Voltaire, Mags

Since my last post, I have finished reading the complete works of Voltaire. I decided to read his philosophical dictionary, after hesitating a bit, and I'm glad I did. He uses various terms to discuss all sorts of issues, and he is very witty. For example, he talks about Pope Innocent III's permission to husbands whose wives are too sick to have intercourse to take another woman. He asks why this isn't engraved on the hearts of all husbands! His wit reminded me of Oscar Wilde's. On the other hand, I had no idea this great philosopher was so scattered in his writing and his thinking. I was rather surprised, I thought he would have been very systematic... So now I'm plowing through my Christmas gifts, four books by Alison Weir. Right now I'm reading Eleanor of Aquitaine. I also read two issues of Eclectic Reading, a New Yorker, a New Scientist, an Economist, an OK, and a Vanity Fair. I also finally finished reading The World in 2009, with all the Economist's predictions.