My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle, by Marcel Pagnol

It is the second book of Marcel Pagnol I read. Again, a very delightful reading. I hope to read more of his works, but he did not write a lot -- two more novels to enjoy. Thanks to library's Link+ service that I can request the books.

What a happy and warm memory, but the last two chapters made me so sad, so sad. A chill shivering through my body.

This is what you pay for happiness.

I will be touched more if I read the book 20 or 25 years ago. Nowadays, my heart is coated.

I am thinking to collect Pagnol's works.

Translated by Rita Barisse. A good translation. Published by North Point Press, San Francisco, 1986. ISBN 0865472572.

老铺底子，刘一达著

字大，行疏，图多的消遣读物。是我怀念的北京。

ISBN 7200051594。北京出版社。2004年。

别墅故事 闲话庐山 方方著

方方亲切优美的文字，配上清新的黑白照片，娓娓说着庐山别墅故事。别墅本是避暑、休闲的去处，但是在中国动乱、惨烈的近代历史中，这些别墅的故事又是不一般的味道。

三联书店（香港）有限公司。2004年。ISBN 9620423402。很漂亮、典雅的一本书。

A Hero of Our Time, by Mikhail Lermontov

Before I read the book, I thought the author a poet from Soviet Union who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. However, when I read the story "Princess Mary", the classic narration and psychological description made me doubt it. Checking Wikipedia, I got to know the author lived from 1814 to 1841. This work written at this early age is a triumph!

I liked the first half, adventurous, exotic, of beautiful prose. However, the most important story in the book, "Princess Mary", is not my favorite, although I admit that it was well written and it best delivered the author's message. I was just not interested in such a plot and length psychological narration was boring.

From how differently the stores are narrated in the first and second half, I can see the writer's skills. Only about 170 pages, but the character Pechorin stands out. After putting down the thin book, I felt what I read was much more than 170 pages.

Translated by Vladimir Nabokov in collaboration with Dmitri Nabokov. I have to admit that Nabokov did an excellent translation. However, I still do not like him because of his sharp attacks to others, especially to Constance Garnett. How many books you Vladimir translated, and how many works tireless Garnett translated? You do not have a right to say the dirty words to her!

Everyman's library. ISBN 0679413278.

The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger

"It is very well-written," I said.
"What make you think so?" Jia asked.
"Well, it precisely described what a teenage think -- and I share some of them, and the people and events described are typically ..."
"Is that enough?"
"Well, this is a typically issue of an American novel, well written, author of some talent, but it lacks something to make it great."
"okay, probably you can say that the book is not bad".

The American society makes a pattern of what a successful man and attractive woman should be, and then many people make a show in daily lives in order to fit the pattern.

Hardcover. Published by Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316769533.