Montaigne's Essays (I'm reading the chapter on friendship right now), sofa, multicolored tortoise.
Typically, all screens are off by the time #Hyggehour starts so I don't usually post, but I'm on holiday at the moment and on a more relaxed schedule 🌞
@AllDebooks @TheBookHippie @Chrissyreadit @jenniferw88
“Faisant, dit-il, quelque effort en sautant, ses membres virils se produisirent : et est encore en usage entre les filles de là, une chanson, par laquelle elles s'entravertissent de ne faire point de grandes enjambées, de peur de devenir garçons“
16th-century philosopher Montaigne thought - as did other contemporaries - that too much jumping (or long walking strides), or thinking about it too much, could make a woman grow a penis. Easy!
Me: “I plaintively and earnestly seek to learn from the wisdom of sages by quietly and studiously reading this book of essays, its pages replete yet resplendent with epigrams and examinations.” Dog: “PETZ PLZ?!?!”
pick#fourfoursin21 woolgathering @Lauredhel
I think this book suffered a bit from a case of right book, wrong time for me. I can see all the elements I would normally enjoy, and I did like it, but I guess I wasn't quite in the mood. But it did make me want to journal more. So a qualified pick.
Lazy morning breakfast in. (Lazy for me, anyway: my partner made the eggs.)
I‘ve been plugging away at this book for a few weeks, mostly to calm down before bed. It was mentioned somewhere as a readalike with Wintering, which I really enjoyed. This is more focused on the idea of slowing down and the creativity and satisfaction in doing nothing. A good idea, but a book that refuses to be hurried, and I‘m not very good at reading slowly.
Montaigne is not necessarily eccentric. What I found appealing in his writings is a certain spontaneity, or indifference, that makes his thought seem devoid of vanity or pretence. But at some level, I always thought the eruditeness was a bit unnatural. There aren't really any clear lessons in the book, but rather it is an experience, in which you are constantly amazed by the learning he has. The joy comes from the amount of satisfaction HE gets.
pickI read this as a stepping stone to Montaigne. I hesitated to jump right into the essays of a 16th century French nobleman and Renaissance philosopher. This inspires me to read on and points to several translations, biographies, and monographs. It was also my introduction to Michael Perry, a talented and funny writer, who humorously evaluates his life through Montaigne‘s essays.
pick"To begin depriving death of its greatest advantage over us, let us adopt a way clean contrary to that common one; let us deprive death of its strangeness, let us frequent it, let us get used to it; let us have nothing more often in mind than death... We do not know where death awaits us: so let us wait for it everywhere."
"To practice death is to practice freedom. A man who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave."
