[ book tip by Adam Stevenson ]
Who’d have thought that a diary by a man living over 400 years ago could be such good fun?

It is the 1660s and Samuel Pepys is a pen pusher, bean counter and general administrator for the navy during the reign of King Charles II. He works long hours, organising pay for sailors and masts for ships. When he isn’t working, Pepys searches the streets of London for entertainment. He meets prominent scientists, watches as many plays as possible, gets drunk with his friends and tries to conduct as many love affairs as he can without the wife finding out. Everything is written in the diary.

The Diary of Samuel Pepys is not dry history, but lives in the energy of his writing and the specific details he includes. Pepys goes to get his portrait painted. He doesn’t describe the smell of the paint or the concentration of the artist. He complains that the unnatural pose gives him a crick in the neck. It is 1665 and the Great Plague is at its very worst. Pepys doesn’t meditate on the fragileness of existence and pray to God for life everlasting. His wife is in the country to avoid the sickness and he will enjoy his temporary bachelorhood as much as possible. The Great Fire of London is burning over half the city and Pepys is worried about how to save a block of very expensive cheese.

Pepys is an everyman: he hates his boss, desires praise, sings, dances, reads books and enjoys the company of people. He can be funny and witty and crude, he can be angry and selfish and jealous. He can be everything that every person is. And it all goes down in the diary.

Come for the history, stay for the company.

[ Favourite quote ]
'Musique and women I cannot but give way to, whatever my business is.'

[ book info ] Pepys, Samuel: The Diary of Samuel Pepys. (Volumes 1 - 9). (Book language: English) Edited by RC Latham and W Matthews. Harper Collins, London, 1995 (1971). ISBN: 0 00 499021 8.