I haven't forgotten! Honest!
Intro
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
I've been busy at work and at play and at Jack's-a-Dull-Boy, so haven't had as much time for reading.
Well, that's not strictly true. I've had enough time to read old Avengers comics, and to re-read Kurt Busiek's beautiful, epic ode to superheroes Astro City. I might write more about it sometime, but you should check it out. Even f you find the idea of superheroes ridiculous. In fact, especially if you find them ridiculous. Start here.
But I haven't been reading too many non-picture books. Still, I've persevered, and this is a four-for-one bumper edition.
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Penguin Books - Great Ideas
This is a series of shortish books containing famous essays and treatises (is that the plural?). Some famous, some less so. We have four of them. I think they were purchased by Lucy - I'm not sure why she chose these ones. But they were very interesting.
Here are some short thoughts on each.
John Ruskin - On Art and Life
I don't know much about Ruskin. This was pretty cool. The first part of the book is an essay on Gothic architecture. I know nothing about architecture, so it was nice to be given a little grounding. What I liked most was his categorising the Gothic as distinctly North European, and describing it as emerging from our temperament and climate. His descriptions of noble Northern artists creating beauty in freezing conditions in treacherous landscapes made me proud of my culture (even though I've never carved a church in a snowstorm).
There's lots to cover there, including his slightly odd politics - at times seeming proto-Communist; criticising workers being alienated from the means of production, and at others claiming that you're more free if you're under someone else's control.
The second essay is about the use of iron in society. It's quite interesting, though he really seems to have a problem with iron railings.
I like iron railings. In fact whenever I contemplate what I'd miss if I lived abroad, the first thing that comes to mind is a rainy Victorian terrace, with black iron railings at the front. I don't know why.
Other things what I liked:
His preference for striving for greatness rather than mediocrity, even if the outcome is failure:
"[we are] not to esteem smooth minuteness above shattered majesty" p13
"the demand for perfection is always a sign of a misunderstanding of the ends of art" p26
That's why this blog is so ambitious, and yet is produced by a sloppy bungler.
William Hazlitt - On the Pleasure of Hating
There are a few essays here. Hazlitt is a very amusing fellow, and writes about the society of his day. His account of a boxing match is superb, as this clearly educated man gets caught up in the savage beauty of it all.
Things what I like:
His amazement at Indian Jugglers, and his rant about how nothing he does is that impressive. I once heard Jerry Seinfeld make an almost identical remark: wondering why we're not more impressed by incredible acts of human skill.
His anti-monarchy rants, which must have been quite shocking at the time.
George Orwell - Why I Write
Orwell is pretty cool. He's also a superb writer, in terms of clarity of expression. The main essay of the collection, The Lion and the Unicorn was written during the second world war, and is an interesting take on the future of Britain. Some of his predictions turn out to be close to the truth, some less to.
Thing what I didn't like:
He loses points from me by going on a bit of a rant about the state of the English language. It's a debate that's still going on, which either means language is progressively getting worse or that people are just stupid pedants who don't know their history. I favour the latter explanation. David Mitchell has the right take.
Mary Wollstonecraft - A Vindication of the Rights of Women
A seminal feminist text. Important, revolutionary and...
I didn't finish it.
I'm sorry Mary! I really am!
I believe in your cause, and I admire you, but I just couldn't get through it. And so instead of letting it derail the whole odyssey, I'm going to move on.
This was the first book on the shelf to be written by a woman, and I'm dismissing her. There must be a deep vein of chauvinism running beneath my PC surface.
I did say non-fiction was optional! And I read some of it!
Oh dear.
The next book is also by a woman!
Look, I promise to make up for this by not hollering at attractive women in the street and cancelling my subscription to Loaded.
***
So there it is. 4 in one (well, 3 and a half)!
Next time, back to fiction.
Keep watching the skies!
Especially if you're an air traffic controller, WHICH YOU ARE.
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