Madame Bovary

"Flaubert is the only writer to consistently appear twice in my top 10—this is maybe the first modern bourgeois novel, and in its commitment to realism, one of a handful of novels that changed the path of literature."

"Madame Bovary is a masterpiece. Flaubert paints a picture of a woman who is vulgar, weak and stupid, but he manages to make her likeable and that’s why we love the novel so much, Flaubert’s unique style makes that possible. I also like Stendhal’s On Love a great deal, even if we lose a lot in translating a text. How can you faithfully translate Flaubert or Kafka? Translating without betraying the original text to some extent, is impossible."

"The first feminist character in a novel. I love this period of French lit, reflecting the life of a bored wife trapped as a woman in a ‘suitable’ marriage as a way to maintain her inheritance. It was seen as introducing realism and the modern narrative."

"I read this book my senior year of high school. It was one of those books that people were always talking about, but it had never been assigned to me. I can’t remember why I actually picked it up, but I immediately became obsessed with it when I did, and read it in three days. I remember sitting on a bed—it was actually my boyfriend’s bed—and sobbing when I finished it. He came in and was like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ I think it’s one of those books that should be required reading for young..."

"The most perfect novel ever written."

"Emma Bovary, married to a good-hearted drudge, has a healthy libido, a shopping addiction, and an unhealthy sense of romance. Flaubert’s landmark work is both a romantic novel and a critique of romantic novels, and in its writing and observation it is modern and memorable."