser. Flashman isn't a mercenary, he's a soldier, but the period is spot-on, and there are books set in India and Afghanistan. (Yes! got one that I knew before I was beaten!) I highly recommend them. They are that rare beast, the high-quality yet entertaining book. (I like the Patrick O'Brian's too).
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Apr 22, 2010 11:57
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therattle posted:I'm 99% sure you are looking for the hilarious, superb, historically accurate "Flashman" series by George MacDonald Fraser. Flashman isn't a mercenary, he's a soldier, but the period is spot-on, and there are books set in India and Afghanistan. (Yes! got one that I knew before I was beaten!) Are these spoof books? I've seen them in the bookshop and have avoided them because I'm too fond of O'Brian and Cornwell's cheeky yet grubby takes on that era. Characters like Sharpe are sometimes absurd but the love of the history is there and so he doesn't do overly dumb poo poo like holding a rifle in each hand at the same time.
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Apr 22, 2010 16:33
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Dr Scoofles posted:Are these spoof books? I've seen them in the bookshop and have avoided them because I'm too fond of O'Brian and Cornwell's cheeky yet grubby takes on that era. Characters like Sharpe are sometimes absurd but the love of the history is there and so he doesn't do overly dumb poo poo like holding a rifle in each hand at the same time. They are highly accurate and detailed. The are humorous but not spoofs per se. The character of Flashman is a bully, a coward and a lech who gropes, bumbles, screws and drinks his way through various historical events. The different angle to the conventional historical novel is his vile and weak character (with some redeeming moments - Fraser makes him seem nonetheless likable and sympathetic, which is no mean feat). For what it's worth, I really, really like the Sharpe and O'Brians too; I'd place these firmly in the same camp, but with the tongue slightly more in cheek. Oh, and TapTheForwardAssist - there is a dedicated thread for questions like that.
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Apr 22, 2010 18:28
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Anamnesis posted:A quick question: How do you people remove the sticky residue from the "used book" stickers? I hate those ugly stickers and end up picking at them until I get them off. Unfortunately it leaves behind this sticky crap that sticks to you. I've heard if you blowdry onto the sticker for awhile it will come right off, but I've never tried that. Alcohol or mineral oil on a cloth/paper towel/tissue works for me.
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Apr 26, 2010 08:14
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Squidbeak posted:I've heard if you blowdry onto the sticker for awhile it will come right off, but I've never tried that. Alcohol or mineral oil on a cloth/paper towel/tissue works for me. 
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Apr 26, 2010 08:55
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Soulcleaver posted:This stuff is great for tag residue. My parents had it around growing up but I've never seen it in a normal grocery store so my books have residue these days.
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Apr 26, 2010 13:53
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Yiggy posted:This stuff is great for tag residue. My parents had it around growing up but I've never seen it in a normal grocery store so my books have residue these days. Try Ace Hardware or Home Depot.
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Apr 26, 2010 18:07
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I've got a number of older hardcovers with more fragile dustcovers. Could someone recommend some plastic outer dustcovers?
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Apr 26, 2010 19:23
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I just finished J.M. Coetzee's The Master of Petersburg and while it was very well written (except for the horribly strained dialogue here and there), I cannot help but feel that I just read 250 pages of rather eloquent and well-researched Alternative Universe Dostoevsky fan fiction. Feel free to tell me that I'm a horrible plebe. It wasn't bad--on the whole I liked it--but man, it just went way out into the left field.
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Apr 26, 2010 20:28
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Casimir Radon posted:I've got a number of older hardcovers with more fragile dustcovers. Could someone recommend some plastic outer dustcovers? Brodart, a library archival products company (I think based in Pennsylvania?) is your best bet. They have myriad sizes, use plastics that don't have any corrosive materials in them (thus won't damage the jackets that they are supposed to be protecting), and are adjustible. They are the only jacket covers we've ever used where protecting books at my shop. http://www.brodart.ca/supplies/archival-products/book-and-pamphlet/book-jacket-covers/
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Apr 26, 2010 20:45
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