Tag: Marcus Aurelius

My First Book of The Year 2020 Finished

Photo from late December 2019.

This morning I finished my first book of the year: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius as translated by Gregory Hays. It was the book I initially selected at the start of the month and the year. However, it also was the book I rethought only a few days later might not work for my first book of the year because of another book that I thought would work better to start the year. In the end, though, I think my first choice was the right one.

Interestingly enough, at least to me, it was the right choice for the very reason I spelled out after rethinking it. That being, with there being a lot of aphorisms in Meditations, I thought I’d get more out of it if I read a chapter a day over two weeks and journal on one or two passages each day. And I believe that I did.

Here are a few of the passages that struck me as I read the book:

Suppose that a god announced that you were going to die tomorrow “or the day after.” Unless you were a complete coward you wouldn’t kick up a fuss about which day it was—what difference could it make? Now recognize that the difference between years from now and tomorrow is just as small.

It’s silly to try to escape other people’s faults. They are inescapable. Just try to escape your own.

Today I escaped from anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions—not outside.

As for the runner-up, I believe I will return to it eventually. I just can’t say when.

What’s next?

Starting today through Monday, I am doing my own Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend Readathon as I have Monday off from work. I want to begin reading Pillar of Fire: America in the King 1963-65, the second part of a trilogy that begins with Parting The Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63, which I read years ago, and concludes with At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years 1965-68, which I hope to read in the future.

I also want to dip into the following:

  • A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by Clayborne Carson and Kris Shephard.
  • The Radical King, edited and introduced by Cornel West, which collects speeches and writings of King.

On the non-reading front, tomorrow afternoon I am going to a neighbor’s to watch the AFC Championship game. As I texted him:

Go Ch…. Ti…oh I don’t care. 🙂

It just will be good to see him since I haven’t seen him since…well…last year!

And as I’m finishing this post just before hitting “publish” this morning, it’s beginning to snow, three to five inches expected, not a huge amount, but enough that I’m glad I’m not going anywhere and will be hunkered down for the day reading – and napping, but of course.

My First Book Of The Year 2020

Today I’m posting what My First Book of the Year will be with Sheila of the blog Book Journey and others. 

Most years, my first book of the year is a self-improvement book. Last year was a rare exception with The Library Book by Susan Orlean that wasn’t one. This year, I’m jumping back on the self-improvement bandwagon with my choice:

A couple of weeks ago, I was leaning towards two other possibilities:

  • Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamott
  • Your Erroneous Zones by Wayne W. Dyer.

Then I remembered Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, which I had borrowed a few months ago for free from Prime Reading. The only thing was that when I tried it I was having a difficult time getting into it with the archaic translation. Last week while looking at Amazon reviews, I happened to come across several reviews that mentioned a modern translation by Gregory Hays, who also wrote an extensive introduction on the classic. Even though it wasn’t free, I decided to go ahead and purchase it.

I may or may not get to the other two this coming month, but I’m looking forward to reading Meditations for my first book of 2020. (Since I drafted this, I have added a few other books to the TBR pile, including a couple more self-improvement books.)

My last book of the year was The Lord God Made Them All as I continued to make my way slowly (but enjoyably) through James Herriot’s All Creatures Great and Small series.

I probably will be taking an extended break before getting to Every Living Thing, the last in the series, but most likely will get to it sometime in 2020.

Do you have a first book you plan to start out the year with? If so, what is it? If not, what are you looking forward to reading in 2020? To see what Sheila and others selected, visit Sheila’s blog post (link to be added later today).