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Most of what makes a book 'good' is that we are reading it at the right moment for us. Alain de Botton
portrait of the Grand Duchess Cathrine Alexeevna, as a young bride, around 1745.
I just finished Robert Massie's book Catherine the Great- Here is a passage that I marked,
Catherine refused to leave her room "until I felt strong enough to overcome my depression" (Catherine's words) She remained the entire winter of 1754-55 in this narrow, little room with its ill fitting windows through which freezing drafts blew...To shield herself and to make life bearable, she turned again to books. That winter she read the Annals of Tacitus, Montesquieu's L'Esprit des Lois(The Spirit of Laws), & Voltaire's Essai sur less Moeurs et l'Esprit des Nations(Essay on the Manners and Spirit of Nations). The work of Tacitus, she said, caused a singular revolution in my brain to which, perhaps the melancholy cast of my thoughts at this time contributed. I began to take a gloomier view of things and to look for deeper and more basic causes that really underlay and shaped the different events around me."
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I have Frieda's CATHERINE de MEDICI and The Paris Wife (Hemingway's), but have yet read them. With spring on its way, I wonder if I'll get to it before the gardening begins.
ReplyDeleteI also love biographies,and essays, classics. I am now reading an epistolarium between a famous Milanese writer (Carlo Emilio Gadda) and a lady who was very involved in the cultural scene to the point of being called the Italian Sévigné.
ReplyDeletei like this portrait, the colors and the shades..
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Julian Fellowes' "Past Imperfect" which everyone said was a poor followup to "Snobs" but I'm enjoying it MORE!
ReplyDeleteEvery January in a presidential election year, I re-read Thucydides.
ReplyDeleteIt helps keeps things in perspective.
I just finished "Mrs. Astor Regrets". So sad, but fascinating. Now I am starting "Growing Pains". It is the autobiography of Emily Carr, a Canadian artist and writer. My mom gifted it to me when she returned from Vancouver a few months ago.
ReplyDeleteI've heard good reviews of that book....nice to see the portrait with the quote. History is always better if you can see pictures of the people and places involved, put a face to the name as it were. I will have to put that on my "to read" list. I'm now reading "A Tale of Two Cities" I think a good continuation of my current obsession of all things English, beginning with Downton Abbey...I'm wondering if a new style of architecture and interiors, based on the popularity of that show, will emerege. Neo-Neo Georgian?
ReplyDeleteOne wonders if what she was reading kept her between the sheets and fed her depression. The portrait of the Grand Duchess Cathrine Alexeevna is spell binding.
ReplyDeleteI have discovered Sebastian Barry and I have ordered his entire collection of books, I am presently reading Secret Scriptures. He is a brilliant writer and I have laughted and cried, mainly the latter, as I read this powerful story
Thank you for writing this post
Helen
Book is next in line on my bedside table waiting to be read .
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading Steve Jobs' biography, by Walter Isaacson. I have a better appreciation for my McIntosh and for Jobs, though I'm glad I never worked for him! My current reading is Sex With Kings, by Eleanor Herman. It's about royal mistresses and their rather precarious lives. Robert Massie's book is next on my list.
ReplyDeleteCurrently reading John Pearson’s “The Sitwells: A Family’s Biography. “ Enjoying it immensely. I agree with you Gaye, I find biography is the most compelling reading. Have also been dipping into a couple of recent holiday acquisitions, a page here, a page there: Calloway’s “Baroque Baroque,” and “Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendour” from the MMA, both so beautiful! I also love “getaway” books, most recently “The French Chateau: Life, Style, Tradition” by Christiane de Nicolay-Mazery. Wonderful. Thanks for another thoughtful post.
ReplyDeleteThe Assassin's Cloak -- Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists (ed. Irene and Alan Taylor), Patrick Hamilton by Sean French, Frozen Desire by James Buchan, and (this is really great) The Cultural Revolution Cookbook by Sasha Gong and Scott D. Seligman. Curtis
ReplyDeleteJust finished 'The Paris Wife'! It was as good as I hoped for! Marvelous!
ReplyDeleteThen, in between: Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series. (No. 4)
And the 'Night Circus' will be next!
Always good to hear what other's read! You book made my list also!
xoxo