WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,..
(The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer)
It's April, everyone, and that means it's time for this year's tribute to merrie old England, in which I read even more about England than I normally do. I enjoyed last year's experiment so well that I'm going to repeat it with gusto. April (the 23rd of which is St. George's Day) is hereby devoted wholly to England -- English history, English literature, books about English culture and personalities. Now, last year I got a touch carried away with English history, so I'm going to try to fall more on the side of literature this month. What to expect? Well, a venerable classic, along with a little more P.G. Wodehouse, who is not venerable in the least. (He is, however, awfully fun.) Expect a history of England by an English-type, and perhaps even some commentary on Shakespeare. I'm actually off to a head start, having already read The Return of the King, Bill Bryson's The Road to Little Dribbling, and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. Perhaps I'll read one of H.G. Well's more obscure novels, just to mix things up. Dickens is a shoe-in, because I've been working on one of his all this week, and later in the month I intend to read The English Resistance: The Underground War Against the Normans, per a suggestion from Cyberkitten.
Annnnnnnnnnnnd we're off!
Book Month over @ SaLT (as always) so no doubt you'll enjoy that! I look forward to reading your take on our culture. Oh, and I'm glad that I could slip in a useful suggestion for you. You'll read it way before I do! Finally (thankfully) finished my 10 random read - just starting the theme 'End of the World' Off to a cracking start already!
ReplyDeleteI've been sitting on that recc. for almost a year! I knew I wanted it, but wanted to save it until this month. Have fun with doomsday. ;)
DeleteBlogger tells me the link no longer works, but I look forward to what you discover!
ReplyDelete