On the BART platform
Reading Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie. Some favorites -- American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, and The Lover, by Marguerite Duras. She got her B.A. in French Literature. She also recommends Beaudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers of Evil).
Recently she read If on a winter's night a traveler, by Italo Calvino, which she loved, and Slapstick, by Kurt Vonnegut, which she didn't like as well as Cat's Cradle.
In high school she and a friend bonded over Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72.
A favorite book from her childhood, which she revisited after graduating from college and being a nanny in Switzerland -- the kids were learning English and she got them Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, by Judy and Ron Barrett.
(this is why I photograph readers....they don't come out blurry)Favorite French literature?
5 Comments:
L'education Sentimental
The Count of Monte Cristo. A very excellent book!
That is a great reading list; very classy. I liked "Midnight" as I was born then and also recommend "Kafka On The Shore.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was one of my favorite childhood books. Second only to Remember the Night Rainbow. My college roommate gave me the sequel (Pickles to Pittsburgh) for my graduation. I never even knew it existed. I will definitely be reading all of the above to my kids before they are even out of the womb!
My first language is French, and the most thought-provoking reading for me to return to, over and again, are the thoughts of Pascal ("Pensées"), and the reflections of Brother Roger of Taizé.
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