I have just finished Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. I had set it aside for several months and finally got back to it today. I admit that I had only a vague interest in the novel until I read Gemma Bovary by Posy Simmonds which is a graphic novel. It was actually just over a year ago I started reading it because I remember listening to it while stuck in traffic coming back from the thanksgiving holidays. Oh how life changes in a year.
Anyway I suppose I should actually discuss the book itself as I haven't gone into many specifics in my last few posts. The reason I put it down in the first place was that the heavy style was getting to me when I had too many other things on my mind. The tragic plot of course is very relate-able as so many reach for things beyond their means. I can only be reminded of my own credit card use two years ago as if happiness could be bought when in reality one just causes more suffering later. Maybe that is another reason why I needed to put it down, the fatalistic tendencies. Being so unhappy with my life last year I could not watch the downfall of another without seeing myself condemned. But this is about books...
I have started reading Walden again but am beginning to think his perspective a bit arrogant. He talks down about the villagers, the commercial nature of the farmers, and refuses to pay taxes. Thoreau is really starting to sound like a hipster, taking up the lifestyle of the simple woodsman and then pretending his venture is better than his neighbors'. Oh Hipster Thoreau I do wish you would just talk about the seasons or something. Well, I guess I'm past that part anyway but it leaves a bad taste in the brain at least. I thought I would really like Walden as I have been in a nature mood lately but I am growing increasingly disconnected to it. At first the imagery was beautiful and all but now it just goes on and on. I may change my mind by the time I finish but right now I think it only kind of good. It does disappoint when classics are only the best of that time period and only reverence for the old days holds them up. But then one must, I suppose, read those things that modernity is built upon. Maybe it will be like those Russian novels where in the whole is greater than the encumbrance of its many elaborate pieces. It is at least a good concept even if it does not hold to my own misguided preconceptions.
Is anyone else let down by the classics they have heard so much about?
I need to take another look at The List (1001 books to read before you die) and decide what direction to head in next. I have continued to enjoy Origins of the Modern World by Robert Marks since getting back to it after spending so much time rereading old favorites. I also would like to continue with 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami but I am hesitant because like his other book this one has such a dark underpinning of a narrative. His books must be a statement of the darkness running under the controlled and complacent Japanese society. The characters are well written but I think I connected more to the main character in The Wind-up Bird Chronicles.
Recently I have become interested in more science and astrology/astrophysics. Which is ironic because I skipped physics in high school and have never had the math skills for high level science. It fascinates me so much though. I am thinking of reading one of the books by
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