Les Caves du Vatican, by André Gide

André Gide is a most famous writer, and very influential in his time and to the next generation of French artists and intellectuals, so I always thought that not knowing his work was a serious lack in my culture. But what I read from him never impressed me - La Porte Étroite and Les Faux Monnayeurs, that I completely forgot soon after having read them. I tried again, with Les Caves du Vatican, and this time I started to understand why he was so considered.

It's a somewhat strange book, alternating between a serious, even dramatic, and an ironic, even comic, tone. Sometimes hilariously funny, it nevertheless poses some very serious and interesting questions - about human nature, religious feeling, the nature of morality and free will. All in all, I liked it, and it made me curious to read more of his work.