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pintofbooks's review against another edition
Was not vibing with this one on audio, maybe if I get a physical copy one day I might give it another chance.
thenovelbook's review against another edition
2.0
Two friends went on a tour of Scotland in the 1770s. One of them was the Englishman Samuel Johnson, the compiler of the first great dictionary of the English language. The other was the Scotchman James Boswell, good friend and later biographer of Johnson. Both kept a record of their trip. It has been said that their journals differ because Johnson studied Scotland, and Boswell studied Johnson.
So far I’ve only read Boswell’s account, and it’s true it mostly serves as a vehicle for describing Johnson’s conversation. There’s a whole lot of 18th-century name-dropping, most of which didn’t mean much to me. But I learned a few things, and found the occasional humorous passage. Check out my Kindle highlights for examples.
This was my second pick for Georgianuary 2020.
So far I’ve only read Boswell’s account, and it’s true it mostly serves as a vehicle for describing Johnson’s conversation. There’s a whole lot of 18th-century name-dropping, most of which didn’t mean much to me. But I learned a few things, and found the occasional humorous passage. Check out my Kindle highlights for examples.
This was my second pick for Georgianuary 2020.
chris_tyson's review against another edition
4.0
This is an enjoyable tour of Scotland in a period of flux, not long after the Jacobite uprisings and before the Industrial Revolution changed everything. I’d say that Boswell is the more entertaining writer of the two, but the pair of them together are the original double-act. It is great to have Johnson’s and Boswell’s accounts presented together, may they never be separated.
Good lord the notes though. I find it hard to ignore references, but there are so many (999) they destroy the flow of the book. Some are interesting, hundreds would be of interest only to a scholar, hundreds seem irrelevant to anyone. That’s my opinion anyway.
Good lord the notes though. I find it hard to ignore references, but there are so many (999) they destroy the flow of the book. Some are interesting, hundreds would be of interest only to a scholar, hundreds seem irrelevant to anyone. That’s my opinion anyway.
breadcrumbz's review against another edition
5.0
Life changing. One of the best books I have ever read. What a pair.
grubstlodger's review against another edition
3.0
Whereas Johnson talked about Scotland, Boswell talked about Johnson.
Written up from his journal of the trip, Bozzy published the book to test the waters and try out the style of his proposed Johnson biography, there’s lots of conversation and little details that would have been lost to time otherwise.
This book is arranged by date and is far less interested in what they saw in Scotland as much as it is about Johnson’s reactions to it. Partly this is because of Boswell’s admitted inability to describe how things look in much detail - he is, however, an expert in relating how people chat. Johnson talks to Boswell, to Lairds, to Ladies, to judges, to soldiers, to reverends, to old women living in mud huts - to all sorts of people. There is a lot of talk.
Among other things, we learn that Johnson had read Castiglione’s ‘The Courtier’, that Johnson had ‘often’ imagined what sort of seraglio he might run and had considered how would fight a big dog, that Boswell had once been encored for making a cow noise in Drury Lane, and that Johnson was pretty good on a horse - if it was a decent size.
I also enjoyed the amount of teasing in the book. Boswell teased Johnson on the old lady who thought Johnson’s question of ‘where do you sleep?’ was a come on. Johnson teased Boswell for staying up to drink one or six bowl of punch. They take turns teasing each other over which of them is the wenching ‘young buck’ and which the civilising influence and at night, often share a room and have private conversations in Latin so their discussion wouldn’t be understood through thin walls.
Boswell presents everything as a fun, jolly, adventure - and I’m sure, when it was over, it was. There are times of fear though, when they took the boat to Col in particular. There is also the sense that Boswell has to go before Johnson, smoothing his way and palliating his rudeness to others, all without him noticing. Johnson prides himself on being adaptable and self-sufficient, and the idea that he needs Boswell to do this would have been of great injury to his pride.
There is also the sense that Boswell sees himself as made greater by this adventure tying him closer to Johnson’s ‘brand’. There are moments in the book that are painfully, toe-curlingly, embarrassingly, Boswellian. Especially the footnotes from the third edition which he uses to namedrop and argue little points against other Johnsonians.
I found the book took longer to read than I expected, and there was some repetition in the structure of ‘go somewhere, talk’. That said, I found out things about the two of them I hadn’t known, also, of it were not for this journey and this book then Boswell’s ‘Life of Johnson’ may never have been. So it’s worth celebrating for that alone.
Written up from his journal of the trip, Bozzy published the book to test the waters and try out the style of his proposed Johnson biography, there’s lots of conversation and little details that would have been lost to time otherwise.
This book is arranged by date and is far less interested in what they saw in Scotland as much as it is about Johnson’s reactions to it. Partly this is because of Boswell’s admitted inability to describe how things look in much detail - he is, however, an expert in relating how people chat. Johnson talks to Boswell, to Lairds, to Ladies, to judges, to soldiers, to reverends, to old women living in mud huts - to all sorts of people. There is a lot of talk.
Among other things, we learn that Johnson had read Castiglione’s ‘The Courtier’, that Johnson had ‘often’ imagined what sort of seraglio he might run and had considered how would fight a big dog, that Boswell had once been encored for making a cow noise in Drury Lane, and that Johnson was pretty good on a horse - if it was a decent size.
I also enjoyed the amount of teasing in the book. Boswell teased Johnson on the old lady who thought Johnson’s question of ‘where do you sleep?’ was a come on. Johnson teased Boswell for staying up to drink one or six bowl of punch. They take turns teasing each other over which of them is the wenching ‘young buck’ and which the civilising influence and at night, often share a room and have private conversations in Latin so their discussion wouldn’t be understood through thin walls.
Boswell presents everything as a fun, jolly, adventure - and I’m sure, when it was over, it was. There are times of fear though, when they took the boat to Col in particular. There is also the sense that Boswell has to go before Johnson, smoothing his way and palliating his rudeness to others, all without him noticing. Johnson prides himself on being adaptable and self-sufficient, and the idea that he needs Boswell to do this would have been of great injury to his pride.
There is also the sense that Boswell sees himself as made greater by this adventure tying him closer to Johnson’s ‘brand’. There are moments in the book that are painfully, toe-curlingly, embarrassingly, Boswellian. Especially the footnotes from the third edition which he uses to namedrop and argue little points against other Johnsonians.
I found the book took longer to read than I expected, and there was some repetition in the structure of ‘go somewhere, talk’. That said, I found out things about the two of them I hadn’t known, also, of it were not for this journey and this book then Boswell’s ‘Life of Johnson’ may never have been. So it’s worth celebrating for that alone.
mickbordet's review against another edition
3.0
After the first quarter of the book, where Boswell delights in introducing Dr Johnson to just about everyone in Edinburgh, this becomes an essential accompaniment to the Doctor's own book about the trip. There is, especially in the first half, an excess of pandering to Johnson's fame and retelling of every witticism and anecdote from each meeting with this lord or that lady. Once the pair leave their social world behind them, Boswell starts to write about the places and people they meet and the book takes off.
He takes a very different approach to the journey from his companion, filling in the gaps and providing background and detail, though his focus is really on Dr Johnson's reactions to people and places rather than the people and places themselves. If anything, he gave me a better handle on Johnson's personality and sense of humour than Johnson did. On its own this would be a mildly interesting read, made more so by the detailing of the story of Charles Stuart and Flora MacDonald, as recounted by Flora herself during a meeting with Boswell and Johnson. Taken together with Johnson's book, I would give the pair an extra star, as they provide a fascinating view of 18th Century life both in the cities and villages of Scotland. In fact, I originally read the individual books as free e-books from Project Gutenberg, but on a recent trip to Scotland actually picked up an old copy of both books bound as one, because together they are a much more complete book.
He takes a very different approach to the journey from his companion, filling in the gaps and providing background and detail, though his focus is really on Dr Johnson's reactions to people and places rather than the people and places themselves. If anything, he gave me a better handle on Johnson's personality and sense of humour than Johnson did. On its own this would be a mildly interesting read, made more so by the detailing of the story of Charles Stuart and Flora MacDonald, as recounted by Flora herself during a meeting with Boswell and Johnson. Taken together with Johnson's book, I would give the pair an extra star, as they provide a fascinating view of 18th Century life both in the cities and villages of Scotland. In fact, I originally read the individual books as free e-books from Project Gutenberg, but on a recent trip to Scotland actually picked up an old copy of both books bound as one, because together they are a much more complete book.
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