uh oh, the French are at it again

I've started reading The Plague, by Albert Camus since I liked The Stranger so much, and .... sigh. It's the same problem I had with Madame Bovary and to a lesser extent, Swan's Way. There are no characters, and just descriptions of things happening in a very passive, drawn back way. I don't know if …

The Stranger, by Albert Camus

I've broken my streak of giving up on French classics! This was a short, and somewhat disturbing read. The story opens with the character, Meursault, stating that his mother has died, though he's not exactly sure when, and then describes her funeral. We soon find that the Meursault does not seem to have any emotional connection to …

my mother is a fish, or, As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner

Why have I never read Faulkner before? This was a great story of a terrible family full of selfish people, told in many different voices from at least a dozen points of view. Faulkner claims that he wrote the novel from midnight to 4:00 AM over the course of six weeks and that he did …

do i hate french authors?

I usually finish a book if I make it past the first chapter or so, but I just couldn't do it for Madame Bovary. Something about the way the story is told made it just impossible for me to pay attention or engage with the characters. The imagery and prose was really nice, which kept …

If on a winter’s night a traveler, by Italo Calvino

Maybe you've been watching my videos on this book, or maybe not! I have gotten tired of making them. I think writing is more my style than talking. But this book is definitely my style, and is one of the best things I've read, ever! I think it might be in my top 10 favorite …