A French Book Reading Resource

All about language programs, courses, websites and other learning resources
User avatar
Carmody
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1747
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 4:00 am
Location: NYC, NY
Languages: English (N)
French (B1)
Language Log: http://tinyurl.com/zot7wrs
x 3395

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Wed May 26, 2021 6:45 pm

Image

Suite française by Irène Némirovsky


How and where to begin a review of this book…so much to say. An indication of the immensity of the problem for a review is possibly best indicated by what Wikipedia started out with..
Irène Némirovsky 1903 – 1942
Suite française (French pronunciation: [sɥit fʁɑ̃sɛːz]; 'French Suite') is the title of a planned sequence of five novels by Irène Némirovsky, a French writer of Ukrainian-Jewish origin. In July 1942, having just completed the first two of the series, Némirovsky was arrested as a Jew and detained at Pithiviers and then Auschwitz, where she was murdered, a victim of the Holocaust. The notebook containing the two novels was preserved by her daughters but not examined until 1998. They were published in a single volume entitled Suite française in 2004.

She was a novelist of Ukrainian Jewish origin who was born in Kiev, Ukraine under the Russian Empire. She lived more than half her life in France, and wrote in French, but was denied French citizenship. Arrested as a Jew under the racial laws – which did not take into account her conversion to Roman Catholicism – she died at Auschwitz at the age of 39.
In the course of her life she learned to speak 7 different languages.

The two novels in Suite française are entitled - Tempête en juin and Dolce. The first book of which focuses on the exodus of Parisians and others from Paris fleeing south to avoid the German advance in 1940 and the second book Dolce covering the occupation by German troops and what it was like for both sides.

Tempête en juin dealing with the exodus from Paris actually covers a major event in French history, viz. the exodus from Paris that I never knew about. It was a major event in 20th century French history and I have never read about it. Némirovsky evokes the upheaval in vivid detail and in doing so sets up for what follows in Dolce and life under Vichy and occupation.

I have stayed away from this book since its publication because I heard how heavy duty and oppressive it was. However my reading of the book found it anything but. It is not a melancholy or depressing book. It is interesting, multilayered, and vivid at every turn. By vivid I mean the author was writing about life as it was happening all around her during this time.

I would give it a 9/10 and suggest it is best suited for a C1, C2 reader.
I also look forward to reading this book again in another year, at which time I am sure I will gain even more from it.
/////////
Some political observations that people may possibly find of interest.

The book dealt with the quality and texture of life before and during occupation. It is fascinating to see how people saw things at that time and what has been left out of the history books. My fascination with the Vichy govt. 1940-44 just increases with time.

I have to date read the following books dealing with Vichy:
    -L'Étrange Défaite Marc Bloch
    -Le régime de Vichy Henry Rousso
    -Le syndrome De Vichy, de 1944 a Nos Jours Henry Rousso
    -Au bon beurre Jean Dutourd (fiction)

Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky just increases my fascination with that time.

Those Vichy years were a time when Populism ruled in both Germany with Hitler and in France with Marshal Pétain
The Populism of France of those years was as if out of the textbook and could be characterized by:
    -strong authoritarian and charismatic leader
    -strong populist fervor
    -xenophobia
    -extreme Right supremacist ideology
    -extreme nationalism
    -authority comes from top down rather than bottom up

//////////
For additional resources on the French exodus see:
1940 L'exode de juin 40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkhnLJegnMw
Last edited by Carmody on Thu May 27, 2021 11:09 pm, edited 3 times in total.
1 x

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1968
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... &start=200
x 4050

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby DaveAgain » Wed May 26, 2021 7:02 pm

Carmody wrote:
Those Vichy years were a time when Populism ruled in both Germany with Hitler and in France with Marshal Pétain
The Populism of France of those years was as if out of the textbook and could be characterized by:
    -strong authoritarian and charismatic leader
    -strong populist fervor
    -xenophobia
    -extreme Right supremacist ideology
    -extreme nationalism
    -authority comes from top down rather than bottom up

Americans were given a wakeup call to that list of aspects of Populism while living under Trump, and what is totally fascinating for me is the degree to which so very many Americans are still totally caught up with Populism at this point in time, even after Biden has been voted in. Biden did not win in a landslide and even today Populism is alive and thriving in USA. Unbelieveable.

Many voters in the U.S. at this very time are the personification of that list describing the Populism of the past that lives on today. Fascinating and frightening….
As I understand it Petain, and the Vichy government, did not win power by winning an national election. They won power from the French cabinet, and the French National Assembly. They did not win a public election backing a declared policy platform.
1 x

User avatar
Carmody
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1747
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 4:00 am
Location: NYC, NY
Languages: English (N)
French (B1)
Language Log: http://tinyurl.com/zot7wrs
x 3395

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Wed May 26, 2021 8:02 pm

Rick has pointed out that I am "kind of pushing the envelope near the politics rules" so I won't be responding to any posts discussing the politics of Vichy. People wishing to learn more on Vichy can start by reading the list of resources I posted.
1 x

User avatar
MorkTheFiddle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:59 pm
Location: North Texas USA
Languages: English (N). Read (only) French and Spanish. Studying Ancient Greek. Studying a bit of Latin. Once studied Old Norse. Dabbled in Catalan, Provençal and Italian.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 11#p133911
x 4823

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Thu May 27, 2021 5:41 pm

Carmody wrote:Suite française by Irène Némirovsky
The two novels in Suite française are entitled - Tempête en juin and Dolce. The first book of which focuses on the exodus of Parisians and others from Paris fleeing south to avoid the German advance in 1940 and the second book Dolce covering the occupation by German troops and what it was like for both sides.
Tempête en juin dealing with the exodus from Paris actually covers a major event in French history, viz. the exodus from Paris that I never knew about. It was a major event in 20th century French history and I have never read about it. Némirovsky evokes the upheaval in vivid detail and in doing so sets up for what follows in Dolce and life under Vichy and occupation.
I have stayed away from this book since its publication because I heard how heavy duty and oppressive it was. However my reading of the book found it anything but. It is not a melancholy or depressing book. It is interesting, multilayered, and vivid at every turn. By vivid I mean the author was writing about life as it was happening all around her during this time.
I would give it a 9/10 and suggest it is best suited for a C1, C2 reader.
Thanks for this review. I can only agree with your assessment of the literary virtues of Némirovsky's work. Thanks as well for the reference to the Youtube documentary on the exodus from Paris.
1 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

User avatar
Carmody
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1747
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 4:00 am
Location: NYC, NY
Languages: English (N)
French (B1)
Language Log: http://tinyurl.com/zot7wrs
x 3395

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Tue Jun 22, 2021 2:10 pm

Image

My last posting was on May 27, 2021, which is for me a long time ago. The interim has been spent reading Bien Dire and trying to get my hands on a copy of Du côté de chez Swann by Marcel Proust. Actually the search for the book lasted two months and I finally have it. (You do not want to hear that story.) It is the 'edition blanche' behind which is another story you don't want to know.

Usually in my postings here I say what I like and what I don’t like in a book. However, after reading the first 60 pages over 3 days, I am unable to say anything about this book. It is really very hard going and I think I could fairly characterize my experience as one of drowning. I really don’t know how far to go without giving up……You have no idea how hard I try and how much I want to succeed, but I hold out very little hope at this time.

People say it is a book that should not be read at night, so I don’t. I have read a tremendous amount of preparatory material on the book leading up to my reading of it. However the result remains that I am failing to get it and in the process I am becoming clinically depressed as a result.

Oh well, I will carry on with the only hope being that I will die of a heart attack before having to decide to give up on the book and thereby admit to failure. Yes, it is that bad.
Last edited by Carmody on Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
6 x

Lawyer&Mom
Blue Belt
Posts: 980
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:08 am
Languages: English (N), German (B2), French (B1)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7786
x 3767

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Tue Jun 22, 2021 3:16 pm

Have you considered reading it side by side with an English translation?
3 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
niveau debutant
: 60 / 60

Grammaire progressive du francais -
intermédiaire
: 25 / 52

Pimsleur French 1-5
: 3 / 5

User avatar
kanewai
Blue Belt
Posts: 753
Joined: Fri May 22, 2015 9:10 pm
Location: Honolulu
Languages: Native: English
Active: Italian
Maintenance: Spanish, French
Priors: Chuukese (Micronesian), Indonesian, Latin, Greek (epic and modern), Turkish, Arabic
x 3219
Contact:

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby kanewai » Tue Jun 22, 2021 9:38 pm

Taking things out of order here ...

It is really very hard going and I think I could fairly characterize my experience as one of drowning. I really don’t know how far to go without giving up……You have no idea how hard I try and how much I want to succeed, but I hold out very little hope at this time.

I used to never give up on books I started. Trying to read in foreign languages cured me of that - it takes me five times as long to read, and there were books I felt would never end. It wasn't easy the first couple times, but it was liberating once I realized I didn't have to finish everything.

People say it is a book that should not be read at night, so I don’t. I have read a tremendous amount of preparatory material on the book leading up to my reading of it. However the result remains that I am failing to get it

Maybe too much prep? Sorry for contributing to that. My experience (going in blind) was that the first section, Combray, was a surprisingly simple and somewhat funny story about a boy who misses his mother, and conspires to get a good-night kiss. C'est tout. It definitely didn't feel like "the greatest novel of all time." It rarely did. There were sections, however, that I thought: wow, that was beautiful. And it was really only after-the-fact that I looked back and thought: that was great.

But if you aren't enjoying it, I would say: rest now! Pick it up later maybe. There are quite a few books that I didn't get into until a second or third try. And there are other "great" novels that I ended up hating with a burning passion (Moby Dick, Tale of Two Cities, Brothers Karamazov ... there are quite a few).

However, after reading the first 60 pages over 3 days, I am unable to say anything about this book.

Or maybe, slow down! I am a fan of Proust, but he also exhausts me. Twenty pages a day is a lot. Maybe save it for a rainy Sunday afternoon, and read something fun during the week?

It is the 'edition blanche' behind which is another story you don't want to know.

Without the story, what is an "edition blanche?" I see that term on online bookstores, but am always hesitant to buy them because I don't know what it means. I made a mistake once buying a "fiche de lecture" without realizing that it was only an analysis, and not the book itself.
4 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

User avatar
Carmody
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1747
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2016 4:00 am
Location: NYC, NY
Languages: English (N)
French (B1)
Language Log: http://tinyurl.com/zot7wrs
x 3395

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Wed Jun 23, 2021 12:38 am

kanewai
Taking things out of order here ...

It is really very hard going and I think I could fairly characterize my experience as one of drowning. I really don’t know how far to go without giving up……You have no idea how hard I try and how much I want to succeed, but I hold out very little hope at this time.

I used to never give up on books I started. Trying to read in foreign languages cured me of that - it takes me five times as long to read, and there were books I felt would never end. It wasn't easy the first couple times, but it was liberating once I realized I didn't have to finish everything.

People say it is a book that should not be read at night, so I don’t. I have read a tremendous amount of preparatory material on the book leading up to my reading of it. However the result remains that I am failing to get it

Maybe too much prep? Sorry for contributing to that. My experience (going in blind) was that the first section, Combray, was a surprisingly simple and somewhat funny story about a boy who misses his mother, and conspires to get a good-night kiss. C'est tout. It definitely didn't feel like "the greatest novel of all time." It rarely did. There were sections, however, that I thought: wow, that was beautiful. And it was really only after-the-fact that I looked back and thought: that was great.

But if you aren't enjoying it, I would say: rest now! Pick it up later maybe. There are quite a few books that I didn't get into until a second or third try. And there are other "great" novels that I ended up hating with a burning passion (Moby Dick, Tale of Two Cities, Brothers Karamazov ... there are quite a few).

However, after reading the first 60 pages over 3 days, I am unable to say anything about this book.

Or maybe, slow down! I am a fan of Proust, but he also exhausts me. Twenty pages a day is a lot. Maybe save it for a rainy Sunday afternoon, and read something fun during the week?

It is the 'edition blanche' behind which is another story you don't want to know.

Without the story, what is an "edition blanche?" I see that term on online bookstores, but am always hesitant to buy them because I don't know what it means. I made a mistake once buying a "fiche de lecture" without realizing that it was only an analysis, and not the book itself.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments; greatly appreciated.

Not going in any particular order:

1-20 pages in 3 days is fast? Were you serious when you said that?

2-"edition blanche?"-no big news here other than it is not a mass market but rather a larger trade size paper back; larger than mass market. But get this, the copies are only in short supply since the publisher only publishes a run when enough demand has built up.........wow! Actually, the type font size, paper, etc. are excellent. I can't fault anything about it.

3-i think the advice you give is excellent and I am as always tremendously grateful for guidance.

4-on the topic of long books. I love long books and enjoyed my reading of The Iliad three times over twenty years.

5-My problem: Proust's very long sentences and long paragraphs; I mean long. I don't think I could handle that style in
English.

I remain flummoxed as to how to proceed but think your guidance is excellent.

I did not want to sound dramatic about this book and I wanted to do so well with it, but the experience is proving anything but.

Gratefully....
3 x

User avatar
kanewai
Blue Belt
Posts: 753
Joined: Fri May 22, 2015 9:10 pm
Location: Honolulu
Languages: Native: English
Active: Italian
Maintenance: Spanish, French
Priors: Chuukese (Micronesian), Indonesian, Latin, Greek (epic and modern), Turkish, Arabic
x 3219
Contact:

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby kanewai » Wed Jun 23, 2021 2:38 am

Carmody wrote:1-20 pages in 3 days is fast? Were you serious when you said that?
I just looked up my pace on Goodreads: I started on May 20, 2013, and finished on July 26. That's 710 pages in 67 days, for an average speed of 10.6 pages per day. And this was during one of the Super Challenges, where I was making time to consciously read each day.

I'm definitely not a race horse. Some books I tear through and I can stay up late into the night reading. This wasn't one of them. It was the long sentences that slowed me down too. If I read too fast I couldn't follow any of it.

I didn't even read Le temps retrouvé until last spring - so that's seven years to actually complete the series.

And on a side note: I read the Iliad for the third time just this year! It's one of the few works that I have read more than once.
Last edited by kanewai on Wed Jun 23, 2021 6:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
6 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

User avatar
lysi
Yellow Belt
Posts: 98
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2021 1:34 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada
Languages: English (N), French, Mandarin (Beginner)
x 300

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby lysi » Wed Jun 23, 2021 12:09 pm

Carmody wrote:Usually in my postings here I say what I like and what I don’t like in a book. However, after reading the first 60 pages over 3 days, I am unable to say anything about this book. It is really very hard going and I think I could fairly characterize my experience as one of drowning. I really don’t know how far to go without giving up……You have no idea how hard I try and how much I want to succeed, but I hold out very little hope at this time.

As you learn the words he commonly uses, the book gets significantly easier. It's always pretty hard actually but it's not quite as hard as at the start. I've only read up to the end of Du Côté de Chez Swann though.
2 x


Return to “Language Programs and Resources”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests