A French Book Reading Resource

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Carmody
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Thu Apr 29, 2021 12:37 pm

Maiwenn

Thanks very much for your comprehensive answer. I will have to think before I respond.
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Carmody
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Thu Apr 29, 2021 12:42 pm

Rick

Thanks so much for the speedy and comprehensive answer; I guess I am going to have to think on it....
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:57 pm

Looks to me as if Rick's suggestion to use Okular to annotate pdf's is workable. I'm going to try it myself, because I like to make notes and underline, too.
I appreciate the explanation you have given for your steps and thinking about these matters. Getting older is not a bed of roses.
Lastly, when I bought my three volumes of À la recherhe, I don't remember how much, but it could not have been more than $20 (i.e., in dollars, not francs) total for all three, since my ex and I were in France on a very tight budget. By the way, I keep calling it À la recherhe because that's how the woman in the Paris bookstore refered to it, saying it so fast it sounded like one word, Cherche.
I am flattered and honored if I have given you any inspiration, Carmody.
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Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Thu Apr 29, 2021 5:44 pm

rdearman wrote:
Carmody wrote:Thank you so much Rick for pointing that out. However, I can't print out all the pdfs, which would be quite an expenditure itself. Print toner and paper cost.

I regret to say I don't do Kindle, etc. I need a book to write in and interact with if I am going to really enjoy and learn from it. It helps me learn the language.

OK,
[*]You can use software which allows you to annotate pdf files directly on the computer. I use Okular on Linux, but it looks like they have a windows version as well.

You can download the Windows version from the Microsoft Store. A quick test drive shows it can do annotations as Rick says if the pdf is text, but not if the pdf is an image.
Occasionally PDF Xchange Editor is my backup pdf reader, but IMHO Okular is superior to both it and Adobe Reader. Thanks Rick.
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Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

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Carmody
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Fri Apr 30, 2021 2:45 pm

Well, my Marcel Proust journey continues with more news coming shortly however the store I am buying the book from-Albertine, named after one of the characters in the book-is having an event that people may wish to sign up for.

https://www.albertine.com/events/on-marcel-proust-jean-yves-tadie-and-caroline-weber-in-conversation/

The event is free and also deals with a newly discovered work by Proust. You may find it of interest.

And MorkTheFiddle may find it of interest because his Pleiade edition was edited by the major speaker:
Jean-Yves Tadié, who edited the 1987-1989 four-volume Pléiade edition of In Search of Lost Time


More news to follow...
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Fri Apr 30, 2021 10:13 pm

Carmody wrote:
And MorkTheFiddle may find it of interest because his Pleiade edition was edited by the major speaker:
Jean-Yves Tadié, who edited the 1987-1989 four-volume Pléiade edition of In Search of Lost Time


More news to follow...

It was very, very inconsiderate of Marcel to die before publication of all of his little work. Endless confusion ensued about which edition was which (in my mind, I mean). Amazon does not help matters at all by confusing titles and sometimes even authors. The upshot of this mini-rant is that the edition I own was "établie et présentée par Pierre Clarac et André Perré." Clarac apparently is now munching madeleines somewhere on a green lawn overlooking an azure sea with Proust, and Perré has changed careers and become a Portuguese football player.
Congratulations on finding a source for À la recherche. I'll pass on any new purchase because I'm still working on Simone Weil's Vie and the mountainous bio of Camus.
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Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

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Carmody
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Mon May 03, 2021 12:15 am

Ok, here goes my attempt to explain Planetary Alignment.

The following book review by MorkTheFiddle was brilliant and greatly appreciated:
MorkTheFiddle » Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:22 am Carmondy asked for my review of A la recherche du temps perdu. Here it is

A la Recherche is a museum of Marcel Proust's life and thoughts, and Marcel is your docent. Part of the museum houses fiction based on Proust's life, part of it keeps his essays on the times, including about art and World War 1, and part of it is mostly idle talk. The docent is a bright, observant and seemingly well educated man. The fiction creates some lively characters. Swann and Odette and Françoise come immediately to mind. The mother of Marcel plays an important part in his life, though not so much in A la Recherche. The father plays a very minimal role, and some have made a great todo about that, but if memory serves, Marcel's brother plays no role at all and as far as I know there was never a rift between the two of them.

Here I have to admit that (a) I have not visited the whole museum. I have missed Sodom and Gomorrah and (b) some of what I did read and listen to occurred several years ago. The museum charges no admission and is never closed, so I could back as often and for as long as I liked.

While visiting the museum I often asked myself, "Why am I here? Have I not seen the most interesting parts?" But the last part, Le Temps retrouvé, holds some surprises. Characters you thought you were done with show up again. It's like running into an old friend you haven't seen in years at the mall.

Some of the people will stay forever in my mind. Marcel, Françoise, Swann, Odette, Baron Charlus. Others have already slipped away. Robert St Loup is on the way out, too.

If French Culture intrigues you, you should visit the museum. Don't be intimidated by the reputation of the novel as being difficult. It is not. For me at any rate, Celine's Voyage au bout de la nuit is more difficult, because of vocabulary. Again for me, the latter lacks the swinging rhythms that make A la Recherche easy and even a pleasure if you listen to it.

If French Culture does not intrigue you, then maybe read the first volume only. I think I read that's the part French students get assigned. Read that, then read more if you like. Otherwise, have a cognac, or maybe a madeleine, to celebrate and move on.


For years I have been incredibly reluctant to undertake Marcel Proust but this book review above definitely persuaded me to undertake the journey. So, hats off and thanks to MorkTheFiddle.

Now finding the edition to read was another mountain to climb. I don't read books on Kindle or anything else. I need a book I can underline and write in. I also always buy used. However, I have discovered that buying Cheap has its costs. I mean I have bought some classics that were horrible to read because of the way they were published. Really. And given what this book is I wanted a reliable edition. So I contacted Albertine https://shop.albertine.com/panier.php and had very extensive emails (15 in all)about which edition and why. I finally settled on:
all seven volumes in the Gallimard La Nouvelle Revue Française edition would cost a total of $211.79 ($31.92 (I) ; $32.49 (II) ; $34.04 (III) ; $32.49 (IV) ; $27.66 (V) ; $23.40 (VI) ; $29.79 (VII)).
I will be buying the first volume and see how I do. After that I will over the years hopefully get a volume for birthday, or Christmas, or whatever.

The point is that all my life I have been paying car repair bills, yearly charity donations, landscaping bills, oil bills, etc. and for once in my life to break out of the mold and really gift myself something. So since I don't do any drinking, smoking, gambling, etc. I wanted to see if I could be good to myself at least with Volume 1. So, there. It has been ordered and should arrive in 3 weeks time. This has been a real stretch for me but I have no regrets.

In the meantime I can finish up my reading of Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky and post that review.

Ok, so now you know everything you needed to know about Planetary Alignment.......and you didn't even have to go to Mars.
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Mon May 03, 2021 5:34 pm

Carmody wrote:Ok, here goes my attempt to explain Planetary Alignment.

For years I have been incredibly reluctant to undertake Marcel Proust but this book review above definitely persuaded me to undertake the journey. So, hats off and thanks to MorkTheFiddle... This has been a real stretch for me but I have no regrets.

May you continue to have no regrets after reading the first volume. Enjoy Proust!
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Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Fri May 07, 2021 5:18 pm

Just a reminder to folks that there is a free Webinar available this Saturday that will discuss Proust.

https://www.albertine.com/events/on-marcel-proust-jean-yves-tadie-and-caroline-weber-in-conversation/
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Fri May 14, 2021 1:12 am

So I am still very much in the midst of reading Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky which was written in the early years of Vichy. It is a really special book and I don't want to speed read it. But in another 2-3 weeks a review will be posted.

In the meantime I do lots of Oral input from YouTube on the 1940-44 period. There are some great documentaries in French out there that I want you to see, but they keep getting pulled down due to copyright problems. Anyway the following video will show you just how difficult the Vichy years were for the French. The Germans had 2 million Frenchmen shipped back to Germany for labor and were being held hostage. What follows shows you the difficulty for the French in handling the Germans in the entertainment world. I don't know if this documentary will get pulled but if Vichy interests you this film is well worth it....if they leave it up.

L'Occupation sans relache Les artistes pendant le guerre


History is totally fascinating..
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