Sunday Readings 05-17-2009

A few links to items of interest that I've found over the course of the past few weeks:

The Wall Street Journal calls this a "New Age of Discovery", as people rush around the world trying to find and preserve online items that may be destroyed for whatever reason. I am particularly interested in reading that new version of Medea, and wonder if there's some alternative Homers out there somewhere. I'd also love to read the one from the Crusades, a part of world history I am really starting to get interested in. An interesting look into something I'd, perhaps surprisingly, never given much thought to.

In a similar vein, Bibliodyssey has some examples from the National Library of Serbia of Cyrillic manuscripts.

Steven Burt has some thoughts on the fact that apparently only 8% of Americans are reading poetry. David Blaine says in a reply that all 8% are poets, and that's not hard to believe. When I was on Goodreads, as soon as I started posting poetry reviews, I was asked if I wrote poetry myself. (Truth is I do, but only privately--I haven't tried to publish a poem since 4th grade.) I tend to agree with his point--if there's still an audience, why worry? Also, were the people who could quote Longfellow daily actually reading any *new* poetry? My bet's on no.

And speaking of poetry, the Best American Poetry blog tells me that New Zealand has a "Best of...", too, that only publishes online.