Thanks, guess I just wanted your opinion on them... I find I have way less time for magazines too and if I buy any, they just sit on my desk for months. I had like a years worth of Modern Painters build up a while back.

posted by twacorbies at 3:40 pm (EST) on Dec 19, 2007

Hey amillay, do you read any Buddhist magazines like Tricycle or Buddhadharma? Curious what you think of them (just asking 'cause you've got a handful of books on buddhism)...

Hope all is well,
Sean (TwaCorbies)

posted by twacorbies at 3:59 pm (EST) on Dec 12, 2007

Thanks Amanda, sorry my attempt at an explanation was so convoluted. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving too!

Sean (AKA TwaCorbies)

posted by twacorbies at 2:35 am (EST) on Nov 25, 2007

Huh, good question. I guess it's interesting to me since I've read so much about the Romans, and it seems pretty amazing that such a conservative civilization would change lock, stock and barrel to a completely new and marginalized belief system. It seems that the main reason that a culture changes their religion so drastically is because the head of state does so.

Now that I feel like I've managed to read a reasonable amount of history basics: names, dates, wars, events, I'm interested in the experience of the people who lived during those times. In the case of the adoption of Christianity, what was it like to give up a comfortable way of thinking for something radical? How did it feel to be alive when your culture was changing faster than you could keep up with it? And so, in a super roundabout way, we get back to your question :( I'm interested also in what it would be like to believe in a multitude of gods and how it shaped people's outlook on life. Did the Romans look at gods in a kind of jaundiced way, as just another one of many (like Pokemon- gotta catch 'em all!) or did they fear other culture's gods and the thought that there were gods they'd never heard of waiting somewhere in Terra Incognita to threaten them? The short answer then :( what did people think and feel in different times in the past?

Gah, so long a response, sorry,
TwaCorbies

posted by twacorbies at 2:24 pm (EST) on Nov 14, 2007

That book sounds actually quite cool- why, why are you giving me more things to want, amillay? ;) I was recently looking for books that give a good explanation of just what it is like to live with the belief in an entire pantheon of gods. There are of course, a few major religions still practiced today that accept the belief in many gods, but I guess I'm really interested in the Greeks and Romans in this regard. Most of the books devoted to this theme seem to be fairly philosophical in outlook rather than attempting to describe the experience of a living religion of many gods (books like "Did the Greeks Believe Their Myths?" or something like that by Veyne is one that comes to mind).

San Francisco is an expensive place to live, blah, blah, blah you've heard it all before I'm sure so don't let that stop you! :)

posted by twacorbies at 6:46 pm (EST) on Nov 12, 2007

I'm in the same "buy less books" mode :( I have so much stuff to read anyway, you'd think I would be content.

Haven't started "The Barbarian Conversions" yet, as it covers a lot of ground from books I've previously read, but I'm looking forward to getting more details. That period after the fall of Rome to the Early Middle Ages is so murky- it's hard to get a handle on it.

posted by twacorbies at 10:23 pm (EST) on Nov 8, 2007

Great choices on the quotes.

posted by twacorbies at 4:16 pm (EST) on Nov 8, 2007

nice collection. csn't remember if i said hello, so,

hey.

posted by tim_watkinson at 10:11 am (EST) on Oct 26, 2007

I noticed your copy of Wilson's "female outsiders". I was astonished because I didn't know that such a thing existed. Colin Wilson's "The Outsider" is my favorite non-fiction book by far. It would be absolutely amazing to read what he thinks about female outsiders. I have written poems and short pieces inspired by him.

posted by jodavid at 10:06 pm (EST) on Sep 25, 2007

Thank you! I love your library. It is refreshing to see someone admire many of the same authors that I revere. I think a book about female outsiders is a great idea. One author that I would suggest reading is Madeline Gins, specifically her book "Word Rain". It is kind of difficult to find so if you would like to borrow it I wouldn't mind. Clarice Lispector is also a good choice. And of course Sylvia Plath. You know, the idea of a female outsider is very interesting. Of course they are probably more common than I realize, but I am so used to being inundated with females that seem so comfortable and natural in their environment (image, shopping, food, gossip, etc.). ...It just seems that it would be rare to me (although I am probably hanging out in the wrong realms of existence).

posted by jodavid at 7:29 pm (EST) on Sep 24, 2007

Great to see you too!

posted by mariamontgomery at 7:57 pm (EST) on Sep 23, 2007