Introduce Yourself here and say Hi.

:wave: welcome to "Reason is a Cow"--I've been enjoying reading some of your posts the last couple of days--glad you decided to introduce yourself.

:wave: another welcome to morounkunolami--hope you enjoy the discussions here

Hi moroun, welcome to the forum. I hope, you will enjoy your stay here!

Hello everyone, am looking forward to getting to know people.

Hi pragmatisst! Welcome to the forum!

Hello,

I just found this forum today. I am an avid reader and have been for a number of years. In fact some might label me a bibliophile. My wife and i together have filled our living spaces in our home with books. I have many books at various stages of being read on any given day, and i switch between them as the mood fits me. I will confess that i've completely read maybe a quarter and partially read maybe another quarter of my books. I tend to acquire books and then not read them until some time later. I collect Folio Society and Easton Press books. I do try to stick to the policy that i won't buy a book unless i intend to read it. I recieved my M.A. in Humanities from Louisiana State University in '96 and currently live in Belgium.

I'm currently actively reading (meaning i read out of them at least once a week):

1. "Milton: Complete Poems and Major Prose." Last night i was working through his essay "Christian Doctrine." This book is a massive tome and will take time to get through. I've only recently acquired it.

2. Johan Huizinga's "The Autumn of the Middle Ages." This work is a lovely read and beautifully translated into English. Provides a vivid description of life and attitudes during the Middle-Ages.

3. Antony Beevor's "Stalingrad." This is a riveting work for those interested in WWII eastern front history. It has the punch of von Mellenthin's "Panzer Battles" and might not be as intense as Guy Sajer's "The Forgotten Soldier."

4. I've been working on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Friend: A Series of Essays to Aid in the Formation of Fixed Principles in Politics, Morals, and Religion." This is a wonderful collection of Coleridge's writing. His discussions are thought provoking indeed. I just read his Essay IV on arrogance. Great stuff!

5. I've been working through contemporary essayist William Gass's "A Temple of Texts" which is also very thought provoking. His list of the 50 greatest literary works of all time is very interesting indeed.

As i'm a student of Islam and the Middle-East as well, i am currently carefully reading, Robert Hoyland's "Seeing Islam as Others Saw It" which is a very interesting analysis drawing on 7th century Christian, Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Muslim sources about how non-Muslims reacted to the Muslim invasions of Sasanian/Byzantine areas as well as how they interacted with Muslims. Also i've been working on Maria Rosa Menocal's "The Ornament Of The World" which is a lovely work discussing the culture of tolerance that did exist in Andalusia during the reign of the Umayadds over southern Spain. I also read excerpts from works by numerous Muslim intellectuals throughout my average week.

Rudyard Kipling's dictum that "East is East and West is West and never the Twain shall meet" is one that i actively try to work against in my writing and discussion.

--Ulysses

Welcome Pragg! :wave:

Welcome Ulysses! :wave:

You sound like an interesting person!

Welcome pragmatisst :wave: Hope you enjoy it here

and welcome Ulysses :wave:. That looks like a good assortment of reading material. Glad to have someone with such a diversity of intellectual interests on board here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ulysses

Hello,

My wife and i together have filled our living spaces in our home with books. I have many books at various stages of being read on any given day, and i switch between them as the mood fits me. I will confess that i've completely read maybe a quarter and partially read maybe another quarter of my books. I tend to acquire books and then not read them until some time later.

---

Ulysses, that sounds just like me. Welcome to lit net. That is an impressive reading list and somewhere on my bookshelves lies The Autumn of the Middle Ages only slightly read. I hope you will share your learning here and enter our discussions.

Hello, everyone! I'm Carisa. I'm a bit shy when I'm new. Please, forgive me.

Welcome to lit net, Carisa. There is no reason to be shy. We're a friendly bunch.

Hey, everyone! Just started a blog on myspace.com about George Orwell's "1984" but I'm interested in the literature of "oppressed" societies and individuals, both historical and fiction. Hope to hear from you guys . . . be well!

The "wolfram" in my email comes from Wolfram von Eschenbach, author of "Parsifal" which was later adapted by German composer Richard Wagner for his opera of the same name.

Hi wolfram! Welcome to the forum! I hope that you will like it here!

Hey Carisa, there is no need to be shy. Imagine that you are sitting among friends and you will no longer feel shy, believe me! And welcome to the community!

Hi Ulysses! You seem like a very interesting person, I hope that you will enjoy your stay here!

hello everyone i just wanted to say hi and that im looking forward to being on the forums. i think its really great that there are this many people i can share my opinions thoughts and questions with about one of my favorite things..literature. im just getting started into reading literature and im reading dantes divine comedy right now and quite frankly its amazing. im 13 and though im not required to read this for school i wanted to read it and im glad that i am. well im looking forward to posting here and maybe learning a few things from you guys and anyone who hasnt i encourage you to read the divine comedy... its awesome
bye guys !

Welcome to all the newbies! :) great to have you here.

Hi literaturerocks! Welcome to the forum! I have not heard of divine comedy but I will come to know probably (that's what wikipedia is for...hehe)