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The Cambridge Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures in English
, The Cambridge Introduction to J. M. Coetzee
, and Why Read the Classics?
are the newest additions to my personal library as I gear up for deeper studies in the coming year. I'm addicted to these! If I could snap my fingers and stock my home with all the Harold Bloom/Chelsea House books and the Cambridge Introductions/Companions to Literature, oh, how happy I would be! But as a friend of mine pointed out, half the fun is in the hunting and acquisition, so if I got them all at one time, I would just search out something else to continue the excitement of collecting. As usual, she is correct.Let the hunt resume!
10 comments:
Are you buying these second-hand Cambridge Introductions aren't too expensive, not like most academic books.
That's why I love university libraries. It's a magical place where you can burrow a book that costs £200 to buy (yes, there are some academic books that cost that much) and have it for two weeks!! Yay!
but yes, Cambridge Intros are good plus Oxford's short introductions are decent for a quick overview and especially for giving you additional reading. I like when a book gives you further reading material, it's nice of them.
Damned Conjuror ~ I'm buying some of them new but most are coming as remainders from third-party vendors, especially the Bloom/Chelsea House books. Those run about $45 retail, but they can be gotten for a fraction of that price. I'm fussy about the condition, but all the ones I've ordered have been in very good shape.
The only reason I'm not utilizing the university library more for these is that I want to be able to refer back to them as I study further, so I'm slowing building my own reference library for the authors and topics I'm most interested in. Otherwise, if I had the time, I'd be all but living in a university library. And happily at that! :-) The prices of academic books can be outrageous. It's nice to be able to find access to them in different, less financially damaging ways.
I will check out the Oxford Short Introductions, too. Thanks for the tip!
Lezlie
That's cool, you should build yourself a mini-library with wall-to-wall shelving and ladders and leather armchairs.
I'm a student so whenever I see a book costing more than £5 I suddenly get the shivers. It's always with some trepidation that I buy books. That's why libraries+charity shops=win
Yeah, the Very Short Introductions by Oxford are good. They used to be in normal sized versions but they re-branded them and made them mini-size...plus cheaper.
Also a good source is Routledge. They produce some great collections under Study Guides banner plus Routledge Critical Thinkers is a good collection of a pretty decent overview of major thinkers.
Lastly, Verso's Radical Thinkers series has some great titles and they're quite cheap too.
Damned Conjuror ~ That mini-library is always in the back of my mind, only it's not so "mini" in my fantasy world. :-)
I totally understand your aversion to new book prices. I just figure at this point in my life (over 40), all these years of working better be good for something and that something is my personal book collection. :-) I will take a look at those other series you mention here. They all sound very interesting! And now that you describe the Very Short Introductions, I realized I have a few of them here already. Score!
Lezlie
Nostalgia just hit--I haven't perused these since my undergrad days...might have to wander downstairs now (I'm at the university library as we speak).
Bookshelf Monstrosity ~ Peruse some for me, too! I'm making up for not having gone to college like I should have. :-)
Lezlie
I have Calvino's Why REad the Classics on my bedside table! Needless to say, I haven't even flipped through it yet.
Rebecca ~ Cool! We'll have to see who actually gets to it first. LOL!
Lezlie
I always love the look of these, but I seem to enjoy buying them and owning them more than actually reading them. Once they're actually in my house I tend to be too tired to read them and end of picking up lighter stuff. Well done for continuing your project!!
Joanna ~ Thanks! I've neglected the ones I've already collected because of challenge books, but once I get going on them, I have as much fun with these as I do reading the novels they talk about. Next year I'm hoping to get to a whole bunch of them! :-)
Lezlie
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