A French Book Reading Resource

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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sat Oct 26, 2019 10:17 pm

kanewai wrote:quick addendum: I had taken MorktheFiddle's advice awhile back and listened to La prisonnière and Albertine disparue , and it was a whole new experience. I'd highly recommend it! Though I think you should read the first book to get used to Proust's writing style. For the last volume I'm thinking about doing both, reading and listening.

Agreed (obviously ;) ). Reading the first book first is sound advice, and I too am reading the last volumes and listening as well (slowly :) ).
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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 » Sat Oct 26, 2019 11:31 pm

Mork
Of Vian, I read J'irai cracher sur vos tombes and have begun but not got far with L'Écume des jours. My first opinion of J'irai cracher sur vos tombes was that it was trash from the line of "Mandingo" novels of the USA. But later I thought it might have been an attempt to write such a novels seriously not exploitatively, except that though well told and written, it failed. I stopped shortly after beginning L'Écume des jours, and I need to let it mariante a bit before continuing it.


Mork, my French literature teacher - Skype friend from Strasbourg told me that Boris Vian wrote J'irai cracher sur vos tombes as a parody on the genre of the time. It is not supposed to be high literature.

I am also coming to the realization that there are some trash books that I really like as well as other bks. such as The Illiad that I have read 3 times, War and Peace (3xs), and Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War . (note : I do not read ancient Greek). Reading what you and Kanewa write gives me the intellectual freedom to just say No to some classics while saying yes to others. It is ok to say some of them are Really boring.

You and Kanewa are true polyglots and have far more range of appreciation than I have. With time I will hopefully expand my range of appreciation. If I do, it will be because of people like you folks taking the time to teach me along the way.

And for that I am obviously indebted to you and Kaniwa.
:D
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sat Oct 26, 2019 11:48 pm

Carmody wrote:Mork, my French literature teacher - Skype friend from Strasbourg told me that Boris Vian wrote J'irai cracher sur vos tombes as a parody on the genre of the time. It is not supposed to be high literature.

I am also coming to the realization that there are some trash books that I really like as well as other bks. such as The Illiad that I have read 3 times, War and Peace (3xs), and Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War . (note : I do not read ancient Greek). Reading what you and Kanewa write gives me the intellectual freedom to just say No to some classics while saying yes to others. It is ok to say some of them are Really boring.

You and Kanewa are true polyglots and have far more range of appreciation than I have. With time I will hopefully expand my range of appreciation. If I do, it will be because of people like you folks taking the time to teach me along the way.

And for that I am obviously indebted to you and Kaniwa.
:D

First of all, thank you for the compliment. I myself am constantly amazed and and filled with enthusiasm and respect for (all) other members of the forum including yourself because of the advice they give and more importantly the examples they set.

I like also that prescriptivism is kept to a very bare minimum on this forum. That was Professor Aguelles strong criticism about HTLAL, and rightly so, IMHO.

Finally, as for likes and dislikes of literature or even the arts in general, it would be odd, and it would be awful, if everyone everywhere and in every era liked all the same books (movies, dramas, music TV, or people or etc.).
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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 » Wed Nov 06, 2019 8:47 pm

For many of us who read books in French the attached url is familiar territory, but just in case some are not familiar with La Rentrée Littéraire info I am sending it on...

https://lithub.com/inside-frances-fall-publishing-frenzy-aka-oscar-season-for-books/

:D
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Thu Nov 07, 2019 12:22 am

LLORG should give awards (books, blogs, movies, etc.). But how would we do that? :)
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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 » Thu Nov 07, 2019 1:33 am

That is a brilliant idea for a separate thread!
:D
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Bluepaint
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Bluepaint » Thu Nov 07, 2019 2:57 am

Carmody, how did I not notice this wonderful thread before! I have been mining it for resources all morning rather than getting out of bed and facing the torrential downpour outside.

It's so useful that I'm going to sticky it so others can find it easily, thanks for the thread :)
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Thu Nov 07, 2019 1:40 pm

Bluepaint »

Many thanks for your kind words; they are greatly appreciated. As you can tell, people are wonderful in sharing what they Like and Don't Like in their reading of French books. We are eager to know what authors you like and don't. There is no right or wrong or limitation. Feel Free!

If you fill out your Member Profile it gives members a chance to appreciate you a bit more:
Location:
Languages:
Language Log:
:D

Since you are a Moderator maybe you could advise how we might go about advertising this thread; thanks.
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iguanamon
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby iguanamon » Thu Nov 07, 2019 1:54 pm

I second Bluepaint. Great thread, Carmody. I would say definitely put a link to this thread in the French Study Group. Since Tom Gosse is much less active these days, perhaps a mod could insert it in the resources section. A similar problem exists within all the study groups. There should be a way to integrate thread like these with the study groups as sub threads. For French, as I remember, somewhere there's a thread about series and films with accurate subtitles. In Spanish, for example, we have "The official podcast thread" and "The official telenovela thread". I included links in the Spanish Group thread but these threads tend to get lost in the shuffle. Is it possible to have these type threads appended to the Study Group threads somehow?
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