The Judgment of Paris

Who will eat an apple? What will one choose: power, knowledge or love? Similar to the ancient legend, before the hero of the novel there are three women each symbolizing one of these three aspects of existence. But the place is Europe and the time is the middle of the twentieth century and the entoura......more

Titled after one of those devilishly entertaining tales from Greek myth (which all erudite authors must refer to in their novels if they ever want to make it big—no shirking now!), Gore Vidal’s seventh novel (written aged 27!) makes things happen in Rome, Cairo and Paris. Indecisive aesthete (and la......more

I was actually pretty proud of myself, reading a Gore Vidal novel. Okay, sadly, it's because Brian Griffin from the Family Guy is a fan of Gore Vidal. But whatever, I was sort of holding it up on the subway, trying to impress this rather striking girl with red bouncy hair who works as an editor at a......more

Potere, Sapere, Bellezza: tre donne ne sono ciascuna la prosopopea con cui un novello Paride, durante un suo anno sabbatico - rispettivamente a Roma, in Egitto e a Parigi - s'intrattiene. Chi sceglierà? (Un romanzo elegante, licenzioso, ironico, dotto, filosofico, settecentesco).......more

I've been reading occasional early Gore Vidal novels. They're never anything like as wonderful as his essays, but they're entertaining and sometimes pretty good. The Judgement of Paris isn't strong overall but it's a fun and easy read (I read the whole thing on 2 plane trips). As usual, GV has a keen......more