Balzac revival

When you're French you're expected to drink wine, eat a lot of bread and wear a hat or a beret on your head.
You're also, if you're speaking to fellow book-lovers, expected to know all about Rimbaud, Dumas and other French celebrities.
I heard about Balzac since I was a child. And when I had reached a reasonable age I though it was about time I would give it a go, beginning with Le Lys dans la Vallée. I was fifteen and had read all Maupassant and every possible poem from Rimbaud. But I certainly wasnt mature enough for this type of literature, for it was one of the very few books I attempted to read and miserably failed after several dozens of boooooring pages. (another one being A la recherche du temps perdu...).
So when I was told I would have to become a Balzacian for my studies I was first a bit annoyed at the idea. Then, I did begin to read a lot of things about the author's life, and his way of writing..then I began to read it...and...once upon a time, she opened the book, and fell in love with the feather which wrote these magical lines full of descriptions about places, people and emotions. Which is a happy ending that will allow me to read another 126 novels from him from now on.