Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Grove Press (2009), Edition: 1st, 256 pages
Description
This unique memoir of reading the classics to find strength and wisdom "makes an elegant case for literature as an everyday companion" (The New York Times Book Review). While undergoing a series of personal and family crises, Christopher R. Beha discovered that his grandmother had used the Harvard Classics--the renowned "five foot shelf" of great world literature compiled in the early twentieth century by Charles William Eliot--to educate herself during the Great Depression. He decided to follow her example and turn to this series of great books for answers--and recounts the experience here in a smart, big-hearted, and inspirational mix of memoir and intellectual excursion that "deftly illustrates how books can save one's life" (Helen Schulman). "As he grapples with the death of his beloved grandmother, a debilitating bout with Lyme disease and other major and minor calamities, Beha finds that writers as diverse as Wordsworth, Pascal, Kant and Mill had been there before, and that the results of their struggles to find meaning in life could inform his own." --The Seattle Times "An important book [and] a sheer blast to read." --Heidi Julavits… (more)
Media reviews
A wealthy young man shacked up with Plato and Goethe sounds like a gimmick, and a tired one at that. But life intruded rudely on Beha’s sabbatical, and he rose to the occasion by writing an unexpected narrative that deftly reconciles lofty thoughts with earthly pain.
User reviews
LibraryThing member mkellylibrarian
Chris Beha sets himself the task of reading straight through the 50 plus volume set of the Harvard Classics, compiled and originally published in 1909 by Charles Eliot, a long serving president of Harvard College. Beha first became acquainted with the set, referred to as the Five-Foot Shelf or the
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Shelf, as a child when he saw it on his grandmother's shelf. He gives the reader a chapter each month, discussing his reading, his feelings about what he's reading, what's going on with him and with his family at his parent's home in Manhattan and elsewhere. The book is well written, thoughtful and thought-provoking, the work of an obvious booklover. Show Less
LibraryThing member kaulsu
Interesting, quick read. Skims the basics of much of the contents of the series. The author never understands why John Woolman's _Journal_ or Penn's _Fruits of Solitude_ were included. Perhaps one day he will read American history and understand how much Quaker thought has influenced American
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society. For reader's of this review, I would offer that Woolman presents integrity in a way that few can ever achieve. Without Woolman and his ilk, I wonder if we would have been rid of slavery as soon as we did. He certainly would not approve of the way we have implemented civil rights. Show Less
LibraryThing member SamanthaMarie
A memoir along the lines of spending one year doing something and then writing a book about it. The author decides to read the Five Foot Harvard Classics bookshelf in one year. He does this mostly for a sense of connection with his ancestors, and along the way learns a lot about himself, his
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family, religion and life in general. A good look at the idea of classics and what composes a classical education. Show Less
LibraryThing member BookAngel_a
Beha decides to dedicate a year of his life to reading the 50 or so red volumes of Harvard Classics. He's always wanted to read them 'one day', but he's more motivated when he learns that his grandmother read them all...and said that they taught her a lot about life. Oh, and Beha's life isn't going
Well, needless to say, it wasn't an easy year. He lost a dear family member and dealt with some serious health problems of his own. He couldn't work - some days he couldn't walk, or read. And the classics are not always easy reading. But, in the end, he finds that the classics teach him a little about life, and...life teaches him a little about the classics.
I liked this book, but did not love it. I found it a little dry in places. Recommended for those who enjoy books about books.
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too well, so he hopes the classics can teach him some lessons also.Well, needless to say, it wasn't an easy year. He lost a dear family member and dealt with some serious health problems of his own. He couldn't work - some days he couldn't walk, or read. And the classics are not always easy reading. But, in the end, he finds that the classics teach him a little about life, and...life teaches him a little about the classics.
I liked this book, but did not love it. I found it a little dry in places. Recommended for those who enjoy books about books.
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LibraryThing member toastron
Here's your assignment if you wish to take it. Your brain will explode in ten weeks. Read 22 thousand pages of Harvard's (1909) list of books which would educate the uneducated. You MUST have a pen and paper near while you read this digest. It has treasure after treasure. I have never read the
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Classics but now I have a smattering of certain ones.I now have a # of pages of notes which I know shall appear in dialogues of upcoming plays or novellas. I thoroughly enjoyed diving into the waters of this book. Swing Easy.-30- Show Less
LibraryThing member Heduanna
I stumbled on this book while looking for books for a homebound reader, and was halfway through it by the time I got to her (reading on the bus). She got her copy, and I patiently waited for mine to come in through the holds system at the library.
He's writing about books I would think stuffy, but
But i am glad to have been exposed to everything that's in this anthology (and have added Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast to my e-Reader – come to think of it, the impetus to read the classics largely came from reading Beha, and was a big factor in the purchase of the Kobo. After all, these books are all free electronically today.)
Anyway, very much enjoyed reading, and look forward to more by Beha. And by (some of) the other authors he's exposed me to.
He's writing about books I would think stuffy, but
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his writing isn't stuffy at all. Nor, as he notes at the end of the book, is it at all comedic, certainly not farcical. It's very human, and very humane. And I have perhaps even less intention of reading the Shelf now than I did before, because now I have a good idea of what's in it, and have formed opinions about how Eliot erred in his selections, and what I would do differently. And, to the extent that I ever get around to reading the classics, those opinions will inform my choices greatly. But i am glad to have been exposed to everything that's in this anthology (and have added Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast to my e-Reader – come to think of it, the impetus to read the classics largely came from reading Beha, and was a big factor in the purchase of the Kobo. After all, these books are all free electronically today.)
Anyway, very much enjoyed reading, and look forward to more by Beha. And by (some of) the other authors he's exposed me to.
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LibraryThing member satyridae
Beha struck me as a memoirist who missed opportunity after opportunity in this memoir. He alluded to several interesting periods of his life, but he chose instead to share the random, the odd and the banal. For instance, I would have enjoyed much more on how the books he was reading resonated with
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his loss of faith (and the suffering said loss has obviously caused him) rather than the recounting of his trip to the sperm bank with his mom. I came away discontent, cranky, and only a little more knowledgeable about the Harvard Classics. I'd like to read his grandmother's biography, though. Maybe he'll write that next. Show Less
LibraryThing member mstrust
A memoir by a young man who quit his office job and moved back in with his parents after recovering from cancer, and rediscovered his grandmother's complete collection of Harvard Classics. He set a goal for himself: in one year he will have completed all 51 volumes. Separated by months, Beha
Throughout the book Beha and his family endure serious medical issues, one after another to the point of, "No, not another disease!" For about 100 pages his beloved aunt is dying of cancer in their home, and the universe seems to doing its best to take Beha out. He also dwells on his Catholic upbringing way too much for someone who insists that he has given up religion. But then he returns to his reading and it's clear that this is where he finds comfort, in the words of Marcus Aurelius, Emerson, Cervantes and Kant. His regard for the Harvard Classics made me look through to see if I happened to have any. Dang, just one.
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relates what he read, how the information or writing affected him and offers instances to how the author relates today, sometimes thousands of years later.Throughout the book Beha and his family endure serious medical issues, one after another to the point of, "No, not another disease!" For about 100 pages his beloved aunt is dying of cancer in their home, and the universe seems to doing its best to take Beha out. He also dwells on his Catholic upbringing way too much for someone who insists that he has given up religion. But then he returns to his reading and it's clear that this is where he finds comfort, in the words of Marcus Aurelius, Emerson, Cervantes and Kant. His regard for the Harvard Classics made me look through to see if I happened to have any. Dang, just one.
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LibraryThing member debnance
Beha has had much illness in his young life. Beha has had much loss in his young life.
When he lost his job and moved him, he decided to challenge himself to read the entire set of Harvard Classics, a collection of books selected to enhance the education of the common man at a time when few people
It was a good project for Beha. As you might anticipate, he loved some of the books and loathed others. Still he pressed on. And completed them all.
I love to read books about personal challenges. This is an inspiring and worthy challenge, I think.
When he lost his job and moved him, he decided to challenge himself to read the entire set of Harvard Classics, a collection of books selected to enhance the education of the common man at a time when few people
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finished high school and fewer still attended college.It was a good project for Beha. As you might anticipate, he loved some of the books and loathed others. Still he pressed on. And completed them all.
I love to read books about personal challenges. This is an inspiring and worthy challenge, I think.
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LibraryThing member WellReadSoutherner
I didn't really feel like this was a chronicle of his journey as much as it was a summary of the books he read. If I had wanted to read that I would have either read the books myself or read the Cliff Notes version of the book.
Original language
English
ISBN
0802118844 / 9780802118844