Comments | perelleth: The Three Wise Men

perelleth

The Three Wise Men

Jan 08, 2015 22:53

They came as expected, on Jan 6th, saddlebags lighter than usual but still. This year we made a kind of "secret santa" pact. 50 eur max, one present per person and the difference with what you would have spent goes to a local charity ( Read more... )

Comments 14

dot_o_choillmor January 8 2015, 22:39:20 UTC

I was thinking about you on the 6th! I'm glad they showed up.

Me, I got some lovely things. My friend's son (he's barely 18 months old) gave me a bottle of mulled wine :-) Now there's a child who knows the way to my heart.

perelleth January 8 2015, 22:53:48 UTC

OMG that kid knows how to behave!

tyellas January 9 2015, 00:16:58 UTC

My fiancee gave me a lavishly illustrated biography of Colette. This huge book contains pretty much every known image of Colette and book covers, parody cartoons, and much more. I'm thrilled.

perelleth January 9 2015, 09:46:23 UTC

oh, wow! Sounds like a beautiful edition!

dawtheminstrel January 9 2015, 02:54:19 UTC

I'm working on a giant jigsaw puzzle I got for Christmas. It's 2500 pieces.

perelleth January 9 2015, 09:48:09 UTC

Great! It will keep you entertained for...how long? In my case it would be a lifetime.

dawtheminstrel January 9 2015, 12:20:29 UTC

It'll take me maybe 2 weeks. I find it soothing.

perelleth January 9 2015, 12:50:48 UTC

I never got the patience for puzzles, but my sister loves them.

clodia_metelli January 9 2015, 15:43:04 UTC

Christmas presents: I'm still waiting for my new translation of Dioscorides. We ordered it before Christmas, but evidently not long enough before for it to get here on time. But then, we did have to order it direct from its (German) publisher... I hope you enjoy Montaigne! He's on the list of things I vaguely mean to get around to reading one of these days.

perelleth January 9 2015, 16:03:54 UTC

Oh! A beautiful thing! One of my uncles did have one...I used to love leafing through it when visiting... Hope it arrives soon. Publishers seldom seem in a hurry to serve direct clients, unfortunately.

I quite liked Montaigne back in the day. The new edition is beautiful too, and I'm curious to see if the author stands the passing of time in my fav list, LOL

clodia_metelli January 9 2015, 17:08:39 UTC

I am really looking forward to it! ... when it arrives. English translations of Dioscorides are weirdly hard to get hold of; back when I was an undergrad, I used the only available translation for a final year project, and that one was a 1910s "update" (barely) of a translation from the 1600s. As you can imagine, it was awful. This translation has come out since then, I am fairly sure it's in English, and as far as I can tell it's only available direct from the publisher's website, because... they don't really want anyone to read it? Who knows. I'm not sure whether it has pictures, but if it has a decent index I shall forgive it.

It always is slightly worrying to pick up an old favourite and see whether you still love it. This is one reason why I'm enjoying Kindle: I've had it long enough to start rereading things now, and it always makes me laugh when my notes tell me I reacted in exactly the same way to bits of certain books the first time through. But I don't imagine you'll be scribbling notes in the margins of your beautiful

perelleth January 9 2015, 19:01:35 UTC

Hehehe, yes, the same story here, about editions and outdated translations. Hopefully your version has the drawings.

You're right about the kindle. THe notes and highlights are really useful.

elliska January 9 2015, 23:29:34 UTC

I'm such a boring person! Hubby and I don't really do presents. We're not good at delaying gratification. If we see something we want, we normally just buy it then, and that doesn't happen often. Oh wait, we are getting a new dishwasher since ours has been broken for a year. Does that count?

Your book sounds very cool though. I've been into reading non-fiction these last few months too. I just can't seem to get into fiction, but non-fiction, especially history, has been holding my interest.

perelleth January 10 2015, 10:25:33 UTC

Hehehe, it's ok. I think since there have been children in the house for ever it's kind of natural to keep giving presents during the holidays.

I never thought I would tire of reading fiction, but I don't seem to find many things that hold my interest, but that must be mostly me to blame. I've been reading essays for the most part, but I'm looking forward to re reading this. I find that Montaigne had an enlightened, ironically disillusioned, quietly positive view of life that is very comforting. PLus, the French is truly a challenge!