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Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow is a collection of humorous essays by Jerome K. Jerome. The essays cover a range of topics from On Being in Love to On Furnished Apartments to On Getting on in the World. Jerome established himself as one of England's favorite wits with his comic novel Three Men in a Boat.
Once again, he’s the Victorian Seinfeld making offbeat observations about the small things in life. Even more so than Three Men in a Boat, he can become sentimental and earnest, and that kind of kills the overall effect a bit. And then there’s the Victorian sexism, classism and race callousness, that makes it a little gear grinding for a modern reader. But when it works it works, and there’s funny stuff. He can be entertainingly deadpan. And it’s short. ( )
Not a patch on Three Men In A Boat. But a very nice place to visit. This is a collection of short pieces that alternate tone between humorous and sentimental. Made me look up what an Ulster is (an article of clothing): man's overcoat with a short cape attached. Considered heavy duty daytime wear, not formal. Thank you wikipedia. ( )
I liked the book OK, some parts more than others. I particularly enjoyed the section on vanity. I'm just not a fan of the essay type format. When I read a book, I like a good plot and character development more than someone's opinions (even if parts of the book was quite funny). ( )
The problem with Jerome Klapka Jerome is that generally he would succeed when trying to be funny, and fail when trying to be poetic. This didn't matter so much in Three Man in a Boat, where he was for the most part attempting the former; unfortunately in these essays he was mostly attempting the latter. ( )
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome is one of my favourite books of all time and even recalling it now makes me chuckle. Having read it back in 2011, I thought it was high time to explore more from this eccentric and witty author, so I picked up Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow. Big mistake. Huge.
Do you ever worry you'll spoil your love for a book if you read another by the same author and it's a drag? When I read a dud by an author I revere, it inevitably diminishes my overall opinion of their work and it happens more often than I'd like.*
Unfortunately, this was one of those times and I just didn't enjoy Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow. There were moments of humour and cleverness, but by the end I was left wishing I'd never picked it up.
As a reader, I was greedy to recreate the magic of Three Men in a Boat where I should have been content to leave it as a standalone reading experience beyond compare. Have I learned my lesson though? Probably not. ( )
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
To the very dear and well-beloved friend of my prosperous and evil days— To the friend who, though in the early stages of our acquaintanceship did ofttimes disagree with me, has since become to be my very warmest comrade— To the friend who, however often I may put him out, never (now) upsets me in revenge— To the friend who, marked with coolness by all the female members of my household, and regarded with suspicion by my very dog, nevertheless seems day by day to be more drawn by me, and in return to more and more impregnate me with the odor of his friendship— To the friend who never tells me of my faults, never wants to borrow money, and never talks about himself— To the companion of my idle hours, the soother of my sorrows, the confidant of my joys and hopes— My oldest and strongest pipe, this little volume is gratefully and affectionately dedicated.
Eerste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
On Being Idle: Now, this is a subject on which I flatter myself I really am au fait.
Citaten
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
Idling always has been my strong point. I take no credit to myself in the matter--it is a gift.
Love is too pure a light to burn long among the noisome gases that we breathe
Chivalry is not dead: it only sleeps for want of work to do. It is you [women] who must wake it to noble deeds. You must be worthy of knightly worship.
When things go wrong at 10 o'clock in the morning we--or rather you--swear and knock the furniture about; but if the misfortune comes at 10 p.m., we read poetry or sit in the dark and think what a hollow world this is.
There is no pathos in real misery: no luxury in real grief.
Why assume that a doubled-up body, a contorted, purple face, and a gaping mouth emitting a series of ear-splitting shrieks point to a state of more intelligent happiness than a pensive face reposing upon a little white hand, and a pair of gentle tear-dimmed eyes looking back through Time's dark avenue upon a fading past?
[...] standing in the stillness under earth's darkening dome, we feel that we are greater than our petty lives. Hung round with those dusky curtains, the world is no longer a mere dingy workshop, but a stately temple wherein man may worship, and where at times in the dimness his groping hands touch God's.
It is wonderful what an insight into domestic economy being really hard up gives one.
I do like cats. They are so unconsciously amusing. There is such a comic dignity about them, such a "How dare you!" "Go away, don't touch me" sort of air.
It is in our faults and failings, not in our virtues, that we touch one another and find sympathy. We differ widely enough in our nobler qualities. It is in our follies that we are at one.
Ambition is only vanity ennobled.
But outsiders, you know, often see most of the game; and sitting in my arbor by the wayside, smoking my hookah of contentment and eating the sweet lotus-leaves of indolence, I can look out musingly upon the whirling throng that rolls and tumbles past me on the great high-road of life.
Be your own natural self, and then you will only be thought to be surly and stupid.
All the hate and scorn and love of a deep nature such as the shy man is ever cursed by fester and corrupt within, instead of spending themselves abroad, and sour him into a misanthrope and cynic.
I saw a little mite sitting on a doorstep in a Soho slum one night, and I shall never forget the look that the gas-lamp showed me on its wizen face--a look of dull despair, as if from the squalid court the vista of its own squalid life had risen, ghostlike, and struck its heart dead with horror.
"Oh, give me back the good old days of fifty years ago," has been the cry ever since Adam's fifty-first birthday. [...] From all accounts, the world has been getting worse and worse ever since it was created.
The world must be rather a rough place for clever people. Ordinary folk dislike them, and as for themselves, they hate each other most cordially.
Laatste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
But at last the morning comes, and I find that I have grown into myself.
Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow is a collection of humorous essays by Jerome K. Jerome. The essays cover a range of topics from On Being in Love to On Furnished Apartments to On Getting on in the World. Jerome established himself as one of England's favorite wits with his comic novel Three Men in a Boat.
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