2013 in France: What are you reading?

Use this thread to indicate which French work you are working on for the year. If people are reading books at the same time, feel free to organize mini-group reads.

I would like to start the year with the Hugo group read, Toilers of the Sea but I might have to finish another long book before that.

This may not be the best place to ask this question, but if I wanted to attempt to resurrect my long lost French, who would be the best author/what would be the best book to start with? I reached the pinnacle of French ability in my senior year of high school, which was a long long time ago, when we were reading French literature in French and I was reasonably fluent. Since then, despite some refresher courses along the way, I've lost most of the ability to speak it (I've forgotten which nouns are masculine and which are feminine and most of the verb tenses I used to know), can understand somewhat well if people talk slowly (ha!), and can read things like news articles where you can figure out what is going on from the context. I would love to be able to read a novel in French, but would like to start with something not too complicated that doesn't use a lot of slang (like Zola).

This may sound silly, considering the author, but L'Etranger (The Outsider) has fairly straight forward French and is quite short.

It's definitely a difficult question to answer as it is always difficult to gauge our own abilities versus the language of a book. Recently I read Guy de Maupassant and the language he used (as are his plots) is so straight-forward that there really isn't much that could trip you up. If you want to still read a "real novel" but with simple language, he'd be high on my recommendation list.

I'd avoid all by Hugo, Stendhal, Dumas and those type of authors. What with their style, word choice, and grammar, they are too difficult. I find most French learners don't tend to learn, or they don't tend to focus on the passe simple (j'eus, tu eus, il eut, nous eumes, vous eutes, ils eurent) or the imperfect subjunctive (j'eusse, tu eusses, il eut, nous eussions, vous eussiez, ils eussent) required to read those authors.

In terms of contemporary works, I also say avoid Amelie Nothomb. Although seemingly simple, her main works are actually quite difficult using words that are fairly uncommon. She is also a huge user of puns and wit that could be hard to understand. That I've read recently of hers, only Tuer le pere was super easy to read. Too simple actually.

I don't remember Le Clezio being difficult to read in French but I read him so long ago that I'm not absolutely sure.

As well as the authors listed I'm hoping to tackle Atomised by Michel Houllebecq a book which has been on mount tbr forever, The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame classics I some how still haven't read, Delta of Venus by Anais Nin, and Memoirs of Hadrian all of which I already have on my tbr shelf.

Thanks, Sassy and lilisin. Since de Maupassant is one of our authors this year, maybe I'll try one of his works in French. Sadly, I've forgotten virtually all I once learned about the passe simple, and I'm not sure if I ever learned the imperfect subjunctive, although I certainly learned both the imperfect and the subjunctive (which I've also forgotten). I want to start with something easy, and if that goes well, I may move on to the more difficult.

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Oo, The Three Musketeers is fun to read. Just a joyous adventure read with a great villain.

Notre-Dame de Paris is also great but I hate how the translated the title to The Hunchback of Notre Dame in English since Quasimodo is most definitely not the main character. The church is. But this book is wonderful to read if just for the two characters of the church and Frollo.

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Depending on how you feel about de Maupassant in French, and maybe as I read other works, I'll be able to make other recommendations based on your comfort level.

Imperfect subjunctive would only be taught if you were taking a literature course as it is not a tense used in speaking.

By the way, with Balzac as our first author, what books would you recommend?

Rebecca--I read Cousin Bette this past year and I loved it. It made a very nice contrast to Nana.

I am starting off the year with the next Zola (I'm now reading them in the "recommended" order) -- Pot Luck.

I hope to at least start, if not finish, the following French works in January:

The Kill, which is the next Zola in line for me.

Toilers of the Sea. I replaced my older and probably "sanitized" translation with the Modern Library edition with the modern translation.

A Harlot High and Low by Balzac. A couple of years ago I read Lost Illusions, to which A Harlot High and Low is more or less a direct sequel.

A Happy Death by Albert Camus (for the Literary Centennials group). Though published posthumously, this was Camus's first completed novel.

The Indiscreet Jewels by Denis Diderot (also for Literary Centennials).

I'll also read A Happy Death by Camus in January.

First post. I started Joseph Balsamo by Alexandre Dumas. I hope to read the four books in the Marie Antoinette series. (is there 4 or 5)?

This isn't a French book, but it's a book about a French person. I just finished and reviewed The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal and the Real Count of Monte Cristo, a compulsively readable, impeccably researched biography of Alex Dumas, the father of the novelist Alexandre Dumas. It is a portrait of a fascinating and little known man and his tumultuous times.

I just finished Pierre and Jean by Guy de Maupassant.

Can't find a better place for this question, but wondering about some de Maupassant suggestions so I can get some in time for the next quarter!

I hope you don't mind if I join.

Currently I'm reading Les Misérables by Victor Hugo with some other people over the next two months.
I've found some more french authors in my mountain of unread books and am looking forward to get to them soon.

We don't mind at all. In fact you are very welcome to join!
The group is very silent and very active at the same time. We do the group reads then we all tend to comment about them on our own threads and discuss them there. So I hope you manage to find your way around.

I've just read and reviewed Astragal by Albertine Sarrazin, a book I picked up in the bookstore without knowing anything about it or the author because Patti Smith wrote a glowing introduction.

I just finished Therese Raquin and it is my favorite Zola novel so far. I loved the arc of the story, and how the protagonists just fell apart after the murder.

A more modern top 10:

1. Journey to the end of the night-Louis Ferdinand Celine
2. Children of Clay--Raymond Queneau
3. Life: A user's manual--Georges Perec
4. The prospector--J. M. G. Le Clezio
5. Three to kill--Jean-Patrick Manchette
6. The elementary particles--Michel Houellebecq
7. Affairs of State--Dominique Manotti
8. The Georgics--Claude Simon
9. I'm gone--Jean Echenoz
10. Mygale--Thierry Jonquet

I read a contemporary French novel, introduced to me via LibraryThing Early Reviewers: All My Friends by Marie NDiaye, a novella of five short stories. DNiaye is an interesting and creative writer. Her portrayal of individuals who are spiritually broken is unique and insightful. I will definitely explore her future novels as well as any others currently translated.

I just read Reticence by Jean-Philippe Toussaint a mystifying but fun novella that is not from France itself, but was written in French by a Belgian, so I'm stretching the limits of the group slightly.

I've just finished Le ravissement de Britney Spears, a crazy book by Jean Rolin (Olivier Rolin's little brother). Set in Los Angeles and Tadzhikistan, it's a humorous look at espionage and at the paparazzi with a homage to the City of Angels. Really, it's impossible to categorize, but a definite departure from any fiction I've read lately!

For an incredible mystery set in Giverny, Monet's town, which is both a great story and a lesson in history and art, I recommend Nympheas noirs by Michel Bussi. I read him earlier this summer and loved the book so much I bought Un Avion sans elle when I was in France for my holidays.

PS - a small comment, Amélie Nothomb is Belgian. This should not eradicate her from our discussions since I think she is a terrific writer. But being Canadian and sometimes hearing Canadian authors mistaken as French or American, I thought it important to clarify her nationality!

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Yes, Nothomb is Belgian but in the post as above I was more trying to indicate how, despite being contemporary and fast to read, some aspects of her are actually difficult and I wouldn't necessarily recommend her to a beginner. Maybe only a select few books like Tuer le Père. But I like her works so much I wouldn't mind claiming her as French! :)

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I'm currently reading the first volume of Dumas's Le vicomte de Bragelonne. Three volumes at 900 pages each but I've been reading about 100 pages a day so it's going by really quickly! But definitely a different feel from his other books.

Je suis en train de lire Saint Louis de Jacques le Goff - c'est un tome énorme avec un tas de détails historiques - je lis la version anglaise - c'est un peu plus facile pour moi.

I've just started Un Aller Simple by Didier van Cauwelaert, a winner of the Prix Goncourt some years ago. I am enjoying it hugely - ironic, funny but also has serious themes of identity and place. It is the story of a young man who was 'adopted' as a toddler by roma people in Marseilles and then deported by the Government back 'home' to Morocco, on the basis of his false papers. Im only a quarter through so I can't give any hints as to how it ends.

And good practice for slang / verlan vocabulary!

Ah. I was convinced Didier Van Cauwelaert was Belgian. I liked Un aller simple but I enjoyed L'éducation d'une fée more.

#28 - He may well be Belgian given his name - as is Nothomb - but I'm glad I mentioned him anyway as it is good to have another recommendation. Thanks!

#29 - I checked after reading your previous post and his page on LT explicitely lists him as French. Indeed it was his name that made me think he was a Belgian. Anyway I don't have a problem with discussing Belgian authors also. Glad you found the recommandation useful. :)

Just finished reading volume 2 of Dumas' Le vicomte de Bragelonne. One more volume left which will lead to the famous man in the iron mask and the conclusion of the d'Artagnan series. (Although I'll have to go back and read Vingt ans apres which I skipped only due to the third book in the series being more readily available.)

I really have to read some Dumas!

J. M. G. Le Clezio's The African.

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Ooo.... that's a good one. Didn't realize it had been translated. I'll have to recommend it now that I know it has.

#34--I've been reading Le Clezio for years and years. Every few months I'll do a check to see if there is anything new. There are a few other writers I do that with.

He is a writer who has always gotten around. One gets this restless traveller thing. He's really a global writer. His novels and stories have all kinds of settings--not just French. Anyway it's a great book--not a novel--more of a memoir about his father who was a doctor covering a wide range of territory between Nigeria and Cameroon before the second world war. His two sons were born in France--one in 1939 and J. M. G.--in 1940 and as the Germans occupied the country he becomes separated from them. He tries to get back to rescue his family but is turned back. The children don't really get to meet him until the late 40's and the intervening years have turned him bitter. The novel is a lot about the writer coming to terms with understanding him with bits and pieces about his growing up as a young child in Nigeria--a few photos as well.

I have to get back to le Clezio; I loved The Prospector (although I hated the translation of the title) and bought Desert and Onitsha after I read it, but haven't read either yet.

This thread is dangerous for me!

I just finished La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas. It is fun and soap-opera-y, and I especially liked all the parts where Catherine de Medici tried (and failed) to murder Henri de Navarre. She was easily my favorite character.

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Yes, I loved the book. My mom grew up in Senegal (her father was a doctor in the French colony) so when I read the book, I could feel her youth through his words.

I read it a long time ago and never got to recommend it since I had read it in French and all my reader friends (aka. LT friends) mostly read in English.

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I bought Ourania right when it first came out and was even present at the book's introduction to the Spanish speaking world when he came to the Buenos Aires book fair to introduce his newly translated book. But, I have yet to read it.

>35 lriley: The African sounds great. I'll look for it next week.

I just finished Hugo's The Laughing Man, which I was inspired to read by reading Toilers of the Sea at the beginning of the year. I really enjoyed it, but I didn't love it the way I loved TotS. My review is on the book page.

I've read two more books by French author since I last posted here.
The first one was D'entre les morts by Boileau-Narcejac. This is the book that inspired the movie Vertigo by Hitchcock. I think I saw the movie a long time ago, but I have absolutely no recollection of it, so I approached the book without knowing anything about the story. I have to say I was rather disappointed by it. There's a fantastic thread that is being pulled, in which you don't know whether there is something supernatural happening or whether the main character is imagining things, but I was not satisfied by how it played out.

The second book was Les derniers hommes (the last men) by Pierre Bordage, a science-fiction post-apocalyptical book in which the remaining of humanity struggles to survive in a nature completely destroyed by biological war. I found it enjoyable, but would not consider it a great book.

So, I got DVDs of Queen Margot and The Man Who Laughs from Netflix. Queen Margot was so terrible and so different from the book that I didn't get past the first half hour. The 1928 silent version of The Man Who Laughswas pretty good and followed the book pretty well, with some changes obviously made to explain things so they could fit into a less than two-hour movie, until the ending, which was happy! There is a more modern version with Gerard Depardieu, but Netflix has no idea when it will be available.

I've read some classics - Tartuffe, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Candide. I've got La Guerre des Boutons by Louis Pergaud lined up for a month or so's time because it's going to be the subject of a book group read, but don't know anything about it.

Oh goodness, how many times have I been told to read La Guerre des Boutons by my parents and my grandparents!

Arcadie... Arcadie
Finished reading: 31 August 2013



Arcadie... Arcadie by the French novelist Jean Giono is a collection of two longish essays. In the title essays, "Arcadie... Arcadie" Giono describes the age-old tradition of growing olives. It is a marvelous piece of writing, referring to classical literature, while describing the growth of the olive trees, the harvest, processing of the olives and local anecdotes from the author's own experience. Many readers will be familiar with, and may be inspired by descriptions of vineyards, the harvest of grapes and the making of wine, thus, Giono pays glorious tribute to the olive.

The essays about the olives is preceded by the essays bearing the title "La piere", which is a full length exploration of the cultural significance of stone, particularly in Western culture.

I finished Claudine en ménage by Colette, a charming and refreshing book.

I finished The Unknown Masterpiece, and Gambara, two novellas about artistic obsession by Balzac.

I loved The Count of Monte Cristo, which I finished last night as my last book of 2013.

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A great way to finish the year with such a wonderful book. I'll have to check out your thread now to read your review.

And continuing into 2014, I've just read The Human Comedy: Selected Stories by Balzac. Mostly compelling and often creepy.

To go back to my French reads, I am currently reading Zola's Le ventre de Paris (The Belly of Paris).

That reminds me that I also read Dumas' The Queen's Necklace.

And I just finished Balzac's The Black Sheep, a tale of treachery and greed.

rebecca -
I keep looking at my Balzac books but not picking them up. I will get to him eventually but for now there are too many other books calling my attention.

As for French reads, I just read Marguerite Duras' L'amant de la Chine du Nord (The North China Lover). I'm looking forward to writing it's comparison with the movie and L'amant.

Oh, I'll move on to some other books too; there are way too many calling to me too. But I've been in the mood for absorbing reads, and Balzac is certainly that.

I've been in the mood for absorbing reads as well; greatly satisfied with Zola but am wanting still more, hence some Duras. I've been eyeing my Proust and have finally read a few pages. It's beautiful so far and I'm thinking I might continue in that direction.

I just read Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma, which surprised me by being a real page-turner; I can't believe it's taken me decades to read it. I'm contemplating spending the rest of August in France, liiterarily speaking.

Continuing my August in France, I've read Victor Hugo's Ninety-Three, which had some compelling parts but also so tedious ones.

And still continuing my August in France, I read Dumas's The Women's War and found it thoroughly delightful with its combination of intrigue, identity deception, and romance, if not up to (but what could be?) The Count of Monte Cristo.

I just finished Le comte de Moret about an illegitimate son of King Henri IV and his adventures at his brother Louis XIII's court. Unfortunately, it ended abruptly with all affairs (political and romantic) hanging in the air, but there's some intriguing idea about the reasons why Louis XIII didn't father any children during the first years of his marriage.

Completing my August in France, I finished Balzac's The Wild Ass's Skin.

Sounds like you had an excellent adventure rebecca. Thanks for keeping us updated!

Thanks, lilisin. I enjoyed spending August with some basically fun books, especially since I was also slogging through a real tome at the same time.

ETA I am going to get to Thomas Mann this fall!

You are a brave woman, rebecca! I must admit I've given up on Thomas Mann already. One book was enough. I know it'll be a while before I attempt another.

I remember you being disappointed in Mann, but I am a fan, at least of his longer work, and I want to reread Doctor Faustus because I felt a lot passed me by when I first read it a few years ago. I think you read his shorter works and, having just read some of them earlier this year, I don't think they stand up to his longer ones. Not that I'm trying to tempt you . . . but it's hard to go wrong with Buddenbrooks.

And now I've read Stendhal's The Red and the Black, which I admired but didn't like nearly as much as The Charterhouse of Parma.

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I only got halfway through that one. Don't think I'll pick it up again either as it's already been at least 5 years since I turned that last page.

>67 lilisin: I feel better for not liking it! I couldn't read it at all when I was younger.

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Funny story. Apparently my brother is named after the main character because my mom loved the book so much. After I tried reading it, she reread it and then realized she didn't like it as much as she thought. In fact, she didn't like it at all.