Friday, September 01, 2006

Scarlet and Black post V

The plan was to have read this book by now but I have to confess I am struggling with it. It's not because it is particularly difficult it is more to do with the double blows of overwork and a teething toddler. As a result I keep falling asleep on the train when I should be reading about Julien Sorel and his adventures in Paris. Apologies but yet again here are some scant bullet points

Bullet points between pages 288 - 334

* The friendship between Marquis de Mole and Julien develops and as a result Julien is sent away to London to become more worldy wise and on his return is awarded a cross that provides him with social standing

* He starts to visit the Opera and attends a ball where his relationship with the daughter of the house is at first frosty and then changes into a fascination

* Signs that Julien is capable of swinging from one mood violently to another and capable of reading things into expressions, phrases and the manner of speech that barely exist start to become apparent

* As his love for the daughter, Mathilde (who is chased by numerous other men), develops he starts to suspect that he is being set up as a fool for them to laugh at him

The plan is that I can crack on with this over the weekend so next week is clear to get stuck into some Proust. Here's hoping...