Needed doing

[sollers]

I have spent the day sorting the books in my bedroom - the fiction library, so to speak.

I have dealth with ten double-parked shelves and six single-parked ones, which is about 2/3 of the total number of books in the room.

I have got six big bags of books to take down to various charity shops.

I feel shattered.

Comments

[mildred_of_midgard]

Shattered pretty well describes the feeling. I consider myself lucky I haven't had to do a major book organization in a few years.

I'm still on a major history-reading kick, and I wouldn't mind some reading recommendations from you, as few or as many as you felt like.

[sollers]

What period and how deep?

[mildred_of_midgard]

Late Antiquity, and deep--scholarly, with citations and evaluations of ancient sources. Works on archaeology are also welcome.

Many thanks!

[sollers]

GW Bowersock, Peter Brown and Oleg Grabar (editors) "Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Postclassical World"

Covers a lot, good bibiliographies to each chapter.

Leslie Webster and Michelle Brown (editors) "The Transformation of the Roman World"

Electrifying. This is where I first discovered how Romanised the late 5th century German kings were.

Walter Goffart "Barbarians and Romans"

Frequently cited by other writers, not all of whom agree with him about "hospitalitas"

Richard Reece "The Later Roman Empire: An Archaeology AD 150 - 600"

Jeremy K Knight "The End of Antiquity: Archaeology, Society and Religion AD 235 - 700"

This was the result of a quick browse through my shelves. Most of the rest of my books relate specifically to Britain or matters like ships and engineering. If you're interested in these areas I'll do a fuller list.

[mildred_of_midgard]

Wonderful, thanks so much! No on the ships for now, but specifically Britain is a big yes.

[sollers]

Another general one:

Ellen Swift "The End of the Western Roman Empire: An Archaeological Investigation

On Britain:

KR Dark :"Civitas to Kingdom: British Political Continuity 300-800"

Roger White: "Britannia Prima: Britain's Last Roman Province"

AS Esmonde Cleary: "The Ending of Roman Britain"

Stuart Laycock: "Britannia The Failed State: Tribal Conflicts and the End of Roman Britain"

And fairly specific:

Roger White and Philip Barker: "Wroxeter: Life and Death of a Roman City"

Also:

Edmund Southworth (editor) "Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries: A Reappraisal"

There may be a few mmore lurking somewhere. For example, I can't locate the one that discusses Germanic praise songs in terms of football chants. When I locate it I'll pass the details on.

[mildred_of_midgard]

Thank you, thank you. That sounds great, I look forward to praise songs!

[sollers]

Found two more:

Not quite so relevant but useful in many ways:

Hugh Elton "Warfare in Roman Europe AD 350-425"

And the one I had been looking for:

Guy Halsall "Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West, 450-900".

Talking of the "Hildebrandlied":

"It is blunt, triumphalist and in the final analysis, whilst more complex in terms of composition, language and poetic style, in content reasonably to be compared to the more unpleasant, aggresive songs chanted at the opposition every Satufday afternoon in British football grounds."

And my favourite, a quote from Lars Loennroth on heroic poetry:

"n most cases we only learn, after having streaightened out the inverted syntax and deciphered the intricate metaphors, that some great ruler, attended by brave warriors, defeated his enemies at such-and-such a place, thus making the life of local corpse-eating wolves and ravens a little happier"

My elder daughter's comment: "I do like a story with a happy ending!"