2005-01-19

Back to nature....

I finished Peter Pan today. I enjoyed it. Having now read it, I would feel more comfortable watching one of the movies, but I think I would start with the more recent, live-action film that came out in the last couple of years. The writing style took a little getting used to; I think it has something to do with the English authoring.

Next I'm going to delve in to Walden by Henry David Thoreau. I have the One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, illustrated with wood engravings by Michael McCurdy. If I remember correctly, Thoreau was contemporary with Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville, and also knew them and was friends with them. For some reason I find that extremely interesting.

Walden is one of those books that ends up on a lot of reading lists. It is often admired, but it is sometimes pooh-poohed: it seems some people don't like learning that Thoreau frequently left his little cottage on Walden Pond to visit his mother or his friends. Some people feel this betrays the spirit of the message, but it is obviously not everyone feels this way, as evidenced by the cairn of stones that marks the site of that famous cottage.

As with everything I read, I hope to be able to read this book and then form my own thoughts and conclusions about it. I thumb my nose at Cliffs Notes, SparkNotes, and high school English teachers everywhere!

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