I dug out my Balzac. I mean...you know what I mean. It turns out I do have Pere Goriot. Will report back with impressions.
About 80 pages in. The writing is very descriptive in a way that works. Balzac is quite funny, his sense of humor dry. Not much action so far—more like character studies and recounting anecdotes. But it’s working.
I’ve never read Balzac, but his unabashed love affair and addiction to coffee makes me want to give it a go.
I've wanted to read Balzac, particularly "The Unknown Masterpiece". But I worry that the "old timey" language might be hard to read. I'll have to give him a try sometime myself though. But when you say "descriptive" do you mean flowery? I wonder. I'll try to find some shorter stories maybe to start. Kudos on reading one of those well regarded classic authors.