Happy Birthday, John Milton

Philip Pullman—author of the wonderful YA series called His Dark Materials—reads from Milton's epic Paradise Lost. Pullman has a great voice. I regret that this is only a couple of minutes long.

A fine gift idea this year might be the Milton Complete Poetry and Essential Prose from Modern Library. It's a beautiful book. And here in the middle of a financial mess maybe the best thing to do is buy a ponderous door-stopping tome like this and hunker down for months of slow, methodical reading.