A French Book Reading Resource

All about language programs, courses, websites and other learning resources
jeffers
Blue Belt
Posts: 848
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:12 pm
Location: UK
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19785
x 2774
Contact:

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby jeffers » Sat Jul 24, 2021 4:31 pm

Carmody wrote:I would be most grateful to hear any suggestions people might have for a single volume biography in French on
...Napoleon.

Thank you.


Ironically, I suspect you won't find a short book in French about Napoleon.
2 x
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

User avatar
rdearman
Site Admin
Posts: 7231
Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 4:18 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: English (N)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1836
x 23125
Contact:

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby rdearman » Sat Jul 24, 2021 5:44 pm

Carmody wrote:I would be most grateful to hear any suggestions people might have for a single volume biography in French on
...Napoleon.

Thank you.

Which one?

  • Napoleon I (Bonaparte) from 1804 - 1814
  • Napoleon II (Son of Napoleon I) ruled for one month in 1815
  • Napoleon III (Nephew of Napoleon I) ruled from 1852 - 1870.
I suspect a book about the second one will be really short! Here are some I found (free) in various formats.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37050
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30604
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12230


I found 5-6 on Amazon.fr one was on Kindle, so should be easy to get.
0 x
: 0 / 150 Read 150 books in 2024

My YouTube Channel
The Autodidactic Podcast
My Author's Newsletter

I post on this forum with mobile devices, so excuse short msgs and typos.

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 » Sat Jul 24, 2021 7:40 pm

Many thanks Rick.

This book on Napoleon Bonaparte
https://www.amazon.com/Napoleon-Life-Andrew-Roberts/dp/0143127853?asin=0143127853&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1
would appear to be excellent but I think it is only in English.
0 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 » Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:52 pm

One more for everyone's consideration: Patrick Modiano, Dora Bruder (1997).

This is more of an extended meditation piece than a straight-forward history. Patrick Modiano saw a missing-person's notice in a 1941 edition of Paris-Soir about a young teenage runaway, Dora Bruder. Over the years he collected what little information he could find about her and her family. There's not much - a school report, a few police reports, and then her name appears on a deportation list.

Modiano spends a lot of time walking the streets she once walked. He also draws comparisons between his rebellious youth and hers - but Modiano was a teenage rebel in 1960s Paris, and Doris Bruder was a Jewish teenage rebel in Nazi-occupied 1940s Paris. Modiano later won the Nobel Prize for literature. Bruder was sent to the camps.

It's a haunting read.

bruder.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Last edited by kanewai on Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
4 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

User avatar
Le Baron
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3510
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:14 pm
Location: Koude kikkerland
Languages: English (N), fr, nl, de, eo, Sranantongo,
Maintaining: es, swahili.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18796
x 9389

Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Le Baron » Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:33 pm

^ Thanks for the recommendation, I hadn't heard of this. It sounds fascinating as a premise. I'm going to look it up.
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 » Tue Jul 27, 2021 1:50 am

kanewai

Many thanks for the review. However you did not say what you thought of it; could you possibly give it a rating?

I read his Un Pedigree about 3 years ago and found it quite plodding and tedious.

Many thanks.
0 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 Jul 28, 2021 9:58 pm

Carmody wrote:kanewai

Many thanks for the review. However you did not say what you thought of it; could you possibly give it a rating?

I read his Un Pedigree about 3 years ago and found it quite plodding and tedious.

Many thanks.
I'm not much for ratings. I liked this book. It was similar in style to his novels, and he is focused more on atmosphere than plot. This was a bit more grounded in reality than the other two I read, Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue and Rue des Boutiques Obscures. I think Modiano is worth reading, at least once - though Un pedigree sounds less interesting than his novels.
1 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 » Thu Jul 29, 2021 12:55 am

Thanks for the comments. I am always sad when I can't appreciate books that others do.
0 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 » Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:30 am

Carmody wrote:Thanks for the comments. I am always sad when I can't appreciate books that others do.
That seems to be me and Spanish lit. But different things speak to different people.
1 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 » Sat Jul 31, 2021 8:40 pm

Just a reminder to people that I have not drifted away.

I recently reread a wonderful book Eric Emmanuel Schmitt Night of fire
https://www.amazon.com/Nuit-Feu-grand-format-French/dp/2226318291

and am greatly enjoying my Bien Dire subscription:
https://biendire.com/fr/magazines-a-l-unite/971-bien-dire-n137.html

(my apologies to all for not posting the images; i do try but they never work out.)
2 x


Return to “Language Programs and Resources”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests