i understand the historical importance, but DEFINITELY not my style of book. SO laborious

I began reading The Book of the Courtier for a Humanities paper I was writing. I had no idea what it was in for, but I figured I could learn a thing or two about courtiership. I'll be honest, I thought this book was going to be terribly dry and boring. I didn't go into this very open minded. I was pleasantly surprised to find it interesting. Not thrilling, but I did have a few moments of "page turner" feelings. These were brief and few and far between, but it wasn't until the end that I lost interest. The forth chapter (and probably part of the third) drones on too long making no definitive points. I got bored. I may have skipped a page or two, but I am pretty sure it wouldn't have mattered since the same singular point is still being beaten to death 20 pages later.
Aside from that failing, I was impressed with Castiglione for writing something informative, philosophical, and entertaining.

This book is surprising and entirely charming. Similar to Machiavelli's The Prince, the characters in The Book of the Courtier discuss, in the form of Platonic dialogue, the ideal member of a court. It's intelligent, funny, and even beautiful at times. Certainly an odd book, but I found it compelling and absorbing.

However, it will probably be of little to no interest to anyone not interested in the time period, but if the Italian Renaissance floats your boat (as it does mine, clearly) this is absolutely worth the read.

It's useful but it's way too archaic to keep the reader engaged. The structure of dialogues is reminisccent of The Decameron. But the conversation goes on forever and ever. Instead of being a monologue of Castiglione making explicit the things he expects of courtiers, of ladies of the court, and of the role of courtiers before princes, he makes his characters go on and on forever about it.

Since the Duke is ill, they propose a game, which the Duchess will command, and in a number of nights they'll discuss these qualities required. The book is full of typical Renaissance topics: casual anti-clericalism, humanist hope in the knowledge of man, appreciation for stoic philosophy, trivial observations about women, disscussions about the nature of women (whether they're bad or good), a justification of adultery in cases of unfair marriage (only for women).

Humanists saw God and nature as two separate concepts, but nature being a servant of God, and how important is for the courtier to be a knowledgeable man who avoids every form of affectation, educates himself in the use of the word, letters and the use of arms, while having hobbies typical of royalty such as hunting, and the study of classics. The known issue in Don Quixote, is a central part here, but of course, the Knight's discourse is much more elaborated and convincent. So, thanks for the nice influence in Cervantes, but I really can't say this is as much of a masterpiece as it is made out to be. Sometimes, like this book mantains, disciples are even better than the master because their influences come more from their own good intellect and judgement.

This was a pretty fascinating insight to the ideal Renaissance couple. Even if it was a bit of a self-help read, it was amusing to understand what life at court was like and what they found of great importance. What is even better about it is seeing the transition to today's culture. There are still lessons we can draw from these earlier examples on how to carry ourselves.

I don't remember liking this book but I have a ton of underlines and notes in the book. Who knows?