Look what I found at the library!
It’s a bookmark I picked up at the checkout station.
“The original desperate housewife”? Oh, really?
Here’s the back.
Susan Wise Bauer thinks you should read the book.
We at Classic Case of Madness would love for you to read along with us.
Even my local library thinks Madame Bovary is worth reading.
So, what are you waiting for? Grab a copy of Gustave Flaubert’s classic and get ready to start
Madame Bovary.
Christine
Christina Joy
Jeannette
A Classic Case of Madness 
jeanlp
June 6, 2012 at 10:19 am
I’m ready to go, but here’s my question–my copy is a plain ol’ Penguin, and everyone is raving about this new Davis translation, which my library does not have. Do I have to have it, or can I get along with what I’ve got?
Adriana @ Classical Quest
June 6, 2012 at 10:36 am
I have the new Davis translation, but SWB recommended the Vintage Classics edition, translated by Frances Steegmuller. I’m curious what editions my other WEM friends are using.
jeanlp
June 6, 2012 at 10:48 am
Hm, library does have the Steegmuller (3 copies and no others!). I’ll get that and compare it with mine.
Christine
June 6, 2012 at 10:49 pm
I am a huge fan of free and/or cheap. My copy of Mme B. is a used Penguin Classics; I think I got it for $1. I do like the Penguin Classics. I’ve also downloaded the free kindle version. I’ve already noticed translation differences between the two, but nothing that would interfere with my understanding of the story. Like Christina said… it’s all about the footnotes (which I can’t believe I’m saying after Don Quixote).
Adriana @ Classical Quest
June 6, 2012 at 10:30 am
Christine this bookmark is a much better match for Madame B than your angel bookmark was for The Scarlet Letter! Love it.
Christine
June 6, 2012 at 10:51 pm
When I bought my used copy, it already had a bookmark stuck in it. It’s a Christmas bookmark with Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus and the Luke 2 passage on it.
Adriana @ Classical Quest
June 6, 2012 at 10:51 am
Jean, I just want to say again, I’m excited you are joining us for MB!!
jeanlp
June 6, 2012 at 2:32 pm
Aw thanks! 🙂
Jeannette
June 6, 2012 at 4:25 pm
I like this picture better than the one on the cover of my copy, which is an old Bantam Classic edition, translated by Bair.
Christina Joy
June 6, 2012 at 10:38 pm
I have the Steegmuller with the close-up cover that you see in our sidebar, but I also have the free Kindle version translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling. But when it really comes down to it, I just want footnotes. 😦
Fanda
June 7, 2012 at 5:04 am
I have read Madame B, but am curious to read your thoughts of it. I especially love how Gustave Flaubert wrote it (artful language as the bookmark said), more than the story itself. Happy reading anyway!
Christina Joy
June 7, 2012 at 11:03 am
I’m only three chapters in, but I must say that already this language has caused me to stop and write all sorts of notes in my margins. Everything is so sensory. I love it.
Christine
June 8, 2012 at 6:59 am
Thanks for the well-wishes. I feeling a little guarded about the story myself. I’m predicting that I will appreciate the prose but not the plot.
jeanlp
June 7, 2012 at 10:20 am
I’ve never done a read-along with you folks before, so I don’t quite know how it goes. Will there be a schedule?
Christina Joy
June 7, 2012 at 11:14 am
No schedule, we all just sort of read at our own pace, discuss as we go, and then wrap it all up together in the end. Every once in a while we’ve posted little updates about where we are as we’re reading, and now that we have more people reading along with us it might be beneficial if we did that more often.
In light of that: All three of us here at CCOM are between Chapters 2-3 of Part One. The blog usually lags behind where we actually are because our writing and reading go in spurts, and we still have over a weeks worth of UTC posts scheduled before we’ll start putting up MB ones. But in some ways that’s good, because it helps prevent spoilers (which we are pretty horrible at warning about, because we don’t actually know where anyone is in the novel.)
Bet that’s clear as mud. That’s my specialty, you know, taking 36 sentences to say what four would have said quite nicely.
jeanlp
June 7, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Oh, good, that helps. I didn’t know if I should start or not yet! I’m very new to readalongs–I’m in the middle of the first ones I’ve ever tried, so I don’t know how they generally go. I’ll start reading!
Steph (@FABR_Steph)
June 8, 2012 at 10:20 pm
I am hearing more about this all the time. I guess that it is making its way around again. Good thing, since I have never read it and was not fully aware of the premise. I am game!
Christina Joy
June 9, 2012 at 11:32 am
I had (have) no idea what it was about either. It’s shocking at how much I don’t know about some of the classics. Glad you’re joining us!
Sarah
June 10, 2012 at 7:59 pm
I’m going to at least start online (I’ll be behind the rest of you). And I think the only available edition online may be the Marx-Aveling one. I have no idea how good it is…
Christine
June 14, 2012 at 6:54 am
I don’t know anything about the online editions of Mme B. I’m sure we’ll have to discuss translations at some point. I keep noticing differences between my free kindle version and my penguin classics one.