Friday Memes and Dryden's 'Against the Fear of Death'

Second week of university is over and I am coping surprisingly well, I think! I have read Paradise Lost while translating some Old Norse and actually managing to review a couple of books this week! Yesterday I reviewed Just One More Day by Jessica Blair, which I remember some of you liking the sound of! Hop over to check it out and if you live in the UK and would like me to send you my copy, let me know in the comments! Now, onto the memes!

Follow Friday is hosted by Allison Can Read and Parajunkee. This week's question was submitted by Words I Write Crazy:

Do you read more than one book at a time, and if so, how, like a certain amount of pages per book before moving on to the next one in the queue?

I do read more than one book at the time, partially because I have to read books for university beside reviewing. When it comes to having to read for university I always give that priority. So if I have some free time I will pick that book up first and when I feel I have advanced enough I might switch to a review book. On the other hand, I sometimes just need to read something else, even when I am really enjoying a book. I always read based on mood so if I want to read something romantic I switch to a different book, but if halfway through my mood changes I might pick up a biography. Thanks to blogging I have learned to control myself a little bit so I am actually sticking with books a lot more than I used to.

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Billy over at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. This week's question was suggested by Elizabeth from Silver's Reviews:


Is there anything that turns you off when you are reading a blog post? For example: two posts in one post such as answers to two memes?

Well, I am incredibly guilty of the later one since this post has four memes in it! I love reading other people's thoughts and blogs are an amazing way for people to express themselves in their own way. Therefore, in all honesty, there is nothing about blog posts that can really turn me off! If you want to put each meme in a different post, then by all means. If like me you shove them all into one post and hope that people don't get confused between all of them, that's also good. The great thing about blogging is that everyone writes differently and therefore no post is ever the same and it never gets boring!

Book Beginnings and Friday 56 are hosted by Gillion over at Rose City Reader and Freda over at Freda's Voice. This week I am using a long poem I have to read for university. I really enjoyed reading it and thought I'd share so of it with you! Get ready for the long-ass title: The Latter Part of the Third Book of Lucretius; against the Fear of Death by John Dryden.


BB:
'What has this Bugbear Death to frighten Man,
If Souls can die, as well as Bodies can?
For, as before our Birth we felt no Pain,
When Punique arms infested Land and Main,
When Heaven and Earth were in confusion hurl'd,
For the debated Empire of the World,
Which aw'd with dreadful expectation lay,
Sure to be Slaves, uncertain who shou'd sway:
So, when our mortal frame shall be disjoyn'd.
The lifeless Lump uncoupled from the mind.
From sense of grief and pain we shall be free;
We shall not feel, because we shall not Be.'
l.1-12

I just love the way Dryden has set up his ideas because I agree with him over almost anything. I do think that after death life ends and that that is not a bad thing. He just puts it into words a lot better than me!

F56: (in this case I'm using the lines around l.56!)
'If, while he live, this Thought molest his head,
What Wolf or Vulture shall devour me dead,
He wasts his days in idle grief, nor can
Distinguish 'twixt the Body and the Man;
But thinks himself can still himself survive:
And what when dead he feels not, feels alive.'
l.57-63

Ok, translation. Dryden is here critiquing the man who worries about what will happen to his body after he dies, even when he will obviously not feel the 'wolf' or 'vulture' pick at his corpse. He distracts himself from enjoying daily life by worrying about something he will never really have to deal with. I like it!

So, do you read one book at a time or more? And is there anything that turns you off blogging? Have a great weekend everbody!