Pascal

I'm at the 521 page mark, one chapter before the famous chapter "Snow".

I would like to note that yesterday I returned to the programming language, Pascal, and wrote a program called "The Joy of Reading". It performs the functions of a database: books I've read, their authors, and how many pages they total. I will fill it in as I go.

Of course, it is fitting to point out that Blaise Pascal is among the geniuses whose works are recommended by Van Doren. Pensees (Thoughts) is the title. Looking forward to it too!

For Christmas, my thoughtful parents gave me The History by Herodotus and Metamorphoses by Ovid. Both titles were recommended by Van Doren.

The Magic Mountain (continued)

At the 300-page mark. By now, it is clear that young Hans Castorp has contracted tubercolosis and become intoxicated - infatuated - with Claudia Chauchat. Castorp has also somewhat disturbingly declared war on Ludovico Settembrini, the most entertaining, eloquent character in the book so far.

Precisely because of its want in my life, I find I am enjoying Mann's description of the tensions and release of tensions that fill the days of the patients in the rareified altitude of the Berghof.

But it seems that distinctions between acceptable love and deplorable stalking, infiltration, and staring seem immaterial to Castorp. To my mind, the purple-cheeked Director would, in today's society, have long since had a stern word with Castorp, at the insistence of Chauchat herself...

"The Magic Mountain" (begun)

As fate would have it, last Sunday, The Joy of Reading fell open at the entry for Thomas Mann. Van Doren's recommendation was not Death in Venice, but rather The Magic Mountain.

I was impressed with the first pages' narrative of Hans Castorp's ascent to the International Sanatorium Berghof.

At the 100-page mark, I am pleased to report that the book is as pleasing as a fine piece of furniture. It has a beautiful high-altitude setting, populated by dotty, foreign inhabitants, and notable for intriguing details.

I once visited a friend who was staying at a Richmond hospital for mentally infirm. Then, I was struck by the unfortunate condition of those who seem healthy in every respect but are confined to quarters for months on the mere opinion of another human being. (This impression may have originated from a viewing of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.)

In the Berghof of The Magic Mountain, most of the patients seem perfectly healthy, save for an occasional cough. I wish they would be set free.