A French Book Reading Resource

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rdearman
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby rdearman » Tue Jun 29, 2021 2:20 pm

Carmody wrote:I wonder if anyone else has ever been defeated by a book; I hope not.

Yes, everything written by Marcel Proust has defeated me. Honestly, life is too short to learn German or read Proust. :D

In all seriousness, however, I find any writing of that period full of long and boring blocks of text. I've got The Red and the Black by Stendhal and to be honest I'm dreading it. Given that in France, approximately 67,000 new books are published every year, I don't think I'll have trouble finding something more interesting to read than Marcel Proust. Given what I have read of Marcel Proust in French and English, the instructions on a frozen dinner would be more interesting.

Yes, I realize I'm a philistine, and I think The Great Gatsby was a load of old twattle as well.
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Tue Jun 29, 2021 4:59 pm

Years ago I read some of Caesar's Gallic War in one semester of Latin and in the next semester the first six books of the Aeneid. Both so dull they put me off any more Latin for years and years, and I still don't care for very much of it. So, you are not alone, Carmody, trust me. As Rdearman says, there are lots of books in French to read.
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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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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:39 pm

Yes, everything written by Marcel Proust has defeated me. Honestly, life is too short to learn German or read Proust. :D

In all seriousness, however, I find any writing of that period full of long and boring blocks of text. I've got The Red and the Black by Stendhal and to be honest I'm dreading it. Given that in France, approximately 67,000 new books are published every year, I don't think I'll have trouble finding something more interesting to read than Marcel Proust. Given what I have read of Marcel Proust in French and English, the instructions on a frozen dinner would be more interesting.

Yes, I realize I'm a philistine, and I think The Great Gatsby was a load of old twattle as well.
Thank you very much. I totally agree with your comments.
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Le Baron » Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:47 pm

It's the problem with 'great books', not everyone is going to get on with them. I've now accepted that some of the "books you must read before you die.." are going to go unread before I die. Some I should have probably read when I was 16-25, but I didn't. I don't give up all hope because sometimes you pick one up later and it clicks.

My general opinion is that you don't need to read all the acknowledged "classics" to enjoy the languages in which you choose to read.
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Tue Jun 29, 2021 5:58 pm

I spent a tremendous amount of time and effort on my attempt and am grateful for people's comments but essentially my prospects for being able to continue boiled down to this:

Image
Last edited by Carmody on Wed Jun 30, 2021 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby jeffers » Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:31 am

A lot of the discussion on this thread has focused on pretty high level literature, which is great but not necessarity a good starting point. I found it helpful when I read these suggestions in an article by a controversial figure who nevertheless seems to produce some practical advice. The advice is probably aimed at upper beginner to lower intermediate learners, but the general tone could apply to learners at any level:

Lower your standards. Read only material in the second language that is genuinely fun and interesting, material that is so easy that you probably feel guilty reading it in your primary language. This is your excuse to read comics, magazines,
detective stories, romances, etc. There is no shame in reading translations.

Reading at this stage does not have to make you a better person, does not have to give you insight into other cultures, and does not have to improve your knowledge of history or science. But if you do enough narrow reading, you will be much better prepared to read "demanding" texts.

Don't worry about pushing ahead rapidly to harder and to different material. This will happen on its own. The best way to expand might be a gradual movement from one field to a closely related field, taking advantage of the overlap in context and language.

If the book or magazine is too hard, or not really interesting, stop reading and find something else. The goal is to find material that is so engaging, and so easy, that you will forget that it is in another language. You want reading material that requires no self-discipline to read


I don't think this has to be strictly followed. Personally I find it useful to vary the relative difficultey: sometimes read things which are too easy, sometimes read things which are too hard and sometimes read things which are just right. Each one has its own benefits.

For me, I always find joy in reading French when I am reading from the Petit Nicolas series. When I get stuck or bored with anything else, I can revive my delight in French by picking up one of these books.
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Wed Jun 30, 2021 3:32 pm

I was a German major in college. The first two years I learned German, the second two years I was supposed to read Goethe and Schiller. This did *not* work well, and I took it as a personal failure. It stung for a long time. With hindsight and experience, I’m enjoying the intermediate stage with French that my previous degree didn’t provide me: reading YA and genre fiction and translations that I probably wouldn’t read in English. Your French is more advanced than mine, and you deserve to challenge yourself, but it’s okay to hit a wall and admit defeat. It just means you were aiming high! Well done you!
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby rdearman » Wed Jun 30, 2021 5:17 pm

Lawyer&Mom wrote:I was a German major in college.

Did anyone else picture someone in a Luftwaffe uniform? Just me? OK...
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Wed Jun 30, 2021 5:41 pm

Postby jeffers » Tue Jun 29,
A lot of the discussion on this thread has focused on pretty high level literature, which is great but not necessarity a good starting point. I found it helpful when I read these suggestions in an article by a controversial figure who nevertheless seems to produce some practical advice. The advice is probably aimed at upper beginner to lower intermediate learners, but the general tone could apply to learners at any level:

Lower your standards. Read only material in the second language that is genuinely fun and interesting, material that is so easy that you probably feel guilty reading it in your primary language. This is your excuse to read comics, magazines, detective stories, romances, etc. There is no shame in reading translations.

Reading at this stage does not have to make you a better person, does not have to give you insight into other cultures, and does not have to improve your knowledge of history or science. But if you do enough narrow reading, you will be much better prepared to read "demanding" texts.

Don't worry about pushing ahead rapidly to harder and to different material. This will happen on its own. The best way to expand might be a gradual movement from one field to a closely related field, taking advantage of the overlap in context and language.

If the book or magazine is too hard, or not really interesting, stop reading and find something else. The goal is to find material that is so engaging, and so easy, that you will forget that it is in another language. You want reading material that requires no self-discipline to read I don't think this has to be strictly followed. Personally I find it useful to vary the relative difficultey: sometimes read things which are too easy, sometimes read things which are too hard and sometimes read things which are just right. Each one has its own benefits.

For me, I always find joy in reading French when I am reading from the Petit Nicolas series. When I get stuck or bored with anything else, I can revive my delight in French by picking up one of these books.
Thank you so very much for your guidance.

After this disaster with M. Proust, I have been adrift and I think you are correct.

I studied my French for about 6 years and read an awful lot of books, but none of them prepared me for Proust. I must say in all honesty that it is not Proust's fault. Reading him in English on Gutenberg, I would not IMHO have enjoyed him anyway if I could have read him.

Rick is right, life is too short for "German or Proust."
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Carmody
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Re: A French Book Reading Resource

Postby Carmody » Thu Jul 01, 2021 2:21 pm

Just a mention that I am putting some useful French url sites on my log in case they could be of interest to you.
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