Bibliophile: Murder, violence, and other white leisure activities at McMaster University

 “Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”
― Stephen King


Well, that was an unanticipated week of blog silence. Let me catch you up:
--I've got a piece coming out at First Person Scholar next Wednesday. Preview: DOOOOOOOOOM.
--The dissertation proceeds at a nonzero pace. Hurrah.
--I will complete Tales of Maj'Eyal. I will. And die trying, if current progress is any indication.
--Scandal is a strangely compelling show. Mostly, though, I just want to give Joshua Malina's character a hug.

And that's that.

This is Bibliophile.

This week, we'll be looking at the new books acquired by the McMaster University Library, after the break.

Bibliophile: Porn, Pleasure, and Pop Culture at Arcadia University

“In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.”
― Mark Twain

This week on Bibliophile: we look at the new books of New Brunswick's Acadia University.  After the break, of course.

Bibliophile and Philosophy: Reading at the University of Manitoba

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

This is Bibliophile.

For those new to the blog, Bibliophile is a semi-weekly column wherein I peruse the new books purchased recently by a Canadian university library, and comment on them in an insightful and/or amusing manner. This week, we'll be looking at University of Manitoba, after the break.

Bibliophile: Kickin' It With Kids At Brandon University

 “If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood 

This is Bibliophile.
Gotta lot of balls in the air at the moment. There's the shiny new dissertation chapter, for which I have to replay Myst and DOOM, and re-read Mark J. P. Wolf's book on Myst, and Kushner's book on DOOM, respectively. There's a guest lecture on fantasy and games that I agreed to do on Wednesday that I need to plan, for which I've decided--inspired by two recent posts elsewhere--to spend some time talking about assassins and choice in the Elder Scrolls series. There's the list of core game studies books that I'm supposed to be putting together for my RA position this term. There's the choice of what textbook to use for the course I'm teaching next term.  And then there's this Bibliophile entry, which I feel obligated to do after skipping last week to do other extensive, largely thankless searches for books.  So let's get to it, then.

We're done with our tour of the British Columbia universities, and thus moving into the next province, alphabetically: Manitoba.  Manitoba?  Really?  That's a lot of unused letters for starting provinces.  We should add a few more: Declund.  Farbank. Highlandian Crescents. Jigguraut. Lameant.  And so forth.  Or we could just start the Bibliophile.  The discussion of new books at Brandon University starts after the break.