Litsy

Pigpen_Reads

Walden | Henry David Thoreau

#Scarathlonphotochallenge #fall #skeletoncrew

Catching up on posts 🙂

@Clwojick @StayCurious @Emilymdxn

19 likes

Graywacke

Walden | Henry David Thoreau

so-so

What a beautiful little place. As for this book, oye. Does anyone still like this thing? Today it reads sluggish and arrogant, without actually saying much of value. A little incoherent social media rant-ish, actually. 😬 It does have its moments, especially when focused on nature, or on deep winter isolation and spring joy.

I started this in May for #naturalitsy. And I persisted. It was… ok.

TheBookHippie He‘s a bit arrogant !! 😵‍💫🤣🤷🏻‍♀️I like the nature parts and Thoreau in jail and

Civil Disobedience

6mo

merelybookish I have avoided reading this for years. I feel affirmed. 😉😅 6mo

Graywacke @TheBookHippie my copy included CD, so I read it for the first time. I did -not- like 😁😊 6mo

See All 7 Comments

Graywacke @merelybookish 😂😂😂 6mo

TheBookHippie @merelybookish 🤣🤣🤣 It‘s Mr BookHippies favorite… so I may have been influenced 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️😅😝 6mo

sarahbarnes I‘ll be honest I‘ve never read it and likely never will. 😂 6mo

AllDebooks I completely agree 😅 5mo

48 likes7 comments

IndoorDame

Thoreau's Book of Quotations | Henry David Thoreau

#ThruThick&Thin #IdiomInsight @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Eggs Lovely 🖤🤍🩶 7mo

50 likes1 comment

thegirlwiththelibrarybag

Walden, Or, Life in the Woods | Henry David Thoreau

Comes with Mother to bring you food and take your dirty laundry away…

AllDebooks 🤣 8mo

JamieArc 😂😂 8mo

37 likes2 comments

TheAromaofBooks

Walden | Henry David Thoreau

pan

This was my #BookSpin draw for March, and I've been reading it off and on ever since. I started with a cheap paperback copy that I have had on my shelves for years, but the print was so tiny and dense that I finally gave up. I had more success with this edition - large pages, larger print, and lots of lovely photographs. But the truth of the matter is that I just didn't enjoy Thoreau's tone at all. It's sad, because I was actually predisposed to ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) like him. I'm interested in the outdoors, in living simply, in spending less time working and more time living - it just seems like I should be totally into this guy. But honestly, I found him to be such a pretentious, condescending windbag that whenever he said something I agreed with, it actually kind of annoyed me because I didn't want to agree with someone so aggravating at all. Thoreau has some great concepts, but is so busy ⬇ 10mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) judging everyone who hasn't also arrived at his amazing conclusions that it's hard to get to them. He would go off on long illustrative “stories“ to make his point, like where he talked about this hardworking family and how their lives were such a waste because they went to work all day, when if they would just be willing to live without butter and meat, then they would be able to take it easy and work way less, but here they are, ⬇ 10mo

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) slaving away just so they can have butter! I just. It's one thing to say, “I've chosen to live simply and give up extras so that I spend less time working because I need less money“ and a completely different thing to say “if you decide you want to work more and earn more money so you can spend it on indulgences that you enjoy, you're just stupid.“ We ALL spend money on things that aren't necessities, it's a question of how much and I ⬇ 10mo

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TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) think that's a personal decision with no right or wrong answer.

I could complain about Thoreau a lot more, but I'm already four comments deep into this review 😂 In short, I actually did agree with a lot of his thoughts on simplicity and taking time to actually enjoy life, but found his tone to be so condescending, arrogant, and privileged that I kind of just wanted to thwack him in the head with his own book. 10mo

LaraReads Best. Review. Ever. 🤣🤣 10mo

Bookwormjillk This is amazing 10mo

squirrelbrain 🤣🤣🤣 10mo

zezeki Love this review! 😂😂 10mo

julieclair Great review. Walden has been on my TBR forever. Now I don‘t have to feel guilty about never getting around to reading it! 10mo

Cuilin I can‘t thank you enough for saying this!!! Totally agree. 10mo

Yuki_Onna What a cool&perfect review!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Now I'm torn between getting my hands on a library copy and delving into it asap so that I can hate Thoreau just as passionately and stealing&destroying the essay collection I gifted my boyfriend for his birthday before he picks it up so that he doesn't have to read such pretentious blubber... 🤔 10mo

SamAnne Thoreau was a bit of a fraud. He wasn't that far out of town. He often went into town for the easier life. I agree with some of his sentiments. But pretentious and privileged for sure. So many more insightful nature writers to read instead. 10mo

mrp27 Fantastic review! 10mo

TheAromaofBooks @LaraReads @Bookwormjillk @squirrelbrain @zezeki @julieclair @Cuilin @Yuki_Onna @SamAnne @mrp27 - Now I feel like I should make the obligatory comment that many people love Thoreau and find his writing beautiful and inspirational. But... he wasn't for me 😂 10mo

Graywacke “pretentious, condescending windbag” kinda sums it up beautifully. I didn‘t take to him either. 6mo

TheAromaofBooks @Graywacke - I really wanted to like him!!!! I just COULDN'T! 😂 6mo

61 likes16 comments

Sapphire

Walden | Henry David Thoreau

What a great stop. Couldn‘t resist reading Thoreau aloud as we left.

27 likes

AllDebooks

The Illustrated Walden: Thoreau Bicentennial Edition | Henry David Thoreau

#Rereadtheclassics

Our discussion thread is open. Please do let us know your thoughts on this classic book.

How did you get on?
Did you enjoy the pace?
What stood out for you?
Was there anything you didn't like?

AllDebooks @nanuska_153 @MilesnMelodies @TheAromaofBooks @TheBookHippie @Graywacke @Riveted_Reader_Melissa @ElizaMarie @LitStephanie @Saknicole 11mo

Cazxxx “I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” Love this quote from the book. Sums me up perfectly! 11mo

AllDebooks @Cazxxx absolutely, me too. I kept pausing to think I'm not the only hibernating hermit! 😅 11mo

See All 13 Comments

Graywacke I‘m enjoying it. An oddity, I think. I‘m about 40% through. Next chapter is The Bean Field. 11mo

Cazxxx @AllDebooks No you‘re not, I‘m a total recluse 😂 11mo

TheBookHippie @Cazxxx me too!!! That is just paradise. 11mo

AllDebooks @Graywacke so glad you're enjoying it. Tbh I did find Economy a bit of a slog to get through. I'm loving the nature parts 11mo

AllDebooks @Cazxxx @TheBookHippie #teamhermit 11mo

TheBookHippie I loved my reread. So many passages hit so close to home. 11mo

AllDebooks @TheBookHippie 😍 11mo

AllDebooks My favourite passage “We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” 11mo

Graywacke Well, I finished. 😁 6mo

AllDebooks @Graywacke that's commitment! 6mo

29 likes13 comments

LitStephanie

The Illustrated Walden: Thoreau Bicentennial Edition | Henry David Thoreau

"I discovered that my house actually had its site, in such a withdrawn, but forever new and unprofaned, part of the universe." I visited the tiny cabin and property (more remote than Thoreau's, actually) I once lived in last weekend, and this passage resonated with me. @AllDebooks #naturalitsy #rereadtheclassics

15 likes

LitStephanie

The Illustrated Walden: Thoreau Bicentennial Edition | Henry David Thoreau

#rereadtheclassics @AllDebooks #naturalitsy
I love this so much. #eattherich

AllDebooks Lol, he doesn't mince his words!! 'ambitious booby' 🤣 11mo

LitStephanie @AllDebooks he sure doesn't! Earlier, he explained how elderly people have no knowledge to offer. 😆 11mo

14 likes1 stack add2 comments

LitStephanie

The Illustrated Walden: Thoreau Bicentennial Edition | Henry David Thoreau

I am enjoying the discussion of how the more luxurious the house, the more burdensome it is. People toil through a lifetime deep in debt to have a nice house, and nowadays a lot of other things, they don't really need. And the maintenance, represented by his tossing out a couple of pieces of lime because they required dusting, sucks more of our lives than it is worth. #rereadtheclassics #naturalitsy @AllDebooks

18 likes

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