Thank you, Carmody, for creating this thread and also for taking care of it.
You have asked for some French books that are more upbeat. In this case you might have a look at the author
Christian Signol. He is one of the top French romanciers of today. You will surely find out all about him and his books online. Last week I finished
"Dans la paix des saisons" and although the main character is a man suffering from cancer, it is a pleasing read.
Then there are three books that I would like to present as my first contribution:
La Rose de Java by
Joseph KesselIt is 1919, a twenty year old French soldier and his comrade are on their way back home from the war in Siberia. They take a ship from Japan to Shanghai. On board they discover a beautiful woman, a metisse and the story enfolds.
At first it took me some time to put myself in that post-war mindset. But once I got into it, I was rewarded with a fine read. By the end, I wanted to know more about the author and was really surprised about Joseph Kessel. You may read the French Wikipedia article, his life and works are truly amazing.
Nos richesses by
Kaouther AdimiIn 2017, twenty-year old Ryad is dispatched from France to Algier to empty and repaint and old bookshop. This once famous bookshop was founded by Edmond Charlot in 1936. He was also and editor and published the first books of Albert Camus who was a dear friend.
The narration switches in time between Ryad and Edmond Charlot and that makes it a diverting read. Afterwards I had of course to look up the life of Edmond Charlot, also very interessting.
I've got this book as paper version together with the audio book for 5 Euros on ebay.
Tropique de la violence by
Nathacha AppanahTakes place on the island of Mayotte. It interweaves the stories of a nurse, her adopted son and some other characters. Style and content did take my breath away. I learned so much about this part of France. There are still moments of thinking about the story.
In general, I prefer reading on my ebook-reader - the French word
liseuse is so much nicer - and I buy all my ebooks from a French company. On their website I learned that
"les coups de cœur" are not romantic novels but recommendations written by the staff.
signol.jpg
Tropique.jpg
NosRich.png