A French Book Reading Resource

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DaveAgain
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby DaveAgain » Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:11 pm

Carmody wrote:A question re the French book publishing industry:

when buying my French books I always buy them used and cheap, however, recently I have had two books arrive that have no imprint of a publisher within. This raises a couple of questions such as are these companies pirating the books or, which I guess is more likely, the copyright laws in France allow this practice after a certain amount of time. Does anyone know anything about the French publishing industry?

Thanks.
French books seem to have different conventions to british ones. Things I would expect to appear at the front of a book appear instead at the back.

However to have no publisher's name at all does sound odd. Were these out of copyright works that might have been re-published by a low cost producer?
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Wed May 01, 2019 12:03 am

Well the two books were:

Une pièce montée which is by Blandine Le Callet | Jan 9, 2007
and
Diary of a Chambermaid which is by Octave Mirbeau 1900.
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Wed May 01, 2019 12:36 pm

Carmody wrote:MorkTheFiddle,

Many thanks for the url; yes, I downloaded it and the reader Victoria sounds great to me.

One thing I can't understand is why it is that so many other people know about it and like it. To me it seems to be a book definitely under the radar.

:)
I share your puzzlement. :? But I'm glad you like Victoria. :)
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Wed May 01, 2019 12:41 pm

Carmody wrote:Well the two books were:

Une pièce montée which is by Blandine Le Callet | Jan 9, 2007
and
Diary of a Chambermaid which is by Octave Mirbeau 1900.

I think DaveAgain hit the nail on the head about Mirbeau. Copyright laws are a maze to me, but Mirbeau died in 1917, so surely the book is out of copyright by now. Isn't the cut-off date for the USA 1923?. Une pièce montée is a different matter, however.
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Wed May 01, 2019 12:44 pm

DaveAgain wrote:French books seem to have different conventions to british ones. Things I would expect to appear at the front of a book appear instead at the back.
Yes, and the title on the spine of French publications is reversed, something of an irritant when shelving them. :?
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Wed May 08, 2019 6:52 pm

When I read a book, I first do so on an Extensive Reading basis and then the next time on an Intensive Reading basis, plus additional reviews for vocab.

Herewith my review of Le Journal d'une femme de chambre by Octave Mirbeau following my Intensive read through.

Yes, MorktheFiddle is right; it is a joy. I don't think I really got in the swing of it the first time through, but after the second it was a joy. Again, the vocab level makes it special. It is definitely a B1 level for those considering it. And my rating goes from 5/10 of the first run through to 8/10 after this reading.
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Sat May 11, 2019 12:59 am

PfifltriggPi » Tue Apr 30, 2019
I just realized I forgot to put my review of the film version of Une pièce montée here. To recap, for those who do not know, the original book is a 2007 novel telling the story of a bourgeois marriage from the perspective of numerous attendees, and is absolutely amazing.
Many thanks for the suggestion, I am half way through the book at this time. The vocabulary level certainly is reader friendly for me.

Thanks again.
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Tue May 14, 2019 12:43 am

Ok, I have finished Une pièce montée by Blandine Le Callet and loved it. The vocabulary was a breeze and all of it a joy. My thanks again to PfifltriggPi.

If others can recommend books like this, I would be most grateful.

I give it a 8.5/10.
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:14 am

Just finished another Amélie Nothomb book. This one is entitled Attentat, and is about a man of 29 years of age who is born repulsively ugly. It deals with the love of physical beauty vs. the love of beauty of the soul.

All of Nothomb’s books deal with philosophical issues and come from an emotional depth that most people would find difficult or painful to read about. Much of her writing is also difficult to read due to her obscure words and references, and yet I do like her and find she definitely holds my interest.

She is not an acquired taste; you either like her or don’t. I do.

I give her writing here an 8/10.

Thanks for stopping by.
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby David1917 » Wed Jun 26, 2019 6:38 pm

MorkTheFiddle wrote:Le roi de fer. Read it twice, just because it's fun. But got bogged down in La reine étranglée. I have the set in hard bound copies. Because of Game of Thrones, this set of books may be worth millions. :roll:


How would you rate the difficulty of this series? Basically, I'm feeling the need to "plunge" into reading some real French extensively. Having spoken Spanish for 15 or so years and spent another few poking around at Italian and Portuguese before finally actually studying French, I feel that I should break off the training wheels and get at it. Studying French with Assimil, etc. feels too easy most of the time. I've skimmed the thread and looked up a few of the books listed, and this is the first one that caught my eye, both for its plot and its being a 7-part series I can hope to read in full. Considering the GoT comparison, I assume it is widely palatable for mass consumption.

Basically I don't want to read Harry Potter, but might need to read something at that level or a bit beyond, along the lines of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" or "50 Shades." Any tips appreciated.
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