Journal Entry 1 by krin511 from Olney, Maryland USA on Sunday, June 19, 2005

"Strangely enough, this exploration of one of the most private of writing endeavors is likely to send readers off in a zillion different directions. Thomas Mallon's survey of diarists throughout the ages introduces us to the most personal writings of more than 100 diarists, including Samuel Pepys, Leonardo da Vinci, Virginia Woolf, and Lee Harvey Oswald. Mallon divides the diarists into seven categories--chroniclers, travelers, pilgrims, creators, apologists, confessors, and prisoners--that he uses as a basis for his inquiries into the nature of these apparently private writings. (From the start Mallon admits that "I still don't believe that one can write to oneself for many words more than get used in a note tacked to the refrigerator saying 'Buy bread.' ") Glimpsing the many, vastly different lives that have been thrown together on these pages is fascinating in and of itself, but Mallon's thoughts about the whys and wherefores of diary-keeping are what make his dense prose so worth reading." -- Amazon.com
 

Journal Entry 2 by kayote from Urbana, Illinois USA on Saturday, June 25, 2005

Arrived safe and sound, looks fascinating. Heading into Mt. TBR. 

Journal Entry 3 by kayote from Urbana, Illinois USA on Thursday, December 01, 2005

The most concise description I have of this book is "It was a pleasant read."

I realized halfway through that I wasn't sure what (or if there even was) an over-arching "point" or purpose or common thread to be pulled tight. I also realized that it didn't matter. The book was pleasant to sit and read, and made me smile and enjoy turning the pages. What more can one ask of a non-textbook? I think in many ways this is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It does not reach out and grab you. It does not insist you take anything in particular away from it. It simply is, and invites you to share its world for a while. It is like a walk on a pleasant day--you do not do it for the exercise, or for the hope of seeing a rare plant, or to study biology--you take the walk because it is a pleasant way to spend a day, and despite no checklist of things done, it seems a worthwhile way as well.

The editors prose weaves around and between and through the diarists', and is in much greater quantity than theirs. The sections of the diaries chosen fit well within Mallon's own prose, giving the birdsong to compliment the walk.

I had this by my bedside, and read much of it before sleeping. The splits of the types of diaries were interesting, and as reasonable of an organizaton as any I could come up with.

The book provided few morsels that I stuck in my brain (rather, it provided an impression that remains there), but there are two I marked to note later.

A photographer who photographed peppers (and then had them for dinner) said: "It has been suggested that I am a cannibal to eat my models after a masterpiece. But I rather like the idea that they become a part of me, enrich my blood as well as my vision."

The other was the very end of the book, in the epilogue. It compares the space ship Pioneer 10 to a diary of earth, winging its way out to other places, carrying the planet's diary whispering "I was, I was--I am."