The Book Club

I found this book very enjoyable.
Unlike some satires, it seemed to be enjoyable on its own, without having to know all the targets. Often with very old books, most of the meaning is lost unless you know a lot about the society/politics of the time, or read all the footnotes.
Candide stood alone as a good tale for me. This was my first Voltaire book. The style was suprisingly naive (like a children's story book), but I found it very funny, even just the ridiculousness and improbable nature of the adventures (and meeting up with his old acquaintances).

I think it was the best of all possible books. 😉

It's true that the style was very sparse, but was still very enjoyable. Quite humorous in parts, such as:

And with that they clapped him into irons and hauled him off to the barracks. There he was taught 'right turn', 'left turn', and 'quick march', 'slope arms' and 'order arms', how to aim and how to fire, and was given thirty strokes of the 'cat'. Next day his performance on parade was a little better, and he was given only twenty strokes. The following day he received a mere ten and was thought a prodigy by his comrades. 😀

Anyway, I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.

Originally posted by rwingett
I think it was the best of all possible books. 😉

It's true that the style was very sparse, but was still very enjoyable. Quite humorous in parts, such as:

And with that they clapped him into irons and hauled him off to the barracks. There he was taught 'right turn', 'left turn', and 'quick march', 'slope arms' and 'order arms', how to a ...[text shortened]... ught a prodigy by his comrades. 😀

Anyway, I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.

I think Voltaire is as much satirical at his own way of life as that of others, there is certainly a wry grin to the end of the book, as if to say 'At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how much you discuss it, it still happens around you in its own way'.

I really enjoyed the book and had not read Voltaire before. Unfortunately, perhaps because of the flippancy of the style, I feel I haven't concentrated enough on it and might have to read it again. Did anyone else suffer from this sort of 'disposable' feeling?

Originally posted by telerion
Is he advocating a live more and ponder less outlook?

(Leibnitz in particular as rwingett says)

Ahem . . . 🙂

Originally posted by telerion
[b](Leibnitz in particular as rwingett says)

Ahem . . . 🙂[/b]

Originally posted by Nemesio
Um. I still have a few pages. I won't get to them until tonight (EDT) after
Evening Prayer.

It sounds like you had a better (more interesting) experience than I did.

Nemesio

Some of you guys may be interested in this:


Vote for your top books

To mark World Book Day on Thursday, we want to find out what the most popular book club books are.
We've drawn up a longlist of more than 50, based on the suggestions from book clubs from across the UK who sent in their nominations to the Magazine last week.

This is not a vote on the best book ever - it's just a longlist of some of those which people are actually reading, hence the heavy emphasis on recent novels, which are usually favoured by book clubs.

While probably no-one has read all the books on this list, we want to know which of those that you have read - whether in a book club or not - is your favourite.

You have one vote - simply choose your favourite from the list. We will publish the top 10 in the Magazine on Thursday.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4305803.stm

I thought Martin was the most interesting character. Dour, for sure,
but I thought that his judgement was a good foil for Candide. I didn't
much enjoy the book until this character was introduced.

Nemesio

Nobody really seems to have much to say on this book, which funnily enough seems to be in keeping with the style of it. Would someone else like to choose the next book? I suppose since I passed to rwingett, he should pass to someone new. Who ya gonna nominate?

Originally posted by Starrman
Nobody really seems to have much to say on this book, which funnily enough seems to be in keeping with the style of it. Would someone else like to choose the next book? I suppose since I passed to rwingett, he should pass to someone new. Who ya gonna nominate?

Originally posted by Starrman
Nobody really seems to have much to say on this book, which funnily enough seems to be in keeping with the style of it. Would someone else like to choose the next book? I suppose since I passed to rwingett, he should pass to someone new. Who ya gonna nominate?

Originally posted by Nemesio
I was waiting for people to comment. Let's leave the discussion opened
for one more day.

I didn't think that the book opened up a great deal of controversy; most
of the critique was in grotesque exaggeration -- the perfect society of
Eldorado, the every happy protagonist, the various circumstances under
which murders and escapes took place -- so i ...[text shortened]... eciate what they
have when they have it was the most interesting aspect of the book.

Nemesio

Originally posted by telerion
I couldn't help but wonder what sort of havoc Candide wreaked on the diamond markets in Europe!