Being married to someone who focuses so much on books inevitably rubs off (a little). So even though I read my books generally on a Kindle, unlike Ellen who reads her books in a, for lack of a better word, book, I still have tried to read more, rather than just play Guild Wars 2, watch hockey and baseball games, and reruns of Serenity.
I go through books in three paths. One set consists of the books I download from the library onto my cell phone and play over the bluetooth speaker in my car. These tend to be modern detective fiction intermixed with historical books. The second set are mostly non-fiction books about science and technology, and a little bit of science fiction thrown in. The third set consists of my attempt to read classics that I never read when I was younger. For example, I recently read Middlemarch which I thought was really wonderful.
The second in my classical series was Madame Bovery, the first book by Gustave Flaubert. While I am told that the book is best read in the original French, which is not a viable option for me, I will say I found it extremely readable though a disturbing read. Both Madame Bovery brought home the secondary situation of women in the 19th century and the limited professional options they had (and yes I understand there is still a lot of progress to be made even today).
Where Middlemarch felt hopeful (to me) because of my affection for the really wonderful and optimistic Dorothea, Madame Bovery was sad for the ultimately failed and tragic Emma.
Both Dorothea and Emma entered marriages that did not work out as well as they had hoped with husbands who in many ways were disappointing to them. Dorothea had the ‘good fortune’ of her husband dying, Emma found solace in two lovers neither of whom brought her real pleasure. Dorothea’s widowhood also brought her financial wealth and freedom which provided her a path to happiness. Emma’s lack of financial resources ultimately lead her to suicide.
Even though all of the erotic scenes occur ‘off screen’ or invisible to the reader inside a carriage in one of the more notorious scenes, Flaubert was accused of obscenity and put on trial in 1857. Naturally after he was acquitted the result was that the book became even more popular.