Journal d'un Cure de Campagne

Lured to the original novel by legends about Robert Bresson's 1950 film version, I was unsure what to expect.  The first two thirds of the work seemed ponderous and somewhat opaque, while the final third was extremely worthwhile without in any way shedding its tendency to remain obtuse.  I rarely read such preternaturally religious novels, so much of the narrator's internal spiritual struggles were lost on me.  But the motorcycle ride with M. Olivier, and the ensuing conversation, is sufficiently brilliant that it justifies the reading of the entire novel, if only just barely.  A different reader might be similarly moved by the conversion of Mme. la Comtesse, or how the narrator deals with his own mortality.

A book to read, but perhaps not re-read.  Fortunately, we have Bresson's film.

And We're Back

New year, new computer, new apartment, new attitude toward this blog.  I've come to realize that I can't be successful in my career, keep up my gym routine, have any kind of social life, and still read a hundred important books a year:  there just aren't enough hours in the week.  Maybe if I sacrificed one or the other, but I'm unwilling to do that.

I'm still dedicated to reading a roughly equivalent amount of non-fiction and novels, and I'm still dedicated to reading a wide spectrum of non-fiction.  As of today, I am in the middle of four books:

Non-Fiction:

The Rise of the West--William H. McNeill (828pp.) 1963
Aristotle for Everybody--Mortimer J. Adler (206pp.) 1978
The Politics--Aristotle (172pp.) 4th C. BCE

Novel:

The Diary of a Country Priest--Georges Bernanos (298pp.) 1937

I'll provide the usual capsule reactions as I complete them (which in the case of McNeill will be sometime in the distant future).