B List: W.M. Thackeray--The Book of Snobs.................................................217/218
C List: Shirley Jackson--The Haunting of Hill House......................................83/221
I was a little thrown off today by the new Blogger format, which I had to spend about an hour figuring out how to use.
The Ethics, along with the Politics, are the "easy" Aristotle books, as opposed to the Metaphysics and especially the Physics, which one of my tutors at school said had never been translated properly into English and spent many years working on his own translation of the book, which, while it may well have been the most accurate, may also I think have ended up being the most unreadable of them all. One should learn Greek to read these things anyway. I did read a decent amount of fundamental Western philosophy in college, including this of course, though I never formed a coherent view of who was correct or which positions I thought were especially significant. Re-reading this, the arguments laid out are very familiar, particularly the idea of moderation and that the truth or ideal state of action usually lay between the extremes, and I am sure that I have long incorporated this understanding of the nature of things into my day to day life to some extent, and I assume there is something of truth in it, as it seems to make some sense, or more sense than what you find elsewhere in life. But I have never gotten much past this in my studies in philosophy.
I don't usually like haunted house type stories, but Hill House is pretty much literature, or close enough to it, it has the clean, direct 1950s style of writing that I love so much, as well that rarest of attributes in my present life, I can read it in the evening without straightaway falling asleep, so, whatever happens or whatever it means, I am enjoying reading it.
This month's photos are more outings around New England, actually I think all three of the states (VT-NH-ME) are covered, which I hadn't realized.
This swimming hole is in Fairlee, Vermont
This place was in the White Mountains. My wife thought the spot was more beautiful than the famous Flume--she is in my opinion prejudiced against the Flume because it is crowded and expensive, but this site is celebrated for a good reason.
Back at the place in Vermont
Candid photo of me attempting to read on the beach in York, Maine. (Empty pizza boxes not mine, I no longer eat pizza unless I am at some kind of gourmet pizza place, which obviously during this time I have not been to any such place).
I don't mean to be posting so many pictures of myself, but I am under 200 pounds now for the first time since probably 1998 or 99 and who knows if I will be able to maintain it, so I figure I had better record it while I can.
At home.
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