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JBI - to stop at 589 is better than 580 - that I think is the year when Sui truly reunified China - the future YangDi conquered Chen Dynasty that year.

If you are reading Buddhist stuff, I'd argue...

On my third try to learn enough Hindi/Urdu and maybe one day I can understand Bollywood movies without sub-titles.

Interesting discussions. Reminded me of an article from about a year ago:

http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=57728

My personal feeling is that the push to get...

I wonder if it is somehow backdoor influence of the Arabic ghazal form - it definitely did influenced some poetic practices in the Iberian peninsular and probably Provencal poetry in the middle ages...

Medieval Europe ... reminds me of a book I have (that I never read): The Central Middle Ages 950-1320, edited by Daniel Powers, part of the series called "Short Oxford History of Europe"
...

What is the subject you are really referring to here?

On Chinese Buddhist text - I personally like Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra more, but in the Chinese context yes the Lotus sutra is more canonical....

My most expensive purchases in the last several years was first: Taisho (大正藏 Vol 46) at 18,000 Yen plus tax (those were the days when Yen were around 85 I think - of course the text is alvailable...

Oxford and Cambridge: An Uncommon History, by Peter Sager (a German),translated by David Wilson. Fascinated by the simultaneous grandness and pettiness of these British institutions.

Try Google Books.

I found one written in 1903 on the first search:...

Borges still needs to share a prize in this alternative world? Poor guy.

The other day I find a copy by Stuart Atkins in my bookshelf that I have not read yet after 20 years ... it was a version published by Princeton with Part One and Two together.

Baburnama, translated by Wheeler Thackston

Anyone mentioned India yet? They clearly will win with a little bit of anachronistically stretching what "India" as a country means.

Only buy what you will read - that probably helps the environment.

Good observation. Knowing 20 Russian writers is already quite a lot. I was amazed that I have not heard more than 10 names when I compiled this list of top 20~25 authors based on the bibliography...

Has anyone voted for Cuba yet?

Cambridge histories are like traditional Chinese histories - more intended as reference works rather than something you read cover to cover. I wish I had the subscription to Cambridge histories...

These days I am fascinated with Hindi/Urdu (Bollywood movies are getting very good!), plus in descending order Pali, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Bengali. Unfortunately, I don't know any of these...

So, which is the one book you have read in 2012 that you liked most?

For me, it would be French Literature: A Very Short Introduction - by John Lyons.

I can think of two:
1) Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov. The existing part is just promised as the first part of a longer (3-part?) work.
2) The work now called Dream of Red Chambers presumably by...

Well, being a list-maniac that has created a book list site ... here is a list with religious and literature texts across the globe ... of course many good / great works are left out ... but...

1. The Vision of God - Vladimir Lossky. 7/10. About Orthodox theology, written middle of last century. Vladimir is a Russian theologian living in the emigre community in France; his father N.O....

Recently read an article by Ashis Nandy about Gandhi:

http://www.littlemag.com/2000/nandy.htm

Maybe the better question is: if you need to run for your life this Friday, which one book will you take with you? No, your Kindle does not count.

For Ghalib, Frances Prichett has an online site for all his Urdu Ghazals:
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ghalib/index.html

For Mahabharata and Ramayana, has anyone read the...