A Sentimental Journey to France and Italy by Laurence Sterne is included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, along with the other acclaimed work of the same author, The Life of Opinions of Tristram Shandy - 7 out of 10

 

A Sentimental Journey to France and Italy by Laurence Sterne is included on the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, along with the other acclaimed work of the same author, The Life of Opinions of Tristram Shandy

 

7 out of 10

 

‘Tristram Shandy is the craziest, wisest and greatest of all books ' - Sterne turned into Diderot, who turns into Mozart...he also turns into Proust and Joyce, Beckett and Nabokov’ this is a quote from To The Hermitage https://realini.blogspot.com/2022/09/to-hermitage-by-malcolm-bradbury-author.html by Malcolm Bradbury

 

A Sentimental Journey to France and Italy was also well received, indeed, even in this day and age, if appears on the list I have mentioned above, although trying a sardonic take, I do not see why, but I do, it is amusing, interesting, serene, joyful, you have love in the plot, and with that, half of the components of positivity are there

Barbara Fredrickson is the quintessential expert on the subject, she has written a paramount study and identified the elements, five up here, and you need to add inspiration, awe, hope, pride and gratitude, for the whole formula of Positivity https://realini.blogspot.com/2015/05/positivity-by-barbara-fredrickson-life.html

 

Some passages filtered in this brain of mine, such as the experience with the wife of a shop keeper in France, the traveler – the author uses his own travels for inspiration – explains that the owners of shops are different in France, in Britain, they seem to be part of the same body, or that is what I am left with, not in France though

He takes the pulse of the spouse, which appears a rather intimate affair, especially at that time, albeit when compared with what you read in Anais Nin https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/10/artists-and-models-by-anais-nin-author.html this is one of the most innocent games people could play, platonic and harmless

 

Nonetheless, it is mirthful to read how the narrator is sensitive to the situation, and then he learns about the husband coming, the latter is in the room, and the wife tells him…this gentleman is taking my pulse – come to think of it, in this day and age, that would be awkward, coming into the kitchen, to find this happening

In this instance, the Bonhomme fellow is mildly interested, even somewhat thankful, he says so, and then…goes out, to let the woman and the traveler go about the business of pulse taking and whatever else they are doing, menage a trois is of French origin after all, and they have a reputation for esprit ouvert aka free spirit

Then there is the experience when there are three beds in the room, and a woman travelling is invited to get in, use one of those spaces, in spite of the fact that a male occupant, the narrator, is already inside, we could not have a waste of profit after all, can we, the qualm here being that it was not so thrilling after all

 

One of the jokes we kept making when young was from The History of the World by Mel Brooks, and it had the Roman Emperor aka Dom de Luise, one of the ghastly ones, sitting bored on his throne or bed, and looking at the loot from the wars, one bath with precious stones, diamonds, but the infatuated ruler said

 

-          ‘Nice, not thrilling, but nice’

 

I remember this line – it was hilarious, just like the whole masterpiece, one of the top ten comedies of all time – when I act the part, ‘pretentious, Moi?’, which is from another fabulous comedy, the best series https://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/waldorf-salad-by-john-cleese.html Fawlty Towers by John Cleese and his then wife

Another chapter that caught my attention – which is deficient, there is that ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, but it is also a question of being on the wrong frequency, the book is almost always remarkable, for I only choose form a prestigious list, or the latest Booker Winner, from the Pulitzer list of honor

 

However, sometimes there is the enormous luck, the gift of god would be another possibility, and something like the glorious Sisters Brothers https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-perfect-novel-sisters-brothers-by.html lands in my lap, and the result is exaltation, adjectival, medicine, Nirvana, nec plus ultra

It is rare, and it is a question of ‘the aligning of the planets’, with a magnum opus and my favorable mood, spoiler alert, it is clear I will go off on a tangent, not that so far it was all concise, satisfying, relatable, and any good, but I am concerned with the…car, which did not start, the spouse is going to try again

 

She is using it, I only drive once a year or so, the rest is on the bike – looked at the milage, and it said something like 20,000 kilometers, maybe over the past three maybe four years – but if there are problems, they will be common, after all, she has to go to Carrefour tomorrow, then, she does go out, and that will be exorbitant

And the company is not doing well, what with the expensive gas from Russia, the Gemran foil we import is expensive, clients do not buy it, so there it is, actually, it is more complex, but what is the point of elaborating…there was something bad downtown, then here, the tensions are always high, and when bad things happen, it is worse, there is of course, Learned Optimism https://realini.blogspot.com/2013/07/learned-optimism-by-martin-seligman.html and so much literature on positive psychology that we need to use, have a strategy to cope with adversity, imagine the best possible future and more

 

 Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”