Odyssey Popping Up and Popping Out

The other day I saw a fun window display in the children's bookstore that depicted a scene from the Odyssey, but upon going inside (yet not asking anyone), I could not find or locate the book in question.  When I left, I gave the book on display another glance and it seemed to be in Catalan, so perhaps it was a promotion in the foreign language section (which I rarely, if ever look at).  Now, the Odyssey is a classic that in the olden days was read (or pretended to have been read, not understood, you see) by everyone (or everyone who had any sort of education in the sense of "education"), but, somehow, my generation (learned as it was, and in institutions which should have mandated it but instead chose to elevate things of no value based on a sense of overeagerness to address past grievances, et cetera) chose to forsake one of the pillars of its very own culture.

Of course, my curiosity was not abated though I did not see the book, and did some quick searching (on-line) and I found that there was indeed an english version of said Odyssey pop-up book, which had been published a few months' prior, but, because of my unexpected physical state of inactivity this weekend, I will have to put off for a few days to look at.

What strikes me as incredibly odd, though not surprising, is the way that things are becoming overly simplified- well past the short attention span that was being spoken and written about twenty years ago.  The sense of immediate gratification and more than superficial knowledge does make one cringe, that is, if one gives even half a damn- which is, as can be expected, also as unlikely as the next incumbent puppet keeping to his promises (and from which will stem forth another term of disillusionment)

In the meantime, speaking for myself (qualified as I am only to do so for myself and nobody else), I thought of the box set of Homer's Odyssey and The Iliad which I picked up sometime last year, but which I have not cracked the spine of.  You see, I have (as many people do, I suspect) many books which they buy but which they have every intention (however half-baked) of reading, but never get around to- so much so that the pages of those once new books have become yellow, aged, deteriorating, and finally, unreadable.  I hope that this will not be the case with this set, and, in fact, I can see it being my companion on some evenings this winter- or, perhaps, in the cool of summer.