Comtesse de Ségur, née Rostopchine by Diesbach, Ghislain de, One Perfect Day by Rebecca Mead, Week-end de chasse a la mere

Week-end de chasse a la mere is boring and bland for a novel: it is about a child's view of his mother, and it joins a distinguished sub-genre of literature. I read it easily and it is short, but that is all that I can say about it. I wonder why it got the Prix Femina: probably because of its subject matter. How trite. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed Diesbach's biography of my favorite childhood author, Comtesse de Segur. It's amazing to me that she is still know by her title instead of her name, in this day and age. In any event, the biography says nothing of her for prolonged periods: I suspect the author signed a contract (he is an award-winning literary biographer) before knowing how little documentation survives her. If not, he did a superficial job. The good countess is an original, to be sure, and commanded better prices for her novels than Zola or Balzac, but she started writing when she was 58. It's not unusual for a woman to start writing late, after the children are grown, but it doesn't make for sparkling reading. I nonetheless also enjoyed the author's appreciation of the 19 novels of hers that line my shelf of favorite books. I don't mention them in this column, but I often re-read those novels to relax, usually all 19 of them although in no particular order. At least once a year.

I also devoured Rebecca Mead's investigation of the bridal industry, One Perfect Day. I was plainly flabbergasted at the amount of money people spend and how ruthlessly exploited brides are. It was a revelation, and it remains inexplicable to me who in all likelihood will just happily keep living in sin without benefit of the ceremony. The author went to various ceremonies, unmasked the 'Apache Wedding Prayer' as being the product of a Jimmy Stewart film, Broken Arrow. (Apache don't even have a wedding ritual, although other first nations do.) And people spend on average 30 000 dollars US on the wedding and accoutrements, which is about the poverty line for a family of four. I was shocked again. Great read though -- I relished the Episcopalian diocese who set rules about what could NOT be done in a wedding. It was a fun read.

Staring at me from my bedside table is Creasy's Fifteen Battles (I'm half way through), and another classic by John Keegan.