A French Book Reading Resource

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Carmody
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:54 pm

Oh my, I am starting the New Year playing catch-up.... I finished these two books a couple months back and forgot to write reviews:

Le régime de Vichy (Que sais-je?) by Henry Rousso
Le syndrome De Vichy, de 1944 à Nos Jours by Henry Rousso

Many ways to talk about these two fascinating books.

I love France and all things French interest me. France is obviously more than the sum of just its literature of the 18th and 19th century. I love that literature but to just stop there is not enough for me. That is why I have turned to its history and specifically these two books.

They are both fascinating and deserve a very considerable amount of time and thought.

The time of Vichy was 1940 to 1944. The author is Henry Rousso and his approach is that of the historian. Being a history major I find historiography tremendously relevant and rewarding to study and especially today.

Rousso has taken those Vichy years and the years since that time to show how very important it is for France today. It really is fascinating. Not just for what it tells me about France but my own country.

The American Civil War and the time since then are a fascinating parallel to Vichy and the years leading up to today when viewed through the lens of the historiography of this historian.

Everyone finds their own joys in life: watching sports, learning languages, etc. But for me a special joy is learning of the French language to understand its culture and its history past and the history that it is living today.

Reading level for both these books is definitely a C2 combined with willingness to read slowly and think through what is being said.

I would give them an 8/10.
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Carmody
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Fri Feb 19, 2021 1:54 am

La promesse de l'aube de Romain Gary

Romain Gary was a French novelist, diplomat, film director, and World War II aviator of Jewish origin. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt under two names.

If for some reason you feel your mother did not love you enough, then read this autobiography by Romain Gary and consider the alternative. The book provides a real sense of what it is like to have your mother suffocate you with love throughout her life and even from the grave (literally).

This autobiographical work had some very interesting episodes but the author had the persistent tendency to fill up in between those episodes with countless meandering descriptions that are crushingly boring.

There are many people who speak very highly of not just this book but the long list of his other books. But I found this book sad in the beginning, the middle, and the end. The mother can’t help smothering the child with her expectations of him and the child can’t help wanting to please his mother, and in the end no one ends up happy or fulfilled. What is really sad, and that you can learn elsewhere, is that he ended up killing himself.

Why or why do I always read French authors who write of such tortured souls. I want to read happy French authors but find them hard to come by.

I would give this a 7/10.
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby DaveAgain » Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:06 am

Carmody wrote: I found this book sad in the beginning, the middle, and the end.

Why or why do I always read French authors who write of such tortured souls. I want to read happy French authors but find them hard to come by.

I would give this a 7/10.
I'm really surprised you feel this way, my memory of this book is that it was rather cheerful.
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Carmody
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Fri Feb 19, 2021 6:48 pm

DaveAgain

Have you ever met people who are "cheerfull" on the outside and crying on the inside?

His mother bullied him to be everything she wanted him to be. Even from the grave...........i don't like bullies.
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby AroAro » Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:02 am

I have recently read two books in French, so I decided to share with you my thoughts.

The first book was "Pierre de patience" by Atiq Rahimi. It won the Prix Goncourt in 2008 for the best book written in French. Oh my, I don't even know where to start. Not that I disliked it but I didn't like it either and the worst books are those that leave me indifferent. So we have here a story of an Afghani woman who takes care of her paralyzed husband. She can finally speak to him openly because he cannot react in any way and she is no longer afraid of him, so she reveals to him more and more secrets from her/their life. It was quite boring because in the end most of these revelations were centered around sexuality. I'm not going to argue with the author, it was his choice to bring this subject up but in the end I'm not sure it paid off. I may be misinterpreting his intentions but probably the readers were supposed to be shocked to disover that they have sex and sexual desires in Muslim countries? When it comes to the literary style, I don't really know how Rahimi writes because there was nothing special about his style - somewhat dreamy-like, in some places poetic, nothing that makes me want to discover more of his literary oeuvre. The language used was not overly complicated and the book itself is quite short, I think it is perfectly suitable for B2 level.

The other book was "C'est egal" by Agota Kristof. I really loved her "Le Grand Cahier" and her style is immediately recognizable here. This is a collection of 25 novellas, unfortunately they are not all of the same quality. Some of the novellas are really good, almost surreal, they evoke some kind of ominous atmosphere full of loneliness and feeling of lost hapiness. But others, in fact most of the novellas, are not that good, they seem to be work in progress, sketches that the author failed to finish and polish. Some are quite declarative and naive in their use of surreal elements and it was quite a cringy feeling to read them. I think it would be even ok for B1 level.

I will check what other books in French I read in recent months and will try to come back with some better recommendations!
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Carmody
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pm

AroAro

Thanks so much for your very comprehensive book reviews; greatly appreciated.
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby kanewai » Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:33 am

AroAro wrote:The other book was "C'est egal" by Agota Kristof. I really loved her "Le Grand Cahier" and her style is immediately recognizable here.
Le grand cahier has been on my 'to-read' list for years. Did you read the full trilogy?
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby AroAro » Wed Feb 24, 2021 5:34 pm

kanewai wrote:
AroAro wrote:The other book was "C'est egal" by Agota Kristof. I really loved her "Le Grand Cahier" and her style is immediately recognizable here.
Le grand cahier has been on my 'to-read' list for years. Did you read the full trilogy?


Yes, I read the full trilogy but it was 8 or 9 years ago so I don't remember much honestly, it's a blurry memory now. But I remember that "Le Grand Cahier" impressed me, I loved the style, these short phrases that leave you speechless. The other two books were probably not so memorable but still good enough (well, writing a trilogy is always a risky endeavor!). Fortunately each of her books is quite short, less than 200 pages, so you won't find yourself stuck for months reading something you don't enjoy if you decide to give it a go.
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Re: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Wed Feb 24, 2021 6:56 pm

AroAro wrote:
kanewai wrote:
AroAro wrote:The other book was "C'est egal" by Agota Kristof. I really loved her "Le Grand Cahier" and her style is immediately recognizable here.
Le grand cahier has been on my 'to-read' list for years. Did you read the full trilogy?


Yes, I read the full trilogy but it was 8 or 9 years ago so I don't remember much honestly, it's a blurry memory now. But I remember that "Le Grand Cahier" impressed me, I loved the style, these short phrases that leave you speechless. The other two books were probably not so memorable but still good enough (well, writing a trilogy is always a risky endeavor!). Fortunately each of her books is quite short, less than 200 pages, so you won't find yourself stuck for months reading something you don't enjoy if you decide to give it a go.
I agree with everything AroAro writes, even down to the fact that I read the trilogy 8 or 9 years ago. There are audiobooks, too, but maybe I'm making that up.
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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: TOTW: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Sat Mar 13, 2021 8:59 pm

Herewith a book and an author you never heard of.

The author Jean Dutourd Dutourd was born in Paris. His mother died when he was seven years old. At the age of twenty, he was taken prisoner fifteen days after Germany's invasion of France in World War II. He escaped six weeks later and returned to Paris where he studied philosophy at the Sorbonne. He entered the Resistance and was again arrested in early 1944. He escaped and took part in the Liberation of Paris. He was a candidate for the Democratic Union of Labour (UDT) in the legislative elections of 1967.

I had never heard of this author before my readings on Vichy, France and the years 1941-45. Needless to say the author was active in the Resistance and uses life during that time in Paris, France as the substance for the book. In fact he writes about what it was like on both sides: Petainistes on one side and the others trying to survive.

I found this a really interesting portrayal of the times, the people, and how the different sides saw life. Rather than being painted heavily in black and white, it is far more nuanced and much more interesting because of it.

If anyone knows of other books of fiction on this time during Vichy, then please share the titles because I have a real interest in the time.

Level: C2
Rating: 8/10.
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