Burt knew that he was wrong for Sarah, and that Sarah was wrong for him. But all that wrong was so good they just had to be together. Like Budweiser and Clamato.

My sister gave me a gift certificate to Elliott Bay Books for Christmas which I just got around to using. Unfortunately this coincided with me wandering into Interesting Stuff, which sadly is going out of business, but happily (for me) has %25 off everything. What’s stupid about this is that I could have waited a week and a half, because I’m moving to a new place. Now I have to lug even more books. Sigh.

Okay, I can’t even try to pretend that’s a bad thing. More books! More AWESOME books!

So here they are, no particular order:

Memory and the Mediterranean,  Fernand Braudel. History of the Middle Sea from the late Paleolithic to the rise of Rome. I’m a sucker for books that take the long view.

The Horse, The Wheel, And Language, David W. Anthony. Someone attempting (again) to pin down the origin of the Indo-Europeans. J.P. Mallory gave a blurb on the back, and since this is also a subject I’m a sucker for, I got it. It beat out the other two I was considering, one of which was a pretty thorough translation of Gilgamesh, and the other a translation of the Shahnameh.

A History of Inner Asia, Svat Soucek. This was a total impulse buy. We’ll see if it was worth the six bucks.

Cooking with Love and Paprika, Joseph Pasternak. I like paprika and Central European cuisine. Also, Pasternak was a Hollywood producer who, rumor had it, would go into the commisary, order spaghetti, and shovel it into his mouth with his hands. I admire this.

Warriors of the Steppe, Erik Hildinger. Military history of Central Asia. Mongols!

Early Ottoman Art, various scholars. Lovely pictures! Scholarly explication! Diagrams! Footnotes!

I declare April a month of walks in the park and reading while lounging on my veranda.

Translation of below: We stole the idea of stealing Saint Nicholas from the Venetians. They suck. We rock.

When Alexius was Emperor, and the foreign and infidel hordes that had migrated through the Roman Empire were being pacified’ and the bold Normans who had voyaged thither had been beaten and dispersed, certain citizens of the city of Bari, moved by a divine inspiration, purposed to sail in their merchant ships to Antioch, a city situated in Coele, in Syria. This they undertook not for selfish profit, but for a laudable and praiseworthy work – a work worthy of mention, O the marvel of it! For it delights my heart and what I have to say will soar aloft on lightsome wing. For they had the intention – and bless them for their prudence, bless them for their good choice! – instead of pursuing mercantile and selfish interests, to cast anchor at Myra and remove the manna-receiving and fragrant remains of our blessed, thrice-happy and inspired Father, and so, this accomplished, to possess and take pride in him as in a great fortune and inseparable treasure. Now, this was, as a matter of fact, the purpose of our Venetian brothers also, even though the deed had been accomplished by the men of Bari. For blessed is not he who begins a thing and does not finish it, but blessed is he who says and does and accomplishes good. In such wise it was, then, that they who heard of the plan of the Venetians were the first to attain the favor. For though the Venetians were bent on taking that goodly treasure and bringing it back to their homeland, the good God did not allow it so to be accomplished, but their plan and its fulfillment was given to the men of Bari, while the conception of the Venetians developed unaccomplished and unactuated .