A. G. Gardiner (1865–1946)

The same sort of (good, well-written, interesting) short essays as his previous two books. None of them particularly stand out in my mind, but I did enjoy the reading. However, this particular Project Gutenberg book has some serious editing problems - uncorrected scannos (tom for torn, for instance) and - each essay had a header image. The same header image - On Women and Tobacco - is used for three different essays, only one of which it belonged to. The errors were enough to - momentarily, but repeatedly - confuse and distract me, so my overall impression of the book is not as good as the previous two (which were much better edited). The writing is fine, it's just the editing that failed.… (más)

More of Gardiner's short newspaper essays - again, just comments on what was going on around him. The fact that what was going on around him included a World War and the disruption that inevitably brought to English life and customs...doesn't directly impinge on the essays - these are not critical essays, or deep thought about Meaning, they're just short pieces about what was going on around him. There's a couple here about the effort of producing these daily pieces - not coming up with ideas for them, but choosing from the profusion available. He starts to write one about habits, and it turns into an essay about writing an essay about habits...as far as I can see, he never did write the one about how awkward it is to put on the other boot first, instead of the one you habitually put on first (at least, it's not in here or in Pebbles on the Shore). It's a fascinating look at everyday life (ok, of a reasonably privileged white Englishman in England - not universal) in 1919 ('17, '18...not sure when the essays themselves were written). Worth reading, and I expect I will reread and get different things out of it every time. Oh, by the way - several of his books, including this one, are on Project Gutenberg (that's where I got this).… (más)

Fascinating set of essays written about...nothing much, just what was going on and what the author was thinking about, in England during WWI. The essays were written as newspaper pieces - just filler, it looks like, without any particular direction - but one a day. Thoughts about nature (the woods, the stars, his garden...), about fashion and clothing (he Discovers! that women don't have decent pockets (and apparently his wife doesn't mind that) and discusses some of the fixes for that...those fixes are still in process, a hundred+ years later. Sigh), about habits of body and thought, and how the war is upending some of them (and not others); about things he sees and people he meets and talks to - there's nothing Deep here, just everyday life, which is what makes it so fascinating. Casual mention of authors who are people he's met (or at one or two removes - a friend of a friend), who are classics now; equally casual mention (quotes, etc.) of authors I've barely heard of, who he considers on an equal footing with the others. It was very enjoyable to read, and I expect to go back to it over and over and find new things every time.… (más)