It's been so long since my last post that I hardly know how to begin. Perhaps I should explain where I've been. Bedridden and with a swollen face. You see, my dentist decided it'd be great fun to get rid of one of my wisdom teeth and I, being the nice girl I am, caved in. That's it. It's over. I refuse to think of it again.
So, in spite of a little pain (and too many pills and I loathe taking any kind of meds), I've managed to read quite a lot.
The Two Towers. It's amazing how long it took me to finish the LOTR's second instalment. I can't really explain why (even when there's definitely more action than in the first part, an impending-doom atmosphere, and evil is at hand). Sometimes it was difficult to follow and I almost lost it but was caught immediately, especially by passages as the following:
They walked as it were in a black vapour wrought of veritable darkness itself that, as it was breathed, brought blindness not only to the eyes but to the mind, so that even the memory of colours and of forms and of any light faded out of thought. Night always had been, and always would be, and night was all.
Of all the characters that populate this beautiful tale, Samwise Gamgee will always be my favourite. His innocence, steadfastness, and courage are sometimes nothing when compared with the melody of his voice and the depth of some of his musings. The next one means the world to me.
The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, a sport, as you might say. But that's not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually - their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't. And if they had, we shouldn't know, because they'd have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same - like old Mr. Bilbo. But those aren't always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of tale we've fallen into?
Candide, or Optimism. Voltaire's little masterpiece was a joy and a challenge to read. A joy because I've been in the mood for philosophical novels and this one has satisfied this craving with a touch of irony that makes it even more palatable. A challenge because Candide's constant misfortunes and almost incurable naivety had me on the brink of madness. I took a deep breath and just told myself: this boy has got to learn something so let him get robbed, hit, burned if that is the price. Fortunately, he didn't (get killed).
According to Candide's tutor, the philosopher Pangloss, we live in the best of all possible worlds and yet poor Candide has to come to terms with a world riddled with corruption, war, torture, deception and treason. The best indeed. And this is probably the main aim of this novel, to denounce the brutality of the world, the nature of evil and the absurdity of certain philosophies such as Gottfried Leibniz' optimism.
It is a rich novel, witty, sarcastic and thoroughly enjoyable.
I wonder whether this novel counts as the fourth? Hope it does, or I won't make it.
According to Candide's tutor, the philosopher Pangloss, we live in the best of all possible worlds and yet poor Candide has to come to terms with a world riddled with corruption, war, torture, deception and treason. The best indeed. And this is probably the main aim of this novel, to denounce the brutality of the world, the nature of evil and the absurdity of certain philosophies such as Gottfried Leibniz' optimism.
It is a rich novel, witty, sarcastic and thoroughly enjoyable.
I wonder whether this novel counts as the fourth? Hope it does, or I won't make it.
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Definitely, count Candide as a classic.
Gosh, I thought I was going to look like that (rag wrapped around my head). Fortunately I didn't. Though I did have to put up with my family making fun of me the whole week. :)