what are you reading?

[chessfou]

I've currently got 4 books on the go:

Daudet - Lettres de mon moulin - this is my bed-time reading; a very nice collection of short stories and the French isn't too tough.

Orsenna - Madame Bâ - this is tough going (I aim to read it in front of my PC, so that I can look up the vocab which doesn't appear in any of my dictionaries, except the big Robert&Collins and sometimes not even there) but I like Orsenna's books - I have read four of his so far.

Pagnol - Collected Works - this is an easier read (roughly the Daudet level) and great fun, though I've only just started - La Gloire de mon père, to be followed by the Jean de Florette stuff. I find it reminiscent of Goscinny in style.

Druon - Le Roi de fer - first of 7vols in the series Les Rois maudits. Great stuff if you like historical novels (this is basically the 100 Years War, so you may want to discuss it with your neighbours!). I think it is just slightly more difficult than the Daudet & Pagnol but a doddle compared with Orsenna.

[NormanH]

[quote user="chessfou"]I've currently got 4 books on the go:

Daudet - Lettres de mon moulin - this is my bed-time reading; a very nice collection of short stories and the French isn't too tough.

Orsenna - Madame Bâ - this is tough going (I aim to read it in front of my PC, so that I can look up the vocab which doesn't appear in any of my dictionaries, except the big Robert&Collins and sometimes not even there) but I like Orsenna's books - I have read four of his so far.

Pagnol - Collected Works - this is an easier read (roughly the Daudet level) and great fun, though I've only just started - La Gloire de mon père, to be followed by the Jean de Florette stuff. I find it reminiscent of Goscinny in style.

Druon - Le Roi de fer - first of 7vols in the series Les Rois maudits. Great stuff if you like historical novels (this is basically the 100 Years War, so you may want to discuss it with your neighbours!). I think it is just slightly more difficult than the Daudet & Pagnol but a doddle compared with Orsenna.

[/quote]

If you enjoy the Daudet you might like a trip to Cucugnan where they have a small theatre with regular dramatised readings..

[chessfou]

Thanks - an interesting idea for the spring/summer since it's quite close to some very interesting vineyards I would like to visit.

Amazing, if true, how Cucugnan got its name - 359 and all that.

[NormanH]

I can recommend Mas Amiel among other Maury wines

On the book front ( to get back on topic) I have just finished

Philippe Claudel - Les Ames Grises

bleak but beautiful prose.

It was made into a film a couple of years back

By co-incidence the evening that I finished it there was a Film on 2 'Le voyage de la veuve' set at exactly the same period and also close to the front...

[chessfou]

[quote]I can recommend Mas Amiel among other Maury wines[/quote]

It's almost on topic, since I frequently read wine books; slightly less on topic to say that I have a handful of their bottles in the cellar.

[Anton Redman]

Very low brow I am afraid. Henry de Monfreid <<Aventures de Mer>> and <<La Croiisiere du Hachich>> just about copeing in French as I know Djibouti and have read both books in translation. 

[NormanH]

It's a good way to get into reading in French...and I read thrillers so could not be more low brow[:)]

[Maricopa]

Indiana Jones et le péril à Delphes by Rob MacGregor traduit de l'anglais par Michel Pagel.

[Callie]

[quote user="NormanH"]It's a good way to get into reading in French...and I read thrillers so could not be more low brow[:)]

[/quote]

Nothing wrong with thrillers or anything else that keeps your attention and helps with learning the language.  I started off with French versions of Barbara Cartland type books [:$].  Then I read every Carol Higgins Clark and Patricia Cornwell in French before I decided it was high time I read French authors ! !

So I started with Jean-Christophe Grangé "Le Vol des cigognes" - absolutely brilliant, and I haven't looked back !

[Loiseau]

[quote user="NormanH"] ...I  have just finished

Philippe Claudel - Les Ames Grises

bleak but beautiful prose....
[/quote]

 

Ooh yes, a French friend sent me that one too, Norman.  I thought it was fantastic.  Extraordinary how life continued more or less as normal just a little way back from the Front in WWI.

Also on the WWI theme, I have read two great books - both gruesomely vivid accounts by authors with considerable first-hand experience as "poilus" in the trenches and written during, or immediately after, the war:

"Les Croix de Bois" by Roland Dorgeles, and
"Le Feu" by Henri Barbusse.

 

Angela

[chessfou]

[quote]"Le Feu" by Henri Barbusse.[/quote]

Available free here:

http://www.ebooksgratuits.com/ebooks.php

along with lots of other wonderful books, all completely free.

It can be just like reading a real book if you get something with "e-paper" & "e-ink" such as this:

http://www.bookeen.com/ebook/ebook-reading-device.aspx

I have one of those for the bedside table.

[NormanH]

[quote user="chessfou"][quote]"Le Feu" by Henri Barbusse.[/quote]

Available free here:

http://www.ebooksgratuits.com/ebooks.php

along with lots of other wonderful books, all completely free.

It can be just like reading a real book if you get something with "e-paper" & "e-ink" such as this:

http://www.bookeen.com/ebook/ebook-reading-device.aspx

I have one of those for the bedside table.

[/quote]

Thanks for that link

[Sfgraveston]

Try Marie-Paul Armand. I especially enjoyed L'enfance perdue.

Stuart

[Bluecat]

Balzac, Pagnol and Collette are my favourites.  Our reading group select two books for each reading session, one of which will always be a French author either in its' orginal language or translated.

Our January French read is Françoise Sagan's "Bonjour Tirstesse" translated by Irene Ash.

I look forward to being able to read a whole book in French but until that day arrives, it's good to get a feel for French literature and the French way of life of old.

I have some English novels translated into French and, although they're not what I'd normally read (Daniells Steele), I know they will eventually help in my quest to read whole books in the langauge.

[NormanH]

My "vœux" for those of you who enjoy reading in French:

ENIVREZ-VOUS

Il faut être

toujours ivre, tout est là ; c'est l'unique question. Pour ne pas

sentir l'horrible fardeau du temps qui brise vos épaules et vous

penche vers la terre, il faut vous enivrer sans trêve.

Mais de quoi?

De vin, de poésie, ou de vertu à votre guise, mais enivrez-vous!

Et si quelquefois,

sur les marches d'un palais, sur l'herbe verte d'un fossé, vous

vous réveillez, l'ivresse déjà diminuée ou

disparue, demandez au vent, à la vague, à l'étoile,

à l'oiseau, à l'horloge; à tout ce qui fuit, à

tout ce qui gémit, à tout ce qui roule, à tout ce

qui chante, à tout ce qui parle, demandez quelle heure il est.

Et le vent, la vague, l'étoile, l'oiseau, l'horloge, vous répondront,

il est l'heure de s'enivrer ; pour ne pas être les esclaves martyrisés

du temps, enivrez-vous, enivrez-vous sans cesse de vin, de poésie,

de vertu, à votre guise.

Charles Baudelaire

(In

Les petits poèmes en prose)

 

[Patf]

I'm afraid my reading in french is limited to the Depeche du Midi these days, but for those who want a short novel in french, try Le Silence de la Mer by Vercors.

This was the first french book I read at school, about the french resistance. But with a deep message. It was first published in the 40s but is still in print, from Amazon.

[Âme]

NormanH, I like that very much. A good sentiment to start a new year. Cheers. [:)]

[Clair]

[quote user="Patf"]

I'm afraid my reading in french is limited to the Depeche du Midi these days, but for those who want a short novel in french, try Le Silence de la Mer by Vercors.

This was the first french book I read at school, about the french resistance. But with a deep message. It was first published in the 40s but is still in print, from Amazon.

[/quote]

Another book which was part of the curriculum when I was at school/college.

See here: Le Silence de la Mer

[NormanH]

This one looks fun

"At the start of 2008, Anna Sam “hôtesse de caisse” began to write about her experiences, first in a

blog, then in a book. She told of life behind the till and the conveyor belt

- “one of the most desirable vantage points from which to enjoy the full

panoply of human idiocy”.

Her blog is here

[Monika]

I am looking for a copy of "Sous les vents de Neptune" by Fred Vargas. I want to try to read it in French. I have read it in German, where it lost a lot of its atmosphere and I thought the translation was very longwinded, I also read it in English which was slightly better. I am sure the french version would be very atmospheric!? I would be very happy to pay something for it and also for postage.

[Bluecat]

[quote user="Monika"]

I am looking for a copy of "Sous les vents de Neptune" by Fred Vargas. I want to try to read it in French. I have read it in German, where it lost a lot of its atmosphere and I thought the translation was very longwinded, I also read it in English which was slightly better. I am sure the french version would be very atmospheric!? I would be very happy to pay something for it and also for postage.

[/quote]

Hi Monika

If you haven't already looked, Amazon.fr are showing 2nd hand copies from 3€ + postage.  Have put a request on Bookmooch  so if one comes up, it will come here and then I could post on to you..  Good luck anyway.

[Monika]

That would be great, Bluecat, thanks a lot!

[Bluecat]

[quote user="Monika"]That would be great, Bluecat, thanks a lot![/quote]

 

Will let you know if a copy comes up Monika