I only ever took it for one semester in college, and as a minor elective at that, so my Sanskrit vocabulary was never more than hundred or two hundred words, most of which I've forgotten by now, but in the verb conjugation especially the similarities to Latin are remarkable.



I was in a used bookstore just today as it happens. The coolest thing there was a modern facsimile of a 16th century edition of Le Roman de la Rose, but they were selling it for close to 30 euros, so that seemed a bit much for a book I most likely wouldn't ever actually read, or not more than a few pages anyway (the font alone would discourage me from reading more than a page at a time). In general (as I have complainted about many times on this board, I know) used bookstores around here tend to have prices that are rather higher than in the States, so when you find really neat or old/valuable things, they tend to have a corresponding cost. Though that said, I did get five paperbacks for 5 euros, including, as it happens, another novel by Flaubert, Salammbô. And also, if Rebekah happens to read this, Keri Hulme's Bone People, so as to complete my collection of Booker Prize-winning novels from New Zealand. Now I just have to read both of them.

Also, while we're at it, are you (or is anyone else) familiar with a Polish early 19th century novelist called Jan Potocki, or his work (originally written in French) "The Saragossa Manuscript"? It seemed interesting, apparently a frame story inspired by the 1001 Nights, and the blurbs on the cover made it out to be some hugely influential work for the likes of Borges, Eco and others (Wikipedia says Neil Gaiman has referenced it on several occasions, too). So I was kind of surprised that I'd never heard of it before. Didn't buy it as the store's copy was in German, might as well read the French original then.