The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard
by Anatole France
1881 / 234 pages (Kindle)
rating:  7.5  ?

“The poor man who has no desires possesses the greatest of riches; he possesses himself. The rich man who desires something is only a wretched slave.”  (p. 17 – Kindle)

I read and quite enjoyed France’s  Penguin Island years ago so when the 19th Century group chose this for the discussion I rather looked forward to it.

And it started quite well,  I was promptly involved in Part 1,  The Log,  where Sylvestre keeps a diary and tells the story of how he desired a certain book so much,  he obsessed over it.   In the meanwhile he befriends a poor neighbor by giving them a large log for their Christmas fire.  Years later he’s still desiring the log and travels to Sicily to find it but it wasn’t there – instead a series of rather mysterious events took over.  >>>>MORE (no spoilers)>>>>