Apologies and Admissions

So, I missed my scheduled post last week, and I wish I could say it was due to losing track of time while hanging at the Algonquin. Needless to say, that is not the case. It just ended up being "one of those" weeks. To sum it up, mail order pharmacies are supposed to be *more* convenient! But then I spent the weekend with cousins in Plano, TX, and spent a great evening with an old college friend while I was there.

Enough with the excuses! And on with the post! I have been thinking lately about my "book habits." Depending upon your point of view, I seem to have some bad ones. First of all, I cannot seem to read books in a linear fashion. That is to say - one at a time. I just cannot do it. I think I have at least 6 books going at the moment. Do you think that makes me just a touch schizophrenic? I enjoy them all, but one never knows what sort of mood one might be in. This evening - perhaps a novel... tomorrow noon - perhaps Greek tragedy... tomorrow evening - perhaps biography... et cetera. And so the list of "currently readings" looks something like this:

• First Democracy
• Prometheus Bound
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
• The Iliad and The Odyssey, a Biography
• The Portable Dorothy Parker (yes, I know, slightly self-serving)
• A Modern Mephistopheles
• et cetera

Secondly, (and I must say that this is one of my better book habits!) I always have a book with me. I keep one in my purse (the reason I cannot have too small of a purse) at all times. You never know when you might have some time to read. I also keep several in my car at all times. Fahrenheit 451, for example, is always in the back seat. And a pocket Oxford English Dictionary is always under my driver's seat. You never know when you might need one, and I think of it as a sort of protector, or guardian angel, if you will.

Which leads directly into, possibly, my worst book habit. I am addicted to dictionaries. Yes, it is true. You read correctly. Dictionaries. I love them. All sorts of dictionaries. I own many. I have the two volume Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the Oxford Latin Dictionary, a more portable Latin dictionary, Liddell & Scott's Greek-English Lexicon, the "Middle Liddell," my Pocket OED in my car, and the list goes on. I recently purchased a few more during the Oxford University Press Spring Sale! (Definitely dangerous in itself!) I got the New American Oxford Dictionary, a dictionary of Allusions, and a dictionary of Etymology. I think you get the picture. I even own a Spanish-English dictionary even though I have never been good at learning conversational languages and do not know Spanish.

Time for my last admission of the evening. I covet my father's full 20 volume 2nd edition Oxford English Dictionary. It is the only thing I truly want to inherit one day. Covet here, is honestly the only word to fully convey my feelings about this dictionary. I covet it. I want it for my own. I want to be able to pull down volume after volume and page through it. The etymologies, the first known uses.....

I believe I have revealed enough of myself for my first post. Perhaps too much even...

...if I scared away any would-be-devotees, I apologies. Please stick around and give me another chance!