It doesn't mean you mean that much to me

So, Reading Weeke the Firste is almost over. I've spent a good chunk of time reading - which I consider to be of the utmost irony, as I never used Reading for its intended purpose when I was student. Perhaps this means I'm growing as a person.

I went to the library the other day to pick up two Stephen Fry books or, rather, what I thought were new Stephen Fry books. One, The Ode Not Taken: Unlocking the Poet Within, is definitely new, and has turned out to be an excellent and accessible guide to verse and metre, which, any teacher of English literature will tell you, is important to understanding poetry, but difficult to teach. I'm considering adding it to future syllabi, either as a required or as an optional text. It has lots of exercises if I was ever so inclined to pick up a pen and write some poetry again.

The other book, a novel, I had not heard of. It's called Revenge. It wasn't until I got it home that I discovered that I own the novel under it's original title, The Stars' Tennis Balls. It seems the Webster quotation was deemed too archaic for American readers and the less impressive title Revenge was substituted. When I discovered this, I was very disappointed. I had planned to read this apparently-new Stephen Fry novel and was rather looking forward it. Thwarted by dumbed down American titles, I turned instead to other classics, Virgil's Aeneid and Sir Thomas Mallory's Book of Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere. I've been toying with the idea of resuming my long neglected novel and have thought about using a little Morte d'Arthur as a running motif.

I've also watched the first series of "Touching Evil," an excellent British cop/mystery show. It stars my imaginary girlfriend from "Spooks," Nicola Walker. She's absolutely brilliant, portraying a character who is much harder edged and more authoritative than darling Ruth.

And finally, following the example of wise friend, Chris, over at "Wrap me up and Call me Jesus", here's ten random songs from my Ipod:

1) Decemberists: Crane Wife 3
2) Gorillaz: Clint Eastwood
3) Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now (orchestral version)
4) Die Walkkure Act 2 sc 1
5) Johnny Cash: Hurt
6) Das Rheingold: Auf, Loge! Hnab mit dir:
7) Talking Heads: (Nothing but) Flowers
8) Bob Marley: Get up, Stand up!
9) Nirvana: Heart-shaped Box
10) John Cale: Hallelujah