This week is Reading Week, meaning that I should be enjoying my time off. However, I find myself more snowed under than ever. In part, this is my own fault. I have a shelf full of books I want to read.
At the moment I am half way through 'Into the Silence' by Wade Davis, which I am really enjoying. His description of the carnage of the Western Front, in contrast to the impenetrable silence of the Himalayas is haunting. Next along the shelf is 'The Frontiers of Imperial Rome' by David Breeze. I'm really looking forward to reading this work by one of the leading authorities on Hadrian's Wall (and Roman frontiers in general). I also have 'The Levelling Sea' by Philip Marsden lined up waiting for me. I am becoming increasingly interested in looking at new approaches to history, particularly in terms of how the story of a single individual or place can be used to illustrate wider historical events. I'm not sure yet how this might be useful for the Classical world, where detailed source material of this nature is usually lacking, but I haven't given up on this approach yet.
As well as this personal reading, I have a further two books which I'm reading in order to review. Both look really good. I also have a number of texts which I need to read for teaching purposes. Not least of these is Michael Whitby's edited collection of essays on Sparta. Some of these look particularly useful for the course I am teaching on Spartan politics and society.
Alongside all of this, I am hoping to increase my blogging activity over the next few weeks. It seems that I get less and less time for reading and blogging. How do other people manage it?
The only way that I seem to manage to keep up with things is to blog and to read as and when the opportunity and inspiration arises - not always the most productive way of doing it, and it means I've not got stuck into my current reading, but it seems to be working!
ReplyDeleteI think this may be the best course to take. I tend to compartmentalise reading, preparing lectures and blogging so that they rarely intersect. I am going to try to be more organised (and productive) in blogging as I read.
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