Read Me

Not sure if you noticed the new epigraph up top—one of my favorite quotes. First brought to my attention by a friend of a friend in college, but it's really stuck with me (and The Name of the Rose is a pretty good book, by the way!):

Noi viviamo per i libri.
Dolce missione in questo mondo dominato dal disordine e dalla decadenza

Translation:
“We live for books.
A sweet mission in this world dominated by disorder and decay.”

Anyway, seemed appropriate: I just realized that I'm in five different reading groups and/or book clubs. What can I say?

For posterity's sake (maybe I'll put it in a book someday?), here's a word or two about each one:

The Ancient Greek reading group at Seattle U is currently making our way through Plato's Ion:


Meanwhile, I got pretty excited by some of the reviews of the Thomas Pynchon book, seen here distracting me from finishing my syllabus for the quarter:

I am fortunate enough to know a few people willing to get together and discuss it with me.

First thing on that syllabus is the first book of Aristotle's Metaphysics, and I'm again fortunate, since another philosophy prof. at SU suggested meeting a few times to take a close look at what other philosophers have said about the opening of that wonderful text:


The book club that Pete started a while back (I think I mentioned it on here sometime) is still going strong; we just finished Grapes of Wrath and are now trying out some Richard Russo:


And I thought that was it, thought I'd only had the hubris (in the words of a colleague) to be in four reading groups, but then I remembered that I signed up for a second-year followup to the Arrupe Seminar on Jesuit education:

First reading assignment is due in two weeks! Better hit the books...

Happy reading, reader!