by Oliver Goldsmith
Aye yi yi. I did not enjoy this book at all, and I would have abandoned it if it were not on the 1001 books list. Also, it is under 200 pages--and a total slog. It took me 2 weeks to read. The vicar (or really, former vicar), Dr Primrose, is supposed to be comic. I found him to be an ass. He's mea...
bookshelves: gutenberg-project, e-book, spring-2015, published-1766, britain-england, classic, moral-high-ground, arch, tbr-busting-2015, if-it-wasnt-for-bad-luck, georgian1714-1830, filthy-lucre, families, shortstory-shortstories-novellas Read from September 29, 2009 to May 26, 2015 Descriptio...
It's "father knows best" 18th Century style!A relatively well-off parson's family in mid 1700s England is forced into reduced circumstances and then really falls on hard times. A contemporary and friend of lexicographer Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith too was a lover of language. He was a teller of...
First sentence: "I was ever of opinion, that the honest man who married and brought up a large family, did more service than he who continued single and only talked of population."P. 99: "But nothing could now exceed my confusion upon seeing the gentleman and his lady enter; nor was there surprise a...
L'intervalle du déjeuner au dîner était consacré par les dames à la toilette et à l'étude : elles lisaient une page, puis elles se regardaient dans la glace, et les philosophes eux-mêmes auraient reconnu que, bien souvent, c'était la glace qui présentait la page la plus belle.
An interesting section in Boswell biography of Samuel Johnson makes me wish to read this book and there it is - in Gutenberg Project:
You know that Monty Python sketch, where the guy introduces himself as "Mr. Smoketoomuch"?"Well, you'd better cut down a little!" says Mr. Bounder."I'm sorry?""You'd better cut down a little then.""Oh, I see! Smoke too much so I'd better cut down a little then!""Yes. Ooh, it's going to get people ma...
Yeah, a lot of it is tedious. But it's a NICE book. :-) People are either all good or all bad and that's just fine.
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