Audiobooks: 'Studies in Pessimism,' 'Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman?'
As a stacks shelver, my job is not very mentally demanding, which means it's a perfect time for audiobooks!
Arthur Schopenhauer - Studies in Pessimism
(from librivox.org)
More about Schopenauer on wikipedia.
But all this contributes to increase the measures of suffering in human life out of all proportion to its pleasures; and the pains of life are made much worse for man by the fact that death is something very real to him. The brute flies from death instinctively without really knowing what it is, and therefore without ever contemplating it in the way natural to a man, who has this prospect always before his eyes. So that even if only a few brutes die a natural death, and most of them live only just long enough to transmit their species, and then, if not earlier, become the prey of some other animal. (from amazon.com)
Gosh. By the finish, I was really hoping that it was a satire, but no such luck. It's hard to believe that anyone would write something like this:
Suicide may also be regarded as an experiment--a question which man puts to Nature, trying to force her to an answer. The question is this: What change will death produce in a man's existence and in his insight into the nature of things? It is a clumsy experiment to make; for it involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts the question and awaits the answer.
and actually mean it. Schopenhauer ends with a rather lovely analogy about porcupines and human nature, but on the whole, it's pretty dismal. Nice writing, but not something you want to read if you're already morose.
Eleanor Updale - Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman
read by Stephen Fry (from elswhere) (series article on wikipedia)
Montmorency: thief, liar, gentleman?, a British import from debut author Eleanor Updale, is a smart, stylish antidote to the proliferation of Buffy novelizations masquerading as mysteries these days. In a London cellblock in 1875, career criminal Montmorency is serving time for burglary. Captured while fleeing police, Montmorency suffered several grievous wounds that attract the attention of a brilliant young doctor named Robert Farcett. When Dr. Farcett displays Montmorency's newly healed body before the membership of London's Scientific Society, Montmorency overhears a presentation on the city's new sewer system that will change his life forever. Once released from prison, Montmorency uses his knowledge of the underground tunnels to steal from some of London's wealthiest neighborhoods. But in order to enjoy his new riches, he must assume a dual lifestyle. By day he is Mr. Montmorency, a mysterious opera going gentleman who resides in one of the city's most affluent hotels. By night, he is drain-dwelling Scarper, a smelly character who keeps a room in a dirty boarding house. How long can he keep up this agonizing pretense before someone, perhaps even the good doctor, recognizes his scars and exposes him as a fraud?
A good listen; apparently it's the first in a series. It stands well enough on its own and I don't have any particular desire to track down sequels (but I'm not really fond of series, so: beware of my personal bias). For a book written about a Victorian gentleman thief, it's surprisingly restrained. There's absolutely no swearing and only very delicate references to the nastier parts of everyday Victorian life. The book is also heavy on the testerone-- there are four female characters: two are whores, one's an ugly golddigger and the other one is barely noteworthy. (Which I suppose is contextually okay, but still a little odd.)
As a sidenote, this book is probably a slasher's daydream. Montmorency's first appearance in the book is as a scientific curiousity, where he's poked and prodded and put on display in his undergarments in front of the scientists of London. The doctor in charge of him has to restrain his affection for his specimen and they've got an explicit double/other thing going on. Of course, since this is a series, I'd assume that they'll eventually be jolly good friends and have rip-roaring adventures and have convenient women love-interests who are pastede-on-yay.
Arthur Schopenhauer - Studies in Pessimism
(from librivox.org)
More about Schopenauer on wikipedia.
But all this contributes to increase the measures of suffering in human life out of all proportion to its pleasures; and the pains of life are made much worse for man by the fact that death is something very real to him. The brute flies from death instinctively without really knowing what it is, and therefore without ever contemplating it in the way natural to a man, who has this prospect always before his eyes. So that even if only a few brutes die a natural death, and most of them live only just long enough to transmit their species, and then, if not earlier, become the prey of some other animal. (from amazon.com)
Gosh. By the finish, I was really hoping that it was a satire, but no such luck. It's hard to believe that anyone would write something like this:
Suicide may also be regarded as an experiment--a question which man puts to Nature, trying to force her to an answer. The question is this: What change will death produce in a man's existence and in his insight into the nature of things? It is a clumsy experiment to make; for it involves the destruction of the very consciousness which puts the question and awaits the answer.
and actually mean it. Schopenhauer ends with a rather lovely analogy about porcupines and human nature, but on the whole, it's pretty dismal. Nice writing, but not something you want to read if you're already morose.
Eleanor Updale - Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman
read by Stephen Fry (from elswhere) (series article on wikipedia)
Montmorency: thief, liar, gentleman?, a British import from debut author Eleanor Updale, is a smart, stylish antidote to the proliferation of Buffy novelizations masquerading as mysteries these days. In a London cellblock in 1875, career criminal Montmorency is serving time for burglary. Captured while fleeing police, Montmorency suffered several grievous wounds that attract the attention of a brilliant young doctor named Robert Farcett. When Dr. Farcett displays Montmorency's newly healed body before the membership of London's Scientific Society, Montmorency overhears a presentation on the city's new sewer system that will change his life forever. Once released from prison, Montmorency uses his knowledge of the underground tunnels to steal from some of London's wealthiest neighborhoods. But in order to enjoy his new riches, he must assume a dual lifestyle. By day he is Mr. Montmorency, a mysterious opera going gentleman who resides in one of the city's most affluent hotels. By night, he is drain-dwelling Scarper, a smelly character who keeps a room in a dirty boarding house. How long can he keep up this agonizing pretense before someone, perhaps even the good doctor, recognizes his scars and exposes him as a fraud?
A good listen; apparently it's the first in a series. It stands well enough on its own and I don't have any particular desire to track down sequels (but I'm not really fond of series, so: beware of my personal bias). For a book written about a Victorian gentleman thief, it's surprisingly restrained. There's absolutely no swearing and only very delicate references to the nastier parts of everyday Victorian life. The book is also heavy on the testerone-- there are four female characters: two are whores, one's an ugly golddigger and the other one is barely noteworthy. (Which I suppose is contextually okay, but still a little odd.)
As a sidenote, this book is probably a slasher's daydream. Montmorency's first appearance in the book is as a scientific curiousity, where he's poked and prodded and put on display in his undergarments in front of the scientists of London. The doctor in charge of him has to restrain his affection for his specimen and they've got an explicit double/other thing going on. Of course, since this is a series, I'd assume that they'll eventually be jolly good friends and have rip-roaring adventures and have convenient women love-interests who are pastede-on-yay.