Stevenson and his great ideas

canadian blog awards

Winner LGBT category.

A bit of grey early December

 

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First let me apologize for,

my recent silence,

it isn’t so much that,

I have been busy,

more like,

sick,

I have had my third cold,

in less than two months,

and,

Winter,

hasn’t even hit,

good times

๐Ÿ™‚

Moving on.

I have read,

another of the books,

in the great ideas series,

by Penguin,

An Apology For Idlers,

by R.L Stevenson,

delightful small book (113 pages)

of essays,

on the power and importance,

of a certain idleness,

I need not be convinced of this:-P

advice on living the life of an artist,

an essay on how age,

does not necessarily bring,

wisdom,

and,

my personal fave from this collection,

On Falling In Love.

Delightful essays,

by a delightful writer,

full confession here:

I don’t believe,

I have ever read any Robert Louis Stevenson.

I might have been read,

Treasure Island,

as a child,

but,

I am not sure,

I remember fragments,

Long John Silver,

not much else.

This is quite an important,

oversight,

on my part,

Stevenson,

if I base myself,

on this book,

is a damn good writer,

I just remembered, I did read The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as a teenager.

So maybe,

I need to look into him,

more.

My Granny,

on my dad’s Scottish side of the family,

was a Stevenson,

Her grandfather,

father,

brother,

were all named Robert.

I seem to recall,

my granny has been gone since 1976,

her mentioning,

that R.L Stevenson was a cousin,

I like to think he was,

a famous writer cousin,

in the family tree,

yup,

sounds good.

Here is a sampling,

from,

On Falling In Love:

The simple accident of falling in love is as beneficial as it is astonishing. It arrests the petrifying influence of years, disproves cold-blooded and cynical conclusions, and awakens dormant sensibilities. Hitherto the man had found it a good policy to disbelieve the existence of any enjoyment which was out of his reach; and thus he turned his back upon the strong sunny parts of nature, and accustomed himself to look exclusively on what was common and dull. He accepted a prose ideal, let himself go blind of many sympathies by disuse…and now, all of a sudden, he is unhorsed, like St-Paul, from his infidel affectation. His heart, which has been ticking accurate seconds for the last year, gives a bound and begins to beat irregularly in his breast. It seems as if he had never heard or felt or seen until that moment; and by the report of memory of his memory, he must have lived his past life between sleep and waking, or with the preoccupied attention of a brown study-

page 29 An Apology For Idlers(On Falling In Love) Robert Louis Stevenson

Love gives your life,

wings,

texture,

falling in love,

gets your blood flowing,

and,

bathes the world in a rosy hue,

love is grand.

I am so far,

very much enjoying,

this great ideas reading,

food for thought,

and,

for dreams,

day dreams,

about my girl,

and,

how,

much better,

my,

life,

is,

since she came into it.

Have a wonderful day, you all.

Later girls,

BB

 

A ‘great ideas’ challenge to myself

canadian blog awards

Winner GLBT category

Good morning you all.

I hope the sky,

wherever you are is less,

grey,

than here in the,

beautiful ugly,

ah November,

the dreaded one.

I have had a wonderful weekend,

time spent with precious friends,

work,

photography,

laughs,

entertainment and even,

a little shopping,

good weekend.

I mentioned a few months ago,

that I would be reading,

Montaigne,

a sort of a tribute to my anarchist,

Montaigne having such,

pertinent,

thoughts on friendship.

I downloaded the complete essays,

on my e-reader,

it has proven to be,

a daunting task,

but,

I will not be deterred,

I have found a,

perfect solution,

I think.

๐Ÿ™‚

On Friendship,

in the Penguin Great Ideas ย collection,

so,

a small,

easy to handle,

portion of Montaigne,

about a hundred pages,

and,

it is the essays on friendship,

like I said,

perfect.

This collection is made up,

of five phases,

I have read a few,

and,

plan to read a few more.

This is what Penguin ‘says’

about this collection:

Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves – and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives – and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are.

So, an idea,

came to me.

Why not read,

one a month,

not a big commitment,

and,

will allow me to read some,

quality non-fiction,

which,

sadly,

is something I don’t read enough of.

These are slim volumes,

can be carried anywhere,

pocket, bag, whatever.

The first on my list,

is the Montaigne,

second: A Room Of One’s Own.

Virginia Woolf,

has been a challenge for me,

perhaps,

I am just not literary enough,

this small essay,

I know I can handle,

and,

more than certainly benefit from.

Perusing the list,

I found there were many,

I had a real interest in reading.

On Solitude-Montaigne

An Apology For Idlers-R.L Stevenson

On The Pleasure Of Hating-Hazlitt

The Jewish State-Herzl.

These will bring me into April 2015,

at the one a month pace.

Friendship,

a place to create,

idleness,

I believe anyone who knows me,

or reads my blog,

is aware that these,

are important themes to me.

The Hazlitt on hating,

well,

because,

I think Hazlitt an interesting character,

and,

I have an interest in haters,

I am not one,

but,

I know a few.

๐Ÿ™‚

what is that hip hop expression?

Haters Gonna Hate.

The Jewish State,

because I am fascinated by all things,

Jewish,

yep,

I am intrigued to read,

where,

the father of Zionism,

was coming from.

So that is my,

reading project,

well,

one of them for the next few months.

I am still wading through,

Walden,

an important book,

no doubt,

but,

it is tedious,

definitely a broccoli read

๐Ÿ™‚

If any of you,

would like to join my in this,

endeavour,

please do,

lots of Great Ideas books to pick from.

Let me know,

guest post?

Why not.

Be well.

Later girls,

BB

***Very sad news, I learned this morning of the passing of Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues shook me to my very core

here is an early blog post in which I describe the experience of reading it :http://bookishbutch.com/?p=157

RIP Leslie***