Happy Fourth of July to my American friends...

To all the Americans on my flist: Have a wonderful Independence Day!

Old school books...

From last week's Booking Through Thursday:

1. Do you have any old school books? Did you keep yours from college? Old textbooks from garage sales? Old workbooks from classes gone by?


I do have some old text books; my favourite is from a high school correspondence course I took with the Ontario Ministry of Education back when I was an undergraduate, Latin for Canadian Schools. It's still my favourite Latin text. I have a poetry book from Grade 13 that I love, that contains things like Don Marquis' Archy and Mehitabel and T.S. Eliot The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and notes that my friend Paula made in red ink when I let her borrow my book.

I kept a few books from university, mostly beloved primary sources like Boccaccio's Decameron and Dante's Devine Comedy. There's a 2-volume set of an overview of Italian Literature that I always meant to keep, but I don't seem to have it any more. Also Il Gattopardo by di Lampedusa. Odds and ends of Renaissance literature and philosophy.

From my post-graduate work, not so much; most of the primary sources weren't things you could purchase, and we used few secondary sources - I owned Runciman's A History of The Crusades, of course, and still have it. I did acquire A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea by William of Tyre about a decade after I graduated. I love it.


2. How about your old notes, exams, papers? Do you save them? Or have they long since gone to the great Locker-in-the-sky?


I kept my master's thesis... I think. That's about it!

Happy birthday...

One of the less talked about facts about July 4 is that it is the birthday of Horatio Hornblower, who was born on July 4, 1776. Obviously an auspicious day!

Happy birthday, Captain Hornblower.