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Letters from a Stoic by Seneca - Letters No.18 & 28

This week in the Tales from The library Book Cub we approach the last two sessions of the year. We started this club as the pandemic hit and thought it would be great to have a way to share a love for stories and literature in an online book club with Sanctuary First. The second book we covered was by Seneca, so I thought it might be nice to round off the year with the second last book we cover this year to also be Seneca. This time we are reading Letter no.18 (XVIII) and no.28 (XXVIII).

The week after this week will be our last meeting of the year, we will be reading 'The gift of the Magi' by O Henry. This story is slightly longer than our other book club stories so we will endeavour to get it up in good time on Monday before the club meets on Thursday. 

Letter no.18

In Letter no.18 Seneca reflects of the festive period holidays, he warns against the gluttony the overindulgence and celebrations we are all too familiar with at this time of year, so much so we must stop ourselves and remember that this was written approximately 2000 years ago, and the holiday in question is not quite Christmas but Saturnalia. The Holiday may be different but the hallmarks of excess remind us that some things even 2000 years later have not changed to much. 

Letter no.28

In Letter No. 28 Seneca talks about the burden of not feeling 'at Home' and 'at peace' with one’s self. at a time when we are all longing to travel and abscond to further regions to escape from the mundanity of lockdown this reminder that peace and a sense of home can be found from within not necessarily a location are just as relevant as when written. 

listen to the audio book available and come along and join us this Thursday at 3PM for a chat. 

The texts are available to read in the book 'Letters from a Stoic' by Seneca both online and in print, should you wish to read then actual text or read more. 

Google Books - Online Version

Amazon - Print Version & Kiddle options

How to join the club to chat

Once you are singed up the link to join via zoom will apear above on this page at 3PM on Thursday. To join you will need a phone/tablet or laptop with a built in camera and microphone (most modern devices come with this) you may need to download the zoom app onto your phone if you are using a phone to join. 

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