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I need to start reading in French again!


Fi
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It's been a long time (college in fact) since I read anything more than a newspaper, magazine or cookery book in French.  And the last book(s) were typical college fodder - Camus, Montesquieu, Moliere, Flaubert, Simone Weil etc etc.

Can anyone recommend anything more modern to get me going again?  Nothing too deep and meaningful, or convoluted language-wise - I really don't have the same powers of concentration I had 20 years ago - and most of my reading is done either in bed or the bath (the only time I get any peace!).

I quite like crime novels (nothing to gory) - PD James/Reginald Hill etc

OK with historical stuff as long there aren't any long drawn out descriptions of battles/strategy

Novels per se are good for me too

 I have read some French stuff in translation recently - for example Irene Nemirovsky - which was rather lazy but never mind.

Any recommendations gratefully received.   Would it be worth talking the staff in the local mediatheque or would I just annoy them?

Fi

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Recently finished Guy de Maupassant's Bel Ami which was very enjoyable. 

I've seen a couple of Inspector Rebus novels in our local supermarket but having read the English originals, I'm not sure whether the French narrative will conflict with my memory....[;-)]

 

 

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I have read loads of things like Carol Higgins Clark and Patricia Cornwell in French - not too difficult and good thrillers.

If you want to be more adventurous, try any of Jean-Christophe Granger's books like "Le Vol des Cygognes" or "Les Rivières Pourpres" (unless you have seen the film). The others are a little bit too fantastic for my taste.
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[quote user="lacote0_0"]... by Fred Vargas in translation. I don't know whether my French would be up to his other books...

[/quote]

I think that Fred is the diminuitive of Frederique. She has written quite a few crime novels several of which are also available translated into English.

If you like novels it may be worth checking out Christian Signol (La Riviére Espérance series about the R. Dordogne, or Les Vignes de Sainte-Colombe set in the Languedoc vineyards). Both these were made into tv series.

Brian (again)

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[quote user="brianagain"]

I think that Fred is the diminuitive of Frederique. She has written quite a few crime novels several of which are also available translated into English.

[/quote]

You are right, and the photo and biography make it quite clear.

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[quote user="Fi"]It's been a long time (college in fact) since I read anything more than a newspaper, magazine or cookery book in French.  And the last book(s) were typical college fodder - Camus, Montesquieu, Moliere, Flaubert, Simone Weil etc etc.

Can anyone recommend anything more modern to get me going again?  Nothing too deep and meaningful, or convoluted language-wise - I really don't have the same powers of concentration I had 20 years ago - and most of my reading is done either in bed or the bath (the only time I get any peace!).

I quite like crime novels (nothing to gory) - PD James/Reginald Hill etc

OK with historical stuff as long there aren't any long drawn out descriptions of battles/strategy

Novels per se are good for me too

 I have read some French stuff in translation recently - for example Irene Nemirovsky - which was rather lazy but never mind.

Any recommendations gratefully received.   Would it be worth talking the staff in the local mediatheque or would I just annoy them?

Fi

[/quote]

There is already a thread on this at

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1070773/ShowPost.aspx

but of course to find that you would have to take the trouble to use the search facility.

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[quote user="NormanH"][quote user="Fi"]It's been a long time (college in fact) since I read anything more than a newspaper, magazine or cookery book in French.  And the last book(s) were typical college fodder - Camus, Montesquieu, Moliere, Flaubert, Simone Weil etc etc.

Can anyone recommend anything more modern to get me going again?  Nothing too deep and meaningful, or convoluted language-wise - I really don't have the same powers of concentration I had 20 years ago - and most of my reading is done either in bed or the bath (the only time I get any peace!).

I quite like crime novels (nothing to gory) - PD James/Reginald Hill etc

OK with historical stuff as long there aren't any long drawn out descriptions of battles/strategy

Novels per se are good for me too

 I have read some French stuff in translation recently - for example Irene Nemirovsky - which was rather lazy but never mind.

Any recommendations gratefully received.   Would it be worth talking the staff in the local mediatheque or would I just annoy them?

Fi

[/quote]

There is already a thread on this at

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1070773/ShowPost.aspx

but of course to find that you would have to take the trouble to use the search facility.

[/quote]

You don't like me much do you?  Not that you are in any position to judge .....

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So instead of thanking me for drawing attention to a potentially useful thread, you go to the personal.

I neither know you nor want to, but am very happy to contribute to threads about Books Films songs etc. which help people to consolidate their French.

Have you done this?

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[quote user="NormanH"]So instead of thanking me for drawing attention to a potentially useful thread, you go to the personal.

I neither know you nor want to, but am very happy to contribute to threads about Books Films songs etc. which help people to consolidate their French.

Have you done this?

[/quote]

The feeling is entirely mutual. 

No, I haven't contributed to "culture" threads (I do to many others though) because that is something sadly lacking in my life, hence my post.  (The thread you quoted was more than 2 years old  - I do search, but stop looking after a year or so - mea culpa). 

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I'd recommend I'm off by Jean Echenoz.

 The main character is a Paris art dealer. The way artists who display in his gallery are described is very funny.

At one stage, because business is bad,  he decides to set off to the Artic to salvage Inuit art from a shipwreck that he's heard about. 

Somehow he gets involved with the daughter of an Eskimo family he stays with. You get the feeling things like that naturally happen to him and he just carries on regardless. It's a good read and a  laugh. 

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[quote user="plod"]You can't beat Maigret.[/quote]

I'd forgotten Maigret - used to read him as light relief between the classics at college and uni.  I shall get myself down to the mediatheque tds!

Thanks

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For school, my 10 year old son read 'L'oeil du loup' by Daniel Pennac.  I read it out aloud with him and really enjoyed it.  It was a lovely way to get back into reading French (the passe simple etc).  It's a story about a wolf in a zoo, who keeps one eye closed (even though both eyes are good).  You want to read through the whole story to find out why he does this.

 

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Another children's book which I still enjoy reading is Le Petit Nicholas by René Goscinny - an excellent way to get back into reading French. I suspect it will become popular again later this year with a tv series due to start next September along with a feature film for the cinema. Anyone who attended OU summer school in Caen will probably remember the chapter "Je suis malade". I like many others then went off into FNAC to buy our own copy of this lovely book.

Brian (again)

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I agree.  I've been reading Les Vacance du Petit Nicolas and have to stop myself describing everything as "chouette"...........LOL.

It all started as a bit of a joke.  A French friend gave me the book to read as I keep referring to Sarkozy as "le petit Nicolas".

The illustrations alone are enough to make me laugh.

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

I agree.  I've been reading Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas and have to stop myself describing everything as "chouette"...........LOL.

It all started as a bit of a joke.  A French friend gave me the book to read as I keep referring to Sarkozy as "le petit Nicolas".

The illustrations alone are enough to make me laugh.

[/quote]

Brilliant books. I think I have all of them and read and enjoyed them over the years.

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I have just finished reading a book given to me 3 years ago by my then French teacher, twas a bit too much of a struggle then but this time I read it in a few insomnia sessions.

It is one of a series of easy reading books for teenagers from hachettejeunesse.com and it was just the right level for me.

The book is named "inconnu à cette addresse" and was written in 1939, the story is actually no more than a very cleverly written series of letters written between two close friends one in prewar Nazi Germany the other his Jewish friend in the USA.

It was compulsive reading and I would highly recommend it, it requires the reader to think a lot and read between the lines of the leters and try to imagine the events unfolding between each one.

Lastly reading and trying to understand letters in French is something that we should all be quite familiar with!

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[quote user="odile"]if you want to read about 'my' area pre your visit here next Spring - read Gide's 'La symphonie Pastorale' (about a vicar who falls in love with an adopted orphan).

[/quote]

I have that book, read it about 40 years ago when I was an au-pair (was it really that long ago?? [8-)]) I will dig it out and read it again, my French is better now than it was then.[8-|]

I am currently enjoying books by Robert Sabatier and have just finished "Trois sucettes à la menthe".

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