elegance of the hedgehog

"The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery is a French novel - and it's very French. Much pondering of Art and the nature of Art and what does Art mean in the world. These profound musings are fascinating - even if not entirely convincing. I mean, having the main character declare an intent to commit suicide and then discovering the glory of the world is rather trite. "Veronika Decides to Die" is an example, not to mention every movie where a terminal diagnosis is given.

There's also a contempt for bougeois attitudes - but it's a kind of reverse snobbery. The Japanese are held up as paragons of style and taste - which is a ridiculous generalization. But perhaps it's intended as an example of an immature perspective, as one of the narrators is a 12-year-old. (Shades of Holden.)

But I loved the conclusion that life's best use is searching for the "always within never." Lovely. Death takes away the individual, but the love remains always. You lose your mother, but the idea of the mother is eternal.

"My Own Country" by Abraham Verghese is a memoir by the author of "Cutting for Stone." It's about his experience as an infectious disease doctor in rural Tennessee during the mid-'80s when AIDS began to reach the small coal community. Everyone's phobic of AIDS as a misunderstood diease and phobic of gays. He writes about five or six patients as they try to come to terms with the illness as well as the shame and secrecy. It's very moving and compassionate. One woman finds out her husband has AIDS and gave it to her and her first thought is - shoot him, shoot the kids, then shoot herself. There was no concept of dealing with AIDS.

I also read "Parents Magazine: Best Advice I Ever Got" which was pretty meh. One good tip - use coffee filters in the training potty for easy cleanup.

Also I read "How to Never Look Fat Again" by Charla Krupp. Some advice was pretty obvious (dark colors are slimming) and some was very helpful and specific, about the yoke of jeans, for example.