...it doesn't mix with my goals for 2012 at all, insofar as English-language literature gets the shaft for a second year running. Next year I want to expand into Italian from French and German (which I am going to keep up to make sure I don't lose any proficiency). I actually got a full Italian course for the sole purpose of making sure I get the stress right, and I blew through the first half in two days (obviously, Italian is one of the easiest languages on the face of the planet, especially if you know Spanish, French and Latin). I saw that the stress on the infinitive of -ere verbs follows the II/III conjugation split in Latin, and there are other patterns that make stress easier to predict. I'll probably finish with the course just to make sure I'm pronouncing subjunctives and conditionals with the right stress, but I'm ready to start. I'll probably read Eco's Il Nome della Rosa since I've read it in English and it's fairly straightforward. From there I'll probably read more Eco, then go like a madman to Dante and Boccaccio. Il Gattopardo is on my short list, too.