Mostly Morand, Alford, Bartlett, Kleist

Since my last post, I read an issue of The New Scientist, one of Eclectic Reading, and started an issue of The Economist.

I was anticipating reading How to Live by Henry Alford, a book recounting the wisdom of the elderly. Turns out to be fewer interviews than I thought, and more personal reminiscence and experience, and the book is very lightweight considering the topic. I read another book by Bartlett called They Dared to Live, a book from the thirties containing some short pieces on inspirational lives -- I knew about most of them, including Einstein, and Shaftesbury, but not all. Finally, I read Kleist's short story Michael Kohlhaas, the last of the Kleist writings. Then I read wall-to-wall Paul Morand.

I read a collection of short stories called Le Prisonnier de Cintra, and in it was a perfectly charming one about a cat called Un chat nomme Gaston. I also read some travel writing: Le voyage, Bucarest, with some great tidbits about Romania,and Les bains de mer, which confirmed my impression that here is a writer who is socially an aristocrat.

There was an essay which doesn't fit anywhere, called De la vitesse.

I also read biographies and reminisences on the eponymous Giraudoux, Fouquet, Maupassant and more about Marcel Proust,in a couple of essays and correspondence entitled Le visiteur du soir.