Books I Read November 7th, 2023

Wish me luck this week, I'll be baking bread.

Sorrows of an Exile by Ovid – Banished from Rome for unclear offense, Ovid wrote this series of poems bemoaning his exile and desperately trying to regain the graces of the Octavian. Comically lacking in the stoic virtues for which Roman society is traditionally esteemed.

Severina by Rodrigo Rey Rosa – A bookseller falls for a larcenous inamorata. Like a less apocalyptic Bolano, on whom Rey Rosa's work was an obvious influence.

Cheri by Colette – This middle-aged courtesan's relationship with a limpidly beautiful adolescent in the last days of the belle epoque was apparently not a retelling of the author's quasi-incestuous liaison with her stepson, but still one can discern that quality of fantasy, which is to say wish-fulfillment, which often creeps into a writer's work when they revisit old affairs. Which isn't a knock, this is very well written and effective as a work of adult romance.

The End of Cheri by Colette – Chronicling our eponymous Lothario's descent into post-war despair. Less effective than the first.