Gainful unemployment here I come!

Well, that's it. Thesis completed, printed, bound and submitted. Done and done. Viva to come in September, but that's none of my concern right now. After that...

Anyway, I have some free time on my hands. The coming days and weeks stretch before me in serried ranks as the plains of Mesopotamia and the frosty wastes of the Black Sea stretched before Xenophon's troops after the defeat of Artaxerxes at the battle of Cunaxa. So, I've been meaning to catch up on some reading. My haul from the bookstore:

The Stories of English - David Crystal
History of the English language in its myriad manifestations; written for a popular audience, but just academic enough to convince you you're not wasting your time. One of the best histories of the English language I've read. Did that last sentence make you think I've read a whole load of 'em? If so, good.

Speak, Memory - Nabokov
I'm fresh out of superlatives, so come to your own conclusions.

The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Slightly disappointing. Had high hopes for this; it came highly recommended. Well-written enough, but nothing much there.

Blood Meridian - Cormack McCarthy
I'm about a hundred pages in; suspending judgement for the moment.

Gravity's Rainbow - Pynchon
Next up. What are you looking at me like that for? I have read this before (well, I got about 3 chapters in the first time around), but I'm taking a long run up this time. Should polish it off by the end of the week. Ahem.

Extinction - Thomas Bernhard
Unknown quantity.

The Death of Virgil - Hermann Broch
This too. My knowledge of German literature is woefully poor, so I'm doing my best to remedy that. That doesn't extend to reading these in German, you understand.

In recent weeks, I've taken to lying flat on my back on the floor to read. I've found this technique allows me to read for five or six hours straight without discomfort (unlike say, lying on the bed or sitting in an armchair). I'm happy with it.

I also bought a handful of CDs the other day. It was only when I got them home that I noticed their cover art of all four CDs was the same colour (plain white). What can it mean?

For reference, the CDs were:
Mogwai- Government Commissions
Smog - A River Ain't Too Much To Love
Autechre - Confield
The Velvet Underground & Nico

Perhaps a more substantial post soon.

Comments or recommendations welcome.