Monday, August 3, 2009

The Elegance of the Hedgehog


For the past few weeks I've had the pleasure of sharing the lives of Madame Michel, Paloma, Kakuro Ozu, Leo, Manuela and others who reside at 7, Rue de Grenelle. I have really enjoyed this book, and I think it is one I will return to. It's got alot of philosophy, art, love of music, and lessons of life filling its pages.

This has been one of the books for my 'Lost in Translation' Challenge, as it was originally written in French. I first read about it on the Challenge website when Julie reviewed it. Then RubyReb reviewed it and reminded me I wanted to read it soon. For a work that has been translated, it flowed well, described places, people and events in enough detail for me, and expressed much about french life in an apartment building.

You see below that I found a reference to the joy of sharing a tea ceremony with special friends, but there was so much more. I encourage others to pick this one out of the pile.

2 comments:

Samantha said...

Very much a novel to be slowly immersed in. It contained some beautiful paragraphs :-)

Bellezza said...

I loved this book; the writing was so exquisite. It makes me wish I could remember more of the French I've learned so I could read it in the original translation. Once upon a time, I read the New Testament in French. Like, thirty years ago... ;)