Le Mausolée des Amants, by Hervé Guibert

By Hervé Guibert, I had read À l'ami qui ne m'a pas sauvé la vie, that I liked very much, and Moi et mon valet, also good. Le Mausolée des Amants - Journal 1976-1991 is a very good book. Emotionally very intense, if sometimes it sounds pretentious or too narcissistic (but are not journals always somewhat narcissistic?), the overall feeling that remains is one of tenderness - for his fragility, his shortcomings, his lust for life, his candor, his love story with Thierry.

He talked about his experience as an AIDS patient at length in À l'ami qui ne m'a pas sauvé la vie and in other books I haven't read. I particularly liked in this journal the way he talks about the genesis of his several books, which is something that always interests me (and gave me a desire to read them), and how he alludes to his relationships with his family, friends and lovers, the complexity, multiplicity and contradictory, often confused feelings make it ring very true.

And French is such a beautiful language.