I said in my Goodreads review that I don't think I would read this again and I would be hesitant to recommend it to my fantasy-loving friends. So, here I am about to read it again. The audiobook was narrated by Simon Prebble and he's an excellent narrator. I guess that helped a lot with the audiobook.

I'm planning to make a video about my childhood books quite soon. I just need to get into the loft and find my Enchanted Wood book.

My pleasure. I love your channel!

Yes I bought the Russian Ark on DVD when it came out. Not seen it in an age. Thanks for the reminder!

The pleasure is all mine. Thanks for the inspiration!

Oh wow. That's super humbling. I'm glad to have been your inspiration!

@@CamsCampbellReads You started yours to "read more deeply." The same is happening here. Also helps that you're a Scotsman. I'm pretty proud of my latest one at @TheScholarGentleman. Check it out if you've a mind.

That’s good to know. I feel better about quitting on it. I think you’ll enjoy Natasha’s Dance without any prior knowledge.

Interesting. Maybe I’ll try Northanger Abbey then. I have it on the shelf.

Excellent. I am too. See you in August!

Nice one. Thanks for joining! I think I saw your comment in Ted's Substack about the Discord server. If there's an appetite for that I'm sure I could figure it out. We'll see how things pan out.

Brilliant! It's so exciting, isn't it? See you in August!

That's a big question! I don't think I can narrow it down to just one.

@@CamsCampbellReads can you name three of your favorite books of all time?

That could be fun to do as a slow-read for my Substack, especially as it's one of my all-time favourites.

Daunt?

@@CamsCampbellReads sorry, James Daunt the Waterstones and Barnes & Noble guy you were mentioning reading about

@@sw3dge Oh yes, of course. It's a while since I read that article!

I saw it when it came out that but was rather a long time ago now. I should definitely rewatch. No one would be more pleased than my wife!

That's so funny! I'm slowing my People's Tragedy down because I'm reading it so slowly to take notes and build my people and institutions databases. I don't want to feel rushed and that I'm just reading it to make the deadline, so I've extended it through August as well. That makes for nine pages a day, which is a nice number. And it allows me to read Plato and follow Ted's course. I haven't thought about German Romanticism in a LONG time, since I looked at its influence in Gogol for a presentation in my junior honours year at uni (1996/97). I remember absolutely nothing!

@@CamsCampbellReads I’m selfishly relieved to hear you’re slowing down. That will give me time to catch up. 😊 I’m knee deep in exploring German Romanticism. My book recent book hauls are some of my most exciting in a long while. My Plato Dialogues will not be arriving for at least another week, two at the most, but the description of the books’ quality sounds worth the wait.

Extra time would be lush. I probably won't manage to follow this in real time either, but I'm okay with that. I'll be doing updates for sure and hope to be able to participate in some of the discussions in whatever form they take, even if it's not quite on the schedule.

if you have time to check youtube, you have time to read

@@pouetpouetdaddy5 Haha! What a silly comment.

Yay! See you there!

He didn't specify dates, so I'm guessing that the week just ending was week 1, but possibly week 1 starts tomorrow? I'm not too concerned - I'll just read what I can and participate as time allows.

I just checked the comments and this was Ted's response to a question of when the course starts: "This is a timeless and permanent course. Individuals or groups can start an any time." So, dive in any time you like!

@@CamsCampbellReads yes, thank you for reply. I signed up and learned that. I'm hoping to start next Monday. Now I am constantly checking the comments on the course hoping someone starts a discussion group. Fingers crossed!

KZfaq doesn’t like links so google “Ted Gioia Barnes and Noble” and you should get a link to his Substack. It’s called “What can we learn from B&N’s surprising turnaround?”. Ted writes a lot about current culture ie music, books, films - and the effect of modern platforms. You’ll find 2 great video interviews on YT with Rick Beato. One from about 2 years ago, and a follow-up within the last 6 weeks. Ted’s primary focus is music, specifically jazz, but being a former Business Consultant, he applies his skills to wider media. A fascinating guy. I have quite a few of his music books - very in-depth and very readable. I’m not so interested in the philosophy or humanities - that’s a reflection in my priorities, not Ted’s talents. I did follow The Honest Broker for a while, but his output is prodigious and I couldn’t dedicate the time. Every post is an essay any one of us mere mortals would have been pleased to write. Highly recommend the Beato interviews.

Sure. www.honest-broker.com/p/what-can-we-learn-from-barnes-and

@@CamsCampbellReads thank you 😊

Um, no, not really. I just bought the first ones that came up on Amazon. I like and trust the Penguin black spines so far so felt safe buying these ones.

Nice. Yeah, it's certainly an older edition. Mine probably dates from around that time. To be honest, I don't recall where I was when I bought it, but I did read it when I was doing my undergrad in the 90s.

Cheers Ade! Nice to see you over here!

Yay, my first comment on a Covenant pod! I was beginning to wonder if I was posting into an echo chamber. Glad to have you aboard. Have you read the full set?

Thanks Buttcoins. Didn't know you loved Russian lit. It's such a trip going through this amazing literature in my 50s. First time around I don't think I really had enough life experience or education to enjoy these novels as well as I might have. War and Peace is an absolute delight to be reading again. I'm having the best time!

I like Obsidian too, particularly for writing. But Notion is the best for its databases and how they all intertwine. My Russian People one is growing quite nicely!

Roger that. I'll keep building and see where it goes.

It really is!

The font is the biggest (and probably the only) downside of the Oxford World's Classics.

@@Katarzyna.O ​ @Katarzyna.O I can see it not working for everyone, but I actually quite like the font. One of my favorite aspects about these editions.

No apology required for your essay. This is excellent feedback and I thank you for it. I hear you on the black spines. Tess of the D'Urbervilles was good. The flop was just right and I love the creaking sound the pages make when you flop the book. The font was okay. For paper and print and feel I love the Deluxe Classics. Clothbound I'm not a fan of because the decals come off on my fingers. I don't think I have any Norton editions at all.

Yeah, sounds like finding that perfect edition is a challenge. I'm okay with having two, so Deluxe for the joy and another for the notes. Or maybe go with a Kindle version beside the Deluxe so I can highlight and have it go into my Notion books database and use the Kindle to read notes. Although, having said that, I don't love the Deluxe Anna Karenina, mainly because of the cover. It's a different material, incongruous artwork and a fingerprint magnet. I still bought it though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@@CamsCampbellReads To be honest, I don't like the cover art of the "Jane Eyre" deluxe edition at all. It's so gothic, and this novel isn't entirely steeped in gothic elements; gothic is just one aspect of it. Looking at this cover, one might expect a horror story. However, for me, the artwork is secondary. As for Kindle, it feels a bit strange to me to buy a book that doesn't physically exist. Paper books have been around for ages, and technology is changing before our eyes. How can we know if today's e-book formats will work in 20 years? The software in e-readers will change, and it might turn out that the current formats no longer work because they're outdated. But perhaps these are just my excessive worries. The search for the perfect edition has its advantages. I hadn't heard of acid-free paper before (I thought the yellowing of pages was a natural phenomenon). I also hadn't known that a hardback combined with glued binding is a recipe for a broken spine. These two months of searching have taught me all this and let me get to know various publishers. And finally, two hours ago, I've ordered what I think is the perfect edition of "Jane Eyre" - Norton Critical Edition 3rd (revised) from 2001, used, available in my country, at a very affordable price. :)

@@CamsCampbellReadsI've already got the Norton Critical Edition. Unfortunately, the font is too small because of my vision impairment. I'm disappointed.

@@Katarzyna.O oh no.

That's a good way to roll with a cheapie to get started. Was it you who had the bag that wasn't waterproof? Was it Jane Eyre that was the victim of that rainstorm? I think I remember your saying that. And reading while walking? I haven't done that in a while, but I did do it a lot when I was at uni. St Andrews was pretty safe for that once you got off the main road.

@@CamsCampbellReads I may have said it once before. :) I used to feel awkward, wondering if people were looking at me like I was nuts. But now that I see everyone staring at their phones while walking, I don't feel so weird. I'm also at the point where I usually don't care what people think about me anymore. One of the few perks of getting older!