France!

Some of you know that I spent last semester in Paris, France. Not only did I acquire an overwhelming love of cafe and pastry and lots of cheesy souvenirs, I also had a little bit of time to read. Let's be honest, most of it was for class. But I also got the chance to see where books were written about and also some books that were written 500-700 years ago. Now, I love Victor Hugo. Don't get me started on Les Miserables or Hunchback of Notre Dame. I read the former a year and a half ago and the latter while in Paris, which was quite amazing. I promise you, Victor Hugo could find the words to describe heaven. After reading Hunchback, I went back to look at the Cathedral and just stared. The book opens so much up. Honestly it's not my favorite Cathedral and was a little disappointing...until I read the book. If anyone has seen the Disney movie, the book is about 10 times darker than even that is and the characters are much more corrupt. At one point I looked up and commented "Frollo just shanked Phoebus in the back while he was trying to rape Esmerelda!" That pretty much sums up the book. But Hugo's description of the Cathedral and Paris is just so majestic, it's hard to not look at it through new eyes.

I haven't read any D-Day lit, but going to Carentan and Normandy for a couple weekends were wonderful and moving. I thought of that line from All Quiet on the Western Front about the screaming of the horses. It is such a beautiful, peaceful countryside and it's hard to imagine such war and terror. Visiting Musee Carnavalet brought back lit memories from every "genteel society" book I have ever read. The Scarlet Pimpernel and the "Rape of the Lock" made me smile while travelling through hundred year old sitting rooms. The Revolution collection there also sparked my interest, seeing as how I love Napoleon and A Tale of Two Cities. I even saw the Rose Line (the real one, not the one in the movie) and our tour guide told us exactly how much Dan Brown was making stuff up. I have not read the book, but through coincidence I have listened to the epilogue about 50 times and know my stuff about the Parisian Meridian!

I also read Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald while over there. (Sidenote: if you're really into ex-pat lit and culture, drop everything you're doing and go watch Midnight in Paris right now.) Wow that book packs a punch. I liked it better than the Great Gatsby actually, but I was never particularly fond of the book in the first place, though the recreation NES game is quite entertaining. While reading the book, I wanted to get drunk in  Paris and cheat on someone immediately.

One last facet of European culture: Holocaust accounts. If you haven't read the Diary of Anne Frank, Man's Search for Meaning, or Night, do it now. I also have been meaning to read The Hiding Place (my parents went there). Before you start thinking Germans are a bunch of Really Mean People, the country is quite a lovely friendly place, by the way. But I read Night on a German train on the way to Dachau (curse my inability to sleep on trains). It was heartrending. Not as much as the actual camp though. I think the worst, especially knowing all the history, is a toss-up among the building in the back, the empty foundations, and the ovens. The building in the back was used for solitary confinement. Horrible. The empty foundations exposes row after row after row of bunks that held who knows how many people. I saw the ovens first...and then I saw the gas chamber. It was frightening. It's an experience that you have to experience  to really know. For now, read Man's Search for Meaning. 

I lied about the almost done thing. Italy is phenomenal; I've seen so many illuminated manuscripts I almost cried for joy; and Bath was Austen paradise. There, now I'm done. Au Revoir!