In which I begin reading Zola's Aux Bonheurs des dames (Or The Ladies' Delight)

That's right.  I picked up this little treasure (en francais, bien sur) at a book store in NYC when I went with French Club a few months back.  I was super excited to find a Zola book in French.  And it only cost me $2.  Aux Bonheurs des dames is translated in English most often as either The Ladies' Delight or The Ladies' Paradise, which makes sense if you know what the book is about.

I can't wait to dig in.  The premise of the story is basically that there is this huge department store built in a busy location, and the proprietor has everything set out just so so that all the ladies want to come to his shop instead of all the other little boutiques.  I'll be looking at the conflict between the little stores and the big stores, but it looks like there's gonna be a lot more to this book :)  I might keep you updated as I go along.  It depends on either 1) How lazy I am or 2) How engrossed I am in the story.

Wish me luck!  If you want more info on the book and it's plot and the Rougon-Macquarts, you can easily find heeps of info on wikipedia simply by typing in the book's title (and searching with the French title still takes you to the English page).