Today on the homepage, I have a Salzburg journal — notes, observations, snaps. A spirited lady writes to me,
That was a fun ride! I’ve been to France about 35 times. The hubs says I should write a blog. You made it look worry-free.
Yesterday, I had a post on a podcast I did with Lea Desandre, the French singer. Got some mail. But first, an excerpt, to set the mail up:
Toward the end of our conversation, we get onto the subject of books — books that mean a lot to people, at different times in their lives. Lea talks about Les Misérables, which means so much to Frenchmen, and others. I talk a little about Bleak House — and my struggle to read it over the years. (I stopped struggling at some point. Maybe I should re-struggle.)
Lea has not yet fallen for Proust, but she expects to do so, in the fullness of time. (Same.) (Though I’d better hurry up.)
A reader from Parksville, B.C., writes,
As someone who, many years ago, did manage to make it through the entirety of Bleak House, my advice is to read Proust! 😉
Here is another excerpt from my post yesterday:
The sublime Antoine de Saint-Exupéry published The Little Prince in 1943, the year before he died. Lea has a favorite passage from that book: “Fais de ta vie un rêve, et d’un rêve, une réalité.” (“Make of your life a dream, and of a dream, a reality.” Personally, I would add: Let it be a good dream.)
A reader writes,
Howdy, Jay:
Your mention of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry jogged my memory in a good way. His Wind, Sand and Stars was the first book we read in my Philosophy 101 class, 52 years ago! Where does the time go? Next up was Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus. Our instructor was a transplanted Lebanese chap who had lived in France for years, prior to immigrating to America. He had known Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. That dude could spin some stories from his personal life that dovetailed nicely with what we were reading. Again, where does the time go? Alas, it all goes by pretty fast.
My thanks — heartfelt — to one and all readers and correspondents.