While the slow recovery of my left leg keeps me at home, I came across the Standard Ebooks Project and have downloaded dozens of volumes, some I had been looking for in print or pdf but there were also a few that I came across that I didn’t know existed and have already captured my intrigue from cover through the early pages.
Tusculan Disputations by Cicero
If one is to know Latin, one must read Cicero. While De Re Publica and De Legibus would be the place to start, Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations are something else. Not the grand writings on the republic or law itself but death. Mourning the death of his daughter at his country villa, on leave from his duties in Rome, the imagery of a man that St. Augustine would come to admire hundreds of years later comes into view. This is one book I’m sure will finish quickly, yet leave me with more to think on for the rest of my life.
Pablo de Segovia, The Spanish Sharpener by Francisco de Quevedo
The novel of a low-born man, working to better himself in Spain after the Golden age of the country’s completion of the Reconquista and exploration of the Americas, only to discover difficulty and failure was a satire of the time in 1600s Spain. It is, however, a cautionary tale to those of us living in the United States as it seems we’ve found some similarities with the Spanish, and it would seem too few of our nations leaders know the tongue of those who have seen this history play out before.
Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
A British Poet, who attributed her work as translations of Portuguese poems, becomes famous in the United States of America during her own life in the 1800s. At first I felt deceived, as I’m sure many before me have, but then, moved. This collection was such a respite and reprieve from the news cycle and world as it is today. While some have said they are the finest sonnets since Shakespeare, I couldn’t help but feel something I haven’t felt since reading Song of Solomon.
While I did not publish Library Notes last week, I am looking forward to publishing here again weekly, Monday and Friday. Though some entries may be terse with the excruciating pain and child arriving soon, this substack has been a welcome outlet while it has been more difficult to make videos for my YouTube channel. Thank you for sharing in these notes with me. If you’ve gained something from them, please share them with a friend.