January 10, 2023
This might be the birth of a regularized inclusion of my reading diet of the classics. Starting with War and Peace, i will try to finish it in a fortnight, meaning i need to progress about 7% per day. I'm at 5% now, but that's partly owing to the translator's preface and a chronology at the beginning which i just skimmed over. The day is young, but i shall have to nap. I love the short chapters, which helps facilitate a sort of binging approach which ultimately should mean getting more read than usual.
For each wake period i must however have my Reformed theology, having splurged so much on those things, and they really do have a charm and narcotic effect.
For 2023 i'd like to do one long classic for each month (12), with an additional 12 smaller classics. In June when i can splurge righteously again, i may get more classics, they're good to have in semi expensive editions because of footnotes and if not originally in english for a better translation.
There is so much to read in all facets of exploration, there are 2 main categories as they vie for supremacy for me:
Theology & Classics
Big surprise eh? I talk to my dad like he's a simpleton too. I go to him "Have you ever heard of a guy named Shakespeare", "Ever hear of a guy called John Wayne?" "I betcha never heard of Michael Jordan, eh dad?"
Anyways in both theology and classics they form huge worlds unto themselves, for the latter there is what's called "The Western Canon", the pinnacles spanning such hits as The Iliad to Ulysses. In Philosophy there's a ongoing dialogue from Descartes the 1st modern philosopher to each major guy till Hegel, who grandiosely and supposedly, perhaps also dubiously summed it all up. I prefer the iconoclastics like Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to those dry as bones buzzards. In literature, you could place those 2 in there also, as well as later lyrical thinkers as Camus and Cioran.
In theology i pretty much have as much as i can handle for a very long time, what i set my sights for after more volumes are released are the John Owen, and the Petrus Van Mastrichts. But also perhaps more soon is the 4th volume of Beeke's Reformed Systematic Theology, which is a beauteous culmination and synthesis of the greats in the Reformed tradition, each volume well over 1,000 pages, if you know me i look favorably to a tome if it's in the 4 digit pagination territory.
In Literature, unlike with Theology, there can be more sustained time with a certain volume, and thus making it possible to go through more rapidly, although a fine piece of literature must be relished, and it's also the immersive experience that is a huge draw to me too, i often dream of being whisked away being lost in a world provided by the printed word, there's nothing quite like it. Another thing great secular works have is a universal appeal, you feel like you could actually share the same destiny with it, whereas with Reformed theology, it is always speaking to the converted or professing believer, and for me, i'm either damned or too screwed up in the head to know for sure. Literature can be like art therapy for that.
After my nap, more Tolstoy, and helping out with the laundry, hope all here is getting through these days in style, if not, maybe soon, with a refreshed perspective in awhile.
☮️
For each wake period i must however have my Reformed theology, having splurged so much on those things, and they really do have a charm and narcotic effect.
For 2023 i'd like to do one long classic for each month (12), with an additional 12 smaller classics. In June when i can splurge righteously again, i may get more classics, they're good to have in semi expensive editions because of footnotes and if not originally in english for a better translation.
There is so much to read in all facets of exploration, there are 2 main categories as they vie for supremacy for me:
Theology & Classics
Big surprise eh? I talk to my dad like he's a simpleton too. I go to him "Have you ever heard of a guy named Shakespeare", "Ever hear of a guy called John Wayne?" "I betcha never heard of Michael Jordan, eh dad?"
Anyways in both theology and classics they form huge worlds unto themselves, for the latter there is what's called "The Western Canon", the pinnacles spanning such hits as The Iliad to Ulysses. In Philosophy there's a ongoing dialogue from Descartes the 1st modern philosopher to each major guy till Hegel, who grandiosely and supposedly, perhaps also dubiously summed it all up. I prefer the iconoclastics like Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to those dry as bones buzzards. In literature, you could place those 2 in there also, as well as later lyrical thinkers as Camus and Cioran.
In theology i pretty much have as much as i can handle for a very long time, what i set my sights for after more volumes are released are the John Owen, and the Petrus Van Mastrichts. But also perhaps more soon is the 4th volume of Beeke's Reformed Systematic Theology, which is a beauteous culmination and synthesis of the greats in the Reformed tradition, each volume well over 1,000 pages, if you know me i look favorably to a tome if it's in the 4 digit pagination territory.
In Literature, unlike with Theology, there can be more sustained time with a certain volume, and thus making it possible to go through more rapidly, although a fine piece of literature must be relished, and it's also the immersive experience that is a huge draw to me too, i often dream of being whisked away being lost in a world provided by the printed word, there's nothing quite like it. Another thing great secular works have is a universal appeal, you feel like you could actually share the same destiny with it, whereas with Reformed theology, it is always speaking to the converted or professing believer, and for me, i'm either damned or too screwed up in the head to know for sure. Literature can be like art therapy for that.
After my nap, more Tolstoy, and helping out with the laundry, hope all here is getting through these days in style, if not, maybe soon, with a refreshed perspective in awhile.
☮️
