Thank you! Glad I'm not the only one!!

Thank you for watching David, hope you have a great day too! Can't wait to dive into The Name of the Rose

Thank you! 🙂

Thanks! 🙂

Glad to hear you enjoyed Calvino, I'm really looking forward to it!

I've had glasses since I was 12! Unfortunately, my right eye has a prescription of -4 and has recently become astigmatic as well, so I can't read without glasses or even with a previous prescription, as it doesn't correct the astigmatism. I'll keep it in mind for the future though! Overall I quite like glasses, although I've worn contacts as well

@@TheEclecticLibrary Thank you for your reply. So I assume your left eye is your better eye? I'm a little surprised that you only recently developed some astigmatism in your right eye. I'm sure you know what an astigmatisms is. If not it's the shape of the eye which usually is found much sooner. As a former optician it's always nice to hear you say that you quite like wearing glasses. But honestly I think glasses really can enhance the looks of almost every woman. And you look so nice wearing glasses. I'm sure it helps that glasses have really seemed to get more and more fashionable over the years. In my early years as an optician I had quite a few young girls in tears as they were picking out a frame for their glasses. In those days when a young girl got glasses to her it was the kiss of death because she was sure to never marry. But in my later years those same young girls were actually excited about getting glasses. And when they didn't need glasses they were very disappointed. Our doctor even caught quite few trying to fake the eye exam to get glasses. Only God knows how many may have done it well enough to get glasses. At 12 I'm sure you weren't one of them. haha So do you still wear contacts from time to time or do you only wear glasses now? I'm not really a fan of contacts because I have seen my share of people coming in with eye infections and eye ulcers. Those are things you don't need to worry about when you wear glasses. But to be fair contacts are very good option for anyone that plays sports, especially any type of contact sports. You should be getting close to when your eyes should stop changing . That usually happens somewhere between the ages of 19 and 25. So at your recent eye exam did your prescription increase other than having some astigmatism correct now? By the way did mention how cute you look wearing glasses?

You are probably right! I will have to reread the introduction to She-Wolves to investigate why Castor uses Elizabeth to book-end the other biographies.

That's fascinating! As a European, Joan of Arc is definitely quite well-known. I would be curious to see how Twain portrayed Joan

@@TheEclecticLibrary Far more respectfully than Shakespeare. He calls her Joan la Pucelle in Henry VI. She's a witch and woman of ill repute. And speaks in sexual innuendo.

Thank you for watching!

I'd never heard of Barbara of Cilli before, but she sounds fascinating! I'll have to see if I can find something on her for a decent price

Thank you for the recommendations, I'll definitely have a look!

Thank you for watching! Hope you find the book interesting 🙂

Thank you! I recently received Eco's Name of the Rose as a present, so I'm really looking forward to giving him a try! Anything specific you'd recommend from Aquinas?

Well​, you can read the complete Summa Theologica, which despite having more than 1000 pages will certainly enrichen your cultural and spiritual life, i guess... Or, you can start with a small biographical text like the one GK Chesterton wrote. The Selected Writings are also good options. I am glad you are going to read Eco's Name of the Rose because I also read it a long time ago and it will definitely have and enduring impact on you. You'll probably want to read more of his novels, like: Baudolino, The Island of the Day Before, Foucault's Pendulum, and others. They are all extraordinarily well written. Good readings!

It is, very well spotted! I haven't read it yet though 🙂

@TheEclecticLibrary omg me too. Our bookclub is reading it in october!! U are welcome to join.

@@Thetrilingualreader Sounds fun! Do you have a link for the book club? I'll have a look - am reading The Moonstone atm so it just depends whether I feel like another Collins so soon after!

Most of them are (at least 80%). I do also have some Dutch, German, and French books 🙂

That's a fair point! It's just that in practice the boundary between weird to not weird is porous. Kafka's Metamorphosis is pretty much always shelved with literary fiction, not fantasy, despite being about a man turning into a giant bug 😅 Similar for books in the magic realism tradition

@@TheEclecticLibrary Only very rarely do I take seriously the transformation into a bug: almost always I interpret metaphorically, meaning that the bug is a government bureaucrat like the ones in the Castle or the Trial. Not only do they not start their careers as bugs, but many of them have families who are forced at some point to come to the conclusion the person they loved once has become a giant bug.

@@josephcossey1811 Well done, silver medal definitely deserved! Thank you for your questions as well 🙂