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Although it helps to know at least a little of the historical & philosophical context of Voltaire's slim work, it still drives its point home pretty well. We will never have all the answers that we seek. So is the world we live in, with all its good & suffusive evil still the best of all possible worlds? Or is it the worst due to the free will of humanity succumbing to boredom, vice, & need?

Who cares? You have a garden to cultivate. Get to it.

"Let us work without theorizing...'tis the only way to make life endurable."

Is it misguided or wrongheaded to think that - to some degree - the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants could conceivably have been somewhat inspired by this book's protagonist, Candide?

3 ⭐️s
I love a bit of satire. Many parts of this book felt like a Monty Python skit or a Mel Brooks film. I‘ve never been able to get behind the whole “everything is as it should be” way of thinking, and Voltaire does a really great job of skewering that philosophy in this very short read. The “tend your own garden” line at the end really stuck with me. I think it‘s very important advice, especially in this time of social media oversaturation.

New Year‘s Eve Day vibes.

I always liked Voltaire for some reason…

I suspect there's something to be said about a book that hasn't lost any of its relevance for over 250 years. It's been probably 15-ish years since I first read Candide, and it's been my yardstick for every satirical novel I've read since. It has a time and a place, but it transcends both somehow, and you don't need to know the history around it to recognize the ideas it viciously assaults--though knowing the history makes it that much more fun.

This satire was full of wit and a great distraction. (And the cover/flap art on this Penguin Classics edition is fantastic.)

Snagging some outdoor reading time before the storm rolls in

This novel was hard to put down. I was hooked with the adventures of Candide and his hopes of being with Cunegonde. This satire was witty and comical in so many places, yet serious and thought-provoking in others. It really played on the ideas of blind optimism and philosophy. It was definitely a good read.

Purchased this book solely based on the cover. Now it's waiting room reading

Settling in with this lovely new-to-me copy of Candide- a Christmas gift from my husband who knows I love a good leather-bound classic! #CurrentlyReading

Getting ready to go back in time a notch.

Starting this today as part of my Catching Up On The Classics Reading Challenge. #bookspinbingo

Candide lives a very unfortunate life which, admittedly bad as it sounds, is a very interesting one. Despite all the hardships he befalls i couldn‘t help myself from reading on. When his companions are tortured, murdered and contract STD‘s (things that indeed are not ideal) you can‘t help but wonder when do the hardships for this character stop? And essentially they just don‘t.

Did anyone notice that I like #readathon?
So I'm going to join the #AnyWayYouReadathon by @kimmypete1 @Eggbeater @MidnightBookGirl together with the #awesomeAugust by @Andrew65

I do not know my goals for this one yet, I will figure them out 😂

I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it. Some will be old, some will be new - don't judge me, I have a lot of books.

Day 107th

Join the fun if you want!

#tbrpile

I see why it‘s a classic and once I got into the rhythm of the novel, it was even somewhat fun. I do feel like I would have gotten more out of it if I knew more about Volataire‘s time/culture. Glad I can finally say I read it, but mostly I‘m just like 🤷🏻‍♀️

“This philosopher was an honest man; but he had been robbed by his wife, beaten by his son, and abandoned by his daughter who got a Portuguese to run away with her. He had just been deprived of a small employment, on which he subsisted; and he was persecuted by the preachers of Surinam, who took him for a Socinian.”

“That is why the present is one of the right moments to republish ‘Candide.‘ I hope it will inspire younger men and women, the only ones who can be inspired, to have a try at Theodore, or Militarism; Jane, or Pacifism; at So-and-So, the Pragmatist or the Freudian. And I hope, too, that they will without trying hold their pens with an eighteenth century lightness, not inappropriate to a philosophic tale.”

I am having breakfast with Voltaire!

I should like to know which is worse: to be ravished a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgarians, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected, and have to row in a galley -- in short, to undergo all the miseries we have each of us suffered -- or simply to sit here and do nothing?'
That is a hard question,' said Candide.

Re reas this, one of my all time faves.

"I should like to know which is worse: to be raped a hundred times by pirates, and have a buttock cut off, and run the gauntlet of the Bulgarians, and be flogged and hanged in an auto-da-fe, and be dissected, and have to row in a galley -- in short, to undergo all the miseries we have each of us suffered -- or simply to sit here and do nothing?'
That is a hard question,' said Candide."

I have a fourth edition around here somewhere that‘s more colorful, but I couldn‘t find it. #samebookdifferentcolor #biblioMAYnia @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620

I gave this a bit of leeway because it is a classic. The writing is very succinct & straightforward, making the story quite accessible. It is humorous & filled with a lot of wit in addition to the satire, but is ridiculously over the top. Thankfully, it is very short, leading to a quick, easy read. It is quick moving & filled with action. Worth appreciating for its ability to withstand the test of time.

I was never a big fan of satire or philosophy back in the days of required reading... turns out I‘m still not.

Outrageous and funny in parts, but mainly I was just glad it was short.

🥱

#1001books

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘m not sure what I expected from this when I selected it on #serialreader but it wasn‘t satire. This was a short adventure satire about philosophy and the human condition. It‘s very readable for being published three hundred years ago. But I think I needed more context and more character development. An interesting read though; I think I would have enjoyed parsing it in a college class.

I read this a very long time ago in high school, so I decided to reread it for my goal of #ReadingClassicsIn2019. Written by Voltaire, a French philosopher of The Age of Enlightenment, Candide is based on Voltaire's beliefs in reason and freedom of thought.

“What is optimism?” asked Cacambo “Lord help me,” said Candide, “it‘s the madness of insisting that everything is good when it‘s bad.”

I feel french.

Starting #24in48 a bit late (I like sleeping, sue me!) with my Serial Reader-title. I need all the coffee to deal with this rambly, gory mess before 10am ☕😂

"If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?"

Wildly entertaining. Candide's awful adventures are explored in a very funny way.

This was so over the top with calamities and dramatics. Voltaire shines a light on human nature and all its fallacies in this satire. At first it was enjoyable and funny but near the end I grew annoyed.

⭐️⭐️

#classic #LetterV #LitsyAtoZ

Not personally a fan but I don‘t want to hold it against the book that I just don‘t really like the 18th century. I got that it was satire, I got that it was philosophical, and I suppose that should have made it feel less silly but it didn‘t really for me. The racist, anti-Semitic and sexist was very jarring and while obviously I understand it‘s from 300 years ago that doesn‘t mean I had a good time reading it. Nice to have ticked off a #1001books

Looking through my kindle on the train for something to read and I picked this on a total whim, it‘s been sitting on my kindle for years and wasn‘t very high up my tbr but I picked it and looks like I‘m reading it now! One for #1001books and I‘m going to Paris for Easter weekend so it‘s very fitting.

I‘m heartbroken by the news about notre dame. I can‘t believe this could happen to such a beautiful symbolic building 9 centuries old

Thought I would share a pic of my goodwill find of the month! A terrarium that plays Love Me Tender that I filled with crystals and an air plant I got from my library. We are doing an air plant program for Earth day and this guy was too big for the program. Also look at the awesome postcard I receive #JB from @SkeletonKey I love it! Also shown a piece of clear quartz and a piece of smoky quartz I collected.

You know those really bad fanfics where everyone dies and comes back to life and everything bad that could happen does happen yet the main character is completely fine? This is like that.

teacher lent copy. we swap books sometimes

Five books in January, about my average. Some goodness in there and some pain. #januarywrapup

I had planned to read this in print, but my current readalongs are requiring almost all of my reading time, so I downloaded the audio. I‘m so glad that I did, because this made for a great listen during my walks this weekend. I think it has the most humor of anything I‘ve read in which so many things go badly.

#audiobook #audiowalk #1001books
#Reading1001 January 2019 #TBRTakedown

🤓

Voltaire, you magnificent wordsmith! I read this in AP English in high school in the 80s. Forgot how great it was.

My 2019 reading goal/Goodreads reading goal is 150 books. But I might bump it up later in the year.
Currently at 3/150.

I don't always consider a marriage proposal, but when I do, facial hair is of utmost importance 😅 #LitsyClassics #LetterV #SerialReader

#bannedbooksweek