Recommend a book for the community

[Alan]

Recommend books you've read and really enjoyed, let's add to our libraries!

 

[MartyOS]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is probably a given, but wow - what a read!

Personally I love any Steinbeck, and in East of Eden, I think his exploration of Timshel resonates with a DIY/ craftsman's attitude.

Ruskin's essay on The Nature of Gothic is another one that really captures the humanity in creativity.

Thoreau's Walden is a given, but his essay on Civil Disobedience is one that also resonates with a pre-industrial approach to life.

Wordsworth's The Prelude is one of the greatest poems ever written and focuses a lot on creating a life of little loves and joys.

Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard is another great poem (and much quicker to read) and is a reminder that a life of humble joys and not chasing wealth or such nonsense is the better path.

Seneca's On the Shortness of Life is a good reminder for what our relationship with time could/should be.

Camus' Myth of Sisyphus should be compulsory reading in my mind - one must imagine Sisyphus happy after all

Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy influenced writers and thinkers for thousands of years after him, and I think there's a lot in there of value.

(Sorry for the giant list - English tutor and obsessive reader here and I see a lot of crossover with these books and why people choose handtools over power tools)

 

[Gord0n]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is probably a given, but wow - what a read!

Personally I love any Steinbeck, and in East of Eden, I think his exploration of Timshel resonates with a DIY/ craftsman's attitude.

Ruskin's essay on The Nature of Gothic is another one that really captures the humanity in creativity.

Thoreau's Walden is a given, but his essay on Civil Disobedience is one that also resonates with a pre-industrial approach to life.

Wordsworth's The Prelude is one of the greatest poems ever written and focuses a lot on creating a life of little loves and joys.

Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard is another great poem (and much quicker to read) and is a reminder that a life of humble joys and not chasing wealth or such nonsense is the better path.

Seneca's On the Shortness of Life is a good reminder for what our relationship with time could/should be.

Camus' Myth of Sisyphus should be compulsory reading in my mind - one must imagine Sisyphus happy after all

Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy influenced writers and thinkers for thousands of years after him, and I think there's a lot in there of value.

(Sorry for the giant list - English tutor and obsessive reader here and I see a lot of crossover with these books and why people choose handtools over power tools)

Wow seems like you read a lot and like philosophy

 

[MartyOS]

That's fair (as I say, English teacher so reading and teaching reading is kind of my job but I can't read fiction for pleasure easily as I end up in work mode).

But I'll say what I said to a neighbour who has just retired. Old age is coming and when it comes we lose certain physical powers. Gone is the chance to throw ourselves physically at what we used to love. I feel that old age could bring a compensatory kind of joy to all the things we lose... fingers crossed we retain much of our mental ability and I think an enjoyment of good books offers appreciation of beauty and truth and goodness. Some Ancient Greeks saw philosophy as the highest form of leisure as well.

What about you? What books have you found that bring joy?