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#transendentalism
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psalva
Walden and Civil Disobedience | Henry David Thoreau
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For today‘s #weirdwordswednesday I wanted to share the phrase “superfluous glowshoes.” Thoreau is writing here about the futility of keeping more things than needed around one‘s house. I was simultaneously delighted and puzzled by this phrase, and glad for a footnote which clarifies that Thoreau meant galoshes. But come on! Who doesn‘t want a pair of superfluous glowshoes? What a delightful phrase! #weirdwords @CBee

CBee I would LOVE a pair of glowshoes. Superfluous or otherwise 😂😁 3mo
16 likes1 comment
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Pigpen_Reads
Walden | Henry David Thoreau
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review
Graywacke
Walden | Henry David Thoreau
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Mehso-so

What a beautiful little place. As for this book, oye. Does anyone still like this thing? Today it reads sluggish and arrogant, without actually saying much of value. A little incoherent social media rant-ish, actually. 😬 It does have its moments, especially when focused on nature, or on deep winter isolation and spring joy.

I started this in May for #naturalitsy. And I persisted. It was… ok.

TheBookHippie He‘s a bit arrogant !! 😵‍💫🤣🤷🏻‍♀️I like the nature parts and Thoreau in jail and 6mo
merelybookish I have avoided reading this for years. I feel affirmed. 😉😅 6mo
Graywacke @TheBookHippie my copy included CD, so I read it for the first time. I did -not- like 😁😊 6mo
See All 7 Comments
Graywacke @merelybookish 😂😂😂 6mo
TheBookHippie @merelybookish 🤣🤣🤣 It‘s Mr BookHippies favorite… so I may have been influenced 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️😅😝 6mo
sarahbarnes I‘ll be honest I‘ve never read it and likely never will. 😂 6mo
AllDebooks I completely agree 😅 5mo
48 likes7 comments
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IndoorDame
Thoreau's Book of Quotations | Henry David Thoreau
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Eggs Lovely 🖤🤍🩶 6mo
50 likes1 comment
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TheSpineView
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dabbe 🧡💜💛 7mo
bthegood 💖 7mo
33 likes4 comments
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thegirlwiththelibrarybag
Walden, Or, Life in the Woods | Henry David Thoreau
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Comes with Mother to bring you food and take your dirty laundry away…

AllDebooks 🤣 7mo
JamieArc 😂😂 7mo
37 likes2 comments
review
TheAromaofBooks
Walden | Henry David Thoreau
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Panpan

This was my #BookSpin draw for March, and I've been reading it off and on ever since. I started with a cheap paperback copy that I have had on my shelves for years, but the print was so tiny and dense that I finally gave up. I had more success with this edition - large pages, larger print, and lots of lovely photographs. But the truth of the matter is that I just didn't enjoy Thoreau's tone at all. It's sad, because I was actually predisposed to ⬇

TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) like him. I'm interested in the outdoors, in living simply, in spending less time working and more time living - it just seems like I should be totally into this guy. But honestly, I found him to be such a pretentious, condescending windbag that whenever he said something I agreed with, it actually kind of annoyed me because I didn't want to agree with someone so aggravating at all. Thoreau has some great concepts, but is so busy ⬇ 9mo
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) judging everyone who hasn't also arrived at his amazing conclusions that it's hard to get to them. He would go off on long illustrative “stories“ to make his point, like where he talked about this hardworking family and how their lives were such a waste because they went to work all day, when if they would just be willing to live without butter and meat, then they would be able to take it easy and work way less, but here they are, ⬇ 9mo
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) slaving away just so they can have butter! I just. It's one thing to say, “I've chosen to live simply and give up extras so that I spend less time working because I need less money“ and a completely different thing to say “if you decide you want to work more and earn more money so you can spend it on indulgences that you enjoy, you're just stupid.“ We ALL spend money on things that aren't necessities, it's a question of how much and I ⬇ 9mo
See All 16 Comments
TheAromaofBooks (cont'd) think that's a personal decision with no right or wrong answer.

I could complain about Thoreau a lot more, but I'm already four comments deep into this review 😂 In short, I actually did agree with a lot of his thoughts on simplicity and taking time to actually enjoy life, but found his tone to be so condescending, arrogant, and privileged that I kind of just wanted to thwack him in the head with his own book.
9mo
LaraReads Best. Review. Ever. 🤣🤣 9mo
Bookwormjillk This is amazing 9mo
squirrelbrain 🤣🤣🤣 9mo
zezeki Love this review! 😂😂 9mo
julieclair Great review. Walden has been on my TBR forever. Now I don‘t have to feel guilty about never getting around to reading it! 9mo
Cuilin I can‘t thank you enough for saying this!!! Totally agree. 9mo
Yuki_Onna What a cool&perfect review!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Now I'm torn between getting my hands on a library copy and delving into it asap so that I can hate Thoreau just as passionately and stealing&destroying the essay collection I gifted my boyfriend for his birthday before he picks it up so that he doesn't have to read such pretentious blubber... 🤔
9mo
SamAnne Thoreau was a bit of a fraud. He wasn't that far out of town. He often went into town for the easier life. I agree with some of his sentiments. But pretentious and privileged for sure. So many more insightful nature writers to read instead. 9mo
mrp27 Fantastic review! 9mo
TheAromaofBooks @LaraReads @Bookwormjillk @squirrelbrain @zezeki @julieclair @Cuilin @Yuki_Onna @SamAnne @mrp27 - Now I feel like I should make the obligatory comment that many people love Thoreau and find his writing beautiful and inspirational. But... he wasn't for me 😂 9mo
Graywacke “pretentious, condescending windbag” kinda sums it up beautifully. I didn‘t take to him either. 6mo
TheAromaofBooks @Graywacke - I really wanted to like him!!!! I just COULDN'T! 😂 6mo
61 likes16 comments
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Sapphire
Walden | Henry David Thoreau
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What a great stop. Couldn‘t resist reading Thoreau aloud as we left.

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AllDebooks
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#Rereadtheclassics

Our discussion thread is open. Please do let us know your thoughts on this classic book.

How did you get on?
Did you enjoy the pace?
What stood out for you?
Was there anything you didn't like?

Cazxxx “I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” Love this quote from the book. Sums me up perfectly! 10mo
AllDebooks @Cazxxx absolutely, me too. I kept pausing to think I'm not the only hibernating hermit! 😅 10mo
See All 13 Comments
Graywacke I‘m enjoying it. An oddity, I think. I‘m about 40% through. Next chapter is The Bean Field. 10mo
Cazxxx @AllDebooks No you‘re not, I‘m a total recluse 😂 10mo
TheBookHippie @Cazxxx me too!!! That is just paradise. 10mo
AllDebooks @Graywacke so glad you're enjoying it. Tbh I did find Economy a bit of a slog to get through. I'm loving the nature parts 10mo
TheBookHippie I loved my reread. So many passages hit so close to home. 10mo
AllDebooks My favourite passage “We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” 10mo
Graywacke Well, I finished. 😁 6mo
AllDebooks @Graywacke that's commitment! 6mo
29 likes13 comments
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AvidReader25
Emerson's Complete Works | Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Ralph Waldo Emerson‘s home and grave in Concord, Massachusetts. It‘s hard to imagine the literary brilliance that was centered in this tiny town in the 19th century!

BkClubCare Yay! Your trip! Loving seeing all your bookish travel stops Did you happen to make it to Concord‘s downtown bookstore? 10mo
AvidReader25 @BkClubCare I did! I didn‘t meet your friend, but we had a blast picking out some new treasures. 10mo
BkClubCare @AvidReader25 - great! (And “oh well”; her birthday was yesterday and I still need to mail her a card 🤦🏻‍♀️ 10mo
31 likes3 comments