Daily Opportunity

At JMU I took a class about English literature to the 16th century with an awesome professor named Bruce Johnson.  Our textbook was the Norton Anthology of English Literature, covering medieval times to the 16th century. I love this book; in fact, I still own it. Fascinating bits of reading are spread across more than 2,500 Bible-thin pages — heroic tales, poems, mystery plays, prose, morality plays, dramas, and insightful articles full of awesome historical context for the pieces selected. When we were in the hospital having David, I brought my Norton Anthology along and read “Everyman”. A nurse inquired if I was taking a class and then called me a nerd when I told her I was merely reading for pleasure.

Included in the Norton Anthology is an excerpt from The Venerable Bede’s The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Bede was a monk in Northumbria born in the latter half of the 7th century. Last month, I checked a copy out of the library and started to read it, but I got distracted by other things. When time came to renew it, I was unable to because someone else had placed a hold on it (the only other person in the Handley Regional Library’s jurisdiction who cares, perhaps). So, I searched out a copy to own.

My customary first stop for a book purchase, Blue Plate Books, had no copies to offer. Then I looked around Amazon for a good used copy, but none of the deals seemed to have the right combination of price, customer feedback, and quality. My next stop was Borders. Of course, they didn’t have one in stock at the local store, but I was able to order one with free shipping for store pick-up. I chose a nice paperback published by Oxford University Press.

The day it arrived, I went right to the spot where I left off when I returned the library’s copy and attempted to start without interruption. Sadly, this version’s translation is not a mirror of the one I had before. The difference was a little disturbing, so I decided to start over.

Now starting this 300-page adventure again, I am finding that I may have preferred the library’s copy. I’ve put my own hold request on it so I can pick it up as soon as it’s returned and share the first difference I noticed — the one that keeps coming back in my mind.

In the meantime, I’m glad it’s snowing so I have an excuse to stay in and make a little reading progress.