Well, it certainly has been a busy few weeks! I hope those of you who celebrate Christmas had a jolly good one. I've managed to avoid cooking for the big days so far as my mother hosted Christmas Day, my sister Boxing Day. We have everyone heading to us for New Years day so I need to get a menu sorted.
I wasn't feeling particularly festive on the build up this year. I'm not too sure why. It was remedied to some degree by tackling another book; something festive.
I was awake early on Christmas Eve. Quite annoying really as Sunday is the day I don't have to get up to walk the dog. I remembered I had A Christmas Carol on my Kindle so dug that out. I don't recall being it, maybe it came with the account when I set it up all those years ago. I've no clue now.
That makes 13 books for the year.
I've seen various versions of A Christmas Carol on TV over the years so there were no surprises. I managed to get through the book in a couple of sittings throughout the day, totalling around 3 hours. A lovely easy read and not too long. I liked Dickens' style so will delve into some of his other books at some point.
I'm currently reading Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations by Jules Evans. It was mentioned in Adrian Edmondson's autobiography so I thought I'd give it a go. It has been hard work but is jolly interesting. It discusses the different beliefs of philosophers and how philosophy is the foundation of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
It has sparked an interest so I've got my reading for 2024 planned out. I've two similar books that are meant to be more entry level on philosophy, and the complete works of Plato. I imagine the latter will take me the best part of a year to get through alone!
I've also been working my way through The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. This is also jolly interesting and a great idea. It contains 366 "meditations on wisdom" as you can see from the cover. Essentially, one for each day of the year with a summary discussion point on the meditation for that day. I've enjoyed waking up, reading the page for that day (only takes a few moments), then having a think about it whilst on the dog walk of at other points during the day.
I think it's a book I'll be able to repeat over and over again and probably grow to have a different personal viewpoint every 12 months.
I've not read too many books this year, but I have a stack to work through including some new (actual paper) ones from Xmas. We had a good time with the family.
I hope 2024 is good to you.
!BEER
Thanks Steve. I hope it's good for you and yours too. Fingers crossed we'll get to catch up again in '24.
I may do another meetup some time. I would hope to get a few more people along.
I love Dickens. A Christmas Carol is beautiful as is Oliver Twist. I also remember enjoying read The Pickwick Papers. That was my PG Wodehouse before PG Wodehouse. I agree with you in how smooth and simple his writing was. Great Expectations, David Copperfield all good. My favorite, of all time, is Tale of Two Cities. One of the first books that made me feel like I am watching a Bollywood movie :)
Have a great new year. Wishes go out to all your loved ones too from us. Cheers!
Bought the Daily Stoic recently but not yet started on it. Like you, I need to give it a slot in my daily schedule. I haven't yet read Ade Edmondson's autobiography, but definitely on my tbr list for this year. Saw him and his band play at a music festival about fifteen years back and always been impressed by his willingness to try new things and be good at them too.
I've not perfected the habit of reading a page a day yet, but do so more often than not. Slowly but surely I feel I find myself thinking about things differently. Especially sound ones circle of control and focusing on the things within it.
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