Slowly making progress with Voltaire Almighty. He's met and begun his relationship with Emilie (Gabrielle-Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Chatelet). I remember now, reading a review recently on Passionate Minds: The Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment, Featuring the Scientist Emilie du Chatelet, the Poet Voltaire, Sword Fights, Book Burnings, Assorted Kings, Seditious Verse, and the Birth of the Modern World by David Bodanis. Maybe the memory of that review is partly what drew me to Voltaire Almighty. While searching for Passionate Minds on Amazon, I also discovered Voltaire in Love by Nancy Mitford and La Dame d'Esprit: A Biography of Marquise Du Chatelet by Judith Zinsser.
Candide is one of the Winter Classics choices of Framed and Booked. Maybe, during the course of this year, I can take a step into French literature with more biographies and Candide. We will see how that develops.
I never would have chosen to read this but I think I will look for it now...I am terribly deficient in some areas of reading and anything French is on the top of that list...why?? I don't know. I read the info about this book and think I will give it a go...after a bit of a cleanout of my shelves, though, first...maybe I'll ask for it for my March bday...they always give me books =-) You'll keep me literate, Jen! =-)
ReplyDeleteI'm liking the updates on Voltaire. I should do the same thing with Les Miserables since it's going to take a while to read.
ReplyDeleteCandide is so much fun -- highly recommended!
ReplyDeleteCandide is one of my choices as well. I'll be curious to see what biography you chose and your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThe Voltaire bio sounds fascinating. I read Candide years ago in a university class but I don't remember anything about it. Perhaps it's time for me to revisit it...
ReplyDeleteDebbie - Parts of this biography require re-reading as my familiarity with the time period in France is so limited. Parts read fairly quickly, but still inform me of so much that I don't know. Voltaire is a name everyone knows, but about whom I knew almost nothing!
ReplyDeleteSuzi - Les Miserable is sooo long! I'm flagging pages in the biography when something really interesting, unusual, or just unfamiliar crops up, and there are probably 20 flags so far sticking out of the pages. You might try that with Les Miserable...I know I hate skimming back for passages I thought I'd remember!
Dorothy - I think Candide is definitely a must now! I'm looking forward to it.
Heather - Good, two favorable recs for Candide!
Kate - The biography is very informative about so much that I was unaware of - about Voltaire, his works, and his contemporaries. Shamefully, I've always avoided Candide.
CANDIDE is one of my all time fav books. It is just sooo good and really quick. Like the Great Gatspy I read it twice in a row. It comes highly recommended.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm hooked now. Have almost finished with the biography now and will be looking for the other biographies and Candide.
ReplyDeleteI agree about flagging things, particularly with the long books. I got myself some bookdarts last time I was shopping at Powells and I've been using them to flag passages in Les Miz.
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