On books aka De los Libros by Michel de Montaigne – this is one of The Essays of Michel de Montaigne, selected as one of The 100 Greatest Books of All Time, my note on a section of this massive magnum opus is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/11/les-essais-tome-1-by-michel-de.html where you find a few hundred more reviews - 10 out of 10

 

On books aka De los Libros by Michel de Montaigne – this is one of The Essays of Michel de Montaigne, selected as one of The 100 Greatest Books of All Time, my note on a section of this massive magnum opus is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/11/les-essais-tome-1-by-michel-de.html where you find a few hundred more reviews

 

10 out of 10

 

It is something of a surprise, at least for the less well informed among us, to find such an erudite author and reader, right there, at the end of the sixteenth century, otherwise the period of The Middle Ages, also stigmatized as the Dark Ages, and this proves it was not as backward as we might think, at least on some counts

 

Yes, they had the Inquisition, but even that was not the killing, torturing machine most might think – I was reading in The Economist, in the Culture zone, where they reviewed this book about the subject, that they did not want to get a bad reputation, so they did not torture all and sunder, they used some tricks in their trade

First, people were faithful, those who knew they have done wrong confessed, but when others insisted, they were innocent, the strategy was to test their veracity with boiled water, God will protect the pure, but the Inquisition men would just use tepid water, when they had a notion that the accused were innocent…

 

‘The person who doesn’t read lives only one life. The reader lives 5,000. Reading is immortality backwards.’ This is a quote from Umberto Eco, reading The Essays of Montaigne is extending life, falls into immortality backwards, but there are books that make one think of Arthur Schopenhauer and his take on this

‘One can never read too little of bad, or too much of good books: bad books are intellectual poison; they destroy the mind. In order to read what is good one must make it a condition never to read what is bad; for life is short, and both time and strength limited.’ I am now enjoying The Case for God by Karen Armstrong

 

She is the ultimate expert on religion https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-holy-bible-by-anonymous-perhaps.html and so Enlighted, astute, convincing, that she may convert this reader – we need to speak in a few weeks’ time though – only there are other works that I have to struggle with, or abandon

‘I think novels ought to tell a story and have a theme and give you a sense that a problem has been proposed and solved’ this is from the letters of Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/06/take-girl-like-you-by-kingsley-amis-one.html he is my absolute number one now

 

I am also nearly finished with Orbital, the latest winner of The Booker Prize – in fact, it was awarded just a couple of weeks ago – the second shortest, winner, after the fabulous Offshore https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/03/offshore-by-penelope-fitzgerald.html by Penelope Fitzgerald - and it is a good read

Alas, it was not overwhelming, which does not fit in the category of bad, or it does not ‘tell a story’, it is just that the story might not be for this reader, I have never been very enthusiastic about space, Science Fiction is not my favorite, Planet of the Apes and a few others excepted, what with six astronauts given leading roles

 

At the same time, there is The Secret History and this is an enticing subject, the book has been ‘on the table’ for weeks now, in a good sense, not because it is boring, but there was a reluctance to just pass it away, be finished with it, it has Isaac Newton, Joan of Arc, Galileo and many others, with attention paid to the esoteric

I tried Confessions of a Justified Sinner, but it did not work, now there is another try, on LibriVox, the way I operate here is take on six or more books, there is Anais Nin https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/11/elena-by-anais-nin-is-part-of-delta-of.html in kindle, along with Orbital

 

Alternating with these two, also in kindle, are The Letters of Kingsley Amis, the latter will take close to fifty hours, about twenty-eight I think are left, but they are such a pleasure to read, more than the erotic, arousing stories that make up The Delta of Venus, with so many ‘forbidden words and happenings that there are repercussions’

My posts on the blog have been censored, there is a warning about content on a few of them, those about the Anais Nin stories, where all I do is use quotes, where the intercourse, felatio, lesbian and other interactions are explicit and unbelievable, I thought that is for the likes of…I even forgot the name of the author

 

We used to have those books with sex, but now, with internet porn and so much on offer, that is probably a thing of the past – I look forward to taking some of the outstanding magnum opera that I have loved, and read again, especially given that some new offers are not up to the expectations, Orbital is there

That Uncertain Feeling https://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/that-uncertain-feeling-by-kingsley-amis.html was the second novel by Kingsley Amis, and I wonder if it might be a good idea to try and read his work in ‘order now’, as opposed to just moving from one to the next, without a system, the first time around

What is certain, it will a pleasure nonetheless, just like Michel de Montaigne, who offers a different kind of pleasure, more serious, with Kingsley Amis, one is sure to laugh perfume Eau d’Ulan Bator comes to mind, he has that in The Russian Girl, I think

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”