Christmas Plunder

I've been saving this post for quite some time, mostly because its taken me far too long to decide what to do with my Borders gift cards and twice that amount of time to receive everything in the mail. But I present to you my winnings from this past Christmas's gift fest:

I know the picture is bad but the books are as follows (left to right, top to bottom):
Willim Caxton and English Literary Culture by N.F. Blake (been wanting this one for quite some time)
The Western Canon: The books and School of the ages by Harold Bloom
Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.R.R. Tolkien (a nice new collection that I didn't even know existed until I unwrapped this gift from my mum)
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
The Book of Merlyn by T.H. White
Sir Gawain and the Green Knght translated by Burton Raffel (a new translation to me. should be interesting)
Hamlet by William Shakespeare (this was a sentimental gift from my mum since I'm teaching it for the first time this semester)
Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln (the controversial and mostly ridiculous history that inspired The DaVinci Code)

The Holiday Hoard

So in lieu of a full blog post this week I would like to unlock my word hoard (in this sense I refer not to Beowulfian vocabulary but rather to the fun idea that collecting books is, essentially, a way to hoard words) and gloat over the increases that this past Holiday season has contributed to my collection. I'm only posting this now because the final Amazon.com order has finally arrived (Chretien was a bit of a slowpoke).

From left to right, top to bottom:
1. The Complete Romances of Chretien de Troyes, Translated by David Staines
2. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne
3. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, Translated by P.G. Walsh
4. 1066: The Year of the Conquest by David Howarth
5. Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault (I actually bought this a while ago but have started reading it during Christmas break so I'll count it)
6. The Complete Book of Home Improvement (not too literary but very practical for a guy looking to buy very soon. Thanks to my best friend Hayik, fellow handyman)
7. The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien
8. The Metamorphoses by Ovid, Translated by Allen Mandelbaum
9. Student to Student (this is a series of devotionals for college students and I'm actually a contributor, yay for being published! Not yay for having to buy the book I'm published in)
10. The Lays of Marie de France, Translated by Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante

So far I've torn through The Children of Hurin, made it halfway through Foucault, The Consolation, and 1066. Finishing 1066 is probably the last thing I'll have time for before the new semester begins but overall I'd say that this Christmas was both highly productive and highly rewarding. I can't wait to catalogue them all. I just need to find a shelf that they will fit on...