Normally I would wait until I have finished a book to write a commentary, however this book is a lot different in that is contains a large collection of essays on a multiple of subjects. Secondly, I have not been reading this book continually, but rather picking it up, reading a few essays, and then putting it down again. I originally read a selection of these essays but when I finished it I decided to get my hands on a complete version, preferably hardcover, and it has been sitting next to my bed for the last two years (and I am only up to the second book of essays as of this writing – in fact I have only written comments on essays from two of the books).
    This, as I mentioned, is a complete collection, however it is an older translation by John Florio, a contemporary of Montainge, which means that the English is quite archaic, though still quite readable. The only thing that stands out is the spelling (and since there was no real standardised spelling back then, this is understandable). Florio was also a contemporary of Shakespeare, so marking Florio down because of his spelling is sort of like doing the same with Shakespeare (and English has evolved a lot since then).
    Anyway, this post is actually quite long, in fact longer than what Goodreads allows me to post, so instead of spilling over into the comments, I have instead decided to post the commentary in my blog (which also allows for better presentation that Goodreads, though not by much since it is Blogger – I hope to go over to Wordpress sometime soon, but due to time commitments I am not able to at this stage).

It took me a while to actually get into this book, but now I have completed it I must say that I am quite glad that I read it. The version that I read was only a collection of his essays, so today I made my way to the second hand bookshop and pick up a copy of his complete essays (which I plan on reading a bit at a time).

Montaigne was a French noble living about the time of Shakespeare (actually a little before) and these essays are more a collection of thoughts that he writes throughout his life. We learn a lot about Montaigne, his joys and his habits, from these essays. He writes about many topics, and interweaves examples from his life and from the classical authors into them. Montaigne was a humanist, and his writings show it, and we can see the development of humanism in his essays as he explores topics of life. To put his work down to a simple theme, it is about living the good life. Okay, Montaigne was wealthy, so he had a lot a privileges that others did not have, but the essays weren't even written for general consumption but more for his inner circle of friends.

One thing that stuck out is his way of reading books. He describes it as simply delving into parts but never actually reading it from cover to cover unless he is heavily persuaded to do so (and when he does he is pleasantly surprised). I can't say that that is something that I would do though. I like to read my books cover to cover, and generally do not put a book down until I have completed it, though in recent times I have had multiple books on the go, though I generally select one book and read it straight through (commentary and all). I also do not like to read a book unless I can learn something from it, which is why most novels that are published these days do not even appear on my radar.

I since read the entire collection of essays (and it took quite a long time as well), however since my review takes up more room that Goodreads allows, I have instead posted it on my blog.