Wednesday, January 16, 2008

7. The Diary of Samuel Pepys


Rated 4 1/2 Stars

I read this book in starts and stops since it was definalely put-downable but equally pick-upable. For a very readable peek at the life and times of the people of Britain during the 17th century this is the best I have run across.

Upon his death Samuel Pepys left six, calf-bound volumes filled with his daily diaries, pages recording the quotidian details of great but humble man living in a great time. The diaries are one of the most remarkable personal documents in the English language. Written with seriousness and humor, they are a unique blend of history and memoir, philosophy and broadsheet, gravitas and the light of wit. Samuel Pepys genius is in equal ranks with the British tradition that produced Chaucer, Shakespeare, Austen, and Woolf.