Prolific Living

fiction

Gustave Flaubert: “Madame Bovary”

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I finally know the timeless story of Madame Bovary.

Reading Gustave Flaubert's Madame BovaryWhat a remarkable journey to delve into the timeless classics whose names I first heard uttered in adult conversations in my childhood in Iran. The Godfather is such an example. Victor Hugo’s Les Les Misérables another. Madame Bovary yet another.

I read Gustave Flaubert‘s masterpiece in English, translated not by Penguin Classics which seems to be the most well-known version but by Wordsworth Classics, which I picked up in a small bookstore in London. Despite the extremely smooth translation with countless awe-inspiring passages, I have no doubt much was lost in translation from the prose and poetic style associated with the original French version. [Read more…] about Gustave Flaubert: “Madame Bovary”

Michelle Moran: “The Heretic Queen”

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Reading The Heretic Queen in London Paddington Station

“I am sure that if I sat in a quiet place, away from the palace and the bustle of the court, I could remember scenes from my childhood much earlier than six years old.”
– Prologue to “The Heretic Queen”

I wish there were still a thousand more pages to read but alas I have finished reading all of Michelle Moran’s fantastic fiction! I could not have imagined a more fulfilling journey through time back to Ancient Egypt than the one taken through Moran’s genuine voice and her simple yet beautiful prose. “The Heretic Queen” tells the story of young Nefertari which takes place nearly half a century following Nefertiti‘s reign. [Read more…] about Michelle Moran: “The Heretic Queen”

Baroness Emmuska Orczy: “The Scarlet Pimpernel”

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Reading A Scarlet Pimpernel at breakfast in Argentina's Park Hyatt

If I had to do it all over again, I would….?

When you ask yourself that question casually, what is the answer? In some situations, we cannot change the past and the opportunity has passed. In others however, we may be able to set a new course. A few years ago I realized one of my many answers. That I would have loved to read far more classics over the years. Heaps of engineering textbooks, technical jargon and business buzzwords prepared and educated me well for my career but left me with a strong desire for voraciously consuming the classics, literature, poetry, art and history – hence my reading mania since 2006! There is usually a very good reason a book is considered a classic and besides, exploring the genre has hardly resulted in a regret for anyone that I have ever met. [Read more…] about Baroness Emmuska Orczy: “The Scarlet Pimpernel”

Edith Wharton: “Age of Innocence”

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Be it naïveté or lack of insight, I have never understood all the fuss about New York and its self-proclaimed greatness. Try as I might, I cannot recollect a single memory of a warm encounter, a nice experience or a kind human interaction during my visits. Sadly, I do have a few sour such memories, but you learn to write those off as exceptions, especially if the good ones balance things out. After all, the amalgamation of dozens of religions and cultures is bound to produce its challenges anywhere on earth, particularly in big cities. Even so, New York’s inadequate impression on me remains unchanged as yet.

Reading Wharton's Age of Innocence at home

Reading is the best pastime for an active mind! If you like to see the other book reviews, check the index of In Print.

So it is with great reluctance that I started Edith Wharton’s classic short novel on high society life in New York city at the close of 19th century (1870s). Wharton’s Pulitzer-prize winning “Age of Innocence” depicts all the hypocrisy and convention, duty and criticism, propriety and snobbery of the New York elite as it tells the story of protagonist Newland Archer [Read more…] about Edith Wharton: “Age of Innocence”

Daphne du Maurier: “Rebecca”

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In my mind, I was driving to Manderley last night.

Engrossed in Rebecca's Daphne Du Maurier

I was driving my little Honda down a remote highway when I went into this state of complete mental absorption. Less than a day after finishing Daphne Du Maurier’s classic of a novel, Rebecca, I was finding it nearly impossible to stop thinking about Manderley, the magnificent estate and grounds and a central part of the novel. But this time, I was not particularly thinking about the story. No. I was living in it momentarily. I had a notion that I was driving to Manderley on that very road, veering left and right, winding down a path with the large hanging trees, past the sidewalks covered with the fallen autumn leaves which are sometimes tossed about by the soft palm of the wind, and heading towards the light orange sky with the deep blue clouds in the horizon. It could very well have been the road to Manderley. How fantastic and exciting it all seemed. How swift a return to reality too. Sigh. Is it normal for you to fantasize about fictional places that surely do not exist but in the figment of the author’s imagination, and now in yours as a reader?

[Read more…] about Daphne du Maurier: “Rebecca”