18-Week Reading Goal Update (2023)

I hit a brick wall.

As you probably guessed from my prolonged absence here, I’ve not been able to devote as much energy to my treasured hobbies of reading great books and writing about them, so there are only two small updates here: I finished the Lafayette biography and started the biography of Napoleon.

What I have devoted my less-than-abundant energy to has been the less-than-great but still fun genre of murder mysteries, which is my literary comfort food.

2023 Reading Goals: Progress!

1. Finish Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: DONE!

2. Read Tartuffe by Molière (a play): DONE!

3. Candide by Voltaire (a satirical novella): DONE!

4. The French Revolution by Hilaire Belloc: DONE!

5. Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: DONE!

6. Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts: 7% done

7. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

8. Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: DONE!

9. An anthology of French poetry: DONE!

10. Pensées by Blaise Pascal (philosophical musings of a great mathematician)

11. Julie; or, The New Heloise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (thank you, Katie, for suggesting this title!)

12. Lafayette by Harlow Giles Unger: DONE!

13. From Mother and Daughter: an anthology of the writings of Madeleine and Catherine des Roches

Other (Non-French) Things I Read:

From the Verity Kent murder mystery series by Anna Lee Huber:
Murder Most Fair (I started with book five of the series because I loved the title.)
This Side of Murder
Treacherous Is the Night
A Penny for Your Secrets

Bible: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Lamentations, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Job, Ecclesiastes

Next Steps

Slowly continue the Napoleon biography and read some poetry.

Other, Non-Literary Favorites

I re-watched the 2012 Les Miserables for the first time in over six years. It held up very well, even after reading the book and getting increasingly attached to the 10th Anniversary Concert. I still think the movie is the most accessible way for people to get to know a great epic story.