So... another day, another goal completed. I was up in Santa Barbara on a retreat with my amazing mastermind partners and planning out next steps of our year to make 2010 the best year ever as business owners.
One of the best parts about retreats is the ability to sit and read for more than five minutes at a time and especially to do it at other times than right before bed when I am liable not to remember half of what I've read.
So... did I enjoy Madame Bovary? Definitely.
Even though I read it on the Nook instead of as a paper page traditional book?
I did.
Here are my thoughts on both.
And damn do I wish Netflix would get on it and release this version of the movie so I can watch it. I love Isabelle Huppert. Can't wait!
It always amazes me when I piece of writing is able to hold the attention of a reader centuries after it was written. We're into the second century for Madame Bovary. I was amazed at how relevant the story was.
In some ways, what happened with the economy last year was strikingly similar to what happened in Emma Bovary's life: everyone wanted a life of more passion and drama and allowed imagination to rule the entire show.
Now don't get me wrong: I'm all for living for passion. I just painted my dining room fuschia. And not a toned down version of it- the full-on brightest one I could find. And I love it.
And it's amazing what women had to do for security and stability in the 1800s, when this was written. Not that much changed for over 100 years after it was written. Not that women don't have to make tough choices still today. But most of us do wait longer to get married and are able to work in some way to achieve goals outside of marriage and hope that we are picking someone we actually love.
Not possible in this time. So she did the best she could. And it's funny that our judgments as a reader are eventually based on her recklessness with money, rather than with sex and love. I was able to forgive her desire to know love outside her marriage, although I did have a hard time with the judgment she had for why she wanted this. Her husband is neither cruel nor abusive, just less passionate and educated than Emma had dreamed her love would be. But he was her ticket off the farm, so she took it.
How many times do we make a decision to get us out of a tricky spot only to find that we are still unsatisfied even though we've escaped from the problem? I think the solution is to really shoot for the dreams we have above everything else and not just look to get out of a bind, like living alone with dad.
Then we'll all be able to run free like Emma dreamed she could.
I know I'm liable to run free a bit more after reading it- while keeping careful track of expenses and receipts, of course! But now that I can download new reading from anywhere there's internet, I'm a little drunk with the pure reading power.
I like my Nook. A LOT.
So there you have it... #15. Finito.
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