The Mirror in my Mind

I know at some point not too long ago, someone on my flist posted the title of a (gasp) *good* novel based on Pride and Prejudice (other than Bridget Jones which is, of course, lovely). All I remember is that it was focused on Georgiana Darcy. Could anyone give me a title?

(I have a Barnes and Noble giftcard and while most of it will be devoted to The Mirador -- once I find a store that actually *has* the book -- I should have enough left over for a paperback. I thought I'd give P&P retellings/sequels one last try.)

Oh, and on a random and hilarious note, the other day at Barnes and Noble, my sister and I found published Phantom of the Opera porn. I didn't pick it up on the principle that I could probably find something better on the Internet for free, but the fact that it's published is utterly hilarious to me.

I really ought to know better than to even walk into Oxfam. Admittedly, the last few times, I emerged unscathed. This time, however, there were problems. I walked out with three books.

( Further details and vaguely related rambling on the state of C15 scholarship )

At any rate, I should probably go back to Thomas Malory. I started rereading Le Morte Darthur the other day and am once again struck by how many innocent bystanders are accidentally decapitated. Especially ladies who happen to be standing next to the man [insert knight here] was aiming for. Obviously the Knights of the Round Table have very bad aim. Though I do keep getting flashes to crazy!Lancelot from Holy Grail and that's always fun.

Stolen from erastes

( Book Meme! )

Right. Enough time wasted. I've got errands to run.

Leaving for Boston in a few hours, so I'm currently staring at my suitcase, trying to puzzle out exactly what I'm forgetting. So what do I do? A meme!

Swiped from dolorous_ett, ignipes, a_t_rain, and dolabellae

The game is as follows - I give the last sentence or couple of sentences from five of my favourite books. Your task - to identify the books.

Since I've already played the 'First Lines' game, the books will be different this time round. ;) Yes, I really do have that many favourites.

( Here goes! )

Two are by the same author, and if you've been reading my journal for the past two months or so, you could probably guess. One is blindingly obvious, but the lines before it really don't say much. One nineteenth-century, and one very early twentieth-century. The rest are modern.

Order of the Phoenix took me five-and-a-half hours, give or take. Half-Blood Prince took me less than four. Started around 12:30, finished around 4:00.

My first reaction: Screaming

My second reaction: Dear sweet God, that book was good.

Most of my theories were, as expected, shot to hell, but some emerged unscathed, much to my surprise.

( Not particularly coherent thoughts )

I suspect I'll reread sometime very soon, and come up with slightly more coherent thoughts. The only coherency I can currently muster is very specific.

Feeling *so* much better.

I just spent the past three hours wandering the city with my camera. I woke up today and realised that it was the third heartbreakingly gorgeous day in a row, and as this is East Anglia, it'll probably start pouring within the next twenty-four hours, so...

Carpe diem and all that crap. ;)

There were at least some remnants of the carpets of violets I'd seen before I left for India, but some of it had been replaced by cornflowers. Still very very pretty. Wandered along the Church Rate Walk and Malting Lane, took photographs of random houses and ivy-grown walls and a few abandoned Métro tickets that I found amusing for some reason. King's was where I'd seen the carpet of flowers, so I went there next, strolled through the College and past all the Japanese tourists, and ended up wandering into the market.

Dialogue between Rational and Irrational Halves of my brain as follows.

Irrational: Ooooh, book!
Rational: Ahem? Money?
Irrational: But it's got full-colour photographs of the Titanic. It's research!
Rational: I repeat. Ahem? Money?
Irrational: Well, you see, if I buy this book, I'll have more research material. If I have more research material, I'll write more. If I write more, I'll finish the novel. If I finish the novel, I have a far greater chance of publishing the novel. And if I publish the novel, there might be money.
Rational: And who in their right mind would read what you write?
Irrational: I'm more comprehensible than Joyce!
Rational: ...
Irrational: Oh, fine, that says nothing. But still...
Rational: Your logic does not resemble our earth logic.
Irrational: It took you this long to figure that out?

Needless to say, I bought the book. And it's so pretty...

Also picked up books on Dandyism, the Whitechapel Murders, and a primer for Medieval French. Yes. I'm eclectic.

Did my requisite sneaking through Trinity and took yet more photographs. Must do this again sometime.

Only cloud was the lack of a teleportation device. If I had a teleportation device, I could have snatched my boyfriend out of what was probably a very decent mid-morning sleep and made him go punting with me. With demi-sec and sandwiches and probably very obnoxious PDA. Because it's spring in Cambridge and that's what people do. Maybe next spring.

My cold feels so much better. And there are birds singing outside my window. Today was a very nice day.

Books = crack

I fell in love today...

::grin::

...with the Wren Library. I swear my jaw dropped and hit the floor when we walked in for my seminar this morning. Normally I don't care for Neoclassical architecture, but when said Neoclassical architecture involves midmorning sun streaming through *massive* mullioned arch windows onto hundreds of priceless books...

Yeah.

In love.

Now back to my romantic evening with Richard III.

ETA (22:21): Link to a photograph of aforementioned library. Doesn't do it justice but at least gives an idea.

How many copies of Christopher Marlowe can one girl possibly own?

Let's see.

1. Falling-apart paperback edition featuring the four major plays.

2. Bizarre hardcover edition from 1929, language supposedly not modernised.

3. Doctor Faustus paperback edition with nice appendices.

4. Edward the Second paperback edition, also with nice appendices.

Grace à the lovely rosamund, there will soon be an 1896 Complete Works added to this list. And I am very seriously eyeing a copy of the edition I looked at today in Rare Books, from 1887, with a fascinating essay by Havelock Ellis. Only reason I chose the 1896 over it as a birthday present was because it only has the four major plays and none of the poetry.

So this puts me at six. Not including criticism/fiction/biography/etc.

However, this is *nothing* compared to my Shakespeare collection. I have no idea how many different copies of different plays I own; I lost count years ago. Also...let's see...at least four copies of Pride and Prejudice, three of Jane Eyre, at least five instances of Oscar Wilde floating around somewhere...so I suppose the final verdict is that I randomly collect multiple copies of books. Just because.

And you needn't say it. I'm weird. ;)

ETA (3:30 AM): If we want to count nonfiction/criticism/etc, here's the extended list. Plus, I just put in an order for the 1887 Symonds/Havelock book. So...

7. The Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe

8. Anthony Burgess - A Dead Man in Deptford