Haven't kept up with the loot tallies lately, delinquent that I am. Did manage to acquire 16 of the volumes for Luther's Works for the low, low, low price of a buck a volume recently by the simple expedient of asking the librarian nicely. That was nice. Am currently cruising my way through Genesis 15-20 accompanied by a master ranter. Rants which are both fun and edifying, who could ask for more?!

Me, that's who. (In quantity, at least...)

First batch was a dredge of the bookstores in Oakland, around Craig Street (I tried going to Shadyside, too, but the main drag there was a money pit and wasteland devoid of bookstores, but I did find the Iron Chef t-shirt there). There, I snagged The Essential Plotinus (you'd think the Neo-s would get a little more respect in these Gnostic days, he's awfully hard to find), Robert Wilken's The Christians as the Romans Saw Them (which should be an entertaining read, besides perfectly relevant), Sokal and Bricmont's Fashionable Nonsense, Robert Markus on The End of Ancient Christianity, a little book called Nigeria: Change and Tradition in an African State by Wm. Neher, and a useful-looking volume by a John Peter Kenney, Mystical Monotheism: A Study in Ancient Platonic Theology.

If you ever wondered what happened to geeks who don't care for math, well, now you know.

This weekend's followup expedition was to a Half-Price I haven't been to in at least 6 weeks. And it shows.

Koch, A History of Prussia (couldn't resist!), which led logically to Balfour, The Kaiser and His Times, and it seemd the history section might never be safe again... Picked up The Mekong (by Milton Osborne), which I'd had in hand once, and then put back in a fit of fiscal good sense. Not this time, pal. Half the cost of the books last night was for Bartlett, England under the Norman and Angevin Kings, a big phat book still in its dustjacket. These guys and the Edwards are my faves, honestly. A great period.

We also snagged a VHS copy of the Marx Bros.' A Night at the Opera, which perhaps if I'm lucky I can someday watch and laugh myself to death! piscis snagged us a $2 copy of Endo's Silence which appears to be only marred by the "SUPER BUY / $2.00" sticker on the front cover, and I finally bought a nice edition of Haldeman, The Forever War, which I've heard good things about.

The remainder of my looting funds went to a tasty late dinner with the best woman in the world. A delightful end.