November 9, 2006

comps passed and past

I finally passed my comps (on the second try).

I PASSED!

The head of my committee tells me I've earned a well-deserved rest from books. He tells me to go out and celebrate. And so what do I do to celebrate? I go to a bookstore. Not a used-book store, mind you. I reward myself with full-price books: Kramer Books at Dupont Circle. Shameless extravagance, I know.

And what's the first book I grabbed to buy? It was supposed to be something escapist, the type of stuff I haven't allowed myself to read while preparing and studying for my comps lo these past two years. Instead it was Voltaire's Letter's on England. Because I might be able to write a paper or lecture on it one of these days.

I got it bad. Still jonesing for books even when I'm explicitly told to leave them alone. There must be groups for people like me. Oh yeah, they're called conferences.

Rest assured, I did get some relatively fluffy works as well, the kind of stuff I like to read between semesters and comprehensive exams:

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut (read it once: time to read it again)
The Fall of the Towers by Samuel Delany (science-fiction trilogy 1963-65)

And a couple books-as-presents for my boyfriend Wallace. Which I won't list here because he sometimes reads my blog.