Finished: Eugenie Grandet (de Balzac). I really enjoyed this book! A book with characters to care about, a plot that moves along, and lots of great dialogue. I had never even heard of the author, Honore de Balzac, before, which shows my ignorance. However, I will probably read more of his books when I get a chance. I really loved the title character, Eugenie. Though she didn't end up with her first choice of happiness in the end, the book left me satisfied, yet wanting more, if that makes sense. Eugenie was a young woman who was growing up as the heiress to millions, but she didn't know it. Her father was too miserly and hoarded his money, keeping their wealth from his wife and daughter. She grew up in a modest house in a provincial French town with a sincere nature and a very true heart. Even when she is heartbroken in the end, rather than vengeance, she shows great compassion and love. And, even when she inherits all the millions, she is generous and kind. De Balzac at times used the same characters in some of his books. I'd love to read a sequel with Eugenie, but I think this was the beginning and the end of her story.

Here are a few snippets of his descriptive writing:

The opening paragraph of the book...

"There are houses in certain provincial towns whose aspect inspires
melancholy, akin to that called forth by sombre cloisters, dreary
moorlands, or the desolation of ruins. Within these houses there is,
perhaps, the silence of the cloister, the barrenness of moors, the
skeleton of ruins; life and movement are so stagnant there that a
stranger might think them uninhabited, were it not that he encounters
suddenly the pale, cold glance of a motionless person, whose
half-monastic face peers beyond the window-casing at the sound of an
unaccustomed step."

When Charles found out his father had died...

"In the crucial moments of life our minds fasten upon the locality
where joys or sorrows overwhelm us. Charles noticed with minute
attention the box-borders of the little garden, the yellow leaves as
they fluttered down, the dilapidated walls, the gnarled fruit-trees,
--picturesque details which were destined to remain forever in his
memory, blending eternally, by the mnemonics that belong exclusively
to the passions, with the recollections of this solemn hour."

Charles and Eugenie at the very beginning of falling in love....

"About four o'clock, just as Eugenie and her mother had finished
setting the table for six persons, and after the master of the house
had brought up a few bottles of the exquisite wine which provincials
cherish with true affection, Charles came down into the hall. The
young fellow was pale; his gestures, the expression of his face, his
glance, and the tones of his voice, all had a sadness which was full
of grace. He was not pretending grief, he truly suffered; and the veil
of pain cast over his features gave him an interesting air dear to the
heart of women. Eugenie loved him the more for it. Perhaps she felt
that sorrow drew him nearer to her. Charles was no longer the rich and
distinguished young man placed in a sphere far above her, but a
relation plunged into frightful misery. Misery begets equality. Women
have this in common with the angels,--suffering humanity belongs to
them. Charles and Eugenie understood each other and spoke only with
their eyes; for the poor fallen dandy, orphaned and impoverished, sat
apart in a corner of the room, and was proudly calm and silent. Yet,
from time to time, the gentle and caressing glance of the young girl
shone upon him and constrained him away from his sad thoughts, drawing
him with her into the fields of hope and of futurity, where she loved
to hold him at her side."

So far the French authors I've read, Dumas, de Balzac and Camus, are three for three! OK, Camus was a bit freaky, but still a good book. :-)