Montherlant, Hugo, Skloot

Since my last post, I've read a really big pile of magazines: 5 issues of Eclectic Reading, two issues of OK Magazine, two issues of The New Scientists, one issue of The Economist, one issue of The New Yorker, one issue of Psychology Today, one issue of the Pulitzer-nominated National Enquirer, and two issues of Hello Canada.

I've also ploughed through the complete works of Henry de Montherlant. I didn't find his work gripping, and none of his novels I found arresting, although his themes of indigenous people and colonialism were certainly ahead of his time. I have also read the first few volumes, of 16! of the complete works of Victor Hugo. I was not knowledgeable about his tragic life -- repeated exile, and the death of four of his five children -- but he certainly managed to write through it all. I'm on volume 7, the books of history he wrote, although I've already read Choses vues. I also read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebeccas Skloot, which I found not outside the process of exploitation and ethical murkiness of the original event, the removing of cells from a woman's body without her knowledge or consent several decades ago. The science reporter managed to insert herself into the story, which I can imagine was thin. I was uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Daudet, Hugo

I read the novels of Alphonse Daudet, and I found him capable of creating scenes that are immortal, vivid and striking in their truth, but on the whole his novels fall below that level. I then moved on to reading some novels of Victor Hugo's youth, an Icelandic saga (what a choice with which to start what a career!), and another novel written in two weeks on a bet. I am going to read a biography so that I can follow the political writings a little better.

Maupassant, Daudet, Kirsch

Since my last post I've read two issues of The Economist, two issues of Eclectic Reading, an issue of The New Yorker, two issues of OK Magazine, an issue of Vanity Fair, an issue of Hello Canada, and two issues of The New Scientist. I completed reading the short stories of Guy de Maupassant, and I have concluded, without originality, that he is a master of the short form. Almost 2500 pages of short stories! What imagination. I have now moved on to reading Alphonse Daudet, also known for his short stories but now I'm reading his novels. Jack, in particular, opens with a marvelous scene of Second Empire France and a parvenue lying to get her son into an aristocratic Jesuit boarding school. Wonderful.

I've also read Irving Kirsch's Emperor's New Drugs, a provocative look at the effectiveness of anti-depressants. A quick read, not entirely persuasive but very revealing of the scholarly establishment.

Brantome, Manzoni, Cannetti, Chretien de Troyes

Since my last post, I've finished Canetti's Crowds, which was interesting in that it used a concept and explored it in a variety of social settings. I also read Manzoni's Betrothed, which was an easy read but which was not very interesting. Then I read, almost inadvertently, the complete works of Chretien de Troyes, one of the great medieval writers, but translated into modern French. I hadn't realized that the story of Lancelot existed in French as well as English. I also read with interest the essays of Brantome on several historical figures (Mary Queen of Scots, Catherine de Medicis, Anne de Lorraine, Marguerite de Valois) about which I had read quite a bit. His contemporary's take on the various virtues or otherwise really was interesting. The French was not as old as Chretien, so I could read it relatively easily.

And, of course, I read some magazines: Eclectic Reading, The Economist, which included a mind-boggling report on information management, and The National Enquirer's learned report on the best and worst beach bods among entertainment celebrities. Quite a range.

Cannetti, Burgess, Buchner

Since my last post I've read an issue of Eclectic Reading and an issue of The New Scientist. I've also read Complete Works of Thomas Paine. I liked them, in particular I liked reading the pamphlets he wrote during the Revolutionary War -- they had a great sense of excitement. I also read Buchner's Lenz, which did make much of an impression on me, and Anthony Burgess' Devil of a State. Who can read anything by Burgess and not think of Clockwork Orange? I didn't much care for Devil of a State, but I thought it made an interesting political statement about politics and colonialism and British imperialism. Finally, I started Elias Cannetti's book on crowd psychology, which I'm not sure I'll finish.