A French Book Reading Resource

[Carmody]

And you would score it what on a 0/10?

[Le Baron]

And you would score it what on a 0/10?

As far as I remember it (and I did reread it one time) I think it was good. However my personal appraisal is neither here nor there because people react to books differently and even at different times. Just give a try and if it doesn't work there's no loss, you can abandon it.

[Carmody]

Many thanks; I will ask for it as a birthday gift upcoming.

[Carmody]

Les Trois Femmes du Consul by Rufin

So this is the third book by Rufin that my neighbor has given me and I guess beggars can’t be choosy, however, with this second detective story Rufin is definitely having difficulty making things interesting. This book is a somewhat laborious spin off of his first detective story with the exception that he just changed the country of origin.

In all fairness, I do not like detective stories where the ending does not include the killer being identified. However only a group is suggested as being responsible for the murder.

What gets me about this book, like its predecessor, Le suspendu de Conakry is that his explanation of why the crime happened goes on for about four pages.

Also I am of the old school that likes deductive reasoning when solving a crime. In summary:
C1-C2
6/10

Note: My birthday is in 4 days and based on LeBaron liking Diderot, I have asked for 2 Diderot books; so hopefully my life will be looking up and I will not be having to depend on the kindness of strangers. Although the next book my neighbor will probably give me will be Guy de Maupassant's Bel Ami.

[MorkTheFiddle]

When you are not reading French, what do you like to read? I know you have listed your reading before, so if you choose not to rehash all that, I understand.
When I read Spanish, I gravitate to certain authors: Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende and Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
When I read English, I gravitate to William Faulkner and Ann Patchett. I've also read and enjoyed the action-adventure novels of Janet Evanovich.

Does your current town have a decent library?

Oh. Happy Birthday!

Edited 1 time for the birthday

[Carmody]

MorkTheFiddle » Tue Jul 04, 2023 7:18 am
When you are not reading French, what do you like to read? I know you have listed your reading before, so if you choose not to rehash all that, I understand.
When I read Spanish, I gravitate to certain authors: Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende and Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
When I read English, I gravitate to William Faulkner and Ann Patchett. I've also read and enjoyed the action-adventure novels of Janet Evanovich.

Does your current town have a decent library?

Oh. Happy Birthday!

Edited 1 time for the birthday

Thanks for the nice question and birthday wishes.
1-
Our Town's new library is opening this month and we are all immensely proud of it:
https://campaign4.kennettlibrary.org/
We have been on a big tour already of the facilities and they are impressive. But we will have to wait for it to open before I can find out how good it is.

2-
My reading of books at this time is still very much French. I know I should mix it up with English but haven't found out how to stay current with my French if I am reading in English. So that means that I have been reading just in French for the past 7 years. If you could advise on that I would appreciate it.

I sincerely wish I were a polymath like yourself and could study multiple languages and read books in English however I am just not at your level and have to stay within my own boundaries if I am to achieve the little that I do. The fact that you know Spanish and ancient Greek, etc. is great, however, I am just not at your level.

I went to my library shelves and found the following authors:
-Dickens, David Copperfield-3xs at 20 yrs intevals.
-Tolstoy, War and Peace=3xs at 20 yrs intevals.
-Dostoyevsky, The Idiot =2xs
-Homer, Iliad=3xs at 5 yr intevals.
-Epic of Gilgamesh
-Aeschylus, The Oresteia
-Sophocles, The Theban Plays
-Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga- the entire trilogy, 3xs at 20 yrs intervals.
-The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War Paperback – Illustrated, September 10, 1998 by Thucydides (Author), Robert B. Strassler. 2X

In addition I have read a lot on Buddhism and studied and practiced it for many years.

Getting back to my French reading you can review what I have posted here over the years but I would like to suggest that Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb is a remarkable and often overlooked book. I believe I read that 3xs as well.

So there you have it. I am neither a polyglot nor polymath. I guess I am pretty much like Candide in that I work in my own garden for the most part.

Have a wonderful July 4th.

[Nogon]

Aw, the library looks lovely! Hope they'll have lots of great books too, including a nice collection of French ones.

[MorkTheFiddle]

2-
My reading of books at this time is still very much French. I know I should mix it up with English but haven't found out how to stay current with my French if I am reading in English. So that means that I have been reading just in French for the past 7 years. If you could advise on that I would appreciate it.

I say read whatever you like. The numbers of books in French you have read impress me a lot.
The library seems both airy and robust. May you enjoy it beaucoup !

[Le Baron]

I somehow didn't get alerted to the thread a missed your birthday Carmody... so a late extension of my best wishes! when I clicked the library link I saw the architectural impression and though 'Ah, but what will it look like!' Scrolled down and it seems to be exactly like the impression. Excellent.

Many libraries are in danger of disappearing or being turned into 'business centres'. The library in Utrecht has now moved to occupy the art deco building which formerly housed the central post office. Prior to that it was right across from the old town hall. I spent quite a bit of time there, but latterly it became a horrible place with every table taken by a student with a laptop plugged into the wall, a very noisy espresso machine, 'meetings' being held on the larger tables and fewer and fewer books. They sold off absolutely loads of them. In fact I bought quite a lot of them. Philosophy, some literature (including French), a few language courses and what-have-you.

Several local libraries have been rebuilt, but libraries in general have changed. I liked it when they were quiet places with just books and librarians who knew how to find things. Now with all that having to compete with the internet and also the increased ability to buy books, they're not quite the same. I'm often disappointed by the offerings. Utrecht has many public library branches, but as each one is renovated it seems to be at the expense of the actual books. You expect a central library to be filled with them, but this one doesn't feel like that.

Just a note about reading French... Even though I read other stuff, because I have to if I want to maintain languages, I likely read in French more than any other language just because I like the literature on offer. Currently in the general rotation I'm reading Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran. It's only 73 pages long! Nothing like his La Part de l'autre at around 500 pages.

[Carmody]

Le Baron

Thanks for your birthday wishes. Actually today is my birthday and today I got 3 Diderot books that I asked for. You spoke highly of Diderot, so for the time being I will be reading:

La Religieuse
Le neveu de Rameau
Jacques le fataliste et son maître

Will let everyone know after I get through them.

Carmody