I don’t buy presents. Not for anyone at all, but this year I am buying 1 (well strictly 2) for myself.  I am going to buy a copy of The Elegence of the Hedgehog – one in English and one in French.

I’ve wanted to improve my reading French for a while and the back-and-forth of two books is the easiest way for me to do that. I’ve waited until I could find a book that I wouldn’t mind obsessing over for a goodly time and after the first three paragraphs as an introduction to Renée the concierge I knew I had found my book.

Just the first three paragraphs – the young scion who found Marx – Oh! – that was enough. Such a deeply satisfying wit has Mme Barbery and since I am also unmarried, ugly and “plump” (which is a bit of an understatement), I feel I have found my natural place in the universe.

As soon as this last bit of writing is done for this term, I am going somewhere quiet, hole up and read.