My job title is Reader, and I agree with a senior Professor of my acquaintance who, a while back in my ‘annual review’, said — “You’re a Reader, do some fucking reading”. Yes, I do write in my books: call it ‘annotation’ and you can get away with it. Yes, this book does start with a discussion of Star Trek. But it’s all work, I promise.
The second picture of the inside of a book in four days, but I am doing a lot of reading at the moment. Anyway, this wasn’t a work book, as the text might indicate — in fact this is an old Doctor Who novel, which I have probably owned for about forty-five years. At some point, it has been merrily munched through, round and round and round again, by some minuscule thing with teeth, making this the first definitive case of bookworm I think I’ve ever seen. At least it didn’t spread, but I won’t be selling this volume on the second-hand market, I feel.
I am occasionally still known to consult that nowadays esoteric and slightly old-fashioned source of information, the ‘book from the library’. This whole date-stamping and cancelling thing seems quite archaic now, doesn’t it? But in 2006 it was still all the rage.
The page of text you see here was enscribed some 1,150 years ago, in the later part of the 9th century AD. This is a page from the MacDurnan Gospels, created in Ireland and now held in the library of Lambeth Palace in London. What you see here are the originators of the idea of a cross-reference: this must be a passage from the gospel of John, because here, the scribe has noted that the same events are also recounted in Matthew, Mark and Luke (listed from the top down).
It’s to look at, and be taught about, beautiful things like this that I am in London this week and this was certainly a good place to start the day. Michelle Brown, whose fingers you see here, is such an expert on this time and subject that listening to her is like being immersed in a river of learning: we’re coming up every so often for breath but it’s no hardship to get back in afterwards, and I was actually disappointed when the day ended at 5pm. And it’s been a while since I could say that about certain other aspects of my job.
You wait ages for a small insect and then two turn up in consecutive days. This fly hung around for a while; clearly it has an interest in Ted Nelson’s Literary Machines this afternoon. As did I.
Started my time off with as low key a day as could be managed, even by recent standards. Felt like picking up a good book, which this is, very much so: even if not a very long one. If you’ve never read this, you really should. Pictured also in the foreground, the reading glasses that I now need to make sense of it.
When I started doing this blog on 26/8/2011 Joe was nine years, five months and twenty-two days old. His first appearance was a few days in, sat in the Railway and looking really very small. Not any more. I guess he hasn’t reached his complete adult form yet, he is not fifteen for a few weeks, but he cannot be far off. This is his ninety-ninth appearance on the blog. Doubtless I will find good reason to mark the next one.
With the whole of 2018 so far having been afflicted with grim, grey weather, there has been little motivation to go out in it; in fact in the last three days I’ve only left the house once, for about two hours last night. There’s work to be done, I might as well get on with it. It doesn’t make for gripping photography, I realise that, but I’ll do my best.
Finally made it home, 24 hours behind schedule, and just before landing finished this for the umpteenth time. I know pretty much exactly when I bought this book — April 1989 at a gas station in Pennsylvania. As you can see, it’s certainly seen some attention since then. And rightly so; in my opinion it’s definitely one of the greatest novels ever written. If you’ve never read it, you really should.
Awaiting me on my return from Norway yesterday were some author’s copies of my book, this being the one I wrote while on sabbatical between January and August last year, including my time in Australia. So here it is, finally, a physical object rather than just an abstract concept. If you’re into discussions of the political theory of information, you should buy it 🙂
Being 42 