Barely Even Wednesday

[evelyn_b]

If I had to pick just one author of ridiculously self-indulgent massive novels to take to a desert island, there's no question that it would be Tolstoy. But Hugo's large-scale asides are about five to ten times more charming on average than Tolstoy's. Since we're all rethinking public memorials, maybe now is a good time for someone to commission a monument to the time Victor Hugo wrote an entire chapter on the allegedly breathtaking sublimity of Cambronne saying "Shit!" to an English general's surrender request, in the midde of his 60-odd-page digression on the Battle of Waterloo.

These days, Jean Valjean is tucked safely away in the Convent of Convenience and we're learning about street urchins. Les Miserables continues to be the best and I continue to be out of commission for the most part.