I find it fascinating you have to buy things from the school. Is it sort of an alternative funding stream for them? If so you would think they could channel it into supplying these things for low income families.

Well good for you- it's hard to get back on track after a rough couple years, even if they weren't your fault.

Wow. That's brutal. I mean, our school didn't provide school supplies but as long as you weren't writing in strangely coloured pens you could buy whatever you wanted. (Actually, the truth was that most departments unofficially gave supplies to kids who couldn't afford them- but that was more of an individual thing.)

Well that's rubbish. What a horrible system! I'm sorry you had to deal with all that when you were just a kid trying to get an education.

Wow. That's a lot of overhead cost for a public education. I mean, we had to pay fees for extracurricular sports teams and have our own pens and pencils etc. but things like English books, graphing calculators, tests and stuff were all supplied. Not sure about PE clothes- did you have to buy specific ones, or could…

That's horrible! I'm so sorry you went through that. I had no idea that schools in the States didn't provide books and calculators for their students.

I read the Burgin-O'Connor translation- which I quite enjoyed, but I haven't made any comparison to other translations. I find it especially difficult to know which translations to choose for Russian literature in particular- not sure why they seem so challenging.

I could do nothing but read for the remainder of my life and STILL not catch up on my reading. One of my favourite things about Connie Willis (besides everything) is that I can tell that she loves the same books I love.

12 was a magical year- it was the year that my mom agreed to sign off on me getting an adult library card one year early and for my birthday my favourite librarian took me down to the main floor to help me create the ultimate bookish girl reading list. (We, er, spent a lot of time at the library because my dad wasn't…

I rather love both... but specifically I was discussing T.S.

Danke! It serves the dual purpose of describing my lifestyle and obliquely referencing Eliot. (Perhaps this is the same purpose?)

Huzzah! And, yes, Marie de France! I love her so much- and they totally do have those fantastic character glimmerings.

Thank goodness for the movies... they're about the only thing that gives me the courage to attempt any of the names out loud!

I love that book- and once conned my mom's entire book club into reading it. They very kindly informed me that I have a strange sense of humour!

Isn't Middlemarch amazing? I got so much out of it when I was 12, and then got so many different things out of it at 20, and at 26. I can't wait to find what I'll get out of it at 35!

I'm assuming for this list that you've read Sayers? Oh lord how I love her. If not I would especially recommend Gaudy Night.

There isn't much? Which I guess was my point about my continuing love for Lord of the Rings.

Hmmm, well, if you like genre but are looking for something with a little more literary substance I guess now would be the time to recommend some magic realism, and books that play with mythologies? Maybe you could try:

Oh definitely! LoTR was absolutely my favourite book as a child, I'd never picked up anything quite like it. I used to read it every summer before school started- although I've only reread it once since I left for uni. It was incredibly interesting to take another shot at it as an adult.

Eh, I actually found it much MORE enthralling as a child than I do as an adult. It just seems more magical, I guess?