An introduction to Pepys
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This was the first book that I have ever read on Samuel Pepys and I found it fascinating. I loved every detail of family and court life right down to the household accounts. Living in present day London, I particularly enjoyed Pepy's descriptions of trips to Barnes and Putney. It is amazing to look at the Thames from where I live and know that he was here all those years ago. At the end of the book, I found my self hoping that a cure or glasses would be found for Pepys failing eyesight because I did not want his diary to end. Samuel Pepys has now become a hero of mine.
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Pepys' daily problems show little has changed in 340 years
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It's well worth getting into Pepys, and this book is the best way to do it. The style takes a little getting used to and the more detailed full diary can be rather frustrating at first, with it's incessant notation. The 'Shorter' Pepys hasn't been edited to give only the highlights, but a representative selection so there are plenty of the mundane days in here. However it's delightfully reassuring to find that getting up and going to the office hasn't changed a bit. He encounters the same daily frustrations that we do and records them with candour, for example when he goes down into his cellar and accidentally puts 'my foot into a pile of turd' which had come through from next-door. Aswell as the mundane there are some incredibly fascinating historical events and as Pepys was very close to the rulers of the day he provides a lot of superb background. The account of the Great Fire of London and his comments on the plague are worth reading on their own. But the best bits are the things that delight him for their sheer curiosity and his pleasure. Get the Pepys Companion for background. Aim to read a little of the diary at a time. The more you re-read it the more you will understand. Then move on to the detail of the full diary.
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