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So how about ending our year with this little story: The Elegance of the Hedgehod. This will blend sociology, philosophy and human nature for a very interesting discussion. Below is a rather long review but I think once you get a moment to review it you too may see what I see in this book and take some time to read it.

From The Washington Post's Book World

Renée Michel is the dumpy, nondescript, 54-year-old concierge of a small and exclusive Paris apartment building. Its handful of tenants include a celebrated restaurant critic, high government officials and members of the old nobility. Every day these residents pass by the loge of Madame Michel and, unless they want something from her, scarcely notice that she is alive. As it happens, Renée Michel prefers it that way. There is far more to her than meets the eye.

Paloma Josse also lives in the building. Acutely intelligent, introspective and philosophical, this 12-year-old views the world as absurd and records her observations about it in her journal. She despises her coddled existence, her older sister Colombe (who is studying at the École normale supérieure), and her well-to-do parents, especially her plant-obsessed mother. After careful consideration of what life is like, Paloma has secretly decided to kill herself on her 13th birthday.

These two characters provide the double narrative of The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and you will -- this is going to sound corny -- fall in love with both. In Europe, where Muriel Barbery's book became a huge bestseller in 2007, it has inspired the kind of affection and enthusiasm American readers bestow on the works of Alexander McCall Smith. Still, this is a very French novel: tender and satirical in its overall tone, yet most absorbing because of its reflections on the nature of beauty and art, the meaning of life and death. Out of context, Madame Michel's pensees may occasionally sound pretentious, just as Paloma might sometimes pass for a Gallic (and female) version of Holden Caulfield. But, for the most part, Barbery makes us believe in these two unbelievable characters.

But halfway through The Elegance of the Hedgehog, the lives of Paloma and Madame Michel are unexpectedly transformed. A Japanese gentleman named Kakuro Ozu buys a vacant apartment. Though clearly rich, he is also immensely courteous and shrewd, and immediately perceives that neither the little girl nor the concierge is just what she seems. Before long, Monsieur Ozu is gently contriving some little tests to discover more about their secret lives. And this leads to developments that range from the comic to the touching to the heartbreaking.

Madame Michel, in particular, begins to grow confused. Perhaps she does want more from life than books and music and videos. "Human longing! We cannot cease desiring, and this is our glory, and our doom. Desire! It carries us and crucifies us, delivers us every new day to a battlefield where, on the eve, the battle was lost."

Eventually, though, the wavering concierge realizes that she must risk the awful daring of a moment's surrender. Paloma has already prepared us for this leap, when she writes in one of her journal entries about "kairos, a Greek concept that means roughly 'the right moment,' something at which Napoleon apparently excelled. . . . Anyway, kairos is the intuition of the moment, something like that."

Nearly everyone in The Elegance of the Hedgehog takes great care over what the sociologist Erving Goffman once called "the presentation of self in everyday life." And this makes for much of the book's humor. At one point Madame Josse takes Paloma to consult an icily chic Parisian therapist about her little girl's "secretiveness." Eventually, left alone with the doctor, Paloma squares off with him: "Listen carefully, Mr. Permafrost Psychologist, you and I are going to strike a little bargain. You're going to leave me alone and in exchange I won't wreck your little trade in human suffering by spreading nasty rumors about you among the Parisian political and business elite. And believe me -- at least if you say you can tell just how intelligent I am -- I am fully capable of doing this." To Paloma's surprise, her threat actually works.

At one point Madame Michel asks herself, "What is the purpose of intelligence if it is not to serve others?" What indeed? Certainly, the intelligent Muriel Barbery has served readers well by giving us the gently satirical, exceptionally winning and inevitably bittersweet Elegance of the Hedgehog.

Cheers!
Tiffany

One last thought before the Holidays. A book for the season and a happy hour to send everybody off for the Christmas.

I love this book and it has been out for many years. I have read it a few times, but thought it would be a good time to read it once again.

Yeah, I know, a softie and not my normal "realism", but you'll love it.

Let's get ready and have a good holiday.

Happy Holidays to all!!

My fascination with Modern American culture has just been offered an opportunity I can’t pass up.

"Going Rogue: An American Life" by Sarah Palin.

Let's see: 1) "The Bridge to No Where" stance; 2) Illegitimate children and under age mothers; 3) Attempting to fire a state trooper who was involved in a highly contested divorce of her sister (wasn't that plot on "Reno 911"); and 4) Leaving the post too early (?).

Maybe it's just that she is female and capable? Anyway, I can't say I always agree with her, but I think it should be read just to get the bigger picture. Let's find out what she is about. People are still supporting her - don't you want to know why?

At least she was not: 1) involved in Enron; 2) involved in a ponzi scheme, private securities deals or oddly named, heretofore unknown derivatives; and 3) as far as I know, involved in "sub - sub- prime loans" (i.e., these were loans that would not even be qualified as subprime and involved only live bodies, with any form of paycheck and fraudulent documents). You see, subprime may not have been the problem really - it appears may have been the people/decision makers we bailed out with our tax dollars.

So let's give it try. It will make interesting discussion either way it goes.

Let's raise a glass of wine and a toast: "Going Rogue!"

P.S. I am not sure what she intended by the word "Rogue." This word is defined as a vagrant; someone outside societal norms; and an elephant that has cut itself out from the pack. When I thought of the word without Webster's guidance, I thought of someone who was wild, fiercely independent or different - all of this probably applies on some level. One commentator indicated it means "steely and independent."