The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Up to Canto 6. I'm thoroughly entertained and kicking myself for not reading this sooner.
4/12/16~
Now I'm up to Canto 23:
I find that whenever I'm in a reading slump, that this is where I retreat to. The Inferno is clearly laid out, and seems that how much you understand and comprehend, is all dependent on how well read you are in: history, religion, mythology, and philosophy. Though if it was to be read as merely fiction, it is pretty comical.
In Purgatory Canto 11, there is an eloquent prayer that some ministers and reverands could take a lesson from it.
Words I had to look up during this read: avarice, prodigality, & bow shots.
Persons of mention that I had to look up: Vergil, many tyrants through the ages, & a lot of saintly characters.
4-16-16
Now I'm up to Canto 13 in Paradise. You really have to be well versed in the Holy Bible to understand Paradise. Particularlly the Old Testament books Ezekial, Jermiah, Daniel, and Ruth. If you have finished this, my hat is off to you. Good job.

View all my reviews

“All hope abandon, ye who enter here.” ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

“Consider your origin. You were not formed to live like brutes but to follow virtue and knowledge.” ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

“If the present world go astray, the cause is in you, in you it is to be sought.” ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

“Salvation must grow out of understanding, total understanding can follow only from total experience, and experience must be won by the laborious discipline of shaping one’s absolute attention.” ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

“Life is a " vale of tears" a period of trial and suffering, an unpleasant but necessary preparation for the afterlife where alone man could expect to enjoy happiness - Archibald T. MacAllister (The Inferno; Dante Alighieri translated by John Ciardi)” ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy