We’re snowbound – this morning my brother walked through the snow to the post office only to be told that all the systems were down because, you know, snow. Snow equals no internet services. No post office, no bank. So we inventoried our supplies, decided we can hold on, and set out to see how we’ll spend the next weeks.
Cold.
Snow.
Soft lockdown.
The village looking like a ghost-town.

But not everything’s bad.
Hellebore magazine launched a special Yuletide issue, and I’m hoping the mail will be delivered, because of course I ordered a copy.
And we took advantage of the Black Friday to buy a few much needed supplies (thick socks, wool caps) and a ton of books. On the sixteenth of the month, we’ll get the new season of the Expanse. And the new year will open with a new Arsène Lupin series.
And you know I always was a Lupin fan, from the time I was in school.

And as I wait for the 8th of January and the first episode of the new Lupin, I’ve decided to brush up on my Leblanc, and start reading exactly the same book the protagonist of the series is seen handling in the trailer – Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Cambrioleur – that is, The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman Burglar.

When I first faced the Maurice Leblanc stories, the first impact with the French – I mentioned a few months back how the novels are freely available in French – was pretty shocking, so now, for the sake of efficiency, I am going forward with the two texts, French and English, side by side.
And I might get me the Italian edition too at a later time – it’s less than 7 bucks for over 4000 pages of adventure, a doorstop of a volume.

Arsène Lupin in our midst! the irresponsible burglar whose exploits had been narrated in all the newspapers during the past few months! the mysterious individual with whom Ganimard, our shrewdest detective, had been engaged in an implacable conflict amidst interesting and picturesque surroundings. Arsène Lupin, the eccentric gentleman who operates only in the chateaux and salons, and who, one night, entered the residence of Baron Schormann, but emerged empty-handed, leaving, however, his card on which he had scribbled these words: “Arsène Lupin, gentleman-burglar, will return when the furniture is genuine.” Arsène Lupin, the man of a thousand disguises: in turn a chauffer, detective, bookmaker, Russian physician, Spanish bull-fighter, commercial traveler, robust youth, or decrepit old man.

It’s going to be fun.