This week I’ve been very busy trying not to buy books.

It’s not been easy, and I didn’t entirely succeed, as evidenced by this beautiful set which arrived this afternoon.

 

(Fair warning… I will not be talking to anyone this evening. Don’t even try ringing me. I have Books.)

 

But for the most part I have stood firm and resisted, despite the pain it has caused me. I’m planning to have more bookshelves built in my house, but until I can get somebody in to build them, all new books have to live in piles on the floor. And the piles seem to be taking over. I know there’s floor under them – but it’s been a while since I’ve seen it.

So now, since I’m unspeakably generous, I pass on to you the opportunity to buy lots of books you didn’t know you wanted…

Here are some of the current sales:

 

Oxbow Books is having a sale of academic books, with some pretty huge savings. Have a browse of the catalogue if you think you’re tough enough to resist.

Princeton University Press has a 50% off sale with free postage. That’s the one that tripped me up! I so badly want the Barrington Atlas too – but even with 50% off it’s sadly beyond my budget!

Manchester University Press also has a big sale. I haven’t even looked – I don’t have the courage any more.

Bristol University Press has a sale on race and ethnicity books too.

 

I hope you’re either wealthier than I am, or better supplied with empty bookshelves!

 

 

This week’s Comfort Classics interviews have been a lovely mixture of texts and objects. On Monday, Andrew Fox was talking about where his interest in Roman trees came from; if you haven’t already, you should check out his Tree of the Week blog. On Tuesday I talked to E-J Graham from the OU’s Classical Studies department, about votive babies – which manage to be both cute and slightly creepy at the same time! Wednesday’s interview was with Verity Platt from Cornell University, who had some really interesting things to say about Pliny the Elder’s response to the world around him. Note to self: must read more Pliny. On Thursday Pippa Steele from the Cambridge CREWS project talked about writing systems via a lovely little Etruscan cockerel (and you should certainly check out the CREWS blog too, which is full of great stuff!). Finally, today I spoke to Stephanie Holton, who works at my old university, about Heraclitus and the Presocratics (of interest to anyone who’s recently finished OU module A330!).

Also, here’s a Thing That I Wrote last week for the Royal Society of Arts, in case you haven’t had enough of my ramblings about Comfort Classics!

 

 

This week’s classical links from around the internet

 

 

News

Rebranding ‘soft’ academic subjects – The Guardian 

Facebook bans looted antiquities trade – BBC

Lesbian lamp at the British Museum – The Times

 

 

 

BLM and statues

Iconoclasm – Ancient World Magazine 

More iconoclasm – Medium 

Erasing history? – The Daily Beast 

Mutilating the Herms – Classics Lew 

Hercules in white – The Jugaad Project

 

 

 

 

 

Comment and opinion

Rhotacism and the third declension – Danny L. Bate  [new linguistics blog]

Asia and Europe – Kiwi Hellenist 

Ajax and Achilles – The Iris 

Greek tragedy in lockdown – OU FASS

The British School at Rome – Wanted in Rome

Entrances to ancient literature – Ostraka

Depicting writing – CREWS Project

 

 

 

 

Podcasts, video and other media

Rethinking the curriculum (with Edith Hall) – BBC Radio 3

BSA video archive – Warwick Classics Network

10-week course: Cinema and Ancient Greece and Rome – Mancent

Photo competition – Cambridge Core