Such, O Lacedaemonians, is tyranny!

It's been a tough week in the reading department here at Leaflocker HQ. It doesn't make a lot of sense given that I've had the most relaxed week that I've had in years that I've somehow had no time to read, but sometimes that's just how it goes. There was cricket to watch, and games to play, and far too many blog posts to write, and there wasn't my regular travel to and from work to get reading done in either, which all combined in a mad rush today to finish off the assigned weekly reading in time to get this post up before the clock strikes twelve and I turn back into a pumpkin.

The Week That Was:

The History of Herodotus

Book V

We turn at last to the Greeks, and Herodotus seems to enjoy being on firmer ground instead of trying to sort fact from fiction from the stories some bloke told him in a bar, but for the casual reader this one was quite the slog. There are just so many names to try an keep straight, I can't even manage all the different nations, let alone the leaders thereof. It strikes me as peculiar, once the Athenians worked out that they could just bribe the oracle, why anyone would ever listen to her again, but I guess the Greeks were Sparta men than I. #punachieved I also like the repeated reminders from Herodotus, the historian, that the Ionians really should have listened to Hecataeus, the historian. Very subtle. I also hope we get more Gorgo in the near future, as the mention of her here felt like a serious namedrop, and she must do something to have ended up as a leader in Civilization VI.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Chapters XV

Phew. After last week I was worried that I would never be able to enjoy Crusoe again, but all in all this was a fine chapter. I enjoyed how quickly Crusoe came to value and trust Friday's judgement, how interested he is in Friday's culture, and how clearly he is enjoying his company. 

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo 

Volume II - Books VI-VIII

For two-thirds of this reading I was extremely worried by the idea that I might be reading 51 pages of Hugo this week and not get even a whiff of plot. Book VI was a detailed depiction of a monastery, which given last week's detailed history of a house wasn't a great start, and Book VII was an interesting and eminently quotable but out of place essay about how monasteries should all be torn down since they have no place in a modern society. Thankfully though, Book VIII not only mentioned the characters in passing, but had some actual significant plot, with our heroes finding a place a refuge for a while after a classic live burial cliffhanger. It ends with a promising time-skip, so I think we might be finally heading to the romantic bit!

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens 

Chapters VIII-XI

I really need to stop leaving Dickens to last. Pickwick has been fun when I've left myself the time to enjoy it at leisure, as it's supposed to be read with a nice stiff drink in the warm sunshine, and has been a bit of a labour when I've left it to a last-minute rush just to get the blog post up in time. We're going to read a lot of Dickens in the next few years, so we should really get in the habit of treating him well if we expect him to return the favour.

Thankfully, these were some rollicking chapters, with a cart chase and an unlucky bride jilted at the altar, so we didn't have the usual problem. I leave you with this little excerpt which made me smile:

The lady turned aside her head. ‘Men are such deceivers,’ she softly whispered.

‘They are, they are,’ ejaculated Mr. Tupman; ‘but not all men. 

I can't help but feel like Tracey Tupman would adore Twitter. 

Some Numbers: 

This week we reached a milestone 1200 pages read of titles that many people consider canon but which weren't included in the Great Books of the Western World series, with Dickens and Hugo carrying a little over half of that burden. Herodotus (215 pages) also overtook Huxley (194) as the author that I've read sixth-most of during the project, and I'd expect him to pass Nabokov (222), Euclid (237) and Homer (257) in the next couple of weeks to put himself into third place behind the two luminaries mentioned above. 

Pages last week: 112
Pages so far: 2689

Week XXIV: 

Only having four books to read was also I factor in my slow consumption rate this week, I think, as reading them in these big doses inevitably seems to take longer than just dropping by for a short visit; I guess I'm just the kind of reader who likes to know that the end of the chapter is just around the corner. Thankfully, we have smaller doses of Dickens and Defoe this week to make room for return visits from our friends Bacon and Plato, so if you've been waiting to jump into to something philosophical with me now could be the time: the Bacon reading is just about one page and the Plato isn't completely outrageous in length either, and so far we've found both authors to be pretty accessible, for philosophers.

Last time I read Plato, I greatly enjoyed reading him in the outdoors on my kindle, but recently my faithful ereader suffered a bit of a mishap in my backpack and is no longer in a fit state for the reading of Philosophy, or anything else, for that matter. It's served me well over many years, and I definitely need to find some time in the next little while to find a suitable replacement. A physical book is a wonderful thing and I can never get enough of them, but it's hard to beat the convenience of always having an e-reader in your bag.

The History of Herodotus

Book VI (33 pages)

#gbbw #manandsociety #history #greek

The Symposium by Plato

(27 pages)

#gbbw #philosophyandtheology #dialogue #greek #oneshot

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Chapters XVI (11 pages)

#ggb #imaginativeliterature #novel #english

Of Discourse by Sir Francis Bacon

(1 page)

#ggb #philosophyandtheology #essay #english #oneshot #short

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo 

Volume III - Book I (29 pages)

#non_gbww #imaginativeliterature #novel #french

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens 

Chapters XII-XIII (13 pages)

#non_gbww #imaginativeliterature #novel #english