Mario and the Magician: 05/03/07

I picked up Sixteen Short Novels at the September BookCrossing meeting last year. Yes; I went a week postpartum and Harriet went too. My goal is to read and review each of these short novels but if I do it all at once I'll only get this one massive book read for quite some time. Instead, I'll concentrate on each novel separately and count each one as its own book just as I did for the four novellas in Four Past Midnight. At that rate I figure I can read about three of these short novels a month and I should have the book ready for release by Harriet's first birthday.

"Mario and the Magician" by Thomas Mann is the second of his novellas that I've read (the other being A Death in Venice). Among my friends, I seem to be the only one who enjoys Mann's odd mixture of travelogue and inappropriate sexual thoughts. This time a father recounts a day on vacation in Italy full of cultural clashes that ends with an odd but entertaining magic show that goes to far. Here the father is baffled by the conversative nature of the Italian villagers.

Comments (0)

Comment #1: Thursday, May, 17, 2007 at 15:10:33

dew

That's one of the most interesting takes on the book that I've seen. Neat insight!"

Comment #2: Thursday, May, 17, 2007 at 12:15:18

Pussreboots

The meeting is only five (maybe eight) miles away. My husband did all the driving. I just had to sit and enjoy seeing my friends and of course showing off Harriet!"

Comment #3: Friday, May, 18, 2007 at 01:25:15

Michelle

Really? Online since 1997? REALLY? That's got to be a record."

Comment #4: Thursday, May, 17, 2007 at 10:36:33

Pussreboots

Yes indeed! August 2 will be my 10th anniversary. I've been doing web design since 1995 but have only had this site since 1997."