Favorite book quotes from this week, including Michael Willrich, John Grisham, Emma Donoghue,Steven Pressfield, Adam Levin, Victor Hugo, & Philip Kerr

Jules Verne was born on this day, 8 February, 1828 (d: 24 March, 1905) in Nantes, France. Verne is considered the father of general Science Fiction

When Madame Bovary was serialized in a newspaper, the French government sued the author and publisher on charges of immorality. The government lost.

Tomorrow, October 14 1822, we will celebrate the anniversary of famous writer and poet Victor Hugo marrying his childhood sweetheart Adèle Foucher. The marriage survived infidelities, children and scandal. 1 )      Hugo’s brother suffered a nervous breakdown at the wedding breakfast 2 )      That same year Hugo published his poetry collection which won him a pension from Louis XVIII. 3 )      Adèle was Hugo’s neighbor’s daughter. 4 )      Mrs. Hugo was against the marriage, believing her son should marry into a better family. The couple got together after Mrs. Hugo’s death. 5 )      Victor & Adèle had five children. 6 )      Victor started messing around with Juliette Drouet, who became his mistress. 7 )      Around the same time Adèle became involved with a critic and Victor’s good friend Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve. 8 )      Drouet became Victor’s unpaid secretary and even though he had several affairs he always came back to her. 9 )      Victor and another mistress, Léonie Biard, got busted during one of their escapades. Biard went to jail for adultery. Victor walked away, being a pair de France he had immunity from prosecution. (Robb) 10)   Alice Ozy was the fiancé of Victor’s son. However she was unfaithful and he asked…

I was very impressed with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and thought the last 200 pages were certainly work trudging through some of it.

The dark, brooding and punishing interactions between the complex characters are a mastery of storytelling. The characters are also part of this complex plot