/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.21853406]

is there a better feeling than getting a book or set for a complete works of a writter

[Anonymous No.21853731]

Maybe 10 years ago I loved that feeling
I'd get a 1000+ page slab of text and just love it
It was like a self contained treasure I could horde for myself
The two volumes which are my favourite from this era are the Norton Shakespeare and the Riverside Chaucer
There is a world of words between those covers which I don't think I could ever exhaust and it's mine, the sense of the purchase being a final one for that author was very appealing to me, it feels definitive

These days I prefer my books to essentially have 2 texts
1 is the original text and the other is a huge monstrosity of introduction, essays, annotations and notes
I have the study Quran and even though I don't read it that much I just love how EXTENSIVE the notes are
There are study Bibles like the oxford annotated bible and the jewish study bible which are great but not as great as the study Quran which provides you with an almost encyclopaedic breakdown of the Quran which sometimes involves multiple traditions and commentaries for just one verse
Same with the Arden Shakespeare, each of those volumes contains so many words the feeling I get holding those books is just ecstasy
I love words and books