Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: books, dread, fear, Goethe, history, Orlando, terror, Virginia Woolf, Werther
Lately, I have been having quite a lot of time to read, and re-read, books; this is especially true since travelling around means visiting certain bookshops where I can find a variety of works and for good prices. Here are a few I have either picked up now, been reading now, or just plain re-reading old favourites.
My copy had "The Nightmare" on the cover, I think the one pictured above may be the USA version.
A History Of Terror: Fear & Dread Through The Ages by Paul Newman
Wonderfully interesting book. Paul Newman’s witty sense of humour keeps the reading captivating, and everybody can learn something from this book — from well-known facts for those not so initiated in this field, to obscure facts that not even the Devil (excuse the pun) would have dreamt of. The way things have been feared and faced through the centuries is a pattern-prone subject, but this book never gets repetitive when emphasising the similarities between fear in the XXI century and fear 500 years ago, for instance. Recommended read! My favourite chapter is, of course, the one pertaining to the Romantics.
The cover of my copy is *also* different.
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Though I have been acquainted with Orlando for a while and Virginia Woolf for longer, I could not help but recommend the book. Orlando’s thousand adventures and ways of thinking are wonderful, and like my friend Maira points out, it is easy to picture a very hot good-looking Orlando. Or, at least, picture Tilda Swinton as Or - lan – do (which in my dictionary means ‘good-looking’ anyways). And by the way, the coloured pieces over there are links, click them for awesomeness.
Wertheeeeer
The Sorrows of Young Werther by J.W. Goethe
Though I have also been aware of Goethe for quite a while, I would also like to seize this opportunity to spam my readers with shameless promotion of this book. It is Goethe! It is pretty boys doing tragic things! It is a book which sparked a fever among youths of the time!
If that does not convince you, I do not know what will.
