Zoladdiction: The Fortune of the Rougons - maybe...

I've never read Zola, and given the praise in Delaisse's posts, and the Zoladdiction organised with Fanda, I felt I had to make this acquaintance -  at last.  The problem:  where to start?

One starts from the beginning - or so I thought:  Off I went reading The Fortune of the Rougons (La fortune des Rougon), the first of Les Rougon-Macquart saga.

(picked up shamelessly from Delaisse's blog)

I've stopped about quarter-way and I intend to pick this book up again in the near future.  The wording is sublime - French at its best, with the descriptions detailing minutely the situations, the atmosphere, the background information we will need for the remaining volumes.  But after a 3-day period, I had witnessed nothing.  I'm still in the background frame and I begin to feel there will be no central plot...  I know that I should persist and  complete my challenge but I've just bought two other Zolas - La Curée and Nana.  And I want to give those a try, just to make certain that I'll come to discover Zola's genius soon enough.

So, I'm putting the Fortune aside for the time being, and I'm ready to be entertained by La Curée...