new obsession that just seized me today
due to the insidious influences of GRE testing and neil gaiman (two subjects perhaps never to occur in conjunction with each other again), i have now spent the greater part of three hours rabidly reading about early british history before and up to the medieval time. IT IS FASCINATING.
first: got interested in english philology after reading excerpts of old english verse. considered, in a wild flight of fancy, giving it all up to be a medievalist. then, in an even wilder flight of fancy, becoming an expert cuneiform interpreter.
second: about a week later, in a semi-delirious state due to ongoing food-poisoning/stomach parasite/etc., commenced to read gaiman's American Gods and was enthralled by his crazy pantheon of immigrant gods (and of extremely cold places), most of all odin/woden. realized that my knowledge of any kind of history beyond the greeks and before queen elizabeth was embarrassingly barren and convoluted. normans? celts? saxons? wu-tan clan???
third: thank goodness for wikipedia!
when i'm feeling better, i'm going to see what the moorpark library has to offer on the subject. wikipedia is all well and good but i prefer reading coherent, cohesive narratives where i don't have to worry about being sidetracked by hyperlink all the time. does anyone have any material they could recommend? i also have a mania for european history in general right now so anything vaguely related would be lovely too.
alas, so my life goes.
first: got interested in english philology after reading excerpts of old english verse. considered, in a wild flight of fancy, giving it all up to be a medievalist. then, in an even wilder flight of fancy, becoming an expert cuneiform interpreter.
second: about a week later, in a semi-delirious state due to ongoing food-poisoning/stomach parasite/etc., commenced to read gaiman's American Gods and was enthralled by his crazy pantheon of immigrant gods (and of extremely cold places), most of all odin/woden. realized that my knowledge of any kind of history beyond the greeks and before queen elizabeth was embarrassingly barren and convoluted. normans? celts? saxons? wu-tan clan???
third: thank goodness for wikipedia!
when i'm feeling better, i'm going to see what the moorpark library has to offer on the subject. wikipedia is all well and good but i prefer reading coherent, cohesive narratives where i don't have to worry about being sidetracked by hyperlink all the time. does anyone have any material they could recommend? i also have a mania for european history in general right now so anything vaguely related would be lovely too.
alas, so my life goes.