Ex Libris Kirkland

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First Written 1844
Genre Fiction
Origin France
My Copy cheap paperback
First Read April 18, 2019

The Count of Monte Cristo



So I really enjoyed this, but the serendipitous highlight was that I chose it for reading material on a trip to France. But I didn't realize that the first part is set in Provence and Marseilles where I was headed. I literally read about Edmond being thrown into the Chateau D'if - the horrible Alcatraz-like island prison - and then looked out the window of my train and SAW CHATEAU D'IF. One of those moments where you feel the universe has smiled on you, going to great lengths to delight and surprise you, in particular, for no damn reason at all.

Noted on May 11, 2019

What a page turner! I'd been putting this off because I was intimidated by its length (I know, I know) but also because I have FEELINGS about french books. Mostly those feelings are: bleh. But man! what a fun story. I'm only 3/4 thru and it's a riot.

Noted on April 18, 2019

...he remarked that his companion did not pay the least regard to them, but on the contrary ate like a man who for the last four or five months had been condemned to partake of Italian cookery—that is, the worst in the world.

Quoted on May 11, 2019

I had nearly five thousand volumes in my library at Rome; but after reading them over many times, I found out that with one hundred and fifty well-chosen books a man possesses, if not a complete summary of all human knowledge, at least all that a man need really know.

Quoted on May 11, 2019


Ex Libris Kirkland is a super-self-absorbed reading journal made by Matt Kirkland. Copyright © 2001 - .
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