1Dilara86
Dilara’s 2022 reading log
This is my fifth year in Club Read. I like literary and speculative fiction, especially from countries other than France, the UK and the US. My aim is to read as widely as possible, with a good mix of places and author backgrounds. I won’t write about all the books I read, but I’ll list them all and review some of them when I can (or when you ask for one). I read in French and English, and welcome posts in both languages.
My previous threads are here:
2021
2020
Spring 2019
Winter 2019
2018
This year, I’ve joined the Food & Lit challenge over at Litsy, where we cook food and read books from a different country every month. This should be interesting!
Because apparently, I’m a sucker for gimmicks, I’ve also decided to read books by authors who were born or lived/live in the Côtes d’Armor department in France, in Northern Brittany. Why?, will you ask. Because all French departments have a number as well as a name, and Côtes d’Armor’s number is 22 ;-)
Here are some of the books I received at Christmas on the left, and the books I won’t have finished before the end of 2021 on the right.
Christmas 2021
Carry-overs from 2021
This is my fifth year in Club Read. I like literary and speculative fiction, especially from countries other than France, the UK and the US. My aim is to read as widely as possible, with a good mix of places and author backgrounds. I won’t write about all the books I read, but I’ll list them all and review some of them when I can (or when you ask for one). I read in French and English, and welcome posts in both languages.
My previous threads are here:
2021
2020
Spring 2019
Winter 2019
2018
This year, I’ve joined the Food & Lit challenge over at Litsy, where we cook food and read books from a different country every month. This should be interesting!
Because apparently, I’m a sucker for gimmicks, I’ve also decided to read books by authors who were born or lived/live in the Côtes d’Armor department in France, in Northern Brittany. Why?, will you ask. Because all French departments have a number as well as a name, and Côtes d’Armor’s number is 22 ;-)
Here are some of the books I received at Christmas on the left, and the books I won’t have finished before the end of 2021 on the right.
Christmas 2021
-
Le livre de la cuisine espagnole (The Food of Spain) by Claudia Roden
-
Les Recettes du monde dans les films d'animation by Minh-Tri Vo
-
La cuisine traditionnelle du Poitou by Vincent Buche
-
On va déguster : la France by François-Régis Gaudry and friends
-
The Emissary by Yoko Tawada
-
Le devoir de violence by Yambo Ouologuem
-
Melmoth furieux by Sabrina Calvo
Carry-overs from 2021
-
Princess, Priestess, Poet: The Sumerian Temple Hymns of Enheduanna by Betty De Shong Meador
-
Sorcières by Mona Chollet
-
Femmes qui courent avec les loups (Women Who Run with the Wolves) by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
2Dilara86
Food and Lit 2022
January – Egypt
I’ll probably read Here Is a Body: A Novel by Basma Abdel Aziz, and I’ll probably cook something from Feast: Food of the Islamic World by Anissa Helou while listening to Musique d’Egypte, streamed from my library’s website.
ETA: I read Here is a Body and cooked shorbat 'adass from Feast, with hawawshi from an online recipe.
February - Argentina
Foodwise, I borrowed Argentina : cuisine authentique et recettes de chefs and Empanadas argentins : un festin argentin from the library.
I cooked an Argentinian aubergine and peanut soup from an online recipe and chicken and cilantro empanadas from Empanadas argentins.
Possible reads include: The Adventures of China Irons (although it might be better to read Martin Fierro first!), a new novel by Eugenia Almeida, Laura Alcoba or Selva Almada (I really enjoyed what I've read of them)
ETA: I read L’Échange by Eugenia Almeida
March - Greece
I borrowed Le vrai goût de la Grèce : une traversée du pays en 50 recettes by Laetitia Cénac, which was disappointing.
I cooked Greek lemon chicken from an online recipe
I read Six Nights on the Acropolis by Georges Séféris
April - Cuba
I borrowed Le grand livre de la cuisine antillaise by Gladys Mazarin
I cooked ropa vieja and meatless arroz congri and made Cuban coffee - it took several tries to master the technique, but it was worth it!
I read Poésie cubaine du xxe siècle, collected by Claude Couffon
May - Afghanistan
I made Kabuli Palau (a rice, carrot and lamb dish), Afghani salad, Afghani stewed spinach, garlic and yogurt sauce, and fresh coriander chutney
I read Pamir : Oubliés sur le toit du monde by Matthieu Paley and Kaboul Disco, Tome 1 : Comment je ne me suis pas fait kidnapper en Afghanistan by Nicolas Wild
June - Colombia
I'm sure I cooked something Colombian, but right now I can't remember what!
I read La Expedición Botánica contada a los niños by Elisa Mújica (unfinished) and Les Dénonciateurs by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
July - France narrowed down to the North
I made moules-frites and a potato and cured, smoked herring salad with raw beetroot juice (not on the same day!)
I read Ces dames aux chapeaux verts by Germaine Acremant
August - Japan
I made a bento inspired by Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go by Naomi Kijima
I read Un dîner en bateau by Akira Yoshimura and Nagori by Ryoko Sekiguchi
September - Kenya
I made githeri using a recipe found on the Internet
I read The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi, by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
October - Haiti
I made Haitian hot chocolate, riz djon djon and Haitian-style squid using recipes found on the Internet
I read Au pipirite chantant by Jean Métellus
November - India
December - Germany
January – Egypt
I’ll probably read Here Is a Body: A Novel by Basma Abdel Aziz, and I’ll probably cook something from Feast: Food of the Islamic World by Anissa Helou while listening to Musique d’Egypte, streamed from my library’s website.
ETA: I read Here is a Body and cooked shorbat 'adass from Feast, with hawawshi from an online recipe.
February - Argentina
Foodwise, I borrowed Argentina : cuisine authentique et recettes de chefs and Empanadas argentins : un festin argentin from the library.
I cooked an Argentinian aubergine and peanut soup from an online recipe and chicken and cilantro empanadas from Empanadas argentins.
Possible reads include: The Adventures of China Irons (although it might be better to read Martin Fierro first!), a new novel by Eugenia Almeida, Laura Alcoba or Selva Almada (I really enjoyed what I've read of them)
ETA: I read L’Échange by Eugenia Almeida
March - Greece
I borrowed Le vrai goût de la Grèce : une traversée du pays en 50 recettes by Laetitia Cénac, which was disappointing.
I cooked Greek lemon chicken from an online recipe
I read Six Nights on the Acropolis by Georges Séféris
April - Cuba
I borrowed Le grand livre de la cuisine antillaise by Gladys Mazarin
I cooked ropa vieja and meatless arroz congri and made Cuban coffee - it took several tries to master the technique, but it was worth it!
I read Poésie cubaine du xxe siècle, collected by Claude Couffon
May - Afghanistan
I made Kabuli Palau (a rice, carrot and lamb dish), Afghani salad, Afghani stewed spinach, garlic and yogurt sauce, and fresh coriander chutney
I read Pamir : Oubliés sur le toit du monde by Matthieu Paley and Kaboul Disco, Tome 1 : Comment je ne me suis pas fait kidnapper en Afghanistan by Nicolas Wild
June - Colombia
I'm sure I cooked something Colombian, but right now I can't remember what!
I read La Expedición Botánica contada a los niños by Elisa Mújica (unfinished) and Les Dénonciateurs by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
July - France narrowed down to the North
I made moules-frites and a potato and cured, smoked herring salad with raw beetroot juice (not on the same day!)
I read Ces dames aux chapeaux verts by Germaine Acremant
August - Japan
I made a bento inspired by Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go by Naomi Kijima
I read Un dîner en bateau by Akira Yoshimura and Nagori by Ryoko Sekiguchi
September - Kenya
I made githeri using a recipe found on the Internet
I read The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi, by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
October - Haiti
I made Haitian hot chocolate, riz djon djon and Haitian-style squid using recipes found on the Internet
I read Au pipirite chantant by Jean Métellus
November - India
December - Germany
3Dilara86
2022 Côtes d’Armor Challenge
(Saint Guirec’s statue at high tide in Perros-Guirec)
This is 2022, and the Côtes d’Armor département in Northern Brittany is number 22 in the official list of French départements used everywhere, from postcodes to car plates. I thought it would be fun to use this as an excuse to explore authors who were born or lived/live in the Côtes d’Armor department in France.
I’ll be starting with Le sang noir by Louis Guilloux, as recommended by raton-liseur.
List of possibilities
Louis Guilloux – was born and lived in Saint-Brieuc: Le sang noir - Read - a fantastic rec from Raton-Liseur
Mongo Beti – lived and taught in Lamballe: anything other than Le pauvre Christ de Bomba, which I’ve already read - Read and enjoyed Remember Ruben
Joseph Conrad – wrote The Rescue in Île-Grande
François-René de Chateaubriand – lived in Plancoët and Dinan
Brigitte Fontaine – lives in Fréhel
Erik Orsenna – lives in Lanmodez
François-Marie Luzel, a Breton poet born in Plouaret (if I can find something of his translated into French)
Françoise Morvan, born in Rostrenen: Les Morgans de l'île d'Ouessant, Contes de Basse Bretagne
Christian Prigent, born in Saint-Brieuc
Yann Andréa, born in Guingamp
(Saint Guirec’s statue at high tide in Perros-Guirec)
This is 2022, and the Côtes d’Armor département in Northern Brittany is number 22 in the official list of French départements used everywhere, from postcodes to car plates. I thought it would be fun to use this as an excuse to explore authors who were born or lived/live in the Côtes d’Armor department in France.
I’ll be starting with Le sang noir by Louis Guilloux, as recommended by raton-liseur.
List of possibilities
Louis Guilloux – was born and lived in Saint-Brieuc: Le sang noir - Read - a fantastic rec from Raton-Liseur
Mongo Beti – lived and taught in Lamballe: anything other than Le pauvre Christ de Bomba, which I’ve already read - Read and enjoyed Remember Ruben
Joseph Conrad – wrote The Rescue in Île-Grande
François-René de Chateaubriand – lived in Plancoët and Dinan
Brigitte Fontaine – lives in Fréhel
Erik Orsenna – lives in Lanmodez
François-Marie Luzel, a Breton poet born in Plouaret (if I can find something of his translated into French)
Françoise Morvan, born in Rostrenen: Les Morgans de l'île d'Ouessant, Contes de Basse Bretagne
Christian Prigent, born in Saint-Brieuc
Yann Andréa, born in Guingamp
4Dilara86
What I’d like to do this year
We’ll see how things pan out, but I’d like to:
Make a dent in the unread books on my shelves, including Une histoire populaire de la France, Cité dolente, Le derviche et la mort, The Magician of Lublin, Tâdo, Tâdo, wéé ! ou No more baby: roman and Écrire en pays dominé
Read more from favourite authors and authors of works I’ve really enjoyed, such as Ramuz, Léonora Miano, Dulce María Loynaz (in Spanish if I can!), Raharimanana, Naguib Mahfouz, Eugenia Almeida, Chingiz Aitmatov and Magda Szabó.
We’ll see how things pan out, but I’d like to:
Make a dent in the unread books on my shelves, including Une histoire populaire de la France, Cité dolente, Le derviche et la mort, The Magician of Lublin, Tâdo, Tâdo, wéé ! ou No more baby: roman and Écrire en pays dominé
Read more from favourite authors and authors of works I’ve really enjoyed, such as Ramuz, Léonora Miano, Dulce María Loynaz (in Spanish if I can!), Raharimanana, Naguib Mahfouz, Eugenia Almeida, Chingiz Aitmatov and Magda Szabó.
5raton-liseur
I'm looking forward to following your reading and reviews!
The Food and Book challenge sounds nice. Where do you travel to in January?
Oh, and for the Côtes d'Armor challenge (what a fun idea!), the first author that comes to my mind is Louis Guilloux. Most of his books are set in Saint Brieuc, where he lived. I hope you'll read Le Sang noir. It's one of my all time favourite!
The Food and Book challenge sounds nice. Where do you travel to in January?
Oh, and for the Côtes d'Armor challenge (what a fun idea!), the first author that comes to my mind is Louis Guilloux. Most of his books are set in Saint Brieuc, where he lived. I hope you'll read Le Sang noir. It's one of my all time favourite!
6Dilara86
>5 raton-liseur: I'm travelling to Egypt in January!
Thank you for the the recommendation. I've reserved D'une guerre l'autre, which contains Le sang noir.
Thank you for the the recommendation. I've reserved D'une guerre l'autre, which contains Le sang noir.
7labfs39
>2 Dilara86: In a serendipitous coincidence, your food and lit challenge aligns with the Asian Book Challenge in May (the Stans) and August (Japan). Perhaps you can cross post whatever delicious dish you create on that thread too.
>3 Dilara86: What a fun idea!
>3 Dilara86: What a fun idea!
8dchaikin
Wow, that photo. The Sumerian Temple Hymns sound pretty fascinating. I'll be following you again, here and on Litsy.
9Dilara86
>7 labfs39: I'll drop in for sure! There isn't a country I'm not interested in, but the Stans and Japan have a special place in my heart...
>8 dchaikin: I guess you're talking about the sunset photo? My partner, who has a better eye for photography than me, took it in 2006 when we spent a week's holiday in Perros-Guirec.
Princess, Priestess, Poet is indeed fascinating. It's also a slow read that demands a high level of concentration (at least for me), with a lot of scholarly output for a few broken lines of poetry. I love it, but there is no doubt that someone with a better grounding in the subject would get more out of it! I'm planning on getting a literary translation/adaptation of her works at some point, so that I can also read her poems just for pleasure.
>8 dchaikin: I guess you're talking about the sunset photo? My partner, who has a better eye for photography than me, took it in 2006 when we spent a week's holiday in Perros-Guirec.
Princess, Priestess, Poet is indeed fascinating. It's also a slow read that demands a high level of concentration (at least for me), with a lot of scholarly output for a few broken lines of poetry. I love it, but there is no doubt that someone with a better grounding in the subject would get more out of it! I'm planning on getting a literary translation/adaptation of her works at some point, so that I can also read her poems just for pleasure.
10baswood
>3 Dilara86: that's a great idea
11arubabookwoman
Happy New Year Dilara--it looks like you've got some great reads planned!
13Dilara86
January reads
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's 78% English and French
21st-century books: 5
20th-century books: 4
19th-century books:
18th-century books:
17th-century books:
16th-century books:
Medieval books:
Ancient books: not a whole book, but a corpus of Sumerian poetry
That's 100% 21st- and 20th-century if we're looking at publishing dates
-
Les états d’âme de Cellulite, Salades de saison, Les angoisses de Cellulite by Claire Bretécher
-
Sorcières : la puissance invaincue des femmes by Mona Chollet
-
Here is a Body by Basma Abdel Aziz
-
Princess, Priestess, Poet: The Sumerian Temple Hymns of Enheduanna by Betty De Shong Meador
-
Le sang noir by Louis Guilloux
-
Les plus beaux poèmes de la langue française by collectif
-
Le Grand exode de François d'Acadie by Huguette Pérol
-
L'enfant cachée by Loïc Dauvillier
-
La jeune femme et la mer by Catherine Meurisse
-
Vivant - Liberté, égalité, fraternité, biodiversité by Europe Écologie – Les Verts (Not sure it counts! But I did read the PDF provided on EELV's website cover to cover, despite the bad formatting and typos)
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 7
- English: 1
- Arabic: 1
- Sumerian: 0.1
That's 78% English and French
That's 100% 21st- and 20th-century if we're looking at publishing dates
- Number of female authors this month: 6
- Number of male authors this month: 1
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month: 2
14Dilara86
Les états d’âme de Cellulite, Salades de saison, Les angoisses de Cellulite by Claire Bretécher
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: a fictional, medieval Europe
First published in 1980 (for this omnibus edition), and 1969, 1972, 1974 for the various stories within it
A random double page
Cellulite is a young medieval lady, but not the pretty, shy and retiring type. She’s ugly, forthright, violent and very contrary. She’s also a lot less stupid than her father, the lord of the castle. Basically, she’s the prototype for Bean from Disenchantment, for those who’ve seen this Netflix animated series, and proof that the sexual revolution was well under way in the cultural sphere by the end of the sixties. There are versions of Cellulite in Italian (Cellulite), Dutch (Sonetteke), Danish (Sylfia), Spanish (Celulitis), German (Zellulitis), Swedish (Cellulisa) and Finnish (Selluliit) (I like to look at the variety of names chosen). I find it both extraordinary and sad that, as far as I know, none of those stories have been translated into English.
A friend lent me this book, which is an omnibus of all the Cellulite stories, plus a number of shorter graphic works, including for some reasons a funny work about cement… They were written for adults (definitely not for children!) in the late sixties and seventies, and you can almost taste that era reading them, but they haven’t aged badly. They remain relateable and funny.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: a fictional, medieval Europe
First published in 1980 (for this omnibus edition), and 1969, 1972, 1974 for the various stories within it
A random double page
Cellulite is a young medieval lady, but not the pretty, shy and retiring type. She’s ugly, forthright, violent and very contrary. She’s also a lot less stupid than her father, the lord of the castle. Basically, she’s the prototype for Bean from Disenchantment, for those who’ve seen this Netflix animated series, and proof that the sexual revolution was well under way in the cultural sphere by the end of the sixties. There are versions of Cellulite in Italian (Cellulite), Dutch (Sonetteke), Danish (Sylfia), Spanish (Celulitis), German (Zellulitis), Swedish (Cellulisa) and Finnish (Selluliit) (I like to look at the variety of names chosen). I find it both extraordinary and sad that, as far as I know, none of those stories have been translated into English.
A friend lent me this book, which is an omnibus of all the Cellulite stories, plus a number of shorter graphic works, including for some reasons a funny work about cement… They were written for adults (definitely not for children!) in the late sixties and seventies, and you can almost taste that era reading them, but they haven’t aged badly. They remain relateable and funny.
15raton-liseur
>14 Dilara86: I am not well versed in Claire Bretécher's work, but I love the name of this character!
16Linda92007
I am jealous of you, as I wish I could read bilingually, and especially in French. I'll look forward to your reviews.
17LolaWalser
>14 Dilara86:
Love the sound of that! I had read her Les Frustrés and seen some of the animated comics but that one's new to me.
I came across an American 1970s edition of her comics once (Les Frustrés, I believe), but, yeah, she's way too obscure in English. The francophone BD is/was almost completely unknown here so maybe that's part of it...
Happy new year!
Love the sound of that! I had read her Les Frustrés and seen some of the animated comics but that one's new to me.
I came across an American 1970s edition of her comics once (Les Frustrés, I believe), but, yeah, she's way too obscure in English. The francophone BD is/was almost completely unknown here so maybe that's part of it...
Happy new year!
18labfs39
>14 Dilara86: Fascinating. If you wouldn't mind, it would be great if you posted your review on the CR Graphic Stories thread as well. It's a great example of adult comics with important themes.
19dchaikin
>14 Dilara86: cool.
20Dilara86
>15 raton-liseur: So do I
>16 Linda92007: Hello Linda and welcome!
>17 LolaWalser: Happy New Year to you too!
It was also new to me. I don't think I had read any Cellulite until New Year's Eve, when a friend lent me this book, knowing that I love Agrippine (that's the one that was made into an animated series, which by the way is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvjap43P3e44Gsx70bnMESg in French - there was an English version on TV in the UK when I lived there, but I can't find it online).
>18 labfs39: Will do
>16 Linda92007: Hello Linda and welcome!
>17 LolaWalser: Happy New Year to you too!
It was also new to me. I don't think I had read any Cellulite until New Year's Eve, when a friend lent me this book, knowing that I love Agrippine (that's the one that was made into an animated series, which by the way is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvjap43P3e44Gsx70bnMESg in French - there was an English version on TV in the UK when I lived there, but I can't find it online).
>18 labfs39: Will do
21lisapeet
I love Claire Bretécher... I can't remember how I found her work, but it was in the late '70s/early '80s so I was probably a teenager or still close. I followed a lot of European comics in those days, and was always into her feminist and irreverent take. I guess there were some around in translation, or else the work of hers I saw transcended language differences.
22Dilara86
>21 lisapeet: Do you remember whether you read her in magazines, one strip/panel at a time, or whether you had access to her books?
23lisapeet
>22 Dilara86: Aha, I found it—my ancient copy of National Lampoon presents Claire Bretécher, which is translated. Looking at the foreword, I'm guessing I discovered her in Ms. Magazine and National Lampoon, both of which I was reading a lot in my early teens (late '70s)... which tells you a lot about me, I think.
24Dilara86
>23 lisapeet: It's great that you were able to hang on to the magazines of your teenage years (and that they were such good choices)! It makes me happy that there were spaces for voices outside the Anglo sphere.
25PaulCranswick
Happy New Year!
I can see I am going to love it here.
>2 Dilara86: What a wonderful idea. I lived for a year in Egypt in the 80s near to Alexandria (a place called Hannuville, Agami) which was a scenic seaside village but has all but disappeared as I discovered when I visited there about five years ago.
Egyptian food is very generously served and I have enjoyed many feasts there from the wonderful baked fish, the aphrodisiac qualities of pigeon and the ubiquitous koshary. Rice and pasta together who would have thought it!
If I can find the time this month I will try to squeeze in a book by an Egyptian author - maybe Chicago by Alaa al-Aswani.
I can see I am going to love it here.
>2 Dilara86: What a wonderful idea. I lived for a year in Egypt in the 80s near to Alexandria (a place called Hannuville, Agami) which was a scenic seaside village but has all but disappeared as I discovered when I visited there about five years ago.
Egyptian food is very generously served and I have enjoyed many feasts there from the wonderful baked fish, the aphrodisiac qualities of pigeon and the ubiquitous koshary. Rice and pasta together who would have thought it!
If I can find the time this month I will try to squeeze in a book by an Egyptian author - maybe Chicago by Alaa al-Aswani.
26Dilara86
>25 PaulCranswick: Thank you ! That koshary (I am guessing that's the dish in the picture) looks very nice! Do I want to know more about the aphrodisiac qualities of pigeon?
I'll be starting Here is a Body today, and so will probably attempt an Egyptian meal this week. I've made ful medames in the past, and it was very nice. I was thinking of making two recipes from Feast: Food of the Islamic World: shorbat 'adass (Egyptian split lentil soup - note to self: page 292) and mulukhihah (note to self: p 408) if I can find some at the shops. But if a particular dish is mentioned in the novel, I'll probably go for that instead, unless it's something I really don't want to eat.
I'll be starting Here is a Body today, and so will probably attempt an Egyptian meal this week. I've made ful medames in the past, and it was very nice. I was thinking of making two recipes from Feast: Food of the Islamic World: shorbat 'adass (Egyptian split lentil soup - note to self: page 292) and mulukhihah (note to self: p 408) if I can find some at the shops. But if a particular dish is mentioned in the novel, I'll probably go for that instead, unless it's something I really don't want to eat.
27Dilara86
Sorcières : la puissance invaincue des femmes (Witches : women’s undefeated power) by Mona Chollet
Writer’s gender: female
Writer’s nationality: Switzerland
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: the Western world, especially the US, France and Switzerland
First published in 2019
A few lines from page 100
This is feminist essay about misogyny (and in particular, the persistence of the witch archetype) by Swiss author and journalist Mona Chollet is a best-seller in France. It's been in such high demand, I had to wait almost 4 months for a library copy, and although it is very readable, it doesn't say anything new. She uses personal anecdotes, pop culture references (Game of Thrones), and literary references (Maria Gripe’s The Glassblower's Children, Baudelaire, La femme et le docteur Dreuf by Mare Kandre) to illustrate her points, taken from various feminist writers – mostly American (Mary Daly…) In many ways, it reads like good long-form journalism.
Writer’s gender: female
Writer’s nationality: Switzerland
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: the Western world, especially the US, France and Switzerland
First published in 2019
A few lines from page 100
Avec sept milliards et demi d’êtres humains, tout danger d’extinction de l’espèce paraît écarté – ou du moins tout danger d’extinction faute de naissances. Comme tient à le souligner l’autrice et comédienne Betsy Salkind, « quand Dieu a dit « Croissez et multipliez », il n’y avait que deux personnes sur Terre ».
This is feminist essay about misogyny (and in particular, the persistence of the witch archetype) by Swiss author and journalist Mona Chollet is a best-seller in France. It's been in such high demand, I had to wait almost 4 months for a library copy, and although it is very readable, it doesn't say anything new. She uses personal anecdotes, pop culture references (Game of Thrones), and literary references (Maria Gripe’s The Glassblower's Children, Baudelaire, La femme et le docteur Dreuf by Mare Kandre) to illustrate her points, taken from various feminist writers – mostly American (Mary Daly…) In many ways, it reads like good long-form journalism.
28kidzdoc
>26 Dilara86: I would love to hear more about those recipes! Please post them in La Cucina. That cookbook also sounds good; I might be tempted to buy it, even though I own plenty of cookbooks already.
29PaulCranswick
>26 Dilara86: No but it works!
30Dilara86
>28 kidzdoc: I'll try and remember to post in La Cucina. I think I might be like you regarding cookbooks. But if you need an excuse, this one won the James Beard Foundation International Cookbook Award, and it certainly is good.
31PaulCranswick
I did squeeze in The Thief and the Dogs by Naguib Mahfouz for Food and Lit Egypt.
Now thinking of where to buy pigeon!
Now thinking of where to buy pigeon!
32Dilara86
>31 PaulCranswick: I'll go over to your thread to see what you thought of The Thief and the Dogs. I love Naguib Mahfouz, and one of my "goals" for the year is to read more of him, but I wanted to try a new (to me) author this month, which is why I chose Here is a Body by Basma Abdel Aziz.
I can't say I've had pigeon very often. In fact, I think I only ate it a handful of times as a child, and just once as an adult, in a gastronomic restaurant where you don't choose from a menu - you eat what the chef gives you. Sometimes, you can get pigeon pastilla in Moroccan restaurants, but I was never tempted. During the second world war, my grandfather's family were only able to eat what they or their neighbours produced, and for meat, that meant poultry and other small animals. After the war, my grandfather swore he would never have pigeon or rabbit again if he could help it!
I can't say I've had pigeon very often. In fact, I think I only ate it a handful of times as a child, and just once as an adult, in a gastronomic restaurant where you don't choose from a menu - you eat what the chef gives you. Sometimes, you can get pigeon pastilla in Moroccan restaurants, but I was never tempted. During the second world war, my grandfather's family were only able to eat what they or their neighbours produced, and for meat, that meant poultry and other small animals. After the war, my grandfather swore he would never have pigeon or rabbit again if he could help it!
33lilisin
Trying to catch up on threads during a rare pause of free time at work. Just wanted to say I'm looking to lurking on your thread again this year and hope to maybe even write a comment every once in a while. (I often do want to comment but then notice I'm commenting on a topic already months over so I refrain after seeing that.)
34Dilara86
>33 lilisin: Don't refrain! I'd like to read your thoughts, and it really doesn't matter if they're about an older post.
35Dilara86
Food and Lit: Egypt
Book being read: Here is a Body
Possible dishes:
From Feast: Food of the Islamic World: shorbat 'adass (Egyptian split lentil soup - page 292) and mulukhihah (page 408)
Suggestions from other participants: hawawshi
Om ali, found on the same website as the hawawshi recipe
Dishes mentioned in the novel so far: there is a lot of eating and sharing of food (it's Ramadan), but specific names are rare. I have noted Kentucky Fried Chicken (not having that!), kunafa, hamburgers (could be hawawshi)
Book being read: Here is a Body
Possible dishes:
From Feast: Food of the Islamic World: shorbat 'adass (Egyptian split lentil soup - page 292) and mulukhihah (page 408)
Suggestions from other participants: hawawshi
Om ali, found on the same website as the hawawshi recipe
Dishes mentioned in the novel so far: there is a lot of eating and sharing of food (it's Ramadan), but specific names are rare. I have noted Kentucky Fried Chicken (not having that!), kunafa, hamburgers (could be hawawshi)
36Dilara86
Reposted from La Cucina
Today, I tried my hand at Egyptian food. I made shorbat 'adass (Egyptian split lentil soup), using the recipe found in Feast: Food of the Islamic World, slightly modified. The ingredients list called for 500g of raw red lentils for just 1l of water - that had to be a typo. I checked other recipes online: one cup seems standard. I added garlic (also found in other recipes) and replaced the tomatoes with tomato purée.
Here is the pot with the raw ingredients:
Shorbat 'adass
Ingredients
Put the quartered onion, garlic, courgette, carrot, tomato purée, lentils and water in a big pot and bring to the boil. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil and the ground cumin. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, fry the chopped onion in 2 tbsp of olive oil until it is golden brown. Add to the soup. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
Blend using a handblender and salt to taste.
Easy and reasonably fuss-free! I’ll make it again.
The main course was hawawshi – spicy ground meat baked in pitas (using this recipe). It was nice, but we were expecting an explosion of flavours, and it fell short of that. It’s probably worth tweaking until it’s just right… I’m also thinking that I’d be just as happy with a vegetarian version. I served it with a mixed salad of tomato, cucumber, shallot, coriander leaves, lettuce and radishes with lemon juice and sumac.
The whole meal (the hawawshis were uncooked at that time):
For dessert, I was going to make om ali, then realised I’d forgotten to buy puff pastry. So we had oranges instead!
It was a decent Sunday lunch. I realised too late that I had no idea how Egyptians organise their meals: how they build their menu, in what order and in which combination they serve their dishes, etc. So I went for the standard French way of doing things: soup as a first course, meat and vegetable as a main course, fruit for dessert. Next time, I’ll do more research!
Today, I tried my hand at Egyptian food. I made shorbat 'adass (Egyptian split lentil soup), using the recipe found in Feast: Food of the Islamic World, slightly modified. The ingredients list called for 500g of raw red lentils for just 1l of water - that had to be a typo. I checked other recipes online: one cup seems standard. I added garlic (also found in other recipes) and replaced the tomatoes with tomato purée.
Here is the pot with the raw ingredients:
Shorbat 'adass
Ingredients
- 1 onion, quartered
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1tsp ground cumin
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 courgette (medium in the recipe – I suspect mine would have counted as big), chopped
- 1 carrot (medium in the recipe – I suspect mine would have counted as big), chopped
- 1 cup red lentils
- 1.5 l water
- Salt to taste
Put the quartered onion, garlic, courgette, carrot, tomato purée, lentils and water in a big pot and bring to the boil. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil and the ground cumin. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, fry the chopped onion in 2 tbsp of olive oil until it is golden brown. Add to the soup. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
Blend using a handblender and salt to taste.
Easy and reasonably fuss-free! I’ll make it again.
The main course was hawawshi – spicy ground meat baked in pitas (using this recipe). It was nice, but we were expecting an explosion of flavours, and it fell short of that. It’s probably worth tweaking until it’s just right… I’m also thinking that I’d be just as happy with a vegetarian version. I served it with a mixed salad of tomato, cucumber, shallot, coriander leaves, lettuce and radishes with lemon juice and sumac.
The whole meal (the hawawshis were uncooked at that time):
For dessert, I was going to make om ali, then realised I’d forgotten to buy puff pastry. So we had oranges instead!
It was a decent Sunday lunch. I realised too late that I had no idea how Egyptians organise their meals: how they build their menu, in what order and in which combination they serve their dishes, etc. So I went for the standard French way of doing things: soup as a first course, meat and vegetable as a main course, fruit for dessert. Next time, I’ll do more research!
37baswood
>36 Dilara86: Beautiful pics. looks scrumptious.
38Dilara86
>37 baswood: Thank you!
39Dilara86
Princess, Priestess, Poet: The Sumerian Temple Hymns of Enheduanna by Betty De Shong Meador, about the poetry of Enheduanna
Writer’s gender: female
Writer’s nationality: USA
Original language: English and Sumerian
Translated into: N/A and English
Location: Mesopotamia (Sumer)
First published in 2009
A few lines from page 100
This is an academic tome on the poetry of Enheduanna, the first named author in history. She was the daughter of Sargon, the king who created the Akkadian empire. He sent her south, to Ur, to serve as the first high priestess (all her predecessors were male) in the temple of the moon god Nanna, a role that was both religious and political. All the poems and poetry fragments attributed to her (some were no her creations, some she probably adaptated from earlier anonymous works) are presented here, with ample historical and religious commentary. It took me 6 weeks to read it cover to cover, both because I was unfamiliar with the subject matter and because the text was on the dense side. Although I am certain I would have gotten more out of it and I would have memorised more information if I had been better versed in Sumerian history, I am still glad I persevered to the end. I learned a lot. I’d now like to find Enheduanna’s poetry, adapted for pure poetic enjoyment rather than academic research…
Writer’s gender: female
Writer’s nationality: USA
Original language: English and Sumerian
Translated into: N/A and English
Location: Mesopotamia (Sumer)
First published in 2009
A few lines from page 100
Each of the seven deities of this group of Temple Hymns has spent mythological time in the netherworld, the land of the dead. Utu, the sun god (TH 13) enters the underworld through the western gate each evening and rises from this sleep every morning to ascend into the world above. Ninazu (TH 14) and his son Ningishzida (TH 15) have dual traditions. They are among the young dying fertility gods who disappear into the underworlds at the time of the barley harvest, but they also ascend with the new growth in the spring.
This is an academic tome on the poetry of Enheduanna, the first named author in history. She was the daughter of Sargon, the king who created the Akkadian empire. He sent her south, to Ur, to serve as the first high priestess (all her predecessors were male) in the temple of the moon god Nanna, a role that was both religious and political. All the poems and poetry fragments attributed to her (some were no her creations, some she probably adaptated from earlier anonymous works) are presented here, with ample historical and religious commentary. It took me 6 weeks to read it cover to cover, both because I was unfamiliar with the subject matter and because the text was on the dense side. Although I am certain I would have gotten more out of it and I would have memorised more information if I had been better versed in Sumerian history, I am still glad I persevered to the end. I learned a lot. I’d now like to find Enheduanna’s poetry, adapted for pure poetic enjoyment rather than academic research…
40wandering_star
What a great idea Food and Lit is!
41dchaikin
>39 Dilara86: it just sounds terrific.
I have no idea how this relates to Enheduanna specifically (other than she may have been named for Inanna) but if you want to pursue the same mythology further in a fun way - see this translation by Diane Wolkstein: Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth : Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer
I have no idea how this relates to Enheduanna specifically (other than she may have been named for Inanna) but if you want to pursue the same mythology further in a fun way - see this translation by Diane Wolkstein: Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth : Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer
42Dilara86
>40 wandering_star: I've only just joined the challenge - I think it's been going on for at least a year - and it's great fun! Also, it forces you to try new things - food-wise and reading-wise.
>41 dchaikin: Thanks! Into the wishlist it goes!
>41 dchaikin: Thanks! Into the wishlist it goes!
43raton-liseur
>39 Dilara86: The first named author in history being a poetess. How ironic (poetry not being a fashionable genre nowadays and women authors not much...).
Your review is intriguing. I'll see if there are French translation available (although I suspect there is not).
Your review is intriguing. I'll see if there are French translation available (although I suspect there is not).
44Dilara86
>43 raton-liseur: There might not be a translation of the book I read, but I can't believe there isn't a French translation of Enheduanna's poetry! Not that I found it... Maybe in an anthology somewhere? Meanwhile, I did find L'astronomie au féminin : astronomie in my library's catalogue (library description: Présentation des grandes figures féminines de l'astronomie, de En-Hedu-Anna, fille de l'empereur Sargon Ier, dirigeant les observatoires babyloniens, jusqu'à l'astrophysicienne britannique Jocelyn Bell, née en 1943 et membre de la Royal Society, découvrant les premiers pulsars.)
45raton-liseur
>44 Dilara86: A quick search did not yield anything. I might have to look at anthologies, yes.
According to the French version of wikipedia, we have "only" three (long) poems from her:
But all the biblio in wikipedia articles are in English...
According to the French version of wikipedia, we have "only" three (long) poems from her:
• in-nin-me-hus-a, (INM), La victoire d'Inanna sur l'Ebih (182 lignes)
• in-nin-sa-gur-ra, (INS), La déesse vaillante (225 lignes sur 274 donc incomplet)
• nin-me-sar-ra, (NMS), Déesse de tous les pouvoirs divins plus connu comme L'exaltation d'Inanna (153 lignes)
But all the biblio in wikipedia articles are in English...
46PaulCranswick
>36 Dilara86: The addas does look good!
47Dilara86
>45 raton-liseur: I've found the same, but it seems incredible!
By the way, I'm about halfway through Le sang noir and enjoying it very much.
>46 PaulCranswick: Thank you!
By the way, I'm about halfway through Le sang noir and enjoying it very much.
>46 PaulCranswick: Thank you!
48raton-liseur
>47 Dilara86: Glad you like it!
49Dilara86
Here is a Body by Basma Abdel Aziz, translated by Jonathan Wright
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Egypt
Original language: Arabic
Translated into: English
Location: An unspecified Arab country
First published in 2021
A few lines from page 100
This novel tells us about the protests and unrest in an unnamed country whose democratically-elected president was ousted by The General. Protesters (they seem to run the gamut from Islamic hardliners to pro-democracy militants) have set up a camp called The Space, which is almost a utopia from their point of view, but Sodom and Gomorra in the eyes of the new rulers (The System). One of its inhabitants is Aida, a teacher, wife and mother, whose story is told in the third person. In parallel, we learn about Rabie, a street child picked up by the System, along with all the orphans and street children they can get their hands on, for rehabilitation – which consists of turning them into killing machines (“Bodies”) to be used to do the System’s dirty work. The action takes place over the month of Ramadan and ends badly. The parallels with the political situation in Egypt, and specifically with the coup d'état by General Al Sisi and the Rabaa massacre, are obvious. I really wanted to like this book. It ticked so many boxes for me: female writer, female protagonist, foreign politics, dystopic writing. But between the unnatural, plodding translation, the lack of psychological depth, and the one-dimensional, linear style that was mostly concerned with describing actions, there wasn't much to hold my attention. Others might enjoy it more than I did, especially if they're interested in the subject matter.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Egypt
Original language: Arabic
Translated into: English
Location: An unspecified Arab country
First published in 2021
A few lines from page 100
But don’t bring that up. It’s a dangerous subject and just causes trouble. If one of the other boys hears you, you’ll end up locked up in the isolation room. Or maybe you’ll end up in the same place as the boys who’ve disappeared, and then you’ll find out where they’ve all gone.”
Saad laughed as he answered me, but I was very serious, tense too. I felt alienated whenever the general visited. I thought I might like him like the others if I could understand what he was saying.
“What did the general mean by governing and authority, by nation and order?” I asked, ignoring Saad’s cheerfulness and flippancy. “I understood from what he said that they’re different names for the same thing. Do they all mean our country?”
“What’s all that to you? Are you going to stand for election and put up posters in the streets?”
“Enough of all that then, but tell me, what were the plans he mentioned?”
“Well, you’ve got the rehabilitation program that we’re in, and Dr. Abdel-Samie’s project too. One of them rehabilitates us, and the other exterminates us and buries us.”
In high spirits, Saad kept joking and shrieking with laughter, while I kept asking questions, but without receiving a single satisfactory answer. My need for Youssef hadn’t diminished; I hadn’t outgrown my dependence on him. He would have explained complicated things to me in simple terms, without annoying me or making fun of me.
Another question occurred to me and I couldn’t resist asking it: “Are you afraid of the general, Saad?”
“I’m afraid of him and not afraid of him at the same time. That’s the truth.” Saad paused for a moment and his smile was replaced by a thoughtful frown. “I am afraid, Rabie,” he finally replied. “But being afraid is all we do here. There’s something about him that repels me, so I don’t mind making fun of him either. I get lost in what he says whenever he meets us, but I can’t relate to him, no matter what he says. Like me, you may have noticed that what the heads say is easy to understand. They shout and give orders. They either forgive you or punish you, and you don’t have to think too much. You don’t have to think at all.
This novel tells us about the protests and unrest in an unnamed country whose democratically-elected president was ousted by The General. Protesters (they seem to run the gamut from Islamic hardliners to pro-democracy militants) have set up a camp called The Space, which is almost a utopia from their point of view, but Sodom and Gomorra in the eyes of the new rulers (The System). One of its inhabitants is Aida, a teacher, wife and mother, whose story is told in the third person. In parallel, we learn about Rabie, a street child picked up by the System, along with all the orphans and street children they can get their hands on, for rehabilitation – which consists of turning them into killing machines (“Bodies”) to be used to do the System’s dirty work. The action takes place over the month of Ramadan and ends badly. The parallels with the political situation in Egypt, and specifically with the coup d'état by General Al Sisi and the Rabaa massacre, are obvious. I really wanted to like this book. It ticked so many boxes for me: female writer, female protagonist, foreign politics, dystopic writing. But between the unnatural, plodding translation, the lack of psychological depth, and the one-dimensional, linear style that was mostly concerned with describing actions, there wasn't much to hold my attention. Others might enjoy it more than I did, especially if they're interested in the subject matter.
50Dilara86
Les plus beaux poèmes de la langue française by various authors
Writer’s gender: mostly male, but some female poets were included
Writer’s nationality: mostly French, with a couple of Belgian and Swiss authors
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: N/A
First published in 1996
Page 100
This anthology of French poems is a comfort read for me. I dip in and out when I feel like it, but I read it again cover to cover this week. It contains selected poems - most well-known and loved – presented in chronological order, from Ysengrin et la pêche (taken from medieval classic Reynard the Fox) to Si tu t’imagines by Raymond Queneau in the twentieth century, not to forget Le hareng saur, Mignonne allons voir si la rose, L’albatros, etc. They are all lavishly illustrated in various styles. It looks like a picture book for children, but some of the poems will definitely go over their heads. Because of this book, for a long time my daughter thought that poetry dealt solely with fish and flowers. Cue the masterpiece titled Fleur d’anchois (Anchovy Flower) she dictated to me when she was 4…
Writer’s gender: mostly male, but some female poets were included
Writer’s nationality: mostly French, with a couple of Belgian and Swiss authors
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: N/A
First published in 1996
Page 100
This anthology of French poems is a comfort read for me. I dip in and out when I feel like it, but I read it again cover to cover this week. It contains selected poems - most well-known and loved – presented in chronological order, from Ysengrin et la pêche (taken from medieval classic Reynard the Fox) to Si tu t’imagines by Raymond Queneau in the twentieth century, not to forget Le hareng saur, Mignonne allons voir si la rose, L’albatros, etc. They are all lavishly illustrated in various styles. It looks like a picture book for children, but some of the poems will definitely go over their heads. Because of this book, for a long time my daughter thought that poetry dealt solely with fish and flowers. Cue the masterpiece titled Fleur d’anchois (Anchovy Flower) she dictated to me when she was 4…
51raton-liseur
>50 Dilara86: A fun review for a serious book!
Fleur d'anchois, what an interesting flower... I'll think about it when we will learn a new poem in class!
Fleur d'anchois, what an interesting flower... I'll think about it when we will learn a new poem in class!
52dchaikin
>49 Dilara86: I'm kind of intrigued and enjoyed the excerpt
>50 Dilara86: this feels beyond not-so-great-with-English-poetry me, well beyond. But, of course, glad it's out there and someone read it.
>50 Dilara86: this feels beyond not-so-great-with-English-poetry me, well beyond. But, of course, glad it's out there and someone read it.
54Dilara86
I have just started Rabalaïre, a 1039-page doorstop I borrowed from the library without realising its size! I was almost hoping it would be terrible so that I could return it to the library unfinished with no guilt, but I've really enjoyed the first 20 pages... I have therefore bailed on my book group's choice for January/February (Les ombres du jardins) because there is no way I can fit it in!
In the next few weeks, I also want to read Madame de Treymes and High Tide by Inga Ābele (for the tribute to Rebeccanyc) - they're both novella-sized, which should help. Finally, a friend lent me Women Who Run with the Wolves and Dieu, le temps, les hommes et les anges (Primeval and Other Times by Olga Tokarczuk, and I should really get to them so that I can give them back...
In the next few weeks, I also want to read Madame de Treymes and High Tide by Inga Ābele (for the tribute to Rebeccanyc) - they're both novella-sized, which should help. Finally, a friend lent me Women Who Run with the Wolves and Dieu, le temps, les hommes et les anges (Primeval and Other Times by Olga Tokarczuk, and I should really get to them so that I can give them back...
55raton-liseur
>54 Dilara86: A 1039-page book from Editions de Minuit... Not sure I would be brave enough (I am not a fan of the Editions de Minuit, it's too close to experimental fiction for me... Except Samuel Becket of course!).
Anyway, looking forward to your reviews, as always!
Anyway, looking forward to your reviews, as always!
56Dilara86
>55 raton-liseur: The book cover does look similar to Editions de minuit's book covers - they're both white and blue, but Rabalaïre is published by P.O.L! Having said that, P.O.L published Duras and Perec, so they're not a million miles from each other... So far, it's an easy read. It's written in an informal, "spoken", style ("ne"s are typically dropped from negative constructions), in the present tense and in the first person singular. We follow the narrator's stream of consciousness, but he thinks in normal sentences with standard punctuation, which helps!
57raton-liseur
>56 Dilara86: You're right! I got misled by the colours! But I'm not very P.O.L. neither.
Happy you're enjoying it, and I'll see if I get tempted when I'll read your review!
Happy you're enjoying it, and I'll see if I get tempted when I'll read your review!
58Dilara86
L'enfant cachée (Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust) written by Loïc Dauvillier, illustrated by Marc Lizano
Writers’ gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Vichy France
First published in 2012
For once, I am reading a book that’s available in English! I discovered it thanks to Raton-Liseur’s recent review of it. It is also mentioned by avatiakh in the Graphic Novel thread in the Holocaust group. I don’t have anything original to say about this children’s graphic novel: both of them wrote about it quite eloquently.
Dounia tells her granddaughter about what she and her family went through as Jews under Vichy, when France was occupied by nazi Germany and the local far-right French government (settled in Vichy, a small spa town in central France) collaborated to further the nazi agenda. Her parents were sent to the camps, while she was picked up by the neighbours who looked after her and hid her until the end of the war.
This graphic novel aimed at youngish children is a very good introduction to the history of Vichy, and to what it entailed for the people who lived through it. I thought it was very well pitched, intellectually and psychologically, for children. But it is affecting - there is no way it cannot be given the subject matter - and I would never leave it for children to discover on their own: there should be an adult ready to answer their questions and reassure them. Especially now that Vichy and Pétain are back in the news, with a Jewish far-right presidential candidate who claimed that Vichy protected Jews (then changed tack and said that they protected all French Jews and that no French Jew died in the Holocaust – this is obviously wrong).
Writers’ gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Vichy France
First published in 2012
For once, I am reading a book that’s available in English! I discovered it thanks to Raton-Liseur’s recent review of it. It is also mentioned by avatiakh in the Graphic Novel thread in the Holocaust group. I don’t have anything original to say about this children’s graphic novel: both of them wrote about it quite eloquently.
Dounia tells her granddaughter about what she and her family went through as Jews under Vichy, when France was occupied by nazi Germany and the local far-right French government (settled in Vichy, a small spa town in central France) collaborated to further the nazi agenda. Her parents were sent to the camps, while she was picked up by the neighbours who looked after her and hid her until the end of the war.
This graphic novel aimed at youngish children is a very good introduction to the history of Vichy, and to what it entailed for the people who lived through it. I thought it was very well pitched, intellectually and psychologically, for children. But it is affecting - there is no way it cannot be given the subject matter - and I would never leave it for children to discover on their own: there should be an adult ready to answer their questions and reassure them. Especially now that Vichy and Pétain are back in the news, with a Jewish far-right presidential candidate who claimed that Vichy protected Jews (then changed tack and said that they protected all French Jews and that no French Jew died in the Holocaust – this is obviously wrong).
59raton-liseur
>58 Dilara86: I'm happy to see you liked it. It's really a good book, but as you said, it's important to be ready to answer any question a child might have.
I would easily recommand this book to any parent who is willing to discuss the matter with his/her child/children.
And maybe the presidential candidate you mention should read it as well...
I would easily recommand this book to any parent who is willing to discuss the matter with his/her child/children.
And maybe the presidential candidate you mention should read it as well...
60Dilara86
>59 raton-liseur: And maybe the presidential candidate you mention should read it as well...
At this point, I'm not sure anything would change his mind... He has the facts at his disposal - he just decides to pick and choose and twist them to suit his side.
And I've just learned it's International Holocaust Remembrance Day today...
At this point, I'm not sure anything would change his mind... He has the facts at his disposal - he just decides to pick and choose and twist them to suit his side.
And I've just learned it's International Holocaust Remembrance Day today...
61raton-liseur
>61 raton-liseur: I just wanted to be naive and hopefull (for once), but I agree with you: it's difficult to imagine what would make him change his position at this point.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day: I did not know that either.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day: I did not know that either.
62rocketjk
Just finally checking in with your 2022 thread. Love the Côtes d’Armor challenge. My wife and I spent a wonderful week of our honeymoon in Brittany, though in the southwest (Finistère) in a small, beautiful harbor town called Lesonil.
>58 Dilara86: " Especially now that Vichy and Pétain are back in the news, with a Jewish far-right presidential candidate who claimed that Vichy protected Jews (then changed tack and said that they protected all French Jews and that no French Jew died in the Holocaust – this is obviously wrong)."
I guess somebody needs to watch The Sorrow and the Pity.
>58 Dilara86: " Especially now that Vichy and Pétain are back in the news, with a Jewish far-right presidential candidate who claimed that Vichy protected Jews (then changed tack and said that they protected all French Jews and that no French Jew died in the Holocaust – this is obviously wrong)."
I guess somebody needs to watch The Sorrow and the Pity.
63Dilara86
>62 rocketjk: Welcome! I have read my first book for this challenge: Le sang noir. It was outstanding, and I should really get round to writing my post about it.
I guess somebody needs to watch The Sorrow and the Pity.
Facts are like water off a duck's back to him, unfortunately.
I guess somebody needs to watch The Sorrow and the Pity.
Facts are like water off a duck's back to him, unfortunately.
64raton-liseur
>63 Dilara86: I'm glad you liked Le Sang noir! I'm looking forward to your review!
65Dilara86
Le sang noir by Louis Guilloux
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Saint-Brieuc in Côtes-d’Armor, Brittany (France)
First published in 1935
I was looking for books set in Côte-d’Armor or written by local authors and Raton-liseur recommended Sang noir.
It takes place on a single day in 1917 (so during the First World War), in Saint-Brieuc, a small town in Brittany, and describes the comings and goings of various town people, centering around Cripure, a frustrated and depressed philosophy teacher at the local high school (at a time when secondary schooling was for a small élite). The pessimism and the free indirect speech give a flaubertian flavour to the book, but – and I might be completely wrong because I read it decades ago – the more I read, the more I thought of Ulysses, especially with the one-day setting and the way Cripure goes in and out of various establishments: post-office, bank, school... I loved Guilloux’s eye for speech. Every character has their idiolect, from a very earthy vernacular* to the most affected, rarefied French. I haven’t had to get the dictionary out so often in a very long time!
This novel was a pleasure to read. I might have to clarify this: the story itself is terribly depressing, but the writing is so precise, inventive, and formally interesting, it “sparked joy” in me. I don’t understand why Guilloux, who inspired André Malrauxand Albert Camus (they were friends and both wrote introductions for his novels), isn’t better known today.
* such as this oh so elegant saying: “t’as une mine de chou chié” (you look like a shat-out cabbage)
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Saint-Brieuc in Côtes-d’Armor, Brittany (France)
First published in 1935
I was looking for books set in Côte-d’Armor or written by local authors and Raton-liseur recommended Sang noir.
It takes place on a single day in 1917 (so during the First World War), in Saint-Brieuc, a small town in Brittany, and describes the comings and goings of various town people, centering around Cripure, a frustrated and depressed philosophy teacher at the local high school (at a time when secondary schooling was for a small élite). The pessimism and the free indirect speech give a flaubertian flavour to the book, but – and I might be completely wrong because I read it decades ago – the more I read, the more I thought of Ulysses, especially with the one-day setting and the way Cripure goes in and out of various establishments: post-office, bank, school... I loved Guilloux’s eye for speech. Every character has their idiolect, from a very earthy vernacular* to the most affected, rarefied French. I haven’t had to get the dictionary out so often in a very long time!
This novel was a pleasure to read. I might have to clarify this: the story itself is terribly depressing, but the writing is so precise, inventive, and formally interesting, it “sparked joy” in me. I don’t understand why Guilloux, who inspired André Malrauxand Albert Camus (they were friends and both wrote introductions for his novels), isn’t better known today.
* such as this oh so elegant saying: “t’as une mine de chou chié” (you look like a shat-out cabbage)
66labfs39
>65 Dilara86: Your review makes the book sound delightful. Some days I feel like a shat-out cabbage!
67raton-liseur
>65 Dilara86: Le Sang noir might be my prefered book ever. I loved it so much that I'd like to read it again but fear to do so.
I guess he is not that famous because all his books (or the majority) take place in Saint Brieuc (not the most glamorous set up...). And Le Sang noir is quite unique in his bibliography. He has a lot of books about poor people living an ordinary life, including some inspired by his own childhood (again, not very glamorous).
I have one or two unread books from him on my shelves, I should open one one of these days...
I'm glad you liked the book so much!
I guess he is not that famous because all his books (or the majority) take place in Saint Brieuc (not the most glamorous set up...). And Le Sang noir is quite unique in his bibliography. He has a lot of books about poor people living an ordinary life, including some inspired by his own childhood (again, not very glamorous).
I have one or two unread books from him on my shelves, I should open one one of these days...
I'm glad you liked the book so much!
68dchaikin
>65 Dilara86: great review. I like your clarification, and also was entertained by your “earthy vernacular” example
>66 labfs39: yeah, me too.
>66 labfs39: yeah, me too.
69baswood
>65 Dilara86: another author to add to the list when I am browsing in those second hand book markets.
70LolaWalser
This reminds me I've had a Guilloux omnibus on hold for over eight months now, and yet the darn person who's holding it WAY over their deadline... oops, just realised there's a sombre alternative explanation for their inexplicable rudeness. I do hope it's just blithe arrogance...
What happened with the molokhia, did you cook it?
What happened with the molokhia, did you cook it?
71Dilara86
>66 labfs39: >68 dchaikin: We all do sometimes!
>67 raton-liseur: Thank you for the recommendation! It was a fantastic start to my Côte-d'Armor challenge :-)
>69 baswood: You won't regret it :-)
>70 LolaWalser: I do hope it's just blithe arrogance...Yes, let's be optimistic! I'm amazed at the number of library patrons who hand in their books weeks, or even months, late...
Is your Guilloux omnibus D'une guerre l'autre? That's the book I borrowed from the library. Returning it having just read the introduction, the chronology and one of the novels was hard! But my hold for Rabalaïre (1036 pages!) had come through and I knew there was no way I could read both of them cover to cover.
What happened with the molokhia, did you cook it?
No I didn't. I was so confident I'd find frozen molokhia at the local Turkish/exotic shop, but it was all gone! Having said that, I noticed the first fresh bunches of the year at the market this morning. I'll get round to trying this recipe eventually...
I forgot to add to my post that Le sang noir is available in English under the title Blood Dark, thanks to The New York Review of Books. They're doing a great job of finding lesser-known non-English works to translate and publish. Speaking of which, I am wondering how the translator managed all those different voices in the English version.
>67 raton-liseur: Thank you for the recommendation! It was a fantastic start to my Côte-d'Armor challenge :-)
>69 baswood: You won't regret it :-)
>70 LolaWalser: I do hope it's just blithe arrogance...Yes, let's be optimistic! I'm amazed at the number of library patrons who hand in their books weeks, or even months, late...
Is your Guilloux omnibus D'une guerre l'autre? That's the book I borrowed from the library. Returning it having just read the introduction, the chronology and one of the novels was hard! But my hold for Rabalaïre (1036 pages!) had come through and I knew there was no way I could read both of them cover to cover.
What happened with the molokhia, did you cook it?
No I didn't. I was so confident I'd find frozen molokhia at the local Turkish/exotic shop, but it was all gone! Having said that, I noticed the first fresh bunches of the year at the market this morning. I'll get round to trying this recipe eventually...
I forgot to add to my post that Le sang noir is available in English under the title Blood Dark, thanks to The New York Review of Books. They're doing a great job of finding lesser-known non-English works to translate and publish. Speaking of which, I am wondering how the translator managed all those different voices in the English version.
72LolaWalser
D'une guerre l'autre
Yep, that's it. Just one copy in the system. I'm not fond of reading English translations of the French, especially when the language is as delightfully colourful as you say.
We get frozen molokhia here but it was a bit slimier than when using dry (frozen goes straight into the dish, dry gets to be washed and rehydrated). I've never used fresh...
Yep, that's it. Just one copy in the system. I'm not fond of reading English translations of the French, especially when the language is as delightfully colourful as you say.
We get frozen molokhia here but it was a bit slimier than when using dry (frozen goes straight into the dish, dry gets to be washed and rehydrated). I've never used fresh...
73Dilara86
La jeune femme et la mer by Catherine Meurisse
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Villa Kujoyama, Kyoto (Japan)
First published in 2021
Graphic artist Catherine Meurisse was offered an artist’s residency in Villa Kujoyama. She wanted to explore Japanese nature and study Japanese landscape art. This is the resulting book. As often with Meurisse, the landscapes she paints in her panels are beautifully detailed. I wasn’t taken with the story, and I found her tanuki familiar annoying. YMMV obviously.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Villa Kujoyama, Kyoto (Japan)
First published in 2021
Graphic artist Catherine Meurisse was offered an artist’s residency in Villa Kujoyama. She wanted to explore Japanese nature and study Japanese landscape art. This is the resulting book. As often with Meurisse, the landscapes she paints in her panels are beautifully detailed. I wasn’t taken with the story, and I found her tanuki familiar annoying. YMMV obviously.
74labfs39
>73 Dilara86: The cover is arresting. Too bad the book didn't live up to it.
75Linda92007
>65 Dilara86: Your review of Le sang noir is enticing and I have now purchased the English translation, Blood Dark. I hope I do better with it than I have with Ulysses.
76Dilara86
>74 labfs39: The story was disappointing (to me - others might disagree!), but I liked the artwork.
>75 Linda92007: I hope you like it!
>75 Linda92007: I hope you like it!
77Dilara86
Le Grand exode de François d'Acadie by Huguette Pérol
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: 1755 Acadia, various British territories in North America, Nouvelle-France
First published in 1972
I found this old children’s book in a Little Free Library in Montmorillon that was full of Canadiana, for some reason*! As it’s out of print and not particularly good, I’m not sure reviewing this book serves much of a purpose, but there we are…
*Actually, one of the reasons might be the close association between Canada and this bit of France (many North-Americans of French origin hail from Western France). Also, some of the deported Acadians settled back in a couple of villages in the area.
A few lines from page 100 with terrible, wooden dialogue
This novel for older children was written by Huguette Pérol, a French author and globe-trotting diplomat’s wife who specialised in children’s books set in “exotic” locations, some of which were published by Bibliothèque de l'amitié, a (defunct) publisher that was a window to other cultures to many children and teenagers in the sixties and seventies, including my mother. I still have her copies of Dag découvre l'Afrique by Inger Austveg, Rüdi et le chamois by Robert Recher, Aventures à Bali by Udiyana Pandji Tisna and La chance de Sally by Patricia Lynch.
The novel is set in 1755, at the time of the Great Upheaval, after Acadia (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Maine) had passed from French to British hands, and French Acadians were being forcibly removed from the land and sent to mainland France or other French territories such as Louisiana. Many died in the process; some joined bands to fight British soldiers. François was a twelve-year-old French Acadian boy from Piziquid/Pisiguit, in what is now Nova Scotia. He managed to escape, and went on a long trip into Québec, back to Nova Scotia, down to Richmond, Charlotteville, Atlanta, etc. then down the Mississippi river to Louisiana, to find other Acadian rebels and his missing family. The novel is basically a padded-out travel itinerary with guest features from historical figures of the time, such as Boishébert. There isn’t much of a plot, there are hardly any descriptions and the writing is very flat. François seems to be able to speak all sorts of languages: French obviously, but also English (he’s advised to say he’s from Boston if he’s questioned on his accent), Mi’kmaq, and other random native American languages when he needs food and shelter. There are some baddies, but François finds help whenever he needs it along the way, from everyone, whether they’re French settlers, rebels, Micmac and other “Indians” (as they are called in the book), American farmers – there are even nice British soldiers ;-) This at least is refreshing - sugar-coated, but refreshing. And that’s how you know it was published by the Bibliothèque de l’amitié (literally: Frendship library). The book is interesting as a curio, but no more.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: 1755 Acadia, various British territories in North America, Nouvelle-France
First published in 1972
I found this old children’s book in a Little Free Library in Montmorillon that was full of Canadiana, for some reason*! As it’s out of print and not particularly good, I’m not sure reviewing this book serves much of a purpose, but there we are…
*Actually, one of the reasons might be the close association between Canada and this bit of France (many North-Americans of French origin hail from Western France). Also, some of the deported Acadians settled back in a couple of villages in the area.
A few lines from page 100 with terrible, wooden dialogue
- Où comptes-tu aller ?
- - Jusqu’en Géorgie, d’abord ; ensuite, en Louisiane… en souhaitant y retrouver ma mère, ma sœur et ma cousine.
- - Tu as raison, vous serez indésirables dans toutes les colonies anglaises ; là-bas, c’est différent ; j’ai toujours pensé que ce pays pouvait être une nouvelle Acadie.
François se souvient des dernières paroles de son père, et le sang afflua à ses joues.
- Tu as gardé confiance, petit, je le vois. Alors la vie te réservera de bonnes surprises. C’est quand on ne croit plus à rien qu’il n’arrive plus rien.
L’homme semblait parler pour lui-même :
- Allons, nous ferons un bout de chemin ensemble jusqu’à Brevara, si tu veux ; tu te débrouilleras bien tout seul ensuite pour passer en Géorgie.
- Je me débrouillerai, soyez-en sûr !
François eut une pensée pour les Indiens qui l’avaient accueilli et hébergé pendant des semaines, pour le capitaine Murray et tous ceux que la Providence avait mis sur sa route.
This novel for older children was written by Huguette Pérol, a French author and globe-trotting diplomat’s wife who specialised in children’s books set in “exotic” locations, some of which were published by Bibliothèque de l'amitié, a (defunct) publisher that was a window to other cultures to many children and teenagers in the sixties and seventies, including my mother. I still have her copies of Dag découvre l'Afrique by Inger Austveg, Rüdi et le chamois by Robert Recher, Aventures à Bali by Udiyana Pandji Tisna and La chance de Sally by Patricia Lynch.
The novel is set in 1755, at the time of the Great Upheaval, after Acadia (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Maine) had passed from French to British hands, and French Acadians were being forcibly removed from the land and sent to mainland France or other French territories such as Louisiana. Many died in the process; some joined bands to fight British soldiers. François was a twelve-year-old French Acadian boy from Piziquid/Pisiguit, in what is now Nova Scotia. He managed to escape, and went on a long trip into Québec, back to Nova Scotia, down to Richmond, Charlotteville, Atlanta, etc. then down the Mississippi river to Louisiana, to find other Acadian rebels and his missing family. The novel is basically a padded-out travel itinerary with guest features from historical figures of the time, such as Boishébert. There isn’t much of a plot, there are hardly any descriptions and the writing is very flat. François seems to be able to speak all sorts of languages: French obviously, but also English (he’s advised to say he’s from Boston if he’s questioned on his accent), Mi’kmaq, and other random native American languages when he needs food and shelter. There are some baddies, but François finds help whenever he needs it along the way, from everyone, whether they’re French settlers, rebels, Micmac and other “Indians” (as they are called in the book), American farmers – there are even nice British soldiers ;-) This at least is refreshing - sugar-coated, but refreshing. And that’s how you know it was published by the Bibliothèque de l’amitié (literally: Frendship library). The book is interesting as a curio, but no more.
78Dilara86
February reads
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's 60% English and French
21st-century books: 11
20th-century books: 3
19th-century books:
18th-century books:
17th-century books: 1
16th-century books:
Medieval books:
Ancient books:
That's 93% 21st- and 20th-century
-
Rabalaïre by Alain Guiraudie
-
Les goûts extraordinaires de monsieur Bear by Virginie Aracil and many other books for very young children
-
Argentina : cuisine authentique et recettes de chefs by Marcelo Joulia
-
Empanadas argentins : un festin argentin by Gaston Stivelmaher
-
Oublie mon nom by Zerocalcare
-
Dieu, le temps, les hommes et les anges by Olga Tokarczuk
- Ne visitez pas l'Exposition coloniale tract de mai 1931 by André Breton and others - mostly surrealists
- L'École des femmes by Molière
-
High Tide by Inga Abele
-
Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food by Nik Sharma
-
Femmes qui courent avec les loups by Clarissa Pinkola Estés (ongoing - may carry over to March)
-
Filles des oiseaux - N'oubliez jamais que le Seigneur vous regarde ! by Florence Cestac
-
La propriété by Rutu Modan
-
L’Échange by Eugenia Almeida
-
Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes, Through Darkness and Light by Caroline Eden
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 6
- English: 3
- English and French: 1
- Italian: 1
- Polish: 1
- Latvian: 1
- Hebrew: 1
- Spanish: 1
That's 60% English and French
That's 93% 21st- and 20th-century
- Number of female authors this month: 8
- Number of male authors this month: 7
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month: 0
79raton-liseur
>78 Dilara86: Quite a lot of reading happening here!
I hope you'll have time to review them, even shortly. I'm particularly interested in what you thought of Rabalaïre (not that I'm ready to tackle a doorstep book at the moment, but I'm curious) and Dieu, le temps, les hommes et les anges (I did not enjoy that much the only book from Olga Tokarczuk that I read and I am wondering if I should try again).
I hope you'll have time to review them, even shortly. I'm particularly interested in what you thought of Rabalaïre (not that I'm ready to tackle a doorstep book at the moment, but I'm curious) and Dieu, le temps, les hommes et les anges (I did not enjoy that much the only book from Olga Tokarczuk that I read and I am wondering if I should try again).
80labfs39
>78 Dilara86: Impressive! I have not read anything by Tokarczuk yet, but need to.
81SassyLassy
>77 Dilara86: An excellent novel about Le grand dérangement is Pélagie-la-Charette, written by the Acadian author Antonine Maillet, who won the Prix Goncourt.
Many Acadians made their way back to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where they are a definitive part of the culture.
>50 Dilara86: Taking note of this beautiful book, and also Le sang noir - interesting comparison with Ulysses.
>79 raton-liseur: I don't know Dieu, le temps, les hommes et les anges, but I would say give Tokarczuk another try.
Many Acadians made their way back to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where they are a definitive part of the culture.
>50 Dilara86: Taking note of this beautiful book, and also Le sang noir - interesting comparison with Ulysses.
>79 raton-liseur: I don't know Dieu, le temps, les hommes et les anges, but I would say give Tokarczuk another try.
82Dilara86
>79 raton-liseur: I want to write about Rabalaïre, but I'll need more time than what I have at the moment to make sense of my thoughts because it was quite an experience! I am almost certain that you wouldn't enjoy it, though... I didn't, most of the time! Maybe I should expand a little bit: I admired the author's skill very much, but I really had to brace myself every time I opened the book. It was long, violent, very filthy and very cringy.
>80 labfs39: Many readers love her writing, including the friend who lent me Dieu, le temps, les hommes et les anges, so I almost feel guilty writing that I wasn't bowled over!
>81 SassyLassy: The poetry book was published in the nineties - I have no idea whether it is still available. I hope it is!
Many Acadians made their way back to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where they are a definitive part of the culture.
Speaking of which, I have an Acadian cookbook (La cuisine traditionnelle en Acadie) that I've been meaning to revisit now that I can look up strange words on the Internet.
>80 labfs39: Many readers love her writing, including the friend who lent me Dieu, le temps, les hommes et les anges, so I almost feel guilty writing that I wasn't bowled over!
>81 SassyLassy: The poetry book was published in the nineties - I have no idea whether it is still available. I hope it is!
Many Acadians made their way back to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, where they are a definitive part of the culture.
Speaking of which, I have an Acadian cookbook (La cuisine traditionnelle en Acadie) that I've been meaning to revisit now that I can look up strange words on the Internet.
83Dilara86
Filles des oiseaux - N'oubliez jamais que le Seigneur vous regarde ! by Florence Cestac
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Honfleur, Normandy (France)
First published in 2016
Pages 25 and 26
Born in 1949, Florence Cestac is a veteran graphic novelist and comic writer, one of the few female artists – along with Brétécher – who was able to work for male-dominated comic magazines such as Métal hurlant, l’Echo des savanes and Charlie in the seventies and eighties, as well as militant feminist magazines such as the short-lived Ah ! Nana. And of course, she also published many books, and in particular, autobiographical graphic works such as The Latelife Crisis and Filles des oiseaux - N'oubliez jamais que le Seigneur vous regarde !, about her years at a convent boarding school in the sixties in Honfleur, where she (an uneducated farmer’s daughter) and her best friend (a Parisian upper-class girl) misbehaved and played trick on the nuns. I have a lot of respect for Cestac, but I’ve come to realise that I don’t like her narrative style very much. I’ll still read the second part of Filles des oiseaux because I want to know how it ends.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Honfleur, Normandy (France)
First published in 2016
Pages 25 and 26
Born in 1949, Florence Cestac is a veteran graphic novelist and comic writer, one of the few female artists – along with Brétécher – who was able to work for male-dominated comic magazines such as Métal hurlant, l’Echo des savanes and Charlie in the seventies and eighties, as well as militant feminist magazines such as the short-lived Ah ! Nana. And of course, she also published many books, and in particular, autobiographical graphic works such as The Latelife Crisis and Filles des oiseaux - N'oubliez jamais que le Seigneur vous regarde !, about her years at a convent boarding school in the sixties in Honfleur, where she (an uneducated farmer’s daughter) and her best friend (a Parisian upper-class girl) misbehaved and played trick on the nuns. I have a lot of respect for Cestac, but I’ve come to realise that I don’t like her narrative style very much. I’ll still read the second part of Filles des oiseaux because I want to know how it ends.
84raton-liseur
>82 Dilara86: You're right, Rabalaïre does not look like a book I'd like...
Too bad on Togarczuk. I read Sur les Ossements des morts/Drive your plow over the bones of the dead and did not understand why it was so great. It felt more like a regular read to me.
Too bad on Togarczuk. I read Sur les Ossements des morts/Drive your plow over the bones of the dead and did not understand why it was so great. It felt more like a regular read to me.
85Dilara86
High Tide by Inga Ābele, translated by Kaija Straumanis
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Latvia
Original language: Latvian
Translated into: English
Location: Riga and Kurzeme (Latvia)
First published in 2008 in Latvian and 2013 in English
A few lines from page 300
I chose this book from the list of books Rebecca hoped to read soon, in the Tribute to Rebeccanyc thread.
This novel tells the story of Ieva, a young Latvian woman with a very rocky start to life. There is a love triangle, violence, drinks, drugs and rock’n’roll (or rather punk rock). It’s all very adolescent and try-hard, despite its adult subject matter. The translation is… fine, I suppose. It has a distinctive style (as seen in the quote above), which I personally found annoying. I am disappointed because had it been written differently, I would probably have loved it: I liked the subject matter and the book’s non-chronological construction, where other people’s stories inform the main character’s.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Latvia
Original language: Latvian
Translated into: English
Location: Riga and Kurzeme (Latvia)
First published in 2008 in Latvian and 2013 in English
A few lines from page 300
Back then, the three of us would drive around to the bars as a group. Sometimes we’d take other friends with us. And that one time on the way to the bar, a rabbit jumped out of the wheat field right in front of the car. I begged Andrejs to brake for it, but he went after it like a maniac until he ran it down. He even pulled over to throw the carcass into the trunk, so I’d stew it for breakfast. But the rabbit hadn’t been run over, just knocked back into the wheat field—its screams ripped through the quiet of the night. Andrejs was drunk, he couldn’t find it. I got out of the car and started walking home, but he blocked my way and forced me back into the car. And then—at the bar! Whether it was revenge or a breakdown, I don’t know. More likely it was some third thing. That beautiful song “Black Velvet” was playing, you know the one. And I went to dance with Aksels. A slow dance. The first time ever with him. I didn’t care anymore. He didn’t either. We only saw each other in this crazy, fucked-up world. It really was more of a breakdown. And toward the end he kissed me. For the first time. But I pulled away, recovered, and then saw—guess what? Andrejs’s eyes. He was standing by the wall and watching us carefully.
I chose this book from the list of books Rebecca hoped to read soon, in the Tribute to Rebeccanyc thread.
This novel tells the story of Ieva, a young Latvian woman with a very rocky start to life. There is a love triangle, violence, drinks, drugs and rock’n’roll (or rather punk rock). It’s all very adolescent and try-hard, despite its adult subject matter. The translation is… fine, I suppose. It has a distinctive style (as seen in the quote above), which I personally found annoying. I am disappointed because had it been written differently, I would probably have loved it: I liked the subject matter and the book’s non-chronological construction, where other people’s stories inform the main character’s.
86Dilara86
>84 raton-liseur: Ah. I was planning on reading this one, just in case I felt differently about it!
87Dilara86
Food and Lit: Argentina
Lit
I have just started L’Échange by Eugenia Almeida. I loved the two other novels of hers I have read: La pièce du fond and L'autobus. Since I have almost no energy left after a couple of difficult reads that used up all my willpower, I chose a "safe" book.
Food
I borrowed two Argentina cookbooks from the library:
- Argentina : cuisine authentique et recettes de chefs was a nice coffee-table book with large, pretty pictures (warning: there are lots of close-ups of meat) and fairly involved "cheffy" recipes - I did not cook anything from it.
- Empanadas argentins : un festin argentin was written by a chef who owns an Argentinian restaurant chain in Paris specialising in empanadas and icecreams. On different days, I made chimichurri sauce, and chicken and cilantro empanadas from this book. I am not sold on using chimichurri on meat, but it's great as a salad dressing!
I also made an aubergine and peanut soup using a recipe I found online: https://www.cuisineactuelle.fr/recettes/soupe-epicee-d-aubergines-aux-cacahuetes... This is a North-Eastern Argentinian recipe that's quite similar to a West-African mafé. It's quick and easy and tasty.
All those dishes were successes and I will make them again.
Chimichurri with kale chips
Empanadas
Lit
I have just started L’Échange by Eugenia Almeida. I loved the two other novels of hers I have read: La pièce du fond and L'autobus. Since I have almost no energy left after a couple of difficult reads that used up all my willpower, I chose a "safe" book.
Food
I borrowed two Argentina cookbooks from the library:
- Argentina : cuisine authentique et recettes de chefs was a nice coffee-table book with large, pretty pictures (warning: there are lots of close-ups of meat) and fairly involved "cheffy" recipes - I did not cook anything from it.
- Empanadas argentins : un festin argentin was written by a chef who owns an Argentinian restaurant chain in Paris specialising in empanadas and icecreams. On different days, I made chimichurri sauce, and chicken and cilantro empanadas from this book. I am not sold on using chimichurri on meat, but it's great as a salad dressing!
I also made an aubergine and peanut soup using a recipe I found online: https://www.cuisineactuelle.fr/recettes/soupe-epicee-d-aubergines-aux-cacahuetes... This is a North-Eastern Argentinian recipe that's quite similar to a West-African mafé. It's quick and easy and tasty.
All those dishes were successes and I will make them again.
Chimichurri with kale chips
Empanadas
88labfs39
>85 Dilara86: Sorry this wasn't a better read for you. It's quite an odd and vaguely disturbing cover.
>87 Dilara86: Yum!
>87 Dilara86: Yum!
89Dilara86
La propriété (The Property) by Rutu Modan, translated by Rosie Pinhas-Delpuech
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Israel
Original language: Hebrew
Translated into: French
Location: Warsaw (Poland)
First published in 2013 in Hebrew, French, English and possibly other languages too – this is worth noting, as it sometimes takes years for graphic novels to be published in other languages
I discovered this title recently, when it was mentioned on LT, but I can’t remember by whom. If you think it might have been you, thank you and please chime in!
I don’t need to introduce this book: there are plenty of useful reviews on this site already. I wasn’t bowled over, but I definitely enjoyed this graphic novel. I particularly liked the fact that emotions were perfectly readable on characters’ faces, but they weren’t overdone, which is a pet peeve of mine on realistically-drawn works. Speaking of which, there were too many emotional ups and downs and plot turnarounds for me. To be fair, it wouldn’t have been the same book without them – they were central to the plot – it’s just that my brain wanted something cosy at this point. I’m certainly not going to award this book fewer stars because of this. Lastly, the grandmother is my favourite fictional character so far this year!
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Israel
Original language: Hebrew
Translated into: French
Location: Warsaw (Poland)
First published in 2013 in Hebrew, French, English and possibly other languages too – this is worth noting, as it sometimes takes years for graphic novels to be published in other languages
I discovered this title recently, when it was mentioned on LT, but I can’t remember by whom. If you think it might have been you, thank you and please chime in!
I don’t need to introduce this book: there are plenty of useful reviews on this site already. I wasn’t bowled over, but I definitely enjoyed this graphic novel. I particularly liked the fact that emotions were perfectly readable on characters’ faces, but they weren’t overdone, which is a pet peeve of mine on realistically-drawn works. Speaking of which, there were too many emotional ups and downs and plot turnarounds for me. To be fair, it wouldn’t have been the same book without them – they were central to the plot – it’s just that my brain wanted something cosy at this point. I’m certainly not going to award this book fewer stars because of this. Lastly, the grandmother is my favourite fictional character so far this year!
90labfs39
>89 Dilara86: I need to find this one. I first heard about it from Dan (dchaikin) some time ago, but recently Cyrel (torontoc) reviewed it as well.
91raton-liseur
>89 Dilara86: A grandmother, your favourite character! I think I can see why...
92Dilara86
>90 labfs39: Thank you - yes, I do follow those two threads!
>91 raton-liseur: I hadn't even thought of that :-D
>91 raton-liseur: I hadn't even thought of that :-D
93dchaikin
>89 Dilara86: Rutu Modan is terrific. Exit Wounds is also very good. I need to checkout her others.
>90 labfs39: you have a good memory Lisa. I read and reviewed this in 2013! (I had to look that up).
>85 Dilara86: I found that quote from Hide Tide fascinating. But i can also see it as exhausting if it keeps going that way.
>90 labfs39: you have a good memory Lisa. I read and reviewed this in 2013! (I had to look that up).
>85 Dilara86: I found that quote from Hide Tide fascinating. But i can also see it as exhausting if it keeps going that way.
94Dilara86
>93 dchaikin: I'll see if I can get a hold of Exit Wounds.
"Exhausting" describes my feelings exactly!
But i can also see it as exhausting if it keeps going that way.
"Exhausting" describes my feelings exactly!
95Dilara86
L’échange (La tensión del umbral) by Eugenia Almeida, translated by François Gaudry
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Argentina
Original language: Spanish
Translated into: French
Location: Buenos Aires (Argentina)
First published in 2015 in Spanish, in 2016 in French
This novel centers on Guyot (like the crème de cassis brand ;-)), a journalist with friends in a police station, which is particularly useful when you want to investigate a recent suicide that might be linked to old, shelved, cases. In a country where corruption is tentacular, this rabbit hole will turn out to be very dangerous for everyone involved, especially since someone’s idea of leading a quiet life is to kill people like pawns on a chessboard. To be clear, this is not a plot-driven novel: the author explores the mind of a very twisted individual, and describes the way corruption works its way into people and systems.
I chose this book for Litsy’s Agentina Food and Lit challenge because I’d already read – and loved – L’autobus and La pièce du fond by this author. In the end, I liked this one a tad less – not because it was any less good – but because it was closer to a standard crime novel, which not a genre I am fond of. The translation is flawless, and the writing is immersive, and psychologically chilling.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Argentina
Original language: Spanish
Translated into: French
Location: Buenos Aires (Argentina)
First published in 2015 in Spanish, in 2016 in French
This novel centers on Guyot (like the crème de cassis brand ;-)), a journalist with friends in a police station, which is particularly useful when you want to investigate a recent suicide that might be linked to old, shelved, cases. In a country where corruption is tentacular, this rabbit hole will turn out to be very dangerous for everyone involved, especially since someone’s idea of leading a quiet life is to kill people like pawns on a chessboard. To be clear, this is not a plot-driven novel: the author explores the mind of a very twisted individual, and describes the way corruption works its way into people and systems.
I chose this book for Litsy’s Agentina Food and Lit challenge because I’d already read – and loved – L’autobus and La pièce du fond by this author. In the end, I liked this one a tad less – not because it was any less good – but because it was closer to a standard crime novel, which not a genre I am fond of. The translation is flawless, and the writing is immersive, and psychologically chilling.
96Dilara86
The Emissary by Yōko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Japanese
Original language: Japanese
Translated into: English
Location: Japan
First published in 2014 in Japanese, 2018 in English
A few lines from page 100
A few lines from page 11, which I enjoyed very much
Three years after everybody else (or so it seems), I have at last read The Emissary! It won the National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2018, and deservedly so, I think! I’ve copied a couple of quotes to give an idea of the translator’s work.
This short dystopic novel is set in a polluted, self-isolating Japan, where old people live forever, and children are sickly and fragile. We share the life of Yoshiro, a healthy, active centenarian looking after his great grandson Mumei. I loved their relationship and Yoshiro’s musings. It’s all rather contemplative (with shades of Shikasta). I found the ending a bit abrupt and opaque, and disappointing.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Japanese
Original language: Japanese
Translated into: English
Location: Japan
First published in 2014 in Japanese, 2018 in English
A few lines from page 100
I’ll just turn myself back into an octopus. No need to be afraid of the water, I’ll get through water day as an octopus, and wait for Thursday – tree day. On tree day maybe the cherry tree in the schoolyard will fall on top of me and crush me.
A few lines from page 11, which I enjoyed very much
It was Shikoku-style German bread, charred the color of midnight and heavy as granite; The crust was hard and dry, the inside soft and moist. This faintly sour black bread was called “Aachen”, written with Chinese characters that meant “Pseudo Opium”. The baker had named each variety of bread he baked after a German city, which he wrote in Chinese characters with roughly the same pronunciation, so that Hanover meant “Blade’s Aunt”, Bremen “Wobbly Noodles”, and Rothenberg “Outdoor Hot Springs Haven”.
Three years after everybody else (or so it seems), I have at last read The Emissary! It won the National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2018, and deservedly so, I think! I’ve copied a couple of quotes to give an idea of the translator’s work.
This short dystopic novel is set in a polluted, self-isolating Japan, where old people live forever, and children are sickly and fragile. We share the life of Yoshiro, a healthy, active centenarian looking after his great grandson Mumei. I loved their relationship and Yoshiro’s musings. It’s all rather contemplative (with shades of Shikasta). I found the ending a bit abrupt and opaque, and disappointing.
97Dilara86
March Food and Lit
I will be visiting Greece (virtually) this month. I am borrowing Le vrai goût de la Grèce : une traversée du pays en 50 recettes and Six nuits sur l'Acropole (Six Nights on the Acropolis) by Nobel Prize winner Yorgos Seferis. I read his selected poems last year, and although I wasn't bowled over, I was curious about his novel. I have also started Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes, which is both entertaining and enlightening, but seems to be pretty much a transcript of her BBC Radio 4 podcasts.
I will be visiting Greece (virtually) this month. I am borrowing Le vrai goût de la Grèce : une traversée du pays en 50 recettes and Six nuits sur l'Acropole (Six Nights on the Acropolis) by Nobel Prize winner Yorgos Seferis. I read his selected poems last year, and although I wasn't bowled over, I was curious about his novel. I have also started Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes, which is both entertaining and enlightening, but seems to be pretty much a transcript of her BBC Radio 4 podcasts.
98Dilara86
March reads
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's 85% English and French
21st-century books: 8
20th-century books: 5
19th-century books:
18th-century books:
17th-century books:
16th-century books:
Medieval books:
Ancient books:
That's 100% 21st- and 20th-century
-
Femmes qui courent avec les loups by Clarissa Pinkola Estés - finished at last!
-
The Emissary by Yōko Tawada
-
L'autre langue des femmes by Léonora Miano
-
Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes - unfinished: it was a pleasant read, but I lost my motivation a few chapters in, mostly because it felt like the book version of her BBC4 podcast.
-
L'Acquisition du langage by Michèle Kail
-
Ce n'est pas toi que j'attendais by Fabien Toulmé
-
Le vrai goût de la Grèce : une traversée du pays en 50 recettes by Laetitia Cénac, or "Laetitia returns from her Greek holiday with an idea for a cookbook" - nice photos, no content
-
Six nuits sur l'Acropole : roman by Georges Séféris
-
La vague (The Wave) by Todd Strasser
-
La cuisine méditerranéenne by Louise Pickford
-
The Carbon Farming Solution: A Global Toolkit of Perennial Crops and Regenerative Agriculture Practices for Climate Change Mitigation and Food Security by Eric Toensmeier
-
La Mer Noire dans les Grands Lacs by Annie Lulu
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 5
- English: 6
- Japanese: 1
- Greek: 1
That's 85% English and French
That's 100% 21st- and 20th-century
- Number of female authors this month: 8
- Number of male authors this month: 5
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month:
99Dilara86
L'École des femmes ; La Critique de l'école des femmes (School for Wives and Critique of the School for Wives by Molière, additional material by Bénédicte Louvat-Molozay
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: France
First played in December 1662, and first published shortly after. The version I read – introduced and analysed by Bénédicte Louvat-Molozay was published in 2011.
Molière was born 400 years ago this year. To celebrate his quadricentenary (is that a word in English?), 2022 has been declared The Year of Molière, with plays, documentaries, exhibitions and events (https://moliere2022.org/ and https://www.comedie-francaise.fr/en/events/moliere-2022#). To get in on the fun, my book club chose L’École des femmes as our February read. That was a welcome (to me!) change from the young adult fare we seem to end up with most months.
The play is a comedy inspired by a short story written by Maria de Zayas Sotomayor (a female author I am definitely going to explore) in her Exemplary Tales of Love and Tales of Disillusion, translated/rewritten by Scarron, and by The Merry Nights of Straparola by Giovanni Francesco Straparola. It tells the story of Arnolphe, an old man so obsessed with the risk of being cuckolded he selects a young girl for himself, has her educated in a convent and then groomed to his liking, shut up away from the world. By ensuring her complete innocence and unworldliness, he thinks that she will make a perfect wife for him, and will be unable to cheat on him. Unfortunately, Agnes is so innocent she takes everything she is told at face value, and walks straight into a love affair without ever understanding what is happening. And of course, she refuses to marry Arnolphe. The comedy resides in part in Arnolphe’s character: his paranoia (and the fact that it works against him), his obliviousness to what is going on, and the ridiculousness of his being in love with young, pretty Agnès. It is also quite bawdy, something that was criticised in some quarters at the time. The controversy was whipped up and instrumentalised by Molière himself for publicity (it worked!), famously in his one-act play Critique de l’École des femmes where he points out all the double-entendres we might have missed otherwise about the word “it”, cats, horns... All sorts of things that incidently, work equally well in English and in French! And because it is a comedy, all’s well that ends well: the pretty young woman gets the handsome young man of her dreams and vice-versa!
I hadn’t read Molière since my schooldays, and it’s the first time I’ve read him for fun. I am not terribly fond of his humour, but I enjoyed immersing myself in 17th-century French alexandrines, and it was a pleasant read, with enough historical and linguistic interest to keep me happy.
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: France
First played in December 1662, and first published shortly after. The version I read – introduced and analysed by Bénédicte Louvat-Molozay was published in 2011.
Molière was born 400 years ago this year. To celebrate his quadricentenary (is that a word in English?), 2022 has been declared The Year of Molière, with plays, documentaries, exhibitions and events (https://moliere2022.org/ and https://www.comedie-francaise.fr/en/events/moliere-2022#). To get in on the fun, my book club chose L’École des femmes as our February read. That was a welcome (to me!) change from the young adult fare we seem to end up with most months.
The play is a comedy inspired by a short story written by Maria de Zayas Sotomayor (a female author I am definitely going to explore) in her Exemplary Tales of Love and Tales of Disillusion, translated/rewritten by Scarron, and by The Merry Nights of Straparola by Giovanni Francesco Straparola. It tells the story of Arnolphe, an old man so obsessed with the risk of being cuckolded he selects a young girl for himself, has her educated in a convent and then groomed to his liking, shut up away from the world. By ensuring her complete innocence and unworldliness, he thinks that she will make a perfect wife for him, and will be unable to cheat on him. Unfortunately, Agnes is so innocent she takes everything she is told at face value, and walks straight into a love affair without ever understanding what is happening. And of course, she refuses to marry Arnolphe. The comedy resides in part in Arnolphe’s character: his paranoia (and the fact that it works against him), his obliviousness to what is going on, and the ridiculousness of his being in love with young, pretty Agnès. It is also quite bawdy, something that was criticised in some quarters at the time. The controversy was whipped up and instrumentalised by Molière himself for publicity (it worked!), famously in his one-act play Critique de l’École des femmes where he points out all the double-entendres we might have missed otherwise about the word “it”, cats, horns... All sorts of things that incidently, work equally well in English and in French! And because it is a comedy, all’s well that ends well: the pretty young woman gets the handsome young man of her dreams and vice-versa!
I hadn’t read Molière since my schooldays, and it’s the first time I’ve read him for fun. I am not terribly fond of his humour, but I enjoyed immersing myself in 17th-century French alexandrines, and it was a pleasant read, with enough historical and linguistic interest to keep me happy.
100labfs39
>99 Dilara86: Wonderful review! I'll see if I can gently add it to the towering TBR without mishap.
101baswood
I enjoyed reading your thought on Molière. I have not read any of his plays yet, but I ought to this year.
102Dilara86
April reads (I'll try and write a few reviews later, when I'm in the right headspace)
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's 72% English and French
21st-century books: 7
20th-century books: 4
19th-century books:
18th-century books:
17th-century books:
16th-century books:
Medieval books:
Ancient books:
That's 100% 21st- and 20th-century
-
Se protéger des stress, inflammations chroniques et maladies chroniques, grâce au nerf vague by Jean-Marie Defossez - woo-y
-
Les légendes de Khasak by O-V Vijayan
-
Papa est au Panthéon by Alix de Saint-André - a little library find that I took straight back after reading the first 50 pages
-
Poésie cubaine du xxe siècle by Claude Couffon - a nice bilingual (Spanish/French) anthology
-
Le grand livre de la cuisine antillaise by Gladys Mazarin et al
-
Trout, Belly Up by Rodrigo Fuentes
-
Ultramarins by Mariette Navarro - one of the highlights from the 2022 Rentrée littéraire. It reads like a stage monologue. It's poetic and cliché - formally polished, but shallow.
-
Les Idées noires by Laure Gouraige
-
Melmoth furieux by Sabrina Calvo
-
Madame de Treymes by Edith Wharton - I have thoughts about this
-
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 6
- English: 2
- Spanish: 2
- Malayalam: 1
That's 72% English and French
That's 100% 21st- and 20th-century
- Number of female authors this month: 5
- Number of male authors this month: 4
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month: 2
103Dilara86
May reads
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's 72% English and French
21st-century books: 13
20th-century books: 5
19th-century books:
18th-century books:
17th-century books:
16th-century books:
Medieval books:
Ancient books:
That's 100% 21st- and 20th-century
-
Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain by Clair Wills (ongoing)
-
Les cuistots migrateurs - Voyagez grâce aux recettes de chefs réfugiés by Etiennette Savart, Guillaume Czerw (photographer), featuring the recipes of 5 asylum seekers from Syria, Nepal, Chechnya, Ethiopia and Iran
-
Pamir : Oubliés sur le toit du monde by Matthieu Paley, Mareile Paley and Ted Callahan
-
La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono
-
Le Monde sans fin, miracle énergétique et dérive climatique by Christophe Blain, about and with the contribution of Jean-Marc Jancovici
-
Songs for Spring - And Other Seasons by Sarojini Naidu
-
Les strates by Pénélope Bagieu
-
Face à la menace fasciste by Ludivine Bantigny and Ugo Palheta
-
Kaboul Disco, Tome 1 : Comment je ne me suis pas fait kidnapper en Afghanistan by Nicolas Wild
-
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
-
Kobane calling by Zerocalcare
-
Les cahiers ukrainiens: mémoires du temps de l'URSS by Igort
-
Le Pain éternel by Alexandre Béliaev
-
Les cinq saisons et autres poèmes by Kiril Kadiiski
-
Le devoir de violence by Yambo Ouologuem
-
Rebecca et Lucie mènent l'enquête by Pascal Girard
-
The Abbess of Crewe by Muriel Spark
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 7
- English: 6
- Spanish: 1
- Italian: 2
- Russian: 1
- Bulgarian: 1
That's 72% English and French
That's 100% 21st- and 20th-century
- Number of female authors this month: 5
- Number of male authors this month: 11
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month: 2
104Dilara86
Litsy Food and Lit
April: Cuba
The country chosen for the Litsy Food and Lit challenge in April was Cuba. I chose a big anthology of XXth-century poems by Cuban authors. I thought I'd read them in Spanish, with the occasional glance at the French translation, which is what I did with the Dulce María Loynaz collection I read last year. That proved more difficult this time, because the translation was a lot less literal, and therefore less useful as a crutch. In the end, I just read the French text, which means I lost an opportunity to improve my Spanish. On the flip side, the translations flowed well and were easy to get into.
The poetry of Nivaria Tejera in particular spoke to me. I also want to read more by Nancy Morejón - and Dulce María Loynaz, of course. I realise that although only a handful of female poets were included, they are the ones that I remember.
On the food side, I cooked rope vieja, a slow-cooked beef and tomato dish, with arroz congri (rice and red beans, typically with pork but I omitted it). Very nice, but not very original (not that they needed to be).
We also made Cuban coffee, which is more difficult to get right than it looks, and is far too addictive - probably because of all the sugar in it!
April: Cuba
The country chosen for the Litsy Food and Lit challenge in April was Cuba. I chose a big anthology of XXth-century poems by Cuban authors. I thought I'd read them in Spanish, with the occasional glance at the French translation, which is what I did with the Dulce María Loynaz collection I read last year. That proved more difficult this time, because the translation was a lot less literal, and therefore less useful as a crutch. In the end, I just read the French text, which means I lost an opportunity to improve my Spanish. On the flip side, the translations flowed well and were easy to get into.
The poetry of Nivaria Tejera in particular spoke to me. I also want to read more by Nancy Morejón - and Dulce María Loynaz, of course. I realise that although only a handful of female poets were included, they are the ones that I remember.
On the food side, I cooked rope vieja, a slow-cooked beef and tomato dish, with arroz congri (rice and red beans, typically with pork but I omitted it). Very nice, but not very original (not that they needed to be).
We also made Cuban coffee, which is more difficult to get right than it looks, and is far too addictive - probably because of all the sugar in it!
105labfs39
Food and Lit is a great combo. I love the idea of Les cuistots migrateurs. Curious as to your thoughts on the Wharton and Vijayan.
106Dilara86
Note to self : https://intersastra.com/blog/unrepressed is a source of short-form fiction (poetry and short stories) from Indonesian authors, written or translated into English.
107Dilara86
>105 labfs39: Les cuistots migrateurs is a great idea. Each section starts with a few pages about the asylum-seeker's life history, then there is a double page on their country, with background information and trivia, then a few pages about the country's food and food culture, and a list of basic ingredients, with explanations. There are a dozen recipes for each country, each with a full-page photo. I was quite excited about this approach. Now that I've read the whole book closely, rather than just flipped through it, I'm slightly disappointed. The information isn't always accurate or well-chosen (IMHO), and some of the instructions are unclear or incomplete. Those are quibbles...
108Dilara86
Rabalaïre by Alain Guiraudie
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French with a smattering of Occitan
Translated into: N/A (when there are sentences in Occitan, their meaning is either obvious, or they are explained or translated by one of the protagonists as part of the dialogue)
Location: Central South-Western France – basically the whole of the Massif Central, from to the Cévennes, with most of the action taking place in Aveyron
First published in 2021
I discovered Rabalaïre on my library’s list of new acquisitions for the 2021 rentrée littéraire. I saw it was set in Aveyron, a département in the South-Western part of the Massif Central, that holds a special place in my heart, and immediately requested it without researching it first. In a way, I’m glad I did: if I had realised the type of book it was and how long it was, I probably would have passed.
This is a difficult book to talk about. It’s a 1036-page doorstop about a forty-something gay man who’s just lost his job in a cooperative company, and whose life now revolves around cycling all over the Massif Central in search of company, friendship, sex and God knows what. Despite its length, it’s a quick read (at least for native speakers) because Guiraudie writes the way people speak: words and sentences just flow seamlessly. You can almost hear the characters’ South-Western accent and mannerisms, not to mention the one character who only speaks Occitan! For example, the text is peppered with “j’y dis” instead of the more correct “je lui dis”. In fact, there is an – arguably political – choice to forgo a literary, formal style, and write realistic spoken French, and describe real bodies, everyday lives, everyday struggles. This is a book about the way capitalism wrecks lives.
There are sex acts on almost all pages, written in a very uncompromising, unromantic way, with purple, weepy, diseased-looking penises (or one in particular but described multiple times). The main character will have sex with anyone as long as they are middle-aged or older. Incidentally, I am not convinced by the heterosexual encounters. There is almost as much violence as sex. Also cycling, difficulties communicating with other people, the flouting of societal norms, and money problems. And a main character who just cannot make up his mind about anything, nor keep his hands, eyes or body to himself... That’s basically a list of things that make me anxious! Despite its very adult themes, I felt like I was 3 again, hiding behind my hands while being read Goldilocks. Every time Jacques lied, “borrowed” something, or sneaked into someone’s house, my whole body tensed up. I swear it took a year off my life expectancy.
Reading Rabalaïre was an extremely uncomfortable experience for me, but then I almost certainly wasn’t the intended readership! I’m pretty sure that despite its deceptively simple writing style, it’s actually a very literary novel, but one whose references went over my head. I have a hunch, based on the similarities between this novel and Querelle (the Kévin Lambert novel) that it’s in dialogue with Jean Genet’s Querelle de Brest, but after 1036 pages of drugs, sex and violence, I need a long break before checking that. This book was very much out of my comfort zone, but I did it! I read it to the end and I feel ridiculously proud of myself, both because it’s different from anything I’ve read so far and it’s clearly set to become a classic- or at the very least a cult book-, and because finishing it took a lot of willpower. I want to simultaneously recommend it and warn people off it!
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French with a smattering of Occitan
Translated into: N/A (when there are sentences in Occitan, their meaning is either obvious, or they are explained or translated by one of the protagonists as part of the dialogue)
Location: Central South-Western France – basically the whole of the Massif Central, from to the Cévennes, with most of the action taking place in Aveyron
First published in 2021
I discovered Rabalaïre on my library’s list of new acquisitions for the 2021 rentrée littéraire. I saw it was set in Aveyron, a département in the South-Western part of the Massif Central, that holds a special place in my heart, and immediately requested it without researching it first. In a way, I’m glad I did: if I had realised the type of book it was and how long it was, I probably would have passed.
This is a difficult book to talk about. It’s a 1036-page doorstop about a forty-something gay man who’s just lost his job in a cooperative company, and whose life now revolves around cycling all over the Massif Central in search of company, friendship, sex and God knows what. Despite its length, it’s a quick read (at least for native speakers) because Guiraudie writes the way people speak: words and sentences just flow seamlessly. You can almost hear the characters’ South-Western accent and mannerisms, not to mention the one character who only speaks Occitan! For example, the text is peppered with “j’y dis” instead of the more correct “je lui dis”. In fact, there is an – arguably political – choice to forgo a literary, formal style, and write realistic spoken French, and describe real bodies, everyday lives, everyday struggles. This is a book about the way capitalism wrecks lives.
There are sex acts on almost all pages, written in a very uncompromising, unromantic way, with purple, weepy, diseased-looking penises (or one in particular but described multiple times). The main character will have sex with anyone as long as they are middle-aged or older. Incidentally, I am not convinced by the heterosexual encounters. There is almost as much violence as sex. Also cycling, difficulties communicating with other people, the flouting of societal norms, and money problems. And a main character who just cannot make up his mind about anything, nor keep his hands, eyes or body to himself... That’s basically a list of things that make me anxious! Despite its very adult themes, I felt like I was 3 again, hiding behind my hands while being read Goldilocks. Every time Jacques lied, “borrowed” something, or sneaked into someone’s house, my whole body tensed up. I swear it took a year off my life expectancy.
Reading Rabalaïre was an extremely uncomfortable experience for me, but then I almost certainly wasn’t the intended readership! I’m pretty sure that despite its deceptively simple writing style, it’s actually a very literary novel, but one whose references went over my head. I have a hunch, based on the similarities between this novel and Querelle (the Kévin Lambert novel) that it’s in dialogue with Jean Genet’s Querelle de Brest, but after 1036 pages of drugs, sex and violence, I need a long break before checking that. This book was very much out of my comfort zone, but I did it! I read it to the end and I feel ridiculously proud of myself, both because it’s different from anything I’ve read so far and it’s clearly set to become a classic- or at the very least a cult book-, and because finishing it took a lot of willpower. I want to simultaneously recommend it and warn people off it!
109rocketjk
>108 Dilara86: Thanks for that very interesting review. I don't think it's a good I'll take on, but I've learned never to say never. Is this book taking place in the present day? Are there really still people in France who speak Occitan in day to day speech? That comes as a surprise to me, then so do a lot of things!
110Dilara86
>109 rocketjk: Yes, it takes place in the present day, with plenty of current political commentary. There are definitely people who speak Occitan in day to day dealings (arguably, it's a political act), but they would be able to code-switch as necessary - there are no monolingual Occitan speakers left.
ETA: If you ever spend time in Aveyron, don't miss market day in Villefranche-de-Rouergue: you're bound to hear Occitan there!
ETA: If you ever spend time in Aveyron, don't miss market day in Villefranche-de-Rouergue: you're bound to hear Occitan there!
111Dilara86
Kobane calling by Zerocalcare, translated by Brune Seban
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Italian
Original language: Italian
Translated into: French
Location: Kobane and various other places in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_Administration_of_North_and_East_Syria&..., Turkey, Rome (and specifically Rebibbia)
First published in 2019 (for this specific version that contains extra material) by the feminist press Cambourakis
Kobane Calling is activist and graphic artist Zerocalcare’s journal/account of his two stays in Kobane and the mainly Kurdish Rojava region in Syria, where an autonomous democratic feminist, ecological and diverse self-government was created, stuck between a Turkey ruled by an anti-Kurd Erdogan, and Islamic State territories in Syria. We’ve all seen footage of Kurdish female soldiers defending Kobane against IS, but I hadn’t realised there was an organised state behind them. I learned a lot about the politics and geography of the place. Zerocalcare is very admiring of Rojava. He tries very hard to find faults, because he knows humans are flawed, but can’t seem to find any. I’d really like to believe it’s as fraternal and tolerant as described, but I doubt this utopia’s survived the real world, especially in a war zone.
I’d like to add something about the French translation. The translator, Brune Seban made the bold choice of a very informal, slangy style (eg: “ch’uis crevé” instead of “je suis crevé” or “je suis fatigué”) interspersed with a handful of Roman slang words kept in Italian and explained in a glossary at the end of the book. That was a risky proposition, but I think she pulled it off. The French feels fresh and natural (it might age badly, but it’s perfect for today’s readers); the words kept in Italian didn’t annoy me or make it too difficult to understand. It could have felt contrived, but it didn’t. I loved it!
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Italian
Original language: Italian
Translated into: French
Location: Kobane and various other places in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_Administration_of_North_and_East_Syria&..., Turkey, Rome (and specifically Rebibbia)
First published in 2019 (for this specific version that contains extra material) by the feminist press Cambourakis
Kobane Calling is activist and graphic artist Zerocalcare’s journal/account of his two stays in Kobane and the mainly Kurdish Rojava region in Syria, where an autonomous democratic feminist, ecological and diverse self-government was created, stuck between a Turkey ruled by an anti-Kurd Erdogan, and Islamic State territories in Syria. We’ve all seen footage of Kurdish female soldiers defending Kobane against IS, but I hadn’t realised there was an organised state behind them. I learned a lot about the politics and geography of the place. Zerocalcare is very admiring of Rojava. He tries very hard to find faults, because he knows humans are flawed, but can’t seem to find any. I’d really like to believe it’s as fraternal and tolerant as described, but I doubt this utopia’s survived the real world, especially in a war zone.
I’d like to add something about the French translation. The translator, Brune Seban made the bold choice of a very informal, slangy style (eg: “ch’uis crevé” instead of “je suis crevé” or “je suis fatigué”) interspersed with a handful of Roman slang words kept in Italian and explained in a glossary at the end of the book. That was a risky proposition, but I think she pulled it off. The French feels fresh and natural (it might age badly, but it’s perfect for today’s readers); the words kept in Italian didn’t annoy me or make it too difficult to understand. It could have felt contrived, but it didn’t. I loved it!
112Dilara86
Poésie cubaine du xxe siècle (20th-century Cuban poetry), selected, introduced and translated by Claude Couffon
Writers’ gender: mostly male, some female
Writer’s nationality: Cuba
Original language: Spanish
Translated into: French
Location: N/A
First published in 1997
This is a big bilingual Spanish/French anthology of Cuban poems. I tried to read the Spanish original, but couldn’t sustain it for very long: my Spanish was too weak, and the French translation wasn’t literal enough to be of help when I needed it. In the end, I just read the French.
I've discovered many different poets in it, but the one that spoke most to me - apart from Dulce Maria Loynaz who I already knew - was Nivaria Tejera.
Writers’ gender: mostly male, some female
Writer’s nationality: Cuba
Original language: Spanish
Translated into: French
Location: N/A
First published in 1997
This is a big bilingual Spanish/French anthology of Cuban poems. I tried to read the Spanish original, but couldn’t sustain it for very long: my Spanish was too weak, and the French translation wasn’t literal enough to be of help when I needed it. In the end, I just read the French.
I've discovered many different poets in it, but the one that spoke most to me - apart from Dulce Maria Loynaz who I already knew - was Nivaria Tejera.
113raton-liseur
>108 Dilara86: You're right, not a book for me. Way outside my confort zone, but I like how you describe it and how it makes you proud having read it!
I'm glad you managed to post a few reviews, it's always a pleasure to visit your thread.
I'm glad you managed to post a few reviews, it's always a pleasure to visit your thread.
114thorold
>108 Dilara86: I remember you recommended that to me before you got your copy :-)
But it does sound interesting. I’ll probably wind up attempting to read it eventually. But I’ve got to clear a few more doorsteps off the pile first.
But it does sound interesting. I’ll probably wind up attempting to read it eventually. But I’ve got to clear a few more doorsteps off the pile first.
116Dilara86
Prout de mammouth et autres petits bruits d'animaux written by Noé Carlain,illustrated by Anna Laura Cantone
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: N/A
First published in 2006
Prout de mammouth et autres petits bruits d'animaux (Mammoth farts and other small animal noises) has got to be the most embarrassing title in my library. So I am going to clarify that I didn’t choose nor buy this book. Blame-shifting done ;-) However, I did read it, and I have to say that the rhymes are fantastic, and actually better than what’s found in the majority of French children’s books. They sound great and they have a perfect rhythm. The writer clearly has a musical ear. The illustrations are lovely and very colourful. Obviously, it’s still 30-odd pages about farts! And funny animals… We will get a lot of mileage out of this, for sure.
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: N/A
First published in 2006
Prout de mammouth et autres petits bruits d'animaux (Mammoth farts and other small animal noises) has got to be the most embarrassing title in my library. So I am going to clarify that I didn’t choose nor buy this book. Blame-shifting done ;-) However, I did read it, and I have to say that the rhymes are fantastic, and actually better than what’s found in the majority of French children’s books. They sound great and they have a perfect rhythm. The writer clearly has a musical ear. The illustrations are lovely and very colourful. Obviously, it’s still 30-odd pages about farts! And funny animals… We will get a lot of mileage out of this, for sure.
117Dilara86
Le Pain éternel by Alexandre Béliaev, translated by Aselle Amanaliéva-Larvet
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Russian
Original language: Russian
Translated into: French
Location: a German island, the USA, anywhere but Russia
First published in the twenties and thirties, depending on the short stories
I think it was AnnieMod who mentioned Alexander Belyaev in another thread (I can’t remember which), and as I’m always looking for speculative fiction from countries other than the US and the UK, I searched for different likely spellings of this Russian writer’s name in my library’s online catalogue until I found something. This bilingual Russian/French short story collection was all they had. The first work was a novella called “Le pain éternel”, about the discovery of a kind of edible jelly that self-regenerates, and could eradicate world hunger, if only people were less stupid and selfish. Another one, “La lumière invisible”, reminded me of Maurice Renard’s 1921 L’homme truqué, about a man who is able to “see” electricity.
The translation was very pleasant. I am happy I sampled his writing - my curiosity is satisfied -, but it didn’t talk to me any more than most of the early “scientifiction” works I’ve read.
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Russian
Original language: Russian
Translated into: French
Location: a German island, the USA, anywhere but Russia
First published in the twenties and thirties, depending on the short stories
I think it was AnnieMod who mentioned Alexander Belyaev in another thread (I can’t remember which), and as I’m always looking for speculative fiction from countries other than the US and the UK, I searched for different likely spellings of this Russian writer’s name in my library’s online catalogue until I found something. This bilingual Russian/French short story collection was all they had. The first work was a novella called “Le pain éternel”, about the discovery of a kind of edible jelly that self-regenerates, and could eradicate world hunger, if only people were less stupid and selfish. Another one, “La lumière invisible”, reminded me of Maurice Renard’s 1921 L’homme truqué, about a man who is able to “see” electricity.
The translation was very pleasant. I am happy I sampled his writing - my curiosity is satisfied -, but it didn’t talk to me any more than most of the early “scientifiction” works I’ve read.
118raton-liseur
>116 Dilara86: You should try De la petite taupe qui voulait savoir qui lui avait fait sur la tête if you want to explore more embarassing books. Not to be read as a bedtime story, except if you plan to have a late sleep! We've read it countless times to P'tit Raton and M'ni Raton, and we all enjoyed it (yes, "we"...).
>117 Dilara86: I am not a big fan of early SF, but this sounds interesting, the topic of "Le Pain éternel" is right up my alley. But it's unlikely my library will have it. I'll check.
>117 Dilara86: I am not a big fan of early SF, but this sounds interesting, the topic of "Le Pain éternel" is right up my alley. But it's unlikely my library will have it. I'll check.
119Dilara86
>118 raton-liseur: Wishlisted! Thank you for the recommendation. It looks like it was originally written in German. I don't know whether to get the French or the English version...
I've just finished Le devoir de violence. With this one, I can't say I didn't know there would be violence. I still wanted to read it because of its reputation, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. I need something completely different to balance it out: it's going to be The Abbess of Crewe, which I bought at Angers's English-language library booksale a couple of weeks ago. This will be my first Muriel Spark.
I've just finished Le devoir de violence. With this one, I can't say I didn't know there would be violence. I still wanted to read it because of its reputation, but it wasn't a pleasant experience. I need something completely different to balance it out: it's going to be The Abbess of Crewe, which I bought at Angers's English-language library booksale a couple of weeks ago. This will be my first Muriel Spark.
120baswood
>108 Dilara86: I hope Rabalaïre is not available in my local library, if it is I might be tempted.
121raton-liseur
>119 Dilara86: Yes, it is a German book, and a classic! The French version is well done, I don't know for the English version. Looking foraward to your review!
I've bought a Muriel Spark recently as well, but in French, Memento Mori (following dchaikin's review earlier this year if I remember well). I hope to read it soon, and it will be my first Muriel Spark as well!
I've bought a Muriel Spark recently as well, but in French, Memento Mori (following dchaikin's review earlier this year if I remember well). I hope to read it soon, and it will be my first Muriel Spark as well!
122Dilara86
>120 baswood: If temptation is a possibility, if you haven't been put off by my post, I think you should just go for it! ;-)
>121 raton-liseur: I'll buy the French version then. This way, the non-English speakers in the family will be able to enjoy it!
>121 raton-liseur: I'll buy the French version then. This way, the non-English speakers in the family will be able to enjoy it!
123thorold
>119 Dilara86: If it's not too late, I'd recommend not looking at reviews of The abbess of Crewe before you start it, then you can have enjoyable that "wait a minute, isn't this all about ... ?!?" moment about halfway through the book.
125Dilara86
I need a recommendation for a Colombian book (novel, poetry, at a pinch short stories). Not Gabriel García Márquez. Something interesting, written by a Colombian author (if she's female, that's even better), and that won't raise my blood pressure too much. It doesn't have to be contemporary. Any idea?
126thorold
>125 Dilara86: Juan Gabriel Vásquez is worth checking out; I liked The sound of things falling and The shape of the ruins.
Laura Restrepo seems to be best-known female Colombian on LT, but I haven’t read any of hers yet.
https://www.librarything.com/tag/Colombia%2C+fiction
Laura Restrepo seems to be best-known female Colombian on LT, but I haven’t read any of hers yet.
https://www.librarything.com/tag/Colombia%2C+fiction
127rocketjk
>125 Dilara86: I second Mark's mention of Vásquez. I read and enjoyed his novel, The Informers.
128raton-liseur
>125 Dilara86: It appears that I don't have that much Colombian books on my bookshelves, apart from Garcia Marquez.
I've read:
- L'oubli que nous serons by Hector Abad. I did not really like it. Hector Abad talks about the life and assasination of his father, a famous public health specialist and human rights activist in Medellin while the city was the most insecure and oppressed.
- Le Ciel à bout portant by Jorge Franco. This one is a fiction, about the son of one of Pablo Escobar's closest partner (Libardo is a real person if I remember correctly, or more exactly was, but the son character is totally fictional, as is the way Libardo's death is described), who comes back to Colombia and to Medellin (again...) after many years in Europe. I remember I liked this book. Not a ground-breaking book, but an interesting and unusual read.
And more important maybe, I've read numerous books by Alvaros Mutis, including Ilona vient avec la pluie, La neige de l'amiral, La dernière escale du Tramp Steamer... I was a fan of Alvaros Mutis in my twenties and read almost all books featuring Maqroll el Gabiero, its recurring character. I've planned to read those books again but I am afraid of not loving them as much as I did a couple of decades ago.
Whatever you pick, I'll be interested in your reviews, as Latin America is an area I've always been fascinated with, from a literary point of view but not only. Enjoy your reading & cooking Colombian month!
I've read:
- L'oubli que nous serons by Hector Abad. I did not really like it. Hector Abad talks about the life and assasination of his father, a famous public health specialist and human rights activist in Medellin while the city was the most insecure and oppressed.
- Le Ciel à bout portant by Jorge Franco. This one is a fiction, about the son of one of Pablo Escobar's closest partner (Libardo is a real person if I remember correctly, or more exactly was, but the son character is totally fictional, as is the way Libardo's death is described), who comes back to Colombia and to Medellin (again...) after many years in Europe. I remember I liked this book. Not a ground-breaking book, but an interesting and unusual read.
And more important maybe, I've read numerous books by Alvaros Mutis, including Ilona vient avec la pluie, La neige de l'amiral, La dernière escale du Tramp Steamer... I was a fan of Alvaros Mutis in my twenties and read almost all books featuring Maqroll el Gabiero, its recurring character. I've planned to read those books again but I am afraid of not loving them as much as I did a couple of decades ago.
Whatever you pick, I'll be interested in your reviews, as Latin America is an area I've always been fascinated with, from a literary point of view but not only. Enjoy your reading & cooking Colombian month!
129Dilara86
Thank you all for your recommendations. I'll check what's available as soon as the library website is up again. I see I have The Informers in my wishlist already. This wishlist will soon be bigger than my actual library!
I have finished The Abbess of Crewe. I admit I was expecting something a bit more subtle. I've started Tè mawon, a dystopic novel set in a mega-state that encompasses the Carribbean and Central America. There is a lot of creole and no glossary, so it's a bit of a challenge, but fun.
I have finished The Abbess of Crewe. I admit I was expecting something a bit more subtle. I've started Tè mawon, a dystopic novel set in a mega-state that encompasses the Carribbean and Central America. There is a lot of creole and no glossary, so it's a bit of a challenge, but fun.
130arubabookwoman
>125 Dilara86: I liked Isle of Passion by Laura Restrepo very much. It's about settlers who were sent to Clipperton Island in the Pacific in a sovereignty dispute between France and Mexico, and then forgotten. Clipperton is now an uninhabited French possession.
131Dilara86
>130 arubabookwoman: Thank your for this recommendation. Isle of Passion ticks so many boxes for me: I will definitely read it at some point. Unfortunately not this month, as it's not available on scribd or from my local library.
I've requested The Informers and downloaded La Expedición Botánica contada a los niños, a children's chapter book with a Spanish reading level I think I can manage, about José Celestino Mutis's botanical expedition to South America, by Elisa Mújica, an author who looked interesting but whose adult books I couldn't borrow in translation.
I've requested The Informers and downloaded La Expedición Botánica contada a los niños, a children's chapter book with a Spanish reading level I think I can manage, about José Celestino Mutis's botanical expedition to South America, by Elisa Mújica, an author who looked interesting but whose adult books I couldn't borrow in translation.
132baswood
I have read The Sound of Things Falling and The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vásquez as English translations and enjoyed them both.
My current reading is Les Reputations which is obviously a french translation
My current reading is Les Reputations which is obviously a french translation
133Dilara86
I see there is a lot of love for Juan Gabriel Vásquez! I should get my copy of The Informers, or Les dénonciateurs as it is known in French, today or tomorrow. Looking forward to reading your thoughts on Les réputations.
134Dilara86
Tè mawon by Michael Roch
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: French
Original language: French and French Caribbean Creole, with a smattering of English and Spanish
Translated into: N/A
Location: a mega-state encompassing the Caribbean and Central America
First published in 2022
A few lines from page 132
I only discovered Michael Roch recently, despite the fact that he is a French BookTube “celebrity”. Although it looks like it is on hiatus, his channel called La Brigade du Livre has nearly 38,000 subscribers, which may not be a lot for English-speaking booktubers, but is huge for the mid-sized French community. I can’t say I am a fan of the military aesthetics he is going for, and typically, the books or themes he chooses, or the style of his videos don’t do anything for me, but each to their own – I’m not his target audience, and that’s fine. I was still interested in reading his latest novel because of its setting and use of non-standard French. Plus, I will read any non-White, non-US SF writer I come across.
Tè mawon (terre marron, terre de marrons ?, ie land of Marroons) is a dystopic novel set in a futuristic Caribbean and partially written in Creole: there are several narrators, and they all have a distinct voice and way of using (or not) and mixing French and Creole. The epigraph is quite clear about the author’s position on language:
I understand what he means, but I feel there’s a slight passive-aggressiveness to the words that could have been avoided. The first pages were difficult, but once I got used to the creole, it was fine. I decided not to look up words: some words I already knew (“moun” means “person”, “lwa” is a vaudou deity, etc.), some words I could guess from context or from their closeness to French words (once you realize that a grave accent on a vowel denotes the dropping of a “r” in the equivalent French word (kò = corps, dakò = d’accord, tè = terre), you’re all set), some words were explained at some point in the book. Whole sentences required a bit more concentration, but as I wasn’t looking for a perfect, 100% parsing rate, I didn’t feel frustrated. Alternating creole-heavy and French-heavy voices provided some respite.
Moving on to the story… The novel is set in a Caribbean mega-city-state that’s ethnically and linguistically diverse, but extremely divided along class lines. It was built away from the ground and rising sea-levels, with the well-to-do living in a modern, technologically up-to-date environment full of virtual reality enhancements, in the upper reaches of Lanvil called Anwo (en-haut), while others live down in the slums of Anba Lanvil or even on the margins outside, on the sea or on recovered land. It’s a prosperous place, one that European immigrants try to reach by all possible means, but it’s also a surveillance state, with facial recognition devices and “peace-keeping” bots (“bobots”) everywhere. Obviously, some people are going to rebel. None of this is terribly original, but the Caribbean setting and the language gave it a fresh twist.
I tend to like descriptive, slow-paced novels, which this book wasn’t. The authors is clearly more interested in action, emotions and impressions (and of course, stylistic acrobatics), rather than details, and the plot is a bit hazy. Against all odds, it held my interest, thanks in part to the aforementioned acrobatics, and even that is slightly surprising, as I tend to like understated writing!
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: French
Original language: French and French Caribbean Creole, with a smattering of English and Spanish
Translated into: N/A
Location: a mega-state encompassing the Caribbean and Central America
First published in 2022
A few lines from page 132
C’est toi ? C’est toi, garçon ? Mon fils, il va pas croire qu’y a d’autres chimen-chyen pour aller ailleurs, il va pas écouter des moun qui babillent kouyonnad épi mansonj sous-entendu qu’on peut apprendre à s’en sortir. Pask’on peut pas sauver le monde. On peut que naviguer. C’est pour ça nou débouya. On est des moun sans épaules. On est pas là pour porter la misère des autres, leurs rêves non plus. Avant ça, fok nou survivre à l’enfer qu’ils ont créé, dakò ?
I only discovered Michael Roch recently, despite the fact that he is a French BookTube “celebrity”. Although it looks like it is on hiatus, his channel called La Brigade du Livre has nearly 38,000 subscribers, which may not be a lot for English-speaking booktubers, but is huge for the mid-sized French community. I can’t say I am a fan of the military aesthetics he is going for, and typically, the books or themes he chooses, or the style of his videos don’t do anything for me, but each to their own – I’m not his target audience, and that’s fine. I was still interested in reading his latest novel because of its setting and use of non-standard French. Plus, I will read any non-White, non-US SF writer I come across.
Tè mawon (terre marron, terre de marrons ?, ie land of Marroons) is a dystopic novel set in a futuristic Caribbean and partially written in Creole: there are several narrators, and they all have a distinct voice and way of using (or not) and mixing French and Creole. The epigraph is quite clear about the author’s position on language:
Ma langue est un chariot allant de mon cœur à ton esprit.
Elle me déplace entier pour t’apprendre ce que je suis,
comment je vois le monde, comment je le réfléchis.
Libre à toi d’entrer en résistance ou en communion.
Notre langue sera le reflet humble et honnête de notre relation.
I understand what he means, but I feel there’s a slight passive-aggressiveness to the words that could have been avoided. The first pages were difficult, but once I got used to the creole, it was fine. I decided not to look up words: some words I already knew (“moun” means “person”, “lwa” is a vaudou deity, etc.), some words I could guess from context or from their closeness to French words (once you realize that a grave accent on a vowel denotes the dropping of a “r” in the equivalent French word (kò = corps, dakò = d’accord, tè = terre), you’re all set), some words were explained at some point in the book. Whole sentences required a bit more concentration, but as I wasn’t looking for a perfect, 100% parsing rate, I didn’t feel frustrated. Alternating creole-heavy and French-heavy voices provided some respite.
Moving on to the story… The novel is set in a Caribbean mega-city-state that’s ethnically and linguistically diverse, but extremely divided along class lines. It was built away from the ground and rising sea-levels, with the well-to-do living in a modern, technologically up-to-date environment full of virtual reality enhancements, in the upper reaches of Lanvil called Anwo (en-haut), while others live down in the slums of Anba Lanvil or even on the margins outside, on the sea or on recovered land. It’s a prosperous place, one that European immigrants try to reach by all possible means, but it’s also a surveillance state, with facial recognition devices and “peace-keeping” bots (“bobots”) everywhere. Obviously, some people are going to rebel. None of this is terribly original, but the Caribbean setting and the language gave it a fresh twist.
I tend to like descriptive, slow-paced novels, which this book wasn’t. The authors is clearly more interested in action, emotions and impressions (and of course, stylistic acrobatics), rather than details, and the plot is a bit hazy. Against all odds, it held my interest, thanks in part to the aforementioned acrobatics, and even that is slightly surprising, as I tend to like understated writing!
135Dilara86
June reads
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's 64% English and French
21st-century books: 9
20th-century books: 2
19th-century books:
18th-century books:
17th-century books:
16th-century books:
Medieval books:
Ancient books:
That's 100% 21st- and 20th-century
-
Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain by Clair Wills (still ongoing)
-
Tè mawon by Michael Roch
-
En l'absence du capitaine by Cécile Coulon
-
La Expedición Botánica contada a los niños by Elisa Mújica (ongoing)
-
Les Dénonciateurs by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
-
Rainbow Warriors by Ayerdhal (unfinished)
-
Héritage by Miguel Bonnefoy
-
Les enfants Tanner by Robert Walser
-
Maisons de mineurs: Patrimoine majeur du Nord-Pas-de-Calais by Yves Le Maner
-
M. Crado Beurk by Maikel Verkoelen
-
Les dunes & les falaises: des espaces naturels sensibles du Pas-de-Calais by Eden 62
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 6
- English: 1
- Spanish: 2
- Dutch: 1
- German: 1
- French Caribbean Creole: a smattering
That's 64% English and French
That's 100% 21st- and 20th-century
- Number of female authors this month: 3
- Number of male authors this month: 7
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month: 1
136labfs39
>134 Dilara86: Interesting. I like books that play with language.
137Dilara86
I think you might be able to read French, but an English translation would be something (not holding my breath, though)! I’d be very interested to see what an English translator does with the material. They would have to be able to work with an English-based Caribbean pidgin and English. The publisher would have to give proper thought to the translator they choose.
138labfs39
>137 Dilara86: I agree that it's unlikely to be translated, especially given its nature. I read a little French, but not enough to tackle a work of this complexity. It's interesting to read about though. Thank you for the review.
139Dilara86
>138 labfs39: I wished it was though. There are enough parallels between English/Pidgin and French/Creole for it to be workable and make sense. It just needs the right translator.
140Dilara86
En l'absence du capitaine by Cécile Coulon
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: French
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Locations: N/A, the Auvergne region in France, the Atlantic coast in France
First published in 2022
A few lines from page 101
This poetry collection was a Mother’s Day present from my daughter, who hadn’t realised that the first part of the book is a succession of poems about the death of the author’s grandmother – the eponymous “capitaine”. Not the most cheerful subject matter, and a book that would have been far too painful to read 5 years ago, when my mother died, but one that speaks to me and is almost soothing now.
Cécile Coulon is a young author from the Auvergne region whose 2019 novel Une bête au Paradis was a highlight of that year’s Rentrée littéraire. Her poems are heartfelt and very readable. The language is typically simple, with straightforward syntax and no complicated words. Her love poems are directed at her girlfriend. That made me realise that I hadn’t come across many examples of French lesbian poetry. Many of her poems give a strong sense of place, with mentions of burons, volcanoes/puys, a black cathedral, without sounding “terroir” at all.
I loved it!
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: French
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Locations: N/A, the Auvergne region in France, the Atlantic coast in France
First published in 2022
A few lines from page 101
Je me laisse faire depuis l’enfance.
Je me laisse faire par la pluie qui déglingue
les ardoises sur les burons,
par le soleil qui sèche la laine des moutons
et brûle les cornes des Salers.
Oui, c’est cela, je me laisse faire.
Comme la main fait d’une argile rouge
un verre pour l’enfant seul,
comme le bec fait pour l’oisillon le repas
attendu.
This poetry collection was a Mother’s Day present from my daughter, who hadn’t realised that the first part of the book is a succession of poems about the death of the author’s grandmother – the eponymous “capitaine”. Not the most cheerful subject matter, and a book that would have been far too painful to read 5 years ago, when my mother died, but one that speaks to me and is almost soothing now.
Cécile Coulon is a young author from the Auvergne region whose 2019 novel Une bête au Paradis was a highlight of that year’s Rentrée littéraire. Her poems are heartfelt and very readable. The language is typically simple, with straightforward syntax and no complicated words. Her love poems are directed at her girlfriend. That made me realise that I hadn’t come across many examples of French lesbian poetry. Many of her poems give a strong sense of place, with mentions of burons, volcanoes/puys, a black cathedral, without sounding “terroir” at all.
I loved it!
141Dilara86
I finished Les Dénonciateurs (The Informers) by Juan Gabriel Vásquez a couple of days ago. It felt good to read a book that doesn't require a lot of concentration or effort to push through uncomfortable (violent or cringy) passages.
142labfs39
>141 Dilara86: I look forward to your review of this one, as it's been on my TBR far too long.
143Dilara86
>108 Dilara86: A couple of songs surfaced as earworms when I was reading Rabalaïre, no doubt because they fitted the book so well. I meant to link to them and then forgot. Here they are:
Dempuèi Auriac by Cocanha - a song in Occitan about a worker traveling from Aurillac to Marseille, via Montpellier (lyrics and translation here)
Champignon by Astaffort Mods who make fun of tourists who take the train to Bordeaux and drive to the countryside in a rented car to pick mushrooms, and never find any because locals have been there before and will not tell them where the good spots are.
Dempuèi Auriac by Cocanha - a song in Occitan about a worker traveling from Aurillac to Marseille, via Montpellier (lyrics and translation here)
Champignon by Astaffort Mods who make fun of tourists who take the train to Bordeaux and drive to the countryside in a rented car to pick mushrooms, and never find any because locals have been there before and will not tell them where the good spots are.
144LolaWalser
Hey, I'm so happy Macron got his ass whupped! Not to say I expect France to say goodbye to conservatism; it's just been such a looooong time since any good news...
145Dilara86
I'm more pessimistic. He still has a relative majority, and he's going to have to be extra nice to the people to the right of him ("Les Républicains") to get his laws passed. He tarred all the NUPES with the far-left brush, which none of them are, and somehow, some people believed it, and came away with the impression that the NUPES was just as dangerous as the far-right, if not more. If you count all the right-wing deputies, from the far- and ultra-right to Macron (who I maintain is a right-winger with right-wing policies and a tendency to play footsie with Le Pen), there is a clear right-wing majority.
146LolaWalser
Yes, as I said, I don't expect France NOT to be conservative (i.e. right-wing), but I still enjoy seeing that smug ratface taken down a peg by a leftist coalition.
147Dilara86
>146 LolaWalser: So do I, for sure! The fact that he's disappointed - he clearly thought his Red Menace would be more effective than it was - and he hasn't shown his face yet cheers me up a bit. Many a gleeful cheh has been heard this last couple of days...
148Dilara86
July reads
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's 69% English and French
21st-century books: 8
20th-century books: 7
19th-century books: 1
18th-century books:
17th-century books:
16th-century books:
Medieval books:
Ancient books:
That's 93% 21st- and 20th-century (or less if you take into account the fact that the poetry anthology contains a number of poems written before the 20th century)
-
Lovers and Strangers: An Immigrant History of Post-War Britain by Clair Wills
-
The shipping news by E. Annie Proulx
-
Le bel immonde : récit by V. Y. Mudimbé
-
Le petit monde de Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi
-
Opéra poussière by Jean d' Amérique
-
Le profil de Jean Melville by Robin Cousin
-
Ces Dames aux Chapeaux Verts by Germaine Acremant
-
Nagori: La nostalgie de la saison qui vient de nous quitter by Ryoko Sekiguchi (a re-read)
-
The Virago Book of Wicked Verse by Jill Dawson
-
Essart by Gabriela Mistral
-
Quatuor: roman by Anna Enquist
-
Légendes corréziennes by André Léo
-
Le jardin des silences by Mélanie Fazi (a short story collection I'll probably dip in and out of, between two library holds)
-
Petite fleur du ghetto ; Touf flè nan pikan by Jean d'Amérique
-
Contes ordinaires d'une société résignée by Ersin Karabulut
-
Nosh Daru by Naiyer Masud (a short story)
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 8
- English: 3
- Italian: 1
- Various (a small number of poems in Ancient Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Polish...): 1
- Spanish: 1
- Dutch: 1
- Turkish: 1
- Urdu: 1
I wished I could have added Haitian creole to the list, but Petite fleur du ghetto ; Touf flè nan pikan was originally written in French, and then translated into creole...
That's 69% English and French
That's 93% 21st- and 20th-century (or less if you take into account the fact that the poetry anthology contains a number of poems written before the 20th century)
- Number of female authors this month: 9 (André Léo is a woman)
- Number of male authors this month: 7
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month:
149Dilara86
Opéra poussière by Jean d’Amérique
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Haiti
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Haiti
First published in 2022
A few lines from page 30 (the whole book is 48 pages long)
Jean d’Amérique is a young poet, playwright, and now novelist, from Haiti. He lives in France and has won a number of awards, mostly for his poetry. Opéra poussière is his latest play. It won the Prix RFI Théâtre 2021 and incidently, was read at the Avignon theatre festival at 11 AM today. I’m not often in the zeitgeist like this!
The play’s main character is Sanite Bélair, a young woman who joined the Haitian revolutionary army and became one of its officers. She was executed in 1802 by the French, when she was just 21 years old. She comes back from the dead to fight for a better recognition of the female heroes of Haitian history. Her hauntingly sad face is currently on the 10-gourde Haitian banknote; it replaced Catherine Flon (another female hero) because apparently, you can’t have more than one woman at any one time on a given currency…
This short work is as much a play as a succession of poems. It’s going to annoy people who like straightforward, 5-act plays in alexandrines, and delight those who enjoy experimental, spoken poetry. Fortunately, I’m closer to the latter.
Article about Jean d’Amérique : https://www.rfi.fr/fr/culture/20220715-le-tr%C3%A8s-attendu-op%C3%A9ra-poussi%C3...
The play’s page on the Avignon festival website https://festival-avignon.com/fr/edition-2022/programmation/opera-poussiere-20197...
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Haiti
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Haiti
First published in 2022
A few lines from page 30 (the whole book is 48 pages long)
longtemps je me suis couchée
sur le lit de la grande Histoire
jamais un rêve n’a frôlé mon sommeil
avec dans le bec un nom de femme
il faudra
réécrire notre odyssée
Jean d’Amérique is a young poet, playwright, and now novelist, from Haiti. He lives in France and has won a number of awards, mostly for his poetry. Opéra poussière is his latest play. It won the Prix RFI Théâtre 2021 and incidently, was read at the Avignon theatre festival at 11 AM today. I’m not often in the zeitgeist like this!
The play’s main character is Sanite Bélair, a young woman who joined the Haitian revolutionary army and became one of its officers. She was executed in 1802 by the French, when she was just 21 years old. She comes back from the dead to fight for a better recognition of the female heroes of Haitian history. Her hauntingly sad face is currently on the 10-gourde Haitian banknote; it replaced Catherine Flon (another female hero) because apparently, you can’t have more than one woman at any one time on a given currency…
This short work is as much a play as a succession of poems. It’s going to annoy people who like straightforward, 5-act plays in alexandrines, and delight those who enjoy experimental, spoken poetry. Fortunately, I’m closer to the latter.
Article about Jean d’Amérique : https://www.rfi.fr/fr/culture/20220715-le-tr%C3%A8s-attendu-op%C3%A9ra-poussi%C3...
The play’s page on the Avignon festival website https://festival-avignon.com/fr/edition-2022/programmation/opera-poussiere-20197...
150labfs39
>149 Dilara86: Fascinating. I am going to mark this for my global challenge.
151Dilara86
>150 labfs39: I'll be interested in your opinion of it!
Incidently, I'm amazed at the number of writers Haiti has produced, given the country's size and history: Yanick Lahens, Louis-Philippe Dalembert, René Depestre, Lyonel Trouillot, Marie Vieux-Chauvet, René Philoctète, Dany Laferrière, Jean d'Amérique, Ida Faubert, Jean Métellus... That's not even counting authors from the diaspora such as Edwige Danticat and Laure Gouraige!
Incidently, I'm amazed at the number of writers Haiti has produced, given the country's size and history: Yanick Lahens, Louis-Philippe Dalembert, René Depestre, Lyonel Trouillot, Marie Vieux-Chauvet, René Philoctète, Dany Laferrière, Jean d'Amérique, Ida Faubert, Jean Métellus... That's not even counting authors from the diaspora such as Edwige Danticat and Laure Gouraige!
152labfs39
>151 Dilara86: And the only one I've read is Danticat. (hangs head in shame) I need to get busy...
153thorold
>151 Dilara86: ...I've read books by Vieux-Chauvet and Depestre, as well as Danticat and Jacques-Stephen Alexis (not in your list). Haitian literature is fascinating, seems to get more interesting the deeper you get into it. >149 Dilara86: is obviously another one to look out for, thanks!
154Dilara86
I hadn't heard of Jacques-Stephen Alexis - that's one for the wishlist...
I hope I haven't oversold Jean d'Amérique. He's certainly someone to keep an eye on, but I think all the prizes he received were meant as encouragement. He is quite a young writer!
I hope I haven't oversold Jean d'Amérique. He's certainly someone to keep an eye on, but I think all the prizes he received were meant as encouragement. He is quite a young writer!
155Dilara86
Ces dames aux chapeaux verts by Germaine Acremant
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: an unnamed cathedral town in Northern France – arguably Saint-Omer
First published in 1921
The country chosen for the July Litsy Food and Lit challenge is France. I was going to skip this month because for a Frenchwoman, it’s not much of a challenge, but then I decided I’d use it to try and read Northern lit – I’ve been meaning to read more regional novels. I also like to read books set wherever I stay on holiday, which this summer happens to be the Côte d’Opale. I chose Ces dames aux chapeaux verts (These ladies with green hats), a half-forgotten bestseller from 1921 set in a Northern cathedral city - probably Saint-Omer (which as it happens we didn’t visit because we stayed on the coast, and walked, played on the beach, ate chips for 4 days and then caught covid).
The ladies with green hats are four religious spinsters set in their ways who welcome into their home their young cousin Arlette, a modern, feisty 18-year old Parisian woman down on her luck. She’s also wise, manipulative beyond her years, and looking for love – for herself, but possibly also for others…
Ces dames aux chapeaux verts was a quick, easy read. It’s all written in the present tense, which I thought was a recent trend, but apparently isn’t. It's quite funny and caustic, but somewhat unkind towards provincial people and spinsters - think Nancy Mitford in Northern France. Apparently, the people of Saint-Omer were able to recognise themselves and were not too happy about their portrayals.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: an unnamed cathedral town in Northern France – arguably Saint-Omer
First published in 1921
Arlette juge utile pour sa cause de prendre une physionomie apitoyée, quoique l’entretien suive exactement la courbe voulue par elle !
— Mais alors ? murmure-t-elle d’une voix où, dans le lointain, il y a un vague bruit de sanglots... Mais alors si vous n’avez pas la science pour femme, vos élèves pour enfants et vos livres pour amis, vous devez vivre des heures mortelles d’ennui...
— Je ne sais pas...
— Mariez-vous.
— Il est trop tard !
— Ah ! ah ! vous êtes puni... Vous êtes bien tous les mêmes... Tant que vous êtes jeunes, vous refusez d’aller à la mairie... Vous ne voulez pas vous mettre la corde au cou... Vous faites le dandy dans les salons... Vous faites le beau sur les boulevards... Vous courez le monde... Vous voyagez...
— Je vous assure que je n’ai jamais fait le beau !... M. Hyacinthe se trouve là sur un terrain glissant. Peu à peu il perd pied. Son regard papillote. Il essuie les verres de ses lunettes comme si ceux-ci en étaient responsables. Arlette constate qu’il a les yeux tout petits et tout drôles : — Et puis un jour, continue-t-elle, vous vous apercevez que vous avez eu tort de ne pas fonder un foyer... Et vous vous dites : « Il est trop tard !... » Mais sapristi ! il faut réagir, monsieur Hyacinthe... Une femme est nécessaire à l’homme...
— Oui... pour le linge ! La réponse est trop imprévue pour qu’Arlette n’en soit pas elle-même interloquée...
— Pour le linge !
— Oui... mon linge s’abîme... Jadis maman le recousait toujours avant de le remettre à la blanchisseuse... Et elle le comptait !... La semaine dernière, on m’a rendu une chaussette de moins...
— Vous le voyez bien !... Mariez-vous... Si vous ne le faites pas pour vous, faites-le au moins pour vos chaussettes.
The country chosen for the July Litsy Food and Lit challenge is France. I was going to skip this month because for a Frenchwoman, it’s not much of a challenge, but then I decided I’d use it to try and read Northern lit – I’ve been meaning to read more regional novels. I also like to read books set wherever I stay on holiday, which this summer happens to be the Côte d’Opale. I chose Ces dames aux chapeaux verts (These ladies with green hats), a half-forgotten bestseller from 1921 set in a Northern cathedral city - probably Saint-Omer (which as it happens we didn’t visit because we stayed on the coast, and walked, played on the beach, ate chips for 4 days and then caught covid).
The ladies with green hats are four religious spinsters set in their ways who welcome into their home their young cousin Arlette, a modern, feisty 18-year old Parisian woman down on her luck. She’s also wise, manipulative beyond her years, and looking for love – for herself, but possibly also for others…
Ces dames aux chapeaux verts was a quick, easy read. It’s all written in the present tense, which I thought was a recent trend, but apparently isn’t. It's quite funny and caustic, but somewhat unkind towards provincial people and spinsters - think Nancy Mitford in Northern France. Apparently, the people of Saint-Omer were able to recognise themselves and were not too happy about their portrayals.
156labfs39
>155 Dilara86: The book sounds fun, and your vacation, up to a point. Hope you are all feeling better now.
157raton-liseur
>149 Dilara86: Interesting. I'm glad you liked this author, as I have Soleil à coudre, his novel, on my radar (I'm not a poetry reader...), waiting for Actes Sud to publish it in paperback.
>155 Dilara86: I hope the covid was not too harsh on you and your family... You went to the Côte d'Opale, I was on the Côte d'Albâtre for a few days of holidays. I'll post a couple of reviews from regional books as well...
>155 Dilara86: I hope the covid was not too harsh on you and your family... You went to the Côte d'Opale, I was on the Côte d'Albâtre for a few days of holidays. I'll post a couple of reviews from regional books as well...
158Dilara86
>156 labfs39: >157 raton-liseur: We're all fine now, thanks. Well, it's a bit up-and-down for me still, but I'm essentially OK. Everybody else is fully recovered, including the baby, which is a relief. We (me, my partner, our daughter and granddaughter) came back from holiday together, and isolated at my home to avoid passing it on to the son-in-law who had stayed behind for work. Looking after a sick, grumpy baby when you're sick and grumpy yourself is not fun, but at least there were three adults to share the load...
>157 raton-liseur: Funny how we chose neighbouring areas to holiday in! I am looking forward to your reviews of regional books.
I placed a hold at the library on Petite fleur du ghetto = Touf flè nan pikan, mainly because it's a bilingual (French and Haitian Creole) book. I also wanted to read Soleil à coudre, but I'll wait a bit. Reading poets' novels can be a bit tiring...
>157 raton-liseur: Funny how we chose neighbouring areas to holiday in! I am looking forward to your reviews of regional books.
I placed a hold at the library on Petite fleur du ghetto = Touf flè nan pikan, mainly because it's a bilingual (French and Haitian Creole) book. I also wanted to read Soleil à coudre, but I'll wait a bit. Reading poets' novels can be a bit tiring...
159Dilara86
August reads
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's 76% English and French
21st-century books:
20th-century books:
19th-century books:
18th-century books:
17th-century books:
16th-century books:
Medieval books:
Ancient books:
That's x% 21st- and 20th-century
-
South Riding : an English landscape by Winifred Holtby
-
Le jardin des silences by Mélanie Fazi
-
Mrs. A. B. Marshall's Cookery Book: With Seventy Illustrations by Mrs. Agnes B. Marshall
-
Né d'aucune femme by Franck Bouysse (abandoned)
-
Nosh Daru, a short story by Naiyer Masud
-
Shrikanto by Sarat Chandra Chatterji
-
Arabesque: Recettes contemporaines du monde arabe by Reem Kassis (skimmed)
-
De l'enfant à l'élève: Une approche philosophique de la littérature de jeunesse à l'école élémentaire by Julien Ledoux
-
J'aurais adoré être ethnologue by Margaux Motin
-
La puissance des femmes : Une autre histoire de la philosophie by Julie Davidoux, Octave Larmagnac-Matheron and Sven Ortoli, with many exerpts from books by many female philosophers
-
Ultimatum Orangutan by Khairani Barokka
-
Un dîner en bateau by Akira Yoshimura
-
Les nègres n'iront jamais au paradis by Tanella Boni (I'd tried reading it back in 2019, but gave up. This time, I did finish it, although I wonder why I bothered...)
-
The Revenge of the Foxes by Ak Welsapar
-
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (interrupted because a couple of library holds came through)
-
Mémoires d'Outre-Haine by Kofi Yamgnane
-
Train de nuit avec suspects by Yōko Tawada
-
Temporary Homes by Mohamed Warsame
-
Mother Ireland by Edna O'Brien
-
Un pays de neige et de cendres by Petra Rautiainen
-
Guide Tao France - 2000 idées et adresses pour voyager engagé by various contributors
-
Encabanée by Gabrielle Filteau-Chiba
-
Journal intime d'une féministe noire by Axelle Jah Njiké
-
La Fille unique by Avraham B. Yehoshua
-
The Tunisian Crochet Handbook: A Beginner's Guide by Toni Lipsey
-
Écrire en pays dominé by Patrick Chamoiseau
-
You're Safe With Me by Chitra Soundar, illustrations by Poonam Mistry
-
Beastly Tales by Vikram Seth, illustrations by Ravi Shankar
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 11
- English: 11
- Bengali: 1
- Urdu: 1 (short story)
- Japanese: 2
- A few words/phrases in Indonesian: 1
- Russian: 1
- Finnish: 1
- Hebrew: 1
That's 76% English and French
That's x% 21st- and 20th-century
- Number of female authors this month: 14
- Number of male authors this month: 13
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month: 2
160Dilara86
Petite fleur du ghetto ; Touf flè nan pikan by Jean d’Amérique, translation by Erickson Jeudi
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Haiti
Original language: French
Translated into: Haitian Creole
Location: Haiti, N/A
First published in 2019
A poem on pages 16-17, in its Haitian Creole translation, then in the original French
This is a short bilingual poetry collection - a stapled booklet of 48 pages. Haitian Creole on the left page, French on the right. With this layup, you’d think the poems were originally written in Creole, and then translated into French, but it’s actually the other way round. I borrowed this book because I like poetry of course, but also because I thought it would be a good way to familiarize myself with Haitian Creole, which it was. And I liked the poems too!
Here’s a reading by Gaëlle Bien-Aimé of Pour Régina, a poem in memory of Régina Nicolas, a Haitian photographer and actor murdered by her partner in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Y8lLMFZ9k
A video of Jean d’Amérique saying his poetry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCFNHd3B_40&t=27s
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Haiti
Original language: French
Translated into: Haitian Creole
Location: Haiti, N/A
First published in 2019
A poem on pages 16-17, in its Haitian Creole translation, then in the original French
Mwen se youn
nan nanm sa yo
ki met rad ki fèt
ak doulè jou yo
tankou yon tatwaj
koman kè m
ka espre demen
nan mitan flanm
kap boule kadav traka m
Je suis
de ces âmes
qui portent
la douleur des jours
comme un tatouage
comment espérer demain
avec le cœur
à la moindre tendance de flammes
qui brûlent
le sépulcre des tracas
This is a short bilingual poetry collection - a stapled booklet of 48 pages. Haitian Creole on the left page, French on the right. With this layup, you’d think the poems were originally written in Creole, and then translated into French, but it’s actually the other way round. I borrowed this book because I like poetry of course, but also because I thought it would be a good way to familiarize myself with Haitian Creole, which it was. And I liked the poems too!
Here’s a reading by Gaëlle Bien-Aimé of Pour Régina, a poem in memory of Régina Nicolas, a Haitian photographer and actor murdered by her partner in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_Y8lLMFZ9k
A video of Jean d’Amérique saying his poetry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCFNHd3B_40&t=27s
161Dilara86
So far this month, I read South Riding by Winifred Holtby, which I absolutely adored. I was also pleasantly surprised by how "woke" it was, given that it was written in 1935 (give or take a golliwog mention that thankfully references the doll and not a person). It's so easy to forget that the thirties were a time of intense feminist, anticolonial and antiwar sentiment, in parallel with the rise of fascism and nazism.
I am also skimming through a PDF of Mrs. A. B. Marshall's Cookery Book: With Seventy Illustrations, a bestselling cookbook first published in 1988. It's quite entertaining, with numerous plugs for Mrs Marshall's gelatine sheets, food colourings, etc. as well as regular advertisements for all sorts of third-party wares. Every dish name is given in English, and then underneath, in French, whether it makes sense to have it in French or not. Also, whoever checked the French grammar and spelling gave up about halfway through :-D
I am also skimming through a PDF of Mrs. A. B. Marshall's Cookery Book: With Seventy Illustrations, a bestselling cookbook first published in 1988. It's quite entertaining, with numerous plugs for Mrs Marshall's gelatine sheets, food colourings, etc. as well as regular advertisements for all sorts of third-party wares. Every dish name is given in English, and then underneath, in French, whether it makes sense to have it in French or not. Also, whoever checked the French grammar and spelling gave up about halfway through :-D
162labfs39
>161 Dilara86: Have you read Vera Brittain's memoir Testament of Youth? Holtby and Brittain were close, as you probably know.
163Dilara86
>162 labfs39: I haven't but it's definitely on my list! Do you think it's a good companion to South Riding?
164labfs39
>163 Dilara86: I haven't read South Riding, but Testament of Youth was outstanding and deals with some of the topics you mentioned. I have not read the sequel, Testament of Friendship, but it is specifically about Holtby and their relationship.
165Dilara86
>164 labfs39: Now I really REALLY want to read it!
166Dilara86
Recently, I also finished Essart (Tala), a poetry collection by 1945 Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral. She lead quite an interesting life: she started as a teacher, and became consul for Chile in various European countries at a time when not many women had paid, non-manual jobs, let alone as diplomats. She was able to secrete out of Franco Spain a number of Republicans. She was in a longterm same-sex relationship with her secretary.
I was glad I was able to read a good cross-section of Mistral's poetry, with its lyrical description of South- and Central-American landscapes. There are so very few female Nobel prize winners to begin with, it is a huge shame that one of them is half-forgotten, as is the case with Gabriela Mistral. Having said that, I feel that the mood and depth of the poems were let down by the translation. I am questioning in particular the translator's choice to torture French syntax by removing articles "to get closer to the Spanish original".
I was glad I was able to read a good cross-section of Mistral's poetry, with its lyrical description of South- and Central-American landscapes. There are so very few female Nobel prize winners to begin with, it is a huge shame that one of them is half-forgotten, as is the case with Gabriela Mistral. Having said that, I feel that the mood and depth of the poems were let down by the translation. I am questioning in particular the translator's choice to torture French syntax by removing articles "to get closer to the Spanish original".
167Dilara86
I've been very lucky with some of my recent reads, and that made me very impatient with the less-engrossing ones. Here are the books I gave up on so far this summer.
Né d'aucune femme by Franck Bouysse - I stopped at page 71 because I could see that the main character was going to be abused and I did not trust the writer to describe it in a non-lurid, non-manipulative way. And there were so many aspects I didn't like: writing style, lack of historical perspective, unrealistic, caricatural characters, anachronistic dialogue...
La face d'un autre (The Face of Another) by Kobo Abe - I stopped after a few pages because I couldn't get into it. I liked well enough when I read it as a teenager. Maybe some other time.
I'll probably be skimming Arabesque: Recettes contemporaines du monde arabe (The Arabesque Table: Contemporary Recipes from the Arab World) by Reem Kassis because I'm finding the French translation very distracting and annoying.
I'm in two minds about De l'enfant à l'élève : une approche philosophique de la littérature de jeunesse à l'école élémentaire by Julien Ledoux. It is badly written and in need of a good editor. I hate non-fiction written in a stream-of-consciousness style and without a clear logic. Its strong (Lacanian) psychoanalysis prism doesn't do anything for me. It's also full of out-of-context quotes, platitudes and non sequiturs. But I am getting the odd interesting snippet from it. We'll see how tired I get... I suspect the bibliography is the most useful part of the book.
Né d'aucune femme by Franck Bouysse - I stopped at page 71 because I could see that the main character was going to be abused and I did not trust the writer to describe it in a non-lurid, non-manipulative way. And there were so many aspects I didn't like: writing style, lack of historical perspective, unrealistic, caricatural characters, anachronistic dialogue...
La face d'un autre (The Face of Another) by Kobo Abe - I stopped after a few pages because I couldn't get into it. I liked well enough when I read it as a teenager. Maybe some other time.
I'll probably be skimming Arabesque: Recettes contemporaines du monde arabe (The Arabesque Table: Contemporary Recipes from the Arab World) by Reem Kassis because I'm finding the French translation very distracting and annoying.
I'm in two minds about De l'enfant à l'élève : une approche philosophique de la littérature de jeunesse à l'école élémentaire by Julien Ledoux. It is badly written and in need of a good editor. I hate non-fiction written in a stream-of-consciousness style and without a clear logic. Its strong (Lacanian) psychoanalysis prism doesn't do anything for me. It's also full of out-of-context quotes, platitudes and non sequiturs. But I am getting the odd interesting snippet from it. We'll see how tired I get... I suspect the bibliography is the most useful part of the book.
168labfs39
>167 Dilara86: Good for you for jettisoning the chaff. They sound subpar, although I am curious about the Abe. I've only read Woman in the Dunes, which was intense.
169Trifolia
I've been very lucky with some of my recent reads, and that made me very impatient with the less-engrossing ones. ... I can understand that. It's been the other way round for me. But wow, your choice of books is so diverse and appealing!
170Dilara86
>169 Trifolia: Thank you! Welcome to my thread :-)
>168 labfs39: To clarify, I didn't abandon the Abe novel because I found it disappointing (I didn't). It just didn't click - it probably wasn't the right time. It's back on its shelf and I'll try again later. I'd rather not force it: I know from experience that if I did, I wouldn't take anything it and it would be a missed opportunity.
>168 labfs39: To clarify, I didn't abandon the Abe novel because I found it disappointing (I didn't). It just didn't click - it probably wasn't the right time. It's back on its shelf and I'll try again later. I'd rather not force it: I know from experience that if I did, I wouldn't take anything it and it would be a missed opportunity.
171Dilara86
I the end, I did finish De l'enfant à l'élève : une approche philosophique de la littérature de jeunesse à l'école élémentaire. The second part of the book was more descriptive and experience-based, and therefore easier to read, if not better written and logical. It was published by L'Harmattan, which used to be a reputable press, but seems to specialise in vanity publishing nowadays.
172labfs39
>170 Dilara86: it probably wasn't the right time I understand. I am that way myself.
173Dilara86
Last week, I read Nosh Daru, a short story by Naiyer Masud thanks to labfs39, who provided the link to the PDF. I really enjoyed this story originally written in Urdu about a very old apothecary who needs to talk to his slightly younger former student for reasons that are too bleak and spoilery to reveal here. Thank you labfs!
Yesterday evening, I finished Le jardin des silences by Mélanie Fazi, a SFF writer and translator I discovered a few years back, at the Utopiales SF convention in Nantes. She was at a very interesting round table about translation with Luvan, another writer/translator. That made me curious about her work, and so I bought this short story collection despite not being a fan of short stories generally (I had no choice - she doesn't write novels). It then languished on a shelf for a few years, until I realised I could make the most of the form by reading a couple of stories at a time in between two library books, over a couple of months. In the end, I was sucked in and finished it a lot quicker than anticipated. They're sensitive, thoughtful fantasy/magical realism stories, many featuring animals or the natural world, and with female, first-person protagonists. I'll be looking for more books by Fazi.
Yesterday evening, I finished Le jardin des silences by Mélanie Fazi, a SFF writer and translator I discovered a few years back, at the Utopiales SF convention in Nantes. She was at a very interesting round table about translation with Luvan, another writer/translator. That made me curious about her work, and so I bought this short story collection despite not being a fan of short stories generally (I had no choice - she doesn't write novels). It then languished on a shelf for a few years, until I realised I could make the most of the form by reading a couple of stories at a time in between two library books, over a couple of months. In the end, I was sucked in and finished it a lot quicker than anticipated. They're sensitive, thoughtful fantasy/magical realism stories, many featuring animals or the natural world, and with female, first-person protagonists. I'll be looking for more books by Fazi.
174LolaWalser
Huh, I read some of Mistral's poetry (ok, a single poem -- with the earworm line "como una sola flor seremos, como una flor, y nada más") in school, but had no idea she was a lesbian. Cool.
175Dilara86
>174 LolaWalser: So cool you read one of her poems in class.
I think she was rather discreet about her love life (which makes sense given the times and places where she lived). In Tala, I'd say one poem was unambiguously "lesbian"; others were open to interpretation. But the majority were either religious or about nature, or friends/family members.
I think she was rather discreet about her love life (which makes sense given the times and places where she lived). In Tala, I'd say one poem was unambiguously "lesbian"; others were open to interpretation. But the majority were either religious or about nature, or friends/family members.
176Dilara86
Ultimatum Orangutan by Khairani Barokka
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Indonesia? Lives in London
Original language: English, with Indonesian words
Translated into: N/A
Location: Various Indonesian islands and places (Jakarta, Java, Papua, sea and rainforest…), N/A
First published in 2021
A few lines from page 64
This poetry collection was a fantastic find on scribd. It's quite intense and almost brutal, and although written in English, very Indonesian. And very political.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Indonesia? Lives in London
Original language: English, with Indonesian words
Translated into: N/A
Location: Various Indonesian islands and places (Jakarta, Java, Papua, sea and rainforest…), N/A
First published in 2021
A few lines from page 64
tuban planting*
fascia, perhaps, is a conduit for rage.
where did all my rage go, i ask my body,
as though i do not know.
it tells me to lie down and write,
to sip warm tea with milk,
so i can regurgitate a many-storied anger
onto sheafs of dead trees.
…
*‘tuban planting’ – Since 2014, farmer protestors from the Kendeng Mountain Re- gion have been fighting plans for the construction of state-owned cement plants in Central Java, which would destroy their water supply and ecosystem. On April 12, 2016, nine women farmers from the Kendeng region travelled to Jakarta, and formed a line in protest, sitting in front of the Presidential Palace and pouring ce- ment over their feet in containers. On March 10, 2017, beginning with ten farmer protestors, with more farmer protestors joining by the day, another protest was begun in which they cemented their feet in front of the Presidential Palace. The government now claims the cement plant case is still being studied for viability. The North Kendeng Mountain Region includes Tuban Regency, where my paternal grandmother is from.
This poetry collection was a fantastic find on scribd. It's quite intense and almost brutal, and although written in English, very Indonesian. And very political.
177Dilara86
Shrikanto (Livre I) by Saratchandra Chatterji, translated by Anne-Marie Moulènes, Nandadulal Dé and Jean Tipy (Translator)
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: India (Bengal, British Raj)
Original language: Bengali
Translated into: French
Location: Bengal and Bihar (India)
First published in 1917
A few lines from page 100
Saratchandra Chatterji is a renowned Bengali author born in the late nineteenth century. His most famous novel – at least in the Western world – is probably Devdas, thanks in part to the 2002 Bollywood film.
The book I read is the first volume of Shrikanto, which we are helpfully told by the writer of the introduction is the best of the four and can stand on its own. That’s lucky because the UNESCO Representative Works committee which commissioned this translation isn’t paying for the translation of the other three… There had been an earlier French translation, based on the English translation, but this is the 1985 Bengali to French version written by a translator team comprised of Nandadulal Dé in charge of the first rough translation, and Anne-Marie Moulènes, who unfortunately died halfway-through and had to be replaced by Jean Tipy (who also wrote the introduction).
All four parts of Shrikanto were first serialised in newspapers (from 1917 to 1933) before being published in book form, just like Chatterji’s beloved Rougon-Macquart. It centers on Shrikanto, a young Brahmin boy, then man, from a Bengali village by the Ganges. He is an observer and a follower, and therefore the perfect narrator. This novel is a fascinating window on life in early twentieth-century Bengal, with customs and ethics (regarding castes and women, mainly) that can make a modern reader uncomfortable – but then it is quite clear that Chatterji is describing them to denounce them (that's Zola again). I’d rather read him than the islamophobic Bankim Chandra Chatterji, that’s for sure!
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: India (Bengal, British Raj)
Original language: Bengali
Translated into: French
Location: Bengal and Bihar (India)
First published in 1917
A few lines from page 100
Indro se leva brusquement. « Je vais là-bas », me dit-il. Effrayé, je le suppliai, en lui tenant les mains : « Es-tu devenu fou, frère ? » Indro ne répondit rien, retourna au canot, en retira la perche, la posa sur son épaule. Puis il sortit un grand couteau de sa poche, le prit dans sa main gauche et me dit : « Toi, reste là, Shrikanto ; si je ne revenais pas, tu irais à la maison pour dire ce qui s’est passé. Je m’en vais. »
Saratchandra Chatterji is a renowned Bengali author born in the late nineteenth century. His most famous novel – at least in the Western world – is probably Devdas, thanks in part to the 2002 Bollywood film.
The book I read is the first volume of Shrikanto, which we are helpfully told by the writer of the introduction is the best of the four and can stand on its own. That’s lucky because the UNESCO Representative Works committee which commissioned this translation isn’t paying for the translation of the other three… There had been an earlier French translation, based on the English translation, but this is the 1985 Bengali to French version written by a translator team comprised of Nandadulal Dé in charge of the first rough translation, and Anne-Marie Moulènes, who unfortunately died halfway-through and had to be replaced by Jean Tipy (who also wrote the introduction).
All four parts of Shrikanto were first serialised in newspapers (from 1917 to 1933) before being published in book form, just like Chatterji’s beloved Rougon-Macquart. It centers on Shrikanto, a young Brahmin boy, then man, from a Bengali village by the Ganges. He is an observer and a follower, and therefore the perfect narrator. This novel is a fascinating window on life in early twentieth-century Bengal, with customs and ethics (regarding castes and women, mainly) that can make a modern reader uncomfortable – but then it is quite clear that Chatterji is describing them to denounce them (that's Zola again). I’d rather read him than the islamophobic Bankim Chandra Chatterji, that’s for sure!
178Dilara86
In the last couple of weeks, I read:
J'aurais adoré être ethnologue (But I Really Wanted to Be an Anthropologist) by Margaux Motin which annoyed me inordinately. I thought it would be a tongue-in cheek look at people's foibles and habits - just like in Brétecher's books. It wasn't. In fact, there was nothing anthropological about it because there was nothing about other people - it was all very self-centered. I could not relate one bit with the "woes" of a young, superficial, and affluent Louboutin-obsessed Parisian artist/mum with impossibly long legs.
Un dîner en bateau, a collection of interlinked short stories by Akira Yoshimura, written between 1976 and 1988. They share the same narrator, who might well be the writer himself, and they read like long diary entries. They are all on the subjects of death and illness, with many flashbacks to World War II. The narrator has an oddly detached attitude (which he thinks is a consequence of his experience in WWII), and is mostly concerned with the practicalities of death: funerals (their organisation, who gets buried where, to attend or not to attend, how to get there...), visiting dying loved ones (to go and risk them realising that they are dying, or to leave them in the dark, and on their own)... It's at once familiar and relatable, and not. It's not a bundle of laughs, and definitely not a book I could have read a few years back, when my mother's and grandparents' deaths were still raw, but I can appreciate it now, although I did like Shipwrecks and Le convoi de l'eau better.
J'aurais adoré être ethnologue (But I Really Wanted to Be an Anthropologist) by Margaux Motin which annoyed me inordinately. I thought it would be a tongue-in cheek look at people's foibles and habits - just like in Brétecher's books. It wasn't. In fact, there was nothing anthropological about it because there was nothing about other people - it was all very self-centered. I could not relate one bit with the "woes" of a young, superficial, and affluent Louboutin-obsessed Parisian artist/mum with impossibly long legs.
Un dîner en bateau, a collection of interlinked short stories by Akira Yoshimura, written between 1976 and 1988. They share the same narrator, who might well be the writer himself, and they read like long diary entries. They are all on the subjects of death and illness, with many flashbacks to World War II. The narrator has an oddly detached attitude (which he thinks is a consequence of his experience in WWII), and is mostly concerned with the practicalities of death: funerals (their organisation, who gets buried where, to attend or not to attend, how to get there...), visiting dying loved ones (to go and risk them realising that they are dying, or to leave them in the dark, and on their own)... It's at once familiar and relatable, and not. It's not a bundle of laughs, and definitely not a book I could have read a few years back, when my mother's and grandparents' deaths were still raw, but I can appreciate it now, although I did like Shipwrecks and Le convoi de l'eau better.
179labfs39
>178 Dilara86: the "woes" of a young, superficial, and affluent Louboutin-obsessed Parisian artist/mum with impossibly long legs
Sounds dreadful
Sounds dreadful
180arubabookwoman
>177 Dilara86: I am very interested in Shrikanto and will try to track it down. A few years ago I read Pather Panchali and absolutely loved it. (The link goes to the famous movie of the same name by Satyajit Ray, which was based on the book. I will have to go check for the name of the author which is escaping me now.
ETA--I fixed the link, and the author is Bibhutibhushan Banerji.
ETA--I fixed the link, and the author is Bibhutibhushan Banerji.
181Dilara86
>179 labfs39: This is the sort of book that makes me glad I mostly read library books these days: the fact that I didn't spend money on it is a consolation...
>180 arubabookwoman: Oh, yes. Thank you for reminding me of him. Bibhutibhushan Banerji is an author I've been meaning to explore, but haven't yet (too many books, too little time...)
>180 arubabookwoman: Oh, yes. Thank you for reminding me of him. Bibhutibhushan Banerji is an author I've been meaning to explore, but haven't yet (too many books, too little time...)
182raton-liseur
I’m well behind in fellow readers threads, and I’m enjoying starting to catch up.
>177 Dilara86: I read Devdas last June, after watching the Bollywood adaptation, it’s fun to see Saratchandra Chatterji appearing in your thread. If you read Devdas, how would you compare it to Shrikanto?
>178 Dilara86: Great that you’ve read Akira Yoshimura! I have not read Un dîner en bateau and it’s probably not the right time for me, but I might have to buy it before it disappears from the bookstore shelves (I’m intending to be kind of a completist when it comes to Akira Yoshimura). Naufrages/Shipwrecks and Le convoi de l’eau are also my fovourite from him.
>181 Dilara86: De la forêt is great and I suspect you would like it… But yes, too many books too little time, I know the felling !
>177 Dilara86: I read Devdas last June, after watching the Bollywood adaptation, it’s fun to see Saratchandra Chatterji appearing in your thread. If you read Devdas, how would you compare it to Shrikanto?
>178 Dilara86: Great that you’ve read Akira Yoshimura! I have not read Un dîner en bateau and it’s probably not the right time for me, but I might have to buy it before it disappears from the bookstore shelves (I’m intending to be kind of a completist when it comes to Akira Yoshimura). Naufrages/Shipwrecks and Le convoi de l’eau are also my fovourite from him.
>181 Dilara86: De la forêt is great and I suspect you would like it… But yes, too many books too little time, I know the felling !
183Dilara86
>182 raton-liseur:
I haven't read Devdas yet.
Re Bibhutibhushan Banerji : I now remember I tried to borrow De la forêt from the library a couple of years ago, but it disappeared from my list of holds, which happens when they can't locate a title and remove it from the catalogue... I wished it didn't happen as often as it does! Anyway, I'll have to buy it if I want to read it, which I will.
I haven't read Devdas yet.
Re Bibhutibhushan Banerji : I now remember I tried to borrow De la forêt from the library a couple of years ago, but it disappeared from my list of holds, which happens when they can't locate a title and remove it from the catalogue... I wished it didn't happen as often as it does! Anyway, I'll have to buy it if I want to read it, which I will.
184Dilara86
Mémoires d'outre-haine by Kofi Yamgnane
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France and Togo
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Saint-Coulitz (France)
First published in 2021
A few lines from page 100
The week before last, I borrowed and read Mémoires d'outre-haine by Kofi Yamgnane, former mayor of Saint-Coulitz (a small village in Brittany), former member of Parliament for Finistère (a Breton department) and former junior minister in Laurent Fabius’s cabinet. Despite what the media said at the time, he wasn't the first black mayor ever elected in France. There had obviously been black mayors in French overseas territories for ages (think Aimé Césaire), not to mention, in mainland France, Louis Guizot in 1790 (link to French Wikipedia – I couldn’t find anything in English about him), Raphaël Elizé in 1929 and Gaston Monnerville. He was however the first Black mayor of a mainland French commune born in Africa and elected after decolonization. So, a handful of qualifiers, but still quite a feat.
Each chapter starts with the reproduction of a letter he received in his time as a mayor. They are mainly hate-filled (and in once instance, smeared with human excrement), but there are a couple of nice ones. The remarkable thing is that nothing was ever done about the hate mail and death threats – no police investigation or even protection -, and he kept quiet about them at the time, for fear of making things worse, even though they sent him into a deep depression. I’ll copy the only extract I found halfway funny (and clearly it also struck a chord with journalists because it was widely shared in the media during the book’s promotion campaign):
Yamgnane uses each letter as a springboard to tell us about his experiences and opinions. He doesn’t do much introspection – he’s mostly interested in ideas and they’re not particularly original - and it’s very much a politician’s memoir, admittedly a “nice” one who doesn’t want to rock the boat, plays down a lot of unpleasantness and doesn’t name any of his racist colleagues (which I think he should have done!), but still, there is a lot of self-promotion. Each chapter ends with a moral conclusion, just like in folktales. I must say I found this both twee and condescending.
I don’t regret reading Kofi Yamgnane’s memoir because despite its weaknesses, it is an invaluable account of its time, but I must say I was glad it was short!
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France and Togo
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Saint-Coulitz (France)
First published in 2021
A few lines from page 100
Mais plus encore, j’aime la ville de Brest et ses quartiers populaires, ses marins en goguette, son port de guerre qui a pourtant, comme tous les autre ports français, participé à la traite des esclaves noirs. J’aime le vent quand il s’engouffre dans le bas de la rue de Siam et traverse la place de la Liberté avant de hurler dans la rue Jean Jaurès jusqu’à la place de Strasbourg ! Brest !
The week before last, I borrowed and read Mémoires d'outre-haine by Kofi Yamgnane, former mayor of Saint-Coulitz (a small village in Brittany), former member of Parliament for Finistère (a Breton department) and former junior minister in Laurent Fabius’s cabinet. Despite what the media said at the time, he wasn't the first black mayor ever elected in France. There had obviously been black mayors in French overseas territories for ages (think Aimé Césaire), not to mention, in mainland France, Louis Guizot in 1790 (link to French Wikipedia – I couldn’t find anything in English about him), Raphaël Elizé in 1929 and Gaston Monnerville. He was however the first Black mayor of a mainland French commune born in Africa and elected after decolonization. So, a handful of qualifiers, but still quite a feat.
Each chapter starts with the reproduction of a letter he received in his time as a mayor. They are mainly hate-filled (and in once instance, smeared with human excrement), but there are a couple of nice ones. The remarkable thing is that nothing was ever done about the hate mail and death threats – no police investigation or even protection -, and he kept quiet about them at the time, for fear of making things worse, even though they sent him into a deep depression. I’ll copy the only extract I found halfway funny (and clearly it also struck a chord with journalists because it was widely shared in the media during the book’s promotion campaign):
Les Bretons sont-ils à ce point tarés, dégénérés, alcooliques pour ne trouver qu'un nègre à élire ?
Yamgnane uses each letter as a springboard to tell us about his experiences and opinions. He doesn’t do much introspection – he’s mostly interested in ideas and they’re not particularly original - and it’s very much a politician’s memoir, admittedly a “nice” one who doesn’t want to rock the boat, plays down a lot of unpleasantness and doesn’t name any of his racist colleagues (which I think he should have done!), but still, there is a lot of self-promotion. Each chapter ends with a moral conclusion, just like in folktales. I must say I found this both twee and condescending.
I don’t regret reading Kofi Yamgnane’s memoir because despite its weaknesses, it is an invaluable account of its time, but I must say I was glad it was short!
185labfs39
>184 Dilara86: Wonderful review. You should add it to the work page of the book, as there are currently none.
186raton-liseur
>183 Dilara86: Looking forward to your review if you end up reading any of those books!
>184 Dilara86: I won't read this book, and it's too bad it was not better. I do like hearing interviews from Kofi Yamgnane, as he always sounds so calm and poised.
And I liked your quote on Bretons! For once, I'm happy to be a "Bretonne tarée, dégénérée et alcoolique"! (Although I have no credit in his election, as I did not live in Brittany at that time, and still don't live in Saint Coulitz).
>184 Dilara86: I won't read this book, and it's too bad it was not better. I do like hearing interviews from Kofi Yamgnane, as he always sounds so calm and poised.
And I liked your quote on Bretons! For once, I'm happy to be a "Bretonne tarée, dégénérée et alcoolique"! (Although I have no credit in his election, as I did not live in Brittany at that time, and still don't live in Saint Coulitz).
187kidzdoc
Nice review of Mémoires d'outre-haine. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have been translated into English yet.
188Dilara86
>185 labfs39: Thanks!
>186 raton-liseur: I also like listening to him. In fact, I decided I wanted to read his memoir after a France Inter radio interview.
I'm flabbergasted that still in the eighties, there were people prejudiced against Bretons. Those insults feel Edwardian! Although I must say my mum told me that when her cousin announced his marriage to a Breton woman back in the sixties, some of the older generation in the Northern French side of the family were extremely disapproving...
I have on occasion watched videos of the Festival interceltique de Lorient's Grande Parade. I like to spot non-white musicians and dancers. To me, their presence is a sign that Celtic cultures are alive, relevant and welcoming. It's quite clear that they're a small minority, but they're still there - in most European, and Breton especially, bands at any rate. The ones from the US and Australia seem more insular... Speaking of which, I should soon be starting a novel by Mongo Beti, an author from Cameroon who taught at a Lamballe school in the sixties. I really need to get back on track for my Côte-d'Armor challenge!
>187 kidzdoc: Thank you and welcome back to my thread! Not to be negative, but I wouldn't hold my breath for a translation of Mémoires d'outre-haine :-D
>186 raton-liseur: I also like listening to him. In fact, I decided I wanted to read his memoir after a France Inter radio interview.
I'm flabbergasted that still in the eighties, there were people prejudiced against Bretons. Those insults feel Edwardian! Although I must say my mum told me that when her cousin announced his marriage to a Breton woman back in the sixties, some of the older generation in the Northern French side of the family were extremely disapproving...
I have on occasion watched videos of the Festival interceltique de Lorient's Grande Parade. I like to spot non-white musicians and dancers. To me, their presence is a sign that Celtic cultures are alive, relevant and welcoming. It's quite clear that they're a small minority, but they're still there - in most European, and Breton especially, bands at any rate. The ones from the US and Australia seem more insular... Speaking of which, I should soon be starting a novel by Mongo Beti, an author from Cameroon who taught at a Lamballe school in the sixties. I really need to get back on track for my Côte-d'Armor challenge!
>187 kidzdoc: Thank you and welcome back to my thread! Not to be negative, but I wouldn't hold my breath for a translation of Mémoires d'outre-haine :-D
189Dilara86
My favourite books for the month of August were South Riding and Shrikanto - and for once, I managed to write my thoughts about them in my thread!
I'll set up my September Reads post now because it doesn't require a lot of brain space, but I still have a couple of reviews for August that are half-written. I'll post them later.
I'll set up my September Reads post now because it doesn't require a lot of brain space, but I still have a couple of reviews for August that are half-written. I'll post them later.
190Dilara86
September reads
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's 89% English and French
21st-century books: 14
20th-century books: 3
19th-century books: 1
18th-century books:
17th-century books:
16th-century books:
Medieval books:
Ancient books:
That's 94% 21st- and 20th-century
-
Écrire en pays dominé by Patrick Chamoiseau (started in August)
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The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (started in August)
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Think Big, Little One by Vashti Harrison (a board book)
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1, 2, 3, partons ! : Suis le chemin avec ton doigt by Delphine Chedru (a board book)
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L'imagier des fleurs du jardin by Marie-Noelle Horvath (a board book)
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We All Celebrate! by Chitra Soundar (a children's book)
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Plume et feuille by Olivier de Vleeschouwer (a children's book)
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To Market! To Market! by Anushka Ravishankar (a children's book)
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Avec toi - Le tour du monde by various authors (a children's book)
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A bit lost by Chris Haughton (a board book)
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Réséda by Zénaïde Fleuriot
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Travels Through South Indian Kitchens by Nao Saito
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100 activités Montessori pour découvrir le monde by Ève Herrmann
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Une pédagogie du jeu avant 3 ans - Quelles activités en EAJE ? by Fabienne Agnès Levine
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The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
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MANIKANETISH : Petite Marguerite by Naomi Fontaine
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Remember Ruben by Mongo Beti
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La stupeur by Aharon Appelfeld
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 10
- English: 6
- Gĩkũyũ: 1
- Hebrew: 1
That's 89% English and French
That's 94% 21st- and 20th-century
- Number of female authors this month: 10
- Number of male authors this month: 7
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month: 1
191Dilara86
Recently, I read Encabanée, a novella by Gabrielle Filteau-Chiba, a young French Québécoise writer. I think I was probably trying to escape the heat wave by reading about a Canadian winter... And what a winter it was for the book's narrator! Inspired in part by H. D. Thoreau, she decides to live on her own in a cabin in the wilderness of Kamouraska, on the Saint-Laurent estuary. Her endurance is tested when an extreme cold spell (think minus 40 degrees Celsius) sets in. The writing was a bit schizophrenic, at times rather prosaic, at times lush and poetic, as you'd expect from an admirer of Anne Hébert, who as you know, wrote a novel called Kamouraska... Although its plot was rather derivative, I enjoyed this book, and will read the next one - Sauvagines - in hope it takes the story in a new, more original direction.
192raton-liseur
>188 Dilara86: Unlike you, I feel prejudice against one part of France (or Europe) or the other is still fairly common. (It's not always easy to be a Parisian owning a holiday house in the village where I live...).
Mongo Beti, I've never heard about him, I'll look forward to your review!
Mongo Beti, I've never heard about him, I'll look forward to your review!
193Dilara86
Yes, you're right: things haven't moved on as much as I'd like. Obviously, the hate mail Yamgnane received is proof of this. Parisians, Northerners, Corsicans and Outremer people, in particular, can be the butt of unpleasant remarks, or might get stonewalled. Still, as long as the target is white, I feel we've moved beyond the harshest, and even at times violent, othering that was still widespread until not so long ago, but I might be over-optimistic! Basically I don't think anyone I know, even vaguely, would stop speaking to someone who marries a person from another region of France, and we haven't had anti-Creusois or indeed anti-any-non-Parisian-French-people demos in France for the last 80 years, I think. That's not a high bar to clear, though.
194LolaWalser
It's interesting to me how many "persons of colour" I've heard of getting into office in small towns (or villages) in the past ten-fifteen years. Not in countries with sizeable PoC populations but Slovenia, Italy, even Bosnia (or maybe it was Montenegro...) I used to think of it as automatically a "good sign", as the less urban and far flung a place, the more it's assumed to be "backward", but then an Italian friend pointed out that in their case, it was also almost the only job said PoC could get, on top of it being the sort of position that requires a scapegoat (get all the blame and none of the praise whatever happens).
195labfs39
>191 Dilara86: Rats, I don't see an English translation of Encabanée.
196Dilara86
Réséda by Zénaïde Fleuriot
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Paris, Kerplat (Brittany, France), Barton-Castle (Britain)
First published in 1863
Zénaïde Fleuriot wrote edifying books and stories for Victorian children and teenagers. She was rather conservative and very attached to the Catholic faith. I chose to read one of her novels because I’m interested in half-forgotten pre-20th-century female authors, and because she was born in Saint-Brieuc and spent her childhood in Guingamp, in the Côtes-d’Armor, which fits my informal Côtes-d’Armor 2022 challenge (having said that, the book seems to be set nearer to Lorient, so not in Côtes-d’Armor).*
Réséda is probably aimed at older teenagers and adults. It tells the story of a girl called Madeleine, nicknamed Réséda because just like the flower, she is rather plain and unshowy, but has inner virtues. As is common in this type of story, the poor girl goes through a series of unfortunate events, but also gets saved repeatedly by kindly people, including the lovely Miss Térésa, a British Catholic spinster, sister to Sir John, an ineffectual but rich drunkard, married to a cold, superficial woman. What strikes me in this novel is the relative dearth of male characters with agency. With the exception of the Rector and Réséda’s grandfather once his embittered wife is dead, men are almost props. They tend to blend in the background, and when they do something bad, it’s always the women’s fault: they led them astray or they did not fully attend to their needs. This is not a feminist novel by any means, although it does give the impression that women are omnipotent! This book is rather heavy-handed in its advocacy of Catholicism and monarchism. That did not stop me from rooting for Madeleine and wanting to know what would happen next… I wasn’t expecting great literature and so wasn’t disappointed.
* ETA: the Breton chapters of the book are also very Breton. Mass is in Breton; although dialogues are rendered in French, we are told that characters speak in Breton. At one point, we are told that Madeleine has learned Breton, as is the natural course of things. We can tell that Fleuriot loves the language, and that this novel was written pre-Jules Ferry.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Paris, Kerplat (Brittany, France), Barton-Castle (Britain)
First published in 1863
Zénaïde Fleuriot wrote edifying books and stories for Victorian children and teenagers. She was rather conservative and very attached to the Catholic faith. I chose to read one of her novels because I’m interested in half-forgotten pre-20th-century female authors, and because she was born in Saint-Brieuc and spent her childhood in Guingamp, in the Côtes-d’Armor, which fits my informal Côtes-d’Armor 2022 challenge (having said that, the book seems to be set nearer to Lorient, so not in Côtes-d’Armor).*
Réséda is probably aimed at older teenagers and adults. It tells the story of a girl called Madeleine, nicknamed Réséda because just like the flower, she is rather plain and unshowy, but has inner virtues. As is common in this type of story, the poor girl goes through a series of unfortunate events, but also gets saved repeatedly by kindly people, including the lovely Miss Térésa, a British Catholic spinster, sister to Sir John, an ineffectual but rich drunkard, married to a cold, superficial woman. What strikes me in this novel is the relative dearth of male characters with agency. With the exception of the Rector and Réséda’s grandfather once his embittered wife is dead, men are almost props. They tend to blend in the background, and when they do something bad, it’s always the women’s fault: they led them astray or they did not fully attend to their needs. This is not a feminist novel by any means, although it does give the impression that women are omnipotent! This book is rather heavy-handed in its advocacy of Catholicism and monarchism. That did not stop me from rooting for Madeleine and wanting to know what would happen next… I wasn’t expecting great literature and so wasn’t disappointed.
* ETA: the Breton chapters of the book are also very Breton. Mass is in Breton; although dialogues are rendered in French, we are told that characters speak in Breton. At one point, we are told that Madeleine has learned Breton, as is the natural course of things. We can tell that Fleuriot loves the language, and that this novel was written pre-Jules Ferry.
197Dilara86
>195 labfs39: One day maybe!
198Dilara86
Travels Through South Indian Kitchens by Nao Saito
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Japan
Original language: English
Translated into: N/A
Location: South India, mostly Chennai
First published in 2017
A few lines from page 100
The author, Saito Nao, is a Japanese architect and designer working in Chennai. It looks like she wrote this book about South Indian food culture in English for an Indian publisher. She is interested in what kitchens and food say about families and individuals. Each chapter starts with a hand-drawn plan of a kitchen. We then get a bit of text about the people who own and use the kitchen, who they are (no full names are used – only initials), how she met them, what their neighbourhood and house/apartment are like (sometimes with another floor plan), the food they cook and eat, their habits, etc. They chat, she observes them while they prepare food, which they then eat together, or in one instance, by order of precedence. There are small illustrations throughout, as well as some photos. There are some recipes, but not as many as I’d expect, and they can be a bit imprecise. It helps to be familiar with Indian cuisine. What I’ve described above might give the impression that this is an academic book. This is not the case. This is a book about food and culture, seen through a quirky lens, from someone who’s immersed in the local culture. It’s unshowy and gentle – almost soothing – thanks to its complete lack of bravado, forced humour or drama. Some readers might find it boring; I enjoyed it very much!
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: Japan
Original language: English
Translated into: N/A
Location: South India, mostly Chennai
First published in 2017
A few lines from page 100
We follow the length of the house until we get to an open courtyard, which has a door opening onto a back street. The courtyard has a stairway leading up to a flat roof. We climb up to a fine view across the other rooftops, and I see the white East Gate of the temple.
There are workers on the roof, chatting away as they hack at a tree that has rooted in the cracks between two walls. We climb down and make our way back to the kitchen.
The author, Saito Nao, is a Japanese architect and designer working in Chennai. It looks like she wrote this book about South Indian food culture in English for an Indian publisher. She is interested in what kitchens and food say about families and individuals. Each chapter starts with a hand-drawn plan of a kitchen. We then get a bit of text about the people who own and use the kitchen, who they are (no full names are used – only initials), how she met them, what their neighbourhood and house/apartment are like (sometimes with another floor plan), the food they cook and eat, their habits, etc. They chat, she observes them while they prepare food, which they then eat together, or in one instance, by order of precedence. There are small illustrations throughout, as well as some photos. There are some recipes, but not as many as I’d expect, and they can be a bit imprecise. It helps to be familiar with Indian cuisine. What I’ve described above might give the impression that this is an academic book. This is not the case. This is a book about food and culture, seen through a quirky lens, from someone who’s immersed in the local culture. It’s unshowy and gentle – almost soothing – thanks to its complete lack of bravado, forced humour or drama. Some readers might find it boring; I enjoyed it very much!
199Dilara86
September's country for the Litsy Food and Lit challenge is Kenya, which for me required more research than previous countries, and a nagging suspicion that I may have missed important details, despite all the googling and YouTube cooking videos I've watched...
For food, I settled on githeri, a hearty red bean and white maize stew. It's supposed to be served with ugali or some other starchy food, but I didn't because I noticed that bit of info too late (and it was fine without). I used dried red kidney beans from my son-in-law's mother's garden, dried white maize (they look like teeth!) from the exotic supermarket, onion, tomatoes, red bell pepper, frozen spinach, lots of garlic, turmeric, fenugreek, cumin and coriander. Many recipes simply use curry powder, but I didn't have that. The result was nice, with room for improvement. At some point, I'll also make mukimo - or as I call it in my head, Kenyan Stoemp.
Lit-wise, I played it safe with a book by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi, which is a lovely retelling of the Gĩkũyũ origin story in verse. It has all the usual folktale fare - ogres, bravery challenges, adventure - but without damsels in distress and warmongering.
For food, I settled on githeri, a hearty red bean and white maize stew. It's supposed to be served with ugali or some other starchy food, but I didn't because I noticed that bit of info too late (and it was fine without). I used dried red kidney beans from my son-in-law's mother's garden, dried white maize (they look like teeth!) from the exotic supermarket, onion, tomatoes, red bell pepper, frozen spinach, lots of garlic, turmeric, fenugreek, cumin and coriander. Many recipes simply use curry powder, but I didn't have that. The result was nice, with room for improvement. At some point, I'll also make mukimo - or as I call it in my head, Kenyan Stoemp.
Lit-wise, I played it safe with a book by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o: The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi, which is a lovely retelling of the Gĩkũyũ origin story in verse. It has all the usual folktale fare - ogres, bravery challenges, adventure - but without damsels in distress and warmongering.
200LolaWalser
That stew looks delicious. I could eat nothing else but veggie stews all year long! Are the lighter bits, that look like chickpeas, the "teeth"?
201Dilara86
>200 LolaWalser: Yes, they are. Thankfully, they turned plump and soft once cooked, so I did not feel I was eating mouthfuls of teeth, which would have been very disconcerting!
202lisapeet
>201 Dilara86: I did not feel I was eating mouthfuls of teeth
Yeah, I think that would be a lot better than the alternative. Home grown beans, that's cool.
Yeah, I think that would be a lot better than the alternative. Home grown beans, that's cool.
203Dilara86
>202 lisapeet: And her beans (she grows red kidney and white) are hands down the best I've ever had. They have a natural nutty taste that I love. I could eat them plain - no salt, no sauce! Her late husband used to have them crushed on a piece of bread for breakfast, I think (that was a common breakfast in the countryside* before habits changed and most people started having sweet food in the morning).
*ETA: in France (and no doubt in many other countries)
*ETA: in France (and no doubt in many other countries)
204LolaWalser
>203 Dilara86:
Salivating for those beans. It's my eternal regret how bad the produce is here. I'm the nut who back home goes to the market and sniffs tomatoes like flowers.
I'm in the camp Savoury Breakfast. Leftovers, or miso soup, or ham and cheese, or carrots with hummus, or anything with hummus--it all tastes better than sweet stuff in the morning.
Salivating for those beans. It's my eternal regret how bad the produce is here. I'm the nut who back home goes to the market and sniffs tomatoes like flowers.
I'm in the camp Savoury Breakfast. Leftovers, or miso soup, or ham and cheese, or carrots with hummus, or anything with hummus--it all tastes better than sweet stuff in the morning.
205Dilara86
It's such a disappointment that taste and quality vary so much depending on the area. I have a friend who's originally from the Drôme (where the Alps and Provence meet) and although she's very happy to have left, she does miss the local produce...
I'm in camp Not Savoury, But No Added Sugar. Unless it's really late in the morning, in which case savoury's fine - it's almost lunchtime anyway... My favourite breakfast is fresh fruit, fresh bread, butter and milky coffee. I have a thing for fresh figs and coffee. I think they go really well together... I don't add sugar to porridge - I don't think it needs it - but I wouldn't salt it either. I'm in awe of people who can stomach tripe (no pun intended!), fish or onion first thing in the morning. I still remember the screams in class when we read that the traditional working-class Parisian breakfast until the 20th century was onion soup! (which explains why to this day, onion soup is served the morning after an all-night wedding party)
I've had the occasional leftover for a late breakfast, but none of the other foods you mention. But then, I live with someone who will keep a portion of pizza or lasagne from the day before, just so he can have some for breakfast.
I'm in camp Not Savoury, But No Added Sugar. Unless it's really late in the morning, in which case savoury's fine - it's almost lunchtime anyway... My favourite breakfast is fresh fruit, fresh bread, butter and milky coffee. I have a thing for fresh figs and coffee. I think they go really well together... I don't add sugar to porridge - I don't think it needs it - but I wouldn't salt it either. I'm in awe of people who can stomach tripe (no pun intended!), fish or onion first thing in the morning. I still remember the screams in class when we read that the traditional working-class Parisian breakfast until the 20th century was onion soup! (which explains why to this day, onion soup is served the morning after an all-night wedding party)
I've had the occasional leftover for a late breakfast, but none of the other foods you mention. But then, I live with someone who will keep a portion of pizza or lasagne from the day before, just so he can have some for breakfast.
206LolaWalser
Cold pizza in the morning--heaven. :) Interesting about onion soup, I was under impression the early morning ritual was an anti-hangover measure... bread & butter is my teatime staple (plus Marmite!), and fresh figs!--excuse me while I burst into tears--WHERE would I find fresh figs here, they maybe hit the stores once a year, imported from Israel or Greece, puny shy-looking little things, always almost dried out... (My mum has figs and grapevine in the garden and just plucks the fruit off them all season.)
Speaking of terroir, did I ever share my Italian colleague's quest for pesto? This was in NYC and he was from Genoa. Now, of course every Italian city is a foodie capital on its own, with BEST traditions, BEST cooks, recipes and all that. Nevertheless, Genoese pesto really does have a special reputation, and pursuit of its excellence comes naturally to people used to it. And yet this colleague started assuming he was but a casual eater, an easygoing fella open even to commercial standards. How wrong that turned out to be! No basil he could find in even the fanciest NYC stores was right. So he brought (illegally I believe) basil and garlic from Italy, to grow. The basil inexplicably turned out not-quite-right, so on the next trip he smuggled in Genoese soil (this is where being a scientist--one criminally-minded at that--paid off as he was able to pretend it was biological samples for work). Needless to say he was watering the plants with imported Italian water. To his distress, the result was still subpar (according to him--I and his other subjects revelled in tons of wonderful fresh pesto, but what did we know), and he decided it must have been the AIR and the amount and quality of sunlight and that he'd never be able to replicate his pesto in NYC.
Speaking of terroir, did I ever share my Italian colleague's quest for pesto? This was in NYC and he was from Genoa. Now, of course every Italian city is a foodie capital on its own, with BEST traditions, BEST cooks, recipes and all that. Nevertheless, Genoese pesto really does have a special reputation, and pursuit of its excellence comes naturally to people used to it. And yet this colleague started assuming he was but a casual eater, an easygoing fella open even to commercial standards. How wrong that turned out to be! No basil he could find in even the fanciest NYC stores was right. So he brought (illegally I believe) basil and garlic from Italy, to grow. The basil inexplicably turned out not-quite-right, so on the next trip he smuggled in Genoese soil (this is where being a scientist--one criminally-minded at that--paid off as he was able to pretend it was biological samples for work). Needless to say he was watering the plants with imported Italian water. To his distress, the result was still subpar (according to him--I and his other subjects revelled in tons of wonderful fresh pesto, but what did we know), and he decided it must have been the AIR and the amount and quality of sunlight and that he'd never be able to replicate his pesto in NYC.
207lisapeet
>206 LolaWalser: Genoese or not (well... not), that reminds me it's about time to cut most of my basil and make pesto before the nights get much colder. Nothing sadder than waking up to rows of blackened plants... (and yes I know there are plenty of things sadder, but allow me a little hyperbole on a cool fall morning).
208LolaWalser
Heh! Do you do a little dance... say a little prayer? :)
209Dilara86
>206 LolaWalser: I was under impression the early morning ritual was an anti-hangover measure
I'm probably just very innocent ;-)
excuse me while I burst into tears--WHERE would I find fresh figs here, they maybe hit the stores once a year, imported from Israel or Greece
I feel so sorry for you! Also outraged that they're imported halfway across the world, but that's another issue
Loving the story about your genoese colleague on his Quest For Pesto!
>207 lisapeet: Oh yes, and I should buy a big bunch from the farmer and freeze it before it's too late! (I then use it in soup over the winter.)
I'm probably just very innocent ;-)
excuse me while I burst into tears--WHERE would I find fresh figs here, they maybe hit the stores once a year, imported from Israel or Greece
I feel so sorry for you! Also outraged that they're imported halfway across the world, but that's another issue
Loving the story about your genoese colleague on his Quest For Pesto!
>207 lisapeet: Oh yes, and I should buy a big bunch from the farmer and freeze it before it's too late! (I then use it in soup over the winter.)
210Dilara86
La Fille unique (The Only Daughter) by Avraham B. Yehoshua, translated by Jean-Luc Allouche
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Israel
Original language: Hebrew
Translated into: French
Location: Milan and the Alps (Italy)
First published in 2020 (original version) and 2022 (French version)
A few lines from page 100
This was the oddest book I’ve read in a long time… It is set in Northern Italy in the nineties and centers around a twelve-year old girl called Rachele from an affluent Jewish family of lawyers. She will get to learn about herself and her family’s history, including their surviving World War II, through a series of life-changing events over the Christmas holiday season, which apparently, for Jewish families, must be spent skiing... The only problem is, her teacher wants to cast her as the Virgin Mary in the school nativity play (and who can resist this offer? Not her!) but her father will not hear of it. Oh, and he’s got a brain tumor that needs operating.
There is no way this is meant to be read straight. There is a subservient Ethiopian family (children included) quietly looking after the family over the holiday period seemingly for free, for God’s sake! The values and ways of living are thoroughly old-fashioned and sometimes offensive to modern sensibilities. It’s got to be a pastiche – and no doubt a send-up – of maudlin, self-satisfied and edifying Victorian children’s literature – in all probability of Edmondo De Amicis’s Heart: A School-Boy's Journal (Cuore), which is referenced over and over. The thing is, as I haven’t read Cuore and it’s not part of my cultural canon, it’s all going over my head, and all I’m reading is an annoying, anachronistic story… Italians might get a few chuckles out of it (and maybe also sigh at the tourist's descriptions of Milan and the Italian Alps); I just found it a slog!
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Israel
Original language: Hebrew
Translated into: French
Location: Milan and the Alps (Italy)
First published in 2020 (original version) and 2022 (French version)
A few lines from page 100
« Je suis vraiment né ici ? s’émeut Ricardo, comme incrédule que le médecin autrichien ait choisi de le mettre au monde précisément dans ce paysage à couper le souffle.
-Oui, c’est ici que vous êtes né.
-Mais comment le savez-vous, s’étonne Ricardo, étiez-vous déjà né ?
-Et comment ! J’ai déjà soixante ans.
-Vous voulez dire que vous aviez quatre ans ?
-En effet, confirme l’instituteur qui enseigne l’histoire aux petits villageois.
-Exactement, j’étais un bambin et, au début, semble-t-il, je croyais que vous étiez un bébé de la famille et non un étranger. Mais ma mère vous a fait descendre avec votre mère dans la cave pour qu’on n’entende pas vos pleurs et vos vagissements dehors – bien qu’il soit difficile de faire la différence entre les pleurs d’un bébé juif et d’un simple bébé – et alors, j’ai su déjà, même à l’âge de quatre ans, que vous n’étiez pas de notre famille, et qu’il valait mieux vous ramener au lieu d’où vous étiez venus. »
This was the oddest book I’ve read in a long time… It is set in Northern Italy in the nineties and centers around a twelve-year old girl called Rachele from an affluent Jewish family of lawyers. She will get to learn about herself and her family’s history, including their surviving World War II, through a series of life-changing events over the Christmas holiday season, which apparently, for Jewish families, must be spent skiing... The only problem is, her teacher wants to cast her as the Virgin Mary in the school nativity play (and who can resist this offer? Not her!) but her father will not hear of it. Oh, and he’s got a brain tumor that needs operating.
There is no way this is meant to be read straight. There is a subservient Ethiopian family (children included) quietly looking after the family over the holiday period seemingly for free, for God’s sake! The values and ways of living are thoroughly old-fashioned and sometimes offensive to modern sensibilities. It’s got to be a pastiche – and no doubt a send-up – of maudlin, self-satisfied and edifying Victorian children’s literature – in all probability of Edmondo De Amicis’s Heart: A School-Boy's Journal (Cuore), which is referenced over and over. The thing is, as I haven’t read Cuore and it’s not part of my cultural canon, it’s all going over my head, and all I’m reading is an annoying, anachronistic story… Italians might get a few chuckles out of it (and maybe also sigh at the tourist's descriptions of Milan and the Italian Alps); I just found it a slog!
211labfs39
>210 Dilara86: I've read two books by Avraham B. Yehoshua and can't understand his appeal. This one sounds particularly unattractive.
212LolaWalser
>210 Dilara86:
I wept an ocean of tears over Cuore in my childhood so although I became aware of its shortcomings, I don't really have the heart (ha) to trash it. The narrator is an average middle class boy who writes about his schoolmates, which vary from the working-class poor to the rich. His diary entries are commented on by his father (whose wise and loving guidance moves the boy sometimes through praise, sometimes through shame) and interspersed with an occasional "external" story, for example something read in class (I think there's one about a little drummer boy who sacrificed his life in battle against Napoleon's wicked French--that was a particularly tearjerking tale).
Since the book was as popular with the fascists as with anyone else (De Amicis, who died long before Mussolini appeared, was a socialist), people will read its nationalism (or more precisely, the incessant calls to patriotism) as a dire sign of the worst in Italian culture, but that's way off the mark--this is a book of the Risorgimento, of Unification, not Fascio. In Italy it's not just a popular children's classic, it's a sociological phenomenon, the book that invented the nation through promotion of friendship, solidarity, cooperation, sharing, love.
It's sentimental but that's why it works for children--they are not afraid of feeling.
Anyway, it does sound as if it's used to make some satirical point in the book you've read.
I wept an ocean of tears over Cuore in my childhood so although I became aware of its shortcomings, I don't really have the heart (ha) to trash it. The narrator is an average middle class boy who writes about his schoolmates, which vary from the working-class poor to the rich. His diary entries are commented on by his father (whose wise and loving guidance moves the boy sometimes through praise, sometimes through shame) and interspersed with an occasional "external" story, for example something read in class (I think there's one about a little drummer boy who sacrificed his life in battle against Napoleon's wicked French--that was a particularly tearjerking tale).
Since the book was as popular with the fascists as with anyone else (De Amicis, who died long before Mussolini appeared, was a socialist), people will read its nationalism (or more precisely, the incessant calls to patriotism) as a dire sign of the worst in Italian culture, but that's way off the mark--this is a book of the Risorgimento, of Unification, not Fascio. In Italy it's not just a popular children's classic, it's a sociological phenomenon, the book that invented the nation through promotion of friendship, solidarity, cooperation, sharing, love.
It's sentimental but that's why it works for children--they are not afraid of feeling.
Anyway, it does sound as if it's used to make some satirical point in the book you've read.
213Dilara86
>211 labfs39: I wished I'd known! This book was in my public library's list of new acquisitions. I requested it because it sounded interesting and different, but I'd never heard of the writer before.
>212 LolaWalser: Thank you for your insights - I thought (hoped!) you might have something interesting to say about it, and you did :-) One thing in particular struck me in your message : the parallels between Cuore and How do you live (written in the thirties) by Genzaburō Yoshino, which takes the form of a diary commented on by the boy writer's uncle.
Re La fille unique: I'm not sure 100% sure of the author's intent. Gentle fun ? Straight homage ? Pastiche ? An exploration of the evolution of cultural mores/behaviours/ethics/children's literature? Something about the Suck Fairy? I don't know the author and don't know whether trying to find layers in his writing is a fool's errand or not. I'm also annoyed with myself because I'm overthinking things that are out of my ken anyway.
>212 LolaWalser: Thank you for your insights - I thought (hoped!) you might have something interesting to say about it, and you did :-) One thing in particular struck me in your message : the parallels between Cuore and How do you live (written in the thirties) by Genzaburō Yoshino, which takes the form of a diary commented on by the boy writer's uncle.
Re La fille unique: I'm not sure 100% sure of the author's intent. Gentle fun ? Straight homage ? Pastiche ? An exploration of the evolution of cultural mores/behaviours/ethics/children's literature? Something about the Suck Fairy? I don't know the author and don't know whether trying to find layers in his writing is a fool's errand or not. I'm also annoyed with myself because I'm overthinking things that are out of my ken anyway.
214Dilara86
October reads
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's 58% English and French
21st-century books: 4
20th-century books: 5
19th-century books: 1
18th-century books:
17th-century books:
16th-century books: 1
Medieval books:
Ancient books:
Mixed: 1
That's 75% 21st- and 20th-century
-
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (ongoing)
-
Pékin 2050 by Hongwei Li
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The Nocturnal Court: The Life of a Prince of Hyderabad by Sidq Jaisi and Narendra Luther
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Le lac maudit by Fah Hing Chong - a short story available at http://editions-jentayu.fr/numero-covid-19/chong-fah-hing-le-lac-maudit/
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Tous végétariens ! : D'Ovide à Ginsberg, petit précis de littérature végétarienne by various authors
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L'Adolescence clémentine ; L'Enfer ; Déploration de Florimond Robertet ; Quatorze Psaumes by Clément Marot
-
Zadig - numéro 8 Mieux Manger by various authors
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Lou tres de may, poemo, per Jansemin, coiffur, autur del Chalibaly by Jacques Jasmin - available online: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5461534f/f8.item
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Las papilhòtas : Les papillotes - Les grandes causes by Jacques Jasmin (contains the poem above)
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A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
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Au pipirite chantant by Jean Métellus
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Byen manzé aux Seychelles: patrimoine et tendances contemporaines: recettes d'hier et d'aujourd'hui by Nelly Ardill
-
Pirouette la chouette by Hélène Chétaud
Unfinished: Un loup est un loup by Michel Folco
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 5
- English: 2
- Urdu: 1 (introduction originally written in English)
- Chinese: 2 (1 from a Chinese writer, 1 from a Malaysian Chinese writer)
- Occitan: 1
- Various languages, including Ancient Greek, Latin, French, English
That's 58% English and French
That's 75% 21st- and 20th-century
- Number of female authors this month: 2
- Number of male authors this month: 8
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month: 2
215Dilara86
We'll see how I get on, but here are my semi-plans for the month:
- Finish The Satanic Verses;
- Read a Haitian book and cook a Haitian meal - probably Anacaona by Jean Métellus - no idea what I'm going to cook yet;
- Dip into Les Martyrs by Chateaubriand for my Côte-d'Armor challenge (I don't think I can face all of it!);
- Read poems from Clément Marot;
- Read A Scanner Darkly by P. K. Dick for book group - not sure I'm going to enjoy this one, but we'll see.
- Finish The Satanic Verses;
- Read a Haitian book and cook a Haitian meal - probably Anacaona by Jean Métellus - no idea what I'm going to cook yet;
- Dip into Les Martyrs by Chateaubriand for my Côte-d'Armor challenge (I don't think I can face all of it!);
- Read poems from Clément Marot;
- Read A Scanner Darkly by P. K. Dick for book group - not sure I'm going to enjoy this one, but we'll see.
216Dilara86
I am enjoying Clément Marot's poetry a lot more than I thought I would. He was court poet to Renaissance King Francis I of France, and more importantly, to his sister Marguerite of Angoulême, a prolific author herself (she wrote The Heptameron). The collection I am reading uses modernised spelling, but is otherwise untouched. He uses simple language, without the tortured syntax, rare words and obscure cultural reference of some of his successors (*cough*Pléiade*cough*). He is however very fond of rhyming games and puns that definitely land into Dad Joke territory! I also had to brush up on my French poetry theory, which is not a bad thing...
Having read his biography and the poems he dedicated to his patrons, I can't help but notice the parallels between his life and Indian poet Sidq Jaisi's in The Nocturnal Court: The Life of a Prince of Hyderabad: to survive, you have to be a good poet (of course!), but also quick-witted and with the right level of sycophancy. It must be exhausting!
Having read his biography and the poems he dedicated to his patrons, I can't help but notice the parallels between his life and Indian poet Sidq Jaisi's in The Nocturnal Court: The Life of a Prince of Hyderabad: to survive, you have to be a good poet (of course!), but also quick-witted and with the right level of sycophancy. It must be exhausting!
217LolaWalser
>216 Dilara86:
He was a dear. Obligatory follow-up: do you know Le ton beau de Marot? Now there's a chance to really sink one's teeth into those puns!
He was a dear. Obligatory follow-up: do you know Le ton beau de Marot? Now there's a chance to really sink one's teeth into those puns!
218edwinbcn
>65 Dilara86:
Le sang noir by Louis Guilloux sounds like a very interesting book by a forgotten or underappreciated writer. I often have the feeling authors who started publishing in the 1920, and whose main productive period lay between 1925 - 1955 are largely forgotten, likely due to the (pre-) war and post-war period, and the cultural changes in the 1960s. But there is much to re-discover, and this will gradually happen as their earliest works enter the public domain.
Le sang noir by Louis Guilloux sounds like a very interesting book by a forgotten or underappreciated writer. I often have the feeling authors who started publishing in the 1920, and whose main productive period lay between 1925 - 1955 are largely forgotten, likely due to the (pre-) war and post-war period, and the cultural changes in the 1960s. But there is much to re-discover, and this will gradually happen as their earliest works enter the public domain.
219Dilara86
>217 LolaWalser: I'd only heard of it, but I when did some digging on Marot, I came across this page on the clementmarot.com website (in English), which referenced it and it certainly piqued my interest!
One for Dutch-speakers: https://clementmarot.com/Marotpoems_dutch.htm
>218 edwinbcn: I hadn't thought of it, but it makes sense!
One for Dutch-speakers: https://clementmarot.com/Marotpoems_dutch.htm
>218 edwinbcn: I hadn't thought of it, but it makes sense!
221labfs39
>220 Dilara86: Beautiful, and what a nice day.
222Dilara86
>221 labfs39: It was! We toured the Lot/Lot-et-Garonne area, and it was warm and sunny all week bar one day.
223Dilara86
I was looking at the works shared by my top 100 similar libraries in Charts and Graphs, and thought I'd list the ones I haven't read or aren't in my wishlist here, as they're probably books I'd enjoy... (Top weighted profiles are in order: arubabookwoman, raton-liseur, PaperboundPeregrine, Gypsy_Boy, emaestra, charl08, Nic_C, Domdupuis, Lindoula, Dunaganagain, ELiz_M, folivier, CecileB, iijjaallkkaa, tstan, framji, Elchato35, cerievans1 and nditi)
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee (66)
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (65)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (64) - actually, I might have read this one when I was still in high school, but if I can't remember for sure, it's probably as good as unread
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann (63)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (63)
Middlemarch by George Eliot (63)
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (62)
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (61)
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (60)
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa (59)
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (57)
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (57)
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth (57)
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (57)
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (56)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (56)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (55)
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (55)
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño (55)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (55)
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (54)
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (54)
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin (54)
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (54)
Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald (54)
On the Road by Jack Kerouac (53)
My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk (53)
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (53)
Blindness by José Saramago (53)
Silk by Alessandro Baricco (52)
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (52)
The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (52)
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (51)
Fatelessness by Imre Kertész (51)
2666 by Roberto Bolaño (51)
Snow by Orhan Pamuk (51)
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (51)
And that's it for books catalogued by over half of the 100 top libraries similar to mine. I am now realising that if I remove from this list the books that I'm not sure I've read or not (Siddharta, Dead Souls, Love in the Time of Cholera...), the ones that I started and gave up on (A Confederacy of Dunces, The White Tiger), the ones that don't appeal (Middlesex, On the Road, Disgrace...), the list isn't so very long!
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee (66)
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (65)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (64) - actually, I might have read this one when I was still in high school, but if I can't remember for sure, it's probably as good as unread
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann (63)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (63)
Middlemarch by George Eliot (63)
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (62)
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (61)
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (60)
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa (59)
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (57)
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (57)
The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth (57)
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (57)
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (56)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (56)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (55)
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (55)
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño (55)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (55)
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (54)
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (54)
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin (54)
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (54)
Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald (54)
On the Road by Jack Kerouac (53)
My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk (53)
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (53)
Blindness by José Saramago (53)
Silk by Alessandro Baricco (52)
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (52)
The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (52)
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (51)
Fatelessness by Imre Kertész (51)
2666 by Roberto Bolaño (51)
Snow by Orhan Pamuk (51)
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (51)
And that's it for books catalogued by over half of the 100 top libraries similar to mine. I am now realising that if I remove from this list the books that I'm not sure I've read or not (Siddharta, Dead Souls, Love in the Time of Cholera...), the ones that I started and gave up on (A Confederacy of Dunces, The White Tiger), the ones that don't appeal (Middlesex, On the Road, Disgrace...), the list isn't so very long!
224raton-liseur
>223 Dilara86: Oh, I am you second closest library. I'm flattered!
These are cool stats and a cool list. Where did you find it by the way?
Strangely, looking at this list, I do not feel I contribute that much to those titles: I own 12 or so of those books, but most are under the unread status... If I can recommand one, it would be Mon nom est rouge/My name is red by Ohran Pamuk. I read it pre-LT time so I have not recorded my feelings at the time of reading, but I still remember it as a great read, and I think you might enjoy it.
These are cool stats and a cool list. Where did you find it by the way?
Strangely, looking at this list, I do not feel I contribute that much to those titles: I own 12 or so of those books, but most are under the unread status... If I can recommand one, it would be Mon nom est rouge/My name is red by Ohran Pamuk. I read it pre-LT time so I have not recorded my feelings at the time of reading, but I still remember it as a great read, and I think you might enjoy it.
225LolaWalser
>223 Dilara86:
My absolute favourite from that list is the Pessoa, but I can't help thinking of him as an author for loners... not sure what's in him to appeal to people with family lives.
Other faves are the Mann and Tristram Shandy, Sebald... Bolaño's titles start off great but arguably never resolve the mysteries they propose, which may be annoying to some. I think I would suggest Kertész (Fatelessness), for being a very different novel about the Holocaust (which is also part of its controversy). He's been unfavourably compared to Levi. I think Levi tried, very hard, but with conventional means, being a conventional, mediocre talent. Kertész's strange perspective (he was a teenager in the camp), his obliqueness, irreverence, refusal of the grand opera of the feelings, to me renders the horror and the ignominy more awful, more present, more real. Especially if one then goes on to read Kaddish for an unborn child, the most logical and devastating outcome of what he lived through.
My absolute favourite from that list is the Pessoa, but I can't help thinking of him as an author for loners... not sure what's in him to appeal to people with family lives.
Other faves are the Mann and Tristram Shandy, Sebald... Bolaño's titles start off great but arguably never resolve the mysteries they propose, which may be annoying to some. I think I would suggest Kertész (Fatelessness), for being a very different novel about the Holocaust (which is also part of its controversy). He's been unfavourably compared to Levi. I think Levi tried, very hard, but with conventional means, being a conventional, mediocre talent. Kertész's strange perspective (he was a teenager in the camp), his obliqueness, irreverence, refusal of the grand opera of the feelings, to me renders the horror and the ignominy more awful, more present, more real. Especially if one then goes on to read Kaddish for an unborn child, the most logical and devastating outcome of what he lived through.
226Dilara86
>224 raton-liseur: To be honest, I'm surprised you're not first, seeing as geographic location is one of the weighting criteria of the list...
To find your list, go to Home > Charts & Graphs. In the left panel, choose Social > Shared Books. Then choose Your Top 100 Similar Libraries in the dropdown list, and filter by Top Books.
If you want to play, I'm curious to know what titles you get :-)
Ohran Pamuk is definitely on my Get-To list, as are Imre Kertész and Fernando Pessoa recommended in >225 LolaWalser:. In fact, I remember trying to find The Book of Disquiet back in pre-Internet days, when bookshop staff were extremely reluctant to order anything for you! One day, I'll pick up the courage to start The Magic Mountain and Tristram Shandy...
To find your list, go to Home > Charts & Graphs. In the left panel, choose Social > Shared Books. Then choose Your Top 100 Similar Libraries in the dropdown list, and filter by Top Books.
If you want to play, I'm curious to know what titles you get :-)
Ohran Pamuk is definitely on my Get-To list, as are Imre Kertész and Fernando Pessoa recommended in >225 LolaWalser:. In fact, I remember trying to find The Book of Disquiet back in pre-Internet days, when bookshop staff were extremely reluctant to order anything for you! One day, I'll pick up the courage to start The Magic Mountain and Tristram Shandy...
227raton-liseur
>225 LolaWalser: I did not know that the geographical location was a criteria. That's strange!
And you are not even in my top 100 similar libraries!
I have loked at the list quickly, and there are no books that are shared by 50 or more of my similar libraries! I will look at this a bit more in details maybe, but I feel my similar libraries are determined by the classic graphic novels I have (De cape et de crocs and Tintin seem widely shared), and this might skew the results and hide what would be more interesting.
This list only indicates books that are already in your own librairy, or did I get it wrong?
And you are not even in my top 100 similar libraries!
I have loked at the list quickly, and there are no books that are shared by 50 or more of my similar libraries! I will look at this a bit more in details maybe, but I feel my similar libraries are determined by the classic graphic novels I have (De cape et de crocs and Tintin seem widely shared), and this might skew the results and hide what would be more interesting.
This list only indicates books that are already in your own librairy, or did I get it wrong?
228Dilara86
>227 raton-liseur: This list only indicates books that are already in your own librairy, or did I get it wrong?
It doesn't when you select Top Books: then it tells you which books are the most common in the set of your 100 similar libraries. If I look in your profile (I hope it's not too stalkerish!) I can see that in this list, the first work you haven't catalogued yourself is The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, owned by 36 of your most similar libraries. Further down, there is The Calculus Affair by Hergé (33), Froth on the Daydream by Boris Vian (32), Blacksad, tome 1 : Quelque part entre les ombres by Juan Díaz Canales (32) and others, with a fair number of classic bandes dessinées :-)
It doesn't when you select Top Books: then it tells you which books are the most common in the set of your 100 similar libraries. If I look in your profile (I hope it's not too stalkerish!) I can see that in this list, the first work you haven't catalogued yourself is The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, owned by 36 of your most similar libraries. Further down, there is The Calculus Affair by Hergé (33), Froth on the Daydream by Boris Vian (32), Blacksad, tome 1 : Quelque part entre les ombres by Juan Díaz Canales (32) and others, with a fair number of classic bandes dessinées :-)
229arubabookwoman
>223 Dilara86: Interesting that I'm your number one similar library. Will have to check your library out for recommendations.
Of the books you have listed, I own but have not yet read the following:
The Sense of an Ending
Wolf Hall (hangs head in shame)
The Savage Detectives (but I have read 2666
Austerlitz
My Name is Red
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (not sure if I've read this or only seen the movie).
These books are on my wishlist only (haven't read):
The Book of Disquiet
Silk
Norwegian Wood
I have read all the other books on the list. The ones I've loved, and would recommend first are:
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (read in college and it's on my to be reread list)
The Magic Mountain (read as a teenager, and as I've since come to love Thomas Mann, I want to reread this as well)
Middlemarch (I've read this twice, and am trying to reread it a third time with the current Victorian read here)
The Road (very bleak, but I've long been a fan of post-apocalyptic books)
The Sound and the Fury-I love, love, love Faulkner, and I think I've read this one 3-4 times. I think it's his most difficult book though and may not be the place to start Faulkner.
Blindness
The Sea The Sea
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (I read this in my early 20's and I remember laughing out loud as I was reading it on the way home from work on the bus. I was the first time a "classic" made me laugh, and I also liked that the author was playing games with the reader)
Confederacy of Dunces (This is a very New Orleans-centric book, and since I lived in New Orleans for 18 years, I liked it a lot. I'm not sure how it would resonate with someone not familiar with New Orleans.)
Of the others while I liked some more than others, there are none that I would absolutely warn against, except perhaps On the Road which I had to read for a college class and hated.
Of the books you have listed, I own but have not yet read the following:
The Sense of an Ending
Wolf Hall (hangs head in shame)
The Savage Detectives (but I have read 2666
Austerlitz
My Name is Red
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (not sure if I've read this or only seen the movie).
These books are on my wishlist only (haven't read):
The Book of Disquiet
Silk
Norwegian Wood
I have read all the other books on the list. The ones I've loved, and would recommend first are:
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (read in college and it's on my to be reread list)
The Magic Mountain (read as a teenager, and as I've since come to love Thomas Mann, I want to reread this as well)
Middlemarch (I've read this twice, and am trying to reread it a third time with the current Victorian read here)
The Road (very bleak, but I've long been a fan of post-apocalyptic books)
The Sound and the Fury-I love, love, love Faulkner, and I think I've read this one 3-4 times. I think it's his most difficult book though and may not be the place to start Faulkner.
Blindness
The Sea The Sea
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (I read this in my early 20's and I remember laughing out loud as I was reading it on the way home from work on the bus. I was the first time a "classic" made me laugh, and I also liked that the author was playing games with the reader)
Confederacy of Dunces (This is a very New Orleans-centric book, and since I lived in New Orleans for 18 years, I liked it a lot. I'm not sure how it would resonate with someone not familiar with New Orleans.)
Of the others while I liked some more than others, there are none that I would absolutely warn against, except perhaps On the Road which I had to read for a college class and hated.
230raton-liseur
>228 Dilara86: Well, I don't think I'll use this list to choose my next readings then. The Da Vinci Code, no way!
231labfs39
I'm not in your list of similar libraries, but I have read more than half the books on your list in >223 Dilara86: and own several others. My favorites are My Name is Red (I liked it so much more than Snow), Wolf Hall, All Quiet, and Silk.
Edited to add: Those with the most similar libraries to me are brenzi, brenpike, Donna828, AnneDC, Cassabass, cabegley, arubabookwoman, hemlokgang, Litfan, augustau, deebee1, KrisR, dchaikin, Smiler69, -Cee-, nkearns4951, torontoc, cushlareads
Edited to add: Those with the most similar libraries to me are brenzi, brenpike, Donna828, AnneDC, Cassabass, cabegley, arubabookwoman, hemlokgang, Litfan, augustau, deebee1, KrisR, dchaikin, Smiler69, -Cee-, nkearns4951, torontoc, cushlareads
232Dilara86
>229 arubabookwoman: Thank you for those lists. I love reading about other people's libraries and tastes :-)
Of the others while I liked some more than others, there are none that I would absolutely warn against, except perhaps On the Road which I had to read for a college class and hated.
I'm fairly sure I would have like it when I was a teenager, but I didn't read it then because I got it into my head that it was a Breton countryside memoir (think Pierre-Jakez Hélias) which I despised at the time. How things have changed! I love Hélias now...
>230 raton-liseur: Funny (and maybe disappointing) how my list was more useful than yours...
>231 labfs39: I'm not in your list of similar libraries
I'm surprised you're not, actually.
My favorites are My Name is Red (I liked it so much more than Snow), Wolf Hall, All Quiet, and Silk.
After so many recs, I'll have to read My Name is Red sooner rather than later. And Wolf Hall, which I know I have somewhere, if only I could find it...
That's interesting that you enjoyed Silk. I must stay the description didn't appeal, but since it's short and recommended by you, and on arubabookwoman's wishlist, I might give it a go! I don't think I've ever heard of it before seeing it in the list, but my library system has it in every medium: audiobook, braille, big characters, bilingual, graphic novel, hardback and paperback!
Of the others while I liked some more than others, there are none that I would absolutely warn against, except perhaps On the Road which I had to read for a college class and hated.
I'm fairly sure I would have like it when I was a teenager, but I didn't read it then because I got it into my head that it was a Breton countryside memoir (think Pierre-Jakez Hélias) which I despised at the time. How things have changed! I love Hélias now...
>230 raton-liseur: Funny (and maybe disappointing) how my list was more useful than yours...
>231 labfs39: I'm not in your list of similar libraries
I'm surprised you're not, actually.
My favorites are My Name is Red (I liked it so much more than Snow), Wolf Hall, All Quiet, and Silk.
After so many recs, I'll have to read My Name is Red sooner rather than later. And Wolf Hall, which I know I have somewhere, if only I could find it...
That's interesting that you enjoyed Silk. I must stay the description didn't appeal, but since it's short and recommended by you, and on arubabookwoman's wishlist, I might give it a go! I don't think I've ever heard of it before seeing it in the list, but my library system has it in every medium: audiobook, braille, big characters, bilingual, graphic novel, hardback and paperback!
233raton-liseur
>232 Dilara86: Not disappointing, as I have enough book recs, no need to add another source! ;)
I think Soie / Silk has had some success when it was first published. I've never read it, but came across it in various lists or libraries. It never appealed to me (same as you), but why not... And it's a short novel, so I guess it's not a great risk.
I think Soie / Silk has had some success when it was first published. I've never read it, but came across it in various lists or libraries. It never appealed to me (same as you), but why not... And it's a short novel, so I guess it's not a great risk.
234labfs39
>232 Dilara86: That's interesting that you enjoyed Silk.
Unfortunately I didn't write a review of it, so I must rely on my unreliable memory. It stands out in my mind for the beauty of the writing and economy of scale, more than the plot, if that helps.
Unfortunately I didn't write a review of it, so I must rely on my unreliable memory. It stands out in my mind for the beauty of the writing and economy of scale, more than the plot, if that helps.
235Dilara86
>234 labfs39: That's definitely a point in its favour!
236Dilara86
This month's country for Food and Lit is Haiti.
I am reading Au pipirite chantant (I'll have to google "pipirite") by Jean Météllus. It's only just been republished in September this year!
As always, the île en île website is a godsend: http://ile-en-ile.org/haiti/
List of Haitian writers: http://ile-en-ile.org/lit-haitienne/
Haitian cuisine website: http://olivier.maury2.free.fr/haitiadoption/cuisine_haitienne/gastronomie_haitie...
I am reading Au pipirite chantant (I'll have to google "pipirite") by Jean Météllus. It's only just been republished in September this year!
As always, the île en île website is a godsend: http://ile-en-ile.org/haiti/
List of Haitian writers: http://ile-en-ile.org/lit-haitienne/
Haitian cuisine website: http://olivier.maury2.free.fr/haitiadoption/cuisine_haitienne/gastronomie_haitie...
237Dilara86
Well, a pipirite is a bird, but that was obvious from the context. More specifically Tyrannus dominicensis, also called tyran gris (literally, grey tyrant!) or gray kingbird in English. It's found in and around the Caribbean and it sings at dawn like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9QELlDEq8c
238LolaWalser
At dawn? Into the cauldron with it!
Recently I came across a couple of Haitian brothers, Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, who were some of the first folklorists and modern novelists in Haiti, but don't seem to be much translated and published today.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Thoby-Marcelin
ETA: I mean, I thought it curious they don't figure on the list in >236 Dilara86:, although there's some other Marcelin on it. oops, I don't know the alphabet
Recently I came across a couple of Haitian brothers, Philippe Thoby-Marcelin and Pierre Marcelin, who were some of the first folklorists and modern novelists in Haiti, but don't seem to be much translated and published today.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Thoby-Marcelin
239Dilara86
>238 LolaWalser: At dawn? Into the cauldron with it!
I know! In my previous house, we had a (series of) resident blackbird(s) in the garden called John Snow because he patrolled the garden's high white wall. Every Thursday in spring without fail, he'd post himself by the bedroom window and sing from 5/6 AM onwards. Obviously, he sang every morning, but it was just about bearable when he was further away. You'd never think such a small creature could make so much noise! Double glazing was no match for him...
Thanks for the recommendation: that's right up my alley!
I know! In my previous house, we had a (series of) resident blackbird(s) in the garden called John Snow because he patrolled the garden's high white wall. Every Thursday in spring without fail, he'd post himself by the bedroom window and sing from 5/6 AM onwards. Obviously, he sang every morning, but it was just about bearable when he was further away. You'd never think such a small creature could make so much noise! Double glazing was no match for him...
Thanks for the recommendation: that's right up my alley!
240Dilara86
Au pipirite chantant by Jean Métellus
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Haiti (by birth) and France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Haiti or N/A
First published in 1975 (book), but the poem Au pipirite chantant was first published in the review Les Lettres nouvelles in 1973
A few lines from page 100
Jean Métellus was born in 1937 in Jacmel (Haiti). He left the country in 59, under Duvalier, for Paris, where he studied medicine and became a neurologist. His output is varied: poetry, plays, novels, non-fiction (about Haiti or neurolinguistics – his last book was on dyslexia).
I knew I wanted to read Jean Métellus in October. He is a major name in 20th-century Haitian literature. I was going to wait for the library to reopen at the end of the month (they’re having some renovation work done), and get Anacaona, but last week, when I was browsing the poetry shelf at the bookshop, I found this poetry collection, just republished in mass paperback, and couldn’t resist! This is the (copiously annotated) book that André Malraux, the first culture minister of France, had on his bedside table when he died.
The poems (some are excerpts from book-long poems) are lyrical and varied, sometimes with a nod towards surrealism. Some are written in simple language and remind me somewhat of Prévert, but most are not. Some are quite political. They mainly are about Haiti, but some are about senses (L’ouïe, La vue…) or things and concepts (La joie, Le cocotier). With, it has to be said, some rather uncomfortable (to me) essentializing rhapsodizing about The Black Woman. The book includes his two better-known poems: Au pipirite chantant and Rires et larmes d’un enfant noir. They are written in standard French, with little Creole influence in the use of language, but with many references to Haitian culture and realities (such as the pipirite bird!) that might send you googling.
For once, this book is available in English translation. It’s well-worth reading, whether you’re interested in Haiti or not.
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Haiti (by birth) and France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Haiti or N/A
First published in 1975 (book), but the poem Au pipirite chantant was first published in the review Les Lettres nouvelles in 1973
A few lines from page 100
Et l’aube tumultueuse sur chaque feuille sur chaque
goutte de fraîcheur posait les bulbes de l’aurore
Une clarté ivre de mousses, d’effroi, de fruition, de
vergers, claironnait la complicité de la déveine et
du tafia, des gravats, des fantômes et des souverains
et léchait follement les aisselles des ténèbres.
Jean Métellus was born in 1937 in Jacmel (Haiti). He left the country in 59, under Duvalier, for Paris, where he studied medicine and became a neurologist. His output is varied: poetry, plays, novels, non-fiction (about Haiti or neurolinguistics – his last book was on dyslexia).
I knew I wanted to read Jean Métellus in October. He is a major name in 20th-century Haitian literature. I was going to wait for the library to reopen at the end of the month (they’re having some renovation work done), and get Anacaona, but last week, when I was browsing the poetry shelf at the bookshop, I found this poetry collection, just republished in mass paperback, and couldn’t resist! This is the (copiously annotated) book that André Malraux, the first culture minister of France, had on his bedside table when he died.
The poems (some are excerpts from book-long poems) are lyrical and varied, sometimes with a nod towards surrealism. Some are written in simple language and remind me somewhat of Prévert, but most are not. Some are quite political. They mainly are about Haiti, but some are about senses (L’ouïe, La vue…) or things and concepts (La joie, Le cocotier). With, it has to be said, some rather uncomfortable (to me) essentializing rhapsodizing about The Black Woman. The book includes his two better-known poems: Au pipirite chantant and Rires et larmes d’un enfant noir. They are written in standard French, with little Creole influence in the use of language, but with many references to Haitian culture and realities (such as the pipirite bird!) that might send you googling.
For once, this book is available in English translation. It’s well-worth reading, whether you’re interested in Haiti or not.
241raton-liseur
>240 Dilara86: I am not a poetry reader, but always enjoy reading your reviews and quotes. Another poet I did not know about!
242Dilara86
On the Haitian food side, I went for low-hanging fruit: Haitian hot chocolate!
Here's the recipe I used: https://manmieettatie.com/chocolat-chaud-haitien/
I didn't have Haitian cocoa balls, so made my own by blitzing cocoa beans from the organic food shop and adding a tiny bit of food-grade cocoa butter.
The other ingredients were water, millk, evaporated milk, muscovado sugar, cinnamon, lime zest, star aniseed, vanilla. Some recipes are even more involved!
It was nice, but too sweet. I might try another recipe next time, and/or lose the aniseed, possibly.
Obviously, I've been humming a Creole chocolate song all afternoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHdpqIMI_B0
Here's the recipe I used: https://manmieettatie.com/chocolat-chaud-haitien/
I didn't have Haitian cocoa balls, so made my own by blitzing cocoa beans from the organic food shop and adding a tiny bit of food-grade cocoa butter.
The other ingredients were water, millk, evaporated milk, muscovado sugar, cinnamon, lime zest, star aniseed, vanilla. Some recipes are even more involved!
It was nice, but too sweet. I might try another recipe next time, and/or lose the aniseed, possibly.
Obviously, I've been humming a Creole chocolate song all afternoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHdpqIMI_B0
243raton-liseur
>242 Dilara86: Oh, I might try this one (with less sugar then).
Obviously, we do prefer the Mexican hot chocolate version here. I never found the right recipe, but I know it involves lots of cinnamon!
(I say obviously because we lived for some years in Mexico, and P'tit Raton and M'ni Raton were both born there...).
Obviously, we do prefer the Mexican hot chocolate version here. I never found the right recipe, but I know it involves lots of cinnamon!
(I say obviously because we lived for some years in Mexico, and P'tit Raton and M'ni Raton were both born there...).
244Yells
>242 Dilara86: Maybe you are starting a new trend... making and sipping a popular drink from the country you are reading about. I love when people experiment by making a cultural dish from a particular place, but as someone who hates cooking, that trend has never caught on in my household. Making a drink, on the other hand, is a tempting suggestion. That hot chocolate sounds lovely!
245LolaWalser
>242 Dilara86:
oh that's so cute! Reminds me of my favourite foodie song (there is a chocolate link!): La cumbia del mole by Lila Downs
Se muele con cacahuate
Se muele también el pan
Se muele la almendra seca
Se muele el chile también la sal
Se muele ese chocolate
Se muele la canela
Se muele pimienta y clavo
Se mueve la molendera
oh that's so cute! Reminds me of my favourite foodie song (there is a chocolate link!): La cumbia del mole by Lila Downs
Se muele con cacahuate
Se muele también el pan
Se muele la almendra seca
Se muele el chile también la sal
Se muele ese chocolate
Se muele la canela
Se muele pimienta y clavo
Se mueve la molendera
246rocketjk
>225 LolaWalser: My wife and I just got back from 2 weeks in Portugal. While in Lisbon, I thought, "This would be the place to buy a copy of The Book of Disquiet. I asked a bookseller which English edition to buy (they had three English language editions on offer), and he said that only Richard Zenith's translation would do. So I bought that one, but evidently it was the only one of the books I bought that never made it from the trunk of our rental car into one of my bags. So some lucky Avis employee in Porto now has it. Of course I can buy another copy, but I wanted to read a copy actually purchased in Portugal! C'est la vie.
247Dilara86
Just back from the Utopiales science-fiction convention in Nantes. Here is my (I think reasonable) haul.
I was only able to get one signed book, which was disappointing. For the others I wanted signed, I either did not have time to stand in line, or I missed the author...
I got :
L'anomalie by Hervé Le Tellier (signed) - I also attended his hour-long interview
Banquet en Blithuanie by Miroslav Krleža - no signed copy for this one ;-)
Oiseau by Sigbjørn Skåden - finding it took a lot of determination and tries because it was in a corner of the convention library that was unreachable when the queues were too long - I missed all of this author's talks, unfortunately (she had to leave early)
Mars by Asja Bakić
Le voyage sur les mers du prince Takaoka by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa
Les imparfaits by Ewoud Kieft - also missed him: there was an author hogger in front of me and I had to leave with my unsigned book in my hands to queue somewhere else
I was only able to get one signed book, which was disappointing. For the others I wanted signed, I either did not have time to stand in line, or I missed the author...
I got :
L'anomalie by Hervé Le Tellier (signed) - I also attended his hour-long interview
Banquet en Blithuanie by Miroslav Krleža - no signed copy for this one ;-)
Oiseau by Sigbjørn Skåden - finding it took a lot of determination and tries because it was in a corner of the convention library that was unreachable when the queues were too long - I missed all of this author's talks, unfortunately (she had to leave early)
Mars by Asja Bakić
Le voyage sur les mers du prince Takaoka by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa
Les imparfaits by Ewoud Kieft - also missed him: there was an author hogger in front of me and I had to leave with my unsigned book in my hands to queue somewhere else
248Dilara86
>243 raton-liseur: Ah the search for that elusive taste/smell that can never be reproduced outside of a given place!
>244 Yells: I'm really enjoying the Food and Lit challenge on Litsy. I tend to go the whole hog and cook a couple of dishes or a whole meal because I like cooking and I like trying out new recipes, but some people just order a take away or go to a restaurant specialising in the cuisine of the month, and I might do that if the occasion arises :-) But yes, "sipping and reading from a country" should be a thing!
>245 LolaWalser: Thank you for the link and the lyrics: I love it!
>246 rocketjk: and >244 Yells: Welcome to my thread!
>244 Yells: I'm really enjoying the Food and Lit challenge on Litsy. I tend to go the whole hog and cook a couple of dishes or a whole meal because I like cooking and I like trying out new recipes, but some people just order a take away or go to a restaurant specialising in the cuisine of the month, and I might do that if the occasion arises :-) But yes, "sipping and reading from a country" should be a thing!
>245 LolaWalser: Thank you for the link and the lyrics: I love it!
>246 rocketjk: and >244 Yells: Welcome to my thread!
249Dilara86
October was a very mixed month, reading-wise. The page count wasn't very high (not that it bothers me!) because some of the books required time and concentration:
Clément Marot - punny 16th-century poetry
Jacques Jasmin - I read the original poems in Occitan with the help of the French translation on the opposite page, but it was rather slow-going because I don't actually know Occitan
A Scanner Darkly - finishing it took a lot of willpower: I wasn't taken by the story and hated the writing style and the mysogyny. It's 336 pages of circular, non-lucid, druggy ramblings.
The Nocturnal Court: The Life of a Prince of Hyderabad - interesting, but has to be read in small doses
And I still haven't finished The Satanic Verses, not because I am not enjoying it - I am - but because there's always something else that's more urgent and I can't read it in the evening because it's an e-book and I don't do screens after 8:30 or I can't sleep.
One book I will not be finishing is Un loup est un loup by Michel Folco. This historic novel set in Rouergue in the 18th century is too cringy for words, both because of its high cliché count and the cod 18th-century French that reads like dialogue from Les visiteurs.
Clément Marot - punny 16th-century poetry
Jacques Jasmin - I read the original poems in Occitan with the help of the French translation on the opposite page, but it was rather slow-going because I don't actually know Occitan
A Scanner Darkly - finishing it took a lot of willpower: I wasn't taken by the story and hated the writing style and the mysogyny. It's 336 pages of circular, non-lucid, druggy ramblings.
The Nocturnal Court: The Life of a Prince of Hyderabad - interesting, but has to be read in small doses
And I still haven't finished The Satanic Verses, not because I am not enjoying it - I am - but because there's always something else that's more urgent and I can't read it in the evening because it's an e-book and I don't do screens after 8:30 or I can't sleep.
One book I will not be finishing is Un loup est un loup by Michel Folco. This historic novel set in Rouergue in the 18th century is too cringy for words, both because of its high cliché count and the cod 18th-century French that reads like dialogue from Les visiteurs.
250LolaWalser
Oooh, Krleza! I love it but I wonder how it'll come across to you... it's a satire on pre-WWII European politics (some perk up, others drop off snoring), I'm hoping Krleza's extravagant style will keep it lively for you.
I'm interested in that Asja Bakic book.
I'm interested in that Asja Bakic book.
251Dilara86
>250 LolaWalser: I noticed you have a lot of works by him and you're one of the members who've favourited him. If you'd like to share your knowledge about him or the book, I'm all ears (eyes)! You can be as spoilery as you want: it doesn't bother me - I'd rather know what to look out for beforehand, actually. Incidentally, the book's blurb is "Le chef-d’œuvre de la littérature yougoslave" (the masterpiece of Yugoslav literature), which is a lot to live up to!
Asja Bakić seems to be having a moment: Mars has been translated into a number of European languages, including English, which is encouraging.
Asja Bakić seems to be having a moment: Mars has been translated into a number of European languages, including English, which is encouraging.
252Dilara86
November reads
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's 63% English and French
21st-century books: 9
20th-century books: 7
19th-century books: 4
18th-century books:
17th-century books:
16th-century books:
Medieval books:
Ancient books:
That's 80% 21st- and 20th-century
-
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (ongoing)
-
Les imparfaits by Ewoud Kieft
-
Les exportés by Sonia Devillers
-
Les pleurs by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore
-
Iambes et poèmes, Il Pianto and Lazare by Auguste Barbier
-
Quad et Trio du Fantôme, ... que nuages..., Nacht und Träume : suivi de L'épuisé par Gilles Deleuze by Samuel Beckett and Gilles Deleuze (original language of the plays: English, original language of Deleuze's postface: French)
-
Le Droit du sol: Journal d'un vertige by Étienne Davodeau
-
La Survivance by Claudie Hunzinger
-
Anacaona: théâtre by Jean Métellus (unfinished)
-
Cher connard by Virginie Despentes
-
Oiseau by Sigbjørn Skåden
-
Je suis communiste 1 by Kun-woong Park
-
The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh
-
Little Night/Nochecita by Yuyi Morales - a lovely children's picture book
-
The Snowman Pop-Up by Raymond Briggs - the well-known story, with a pop-up cutout on the last double page, hardly worth it
-
L'Écuyère by Uršuľa Kovalyk
-
La Princesse Ligovskoï by Michel Lermontov
-
Toinon l'espiègle by Penelope S. Delta
-
Géologies: récit by Pierre Bergounioux
-
Élégie de Marienbad: et autres poèmes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 9
- English: 3.5
- Dutch: 1
- Norwegian: 1
- Spanish: 0.5
- Slovak: 1
- Russian: 1
- Korean: 1
- Modern Greek: 1
- German: 1
That's 63% English and French
That's 80% 21st- and 20th-century
- Number of female authors this month: 7
- Number of male authors this month: 13
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month: 0
253Dilara86
So, my tentative plans for the month are:
- Finish The Satanic Verses;
- Read Anacaona by Jean Métellus and cook a dish of riz djon djon (made with trompettes de la mort mushrooms instead of djon djon);
- Dip into Les Martyrs by Chateaubriand for my Côte-d'Armor challenge.
Those are repeats from October :-|
Litsy Food and Lit Challenge
It's going to be India this month. I'll be reading The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh and I haven't decided on a meal yet. I'll see whether a particular dish is mentioned in the book and try and cook that. Otherwise, just like for the French month, there will be no challenge - I cook Indian food all the time.
Book group
It's not quite settled yet, but probably a graphic novel called Le droit du sol by Étienne Davodeau and Les exportés, the book Sonia Devillers wrote about her Romanian Jewish grandparents.
Possibilities
- Quad et l'épuisé by Samuel Becket and Gilles Deleuze;
- The books I bought at the SF convention;
- Ces petits messieurs by Louise Colet.
- Finish The Satanic Verses;
- Read Anacaona by Jean Métellus and cook a dish of riz djon djon (made with trompettes de la mort mushrooms instead of djon djon);
- Dip into Les Martyrs by Chateaubriand for my Côte-d'Armor challenge.
Those are repeats from October :-|
Litsy Food and Lit Challenge
It's going to be India this month. I'll be reading The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh and I haven't decided on a meal yet. I'll see whether a particular dish is mentioned in the book and try and cook that. Otherwise, just like for the French month, there will be no challenge - I cook Indian food all the time.
Book group
It's not quite settled yet, but probably a graphic novel called Le droit du sol by Étienne Davodeau and Les exportés, the book Sonia Devillers wrote about her Romanian Jewish grandparents.
Possibilities
- Quad et l'épuisé by Samuel Becket and Gilles Deleuze;
- The books I bought at the SF convention;
- Ces petits messieurs by Louise Colet.
254Dilara86
Note to self: George Qui ?, the 1973 film by Michèle Rosier featuring Deleuze (playing Lamennais!), seems to be available on Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5VwSbuJML8
Deleuze's series of interviews broadcast on Arte: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiR8NqajHNPbaX2rBoA2z6IPGpU0IPlS2
Deleuze's series of interviews broadcast on Arte: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiR8NqajHNPbaX2rBoA2z6IPGpU0IPlS2
255LolaWalser
>251 Dilara86:
heh, I'll do my best. I've been racking my brains trying to think of a French figure I could compare him to, but it's impossible to find someone who'd be ultra-famous in France and yet pretty much totally obscure abroad. That happens only to creators from small countries!
He's Fauve-coloured, voluminous, verbose, febrile--favourite word: "nervous"--I used to hate him in high school and then, what do you know, fell in love in my twenties. I think of him as a Baroque Expressionist--the sole occupant of that fanciful and possibly illegal category. :) He's forever compared to Andric (Krleza was considered the most likely alternative Nobel Yugoslavia might have had), but except for both being erudite (Andric quietly, Krleza flamboyantly), their styles have nothing in common. Have you read perhaps Gyula Krúdy or Dezső Kosztolányi? Just for orientation, if you know that sort of highly-cultured provincial, imperial cannon-fodder, disillusioned Central European thing and whether/when you're in the mood for it--I'd say that's where Krleza maps.
>254 Dilara86:
Interesting links!
heh, I'll do my best. I've been racking my brains trying to think of a French figure I could compare him to, but it's impossible to find someone who'd be ultra-famous in France and yet pretty much totally obscure abroad. That happens only to creators from small countries!
He's Fauve-coloured, voluminous, verbose, febrile--favourite word: "nervous"--I used to hate him in high school and then, what do you know, fell in love in my twenties. I think of him as a Baroque Expressionist--the sole occupant of that fanciful and possibly illegal category. :) He's forever compared to Andric (Krleza was considered the most likely alternative Nobel Yugoslavia might have had), but except for both being erudite (Andric quietly, Krleza flamboyantly), their styles have nothing in common. Have you read perhaps Gyula Krúdy or Dezső Kosztolányi? Just for orientation, if you know that sort of highly-cultured provincial, imperial cannon-fodder, disillusioned Central European thing and whether/when you're in the mood for it--I'd say that's where Krleza maps.
>254 Dilara86:
Interesting links!
256labfs39
>253 Dilara86: I hope you enjoy The Hungry Tide. I read it earlier this year and liked it almost as much as Sea of Poppies.
257Dilara86
>256 labfs39: Your thread might have prompted me to take it out of the bookshelf...
>255 LolaWalser: Thank you :-) I read and enjoyed N.N. by Gyula Krúdy for Reading Globally's Mitteleuropa quarter, and wishlisted a couple of novels by Dezső Kosztolányi but haven't come around to reading them yet. I'm not generally too fond of flamboyant writing, but it can grow on me, especially when it feels apt...
>255 LolaWalser: Thank you :-) I read and enjoyed N.N. by Gyula Krúdy for Reading Globally's Mitteleuropa quarter, and wishlisted a couple of novels by Dezső Kosztolányi but haven't come around to reading them yet. I'm not generally too fond of flamboyant writing, but it can grow on me, especially when it feels apt...
258raton-liseur
>253 Dilara86: The Hungry Tide is also moving up my should read books pile (same influence from >256 labfs39: as you...).
And a book by Louise Colet, I'm intrigued... Looking forward to your feed back on it (if you decide to read it, of course, no pressure!)
And a book by Louise Colet, I'm intrigued... Looking forward to your feed back on it (if you decide to read it, of course, no pressure!)
259Dilara86
A Scanner Darkly by P. K. Dick (text in French because I wrote it for my French book group)
Je me trouve du mérite à avoir terminé le livre sans le lire en diagonale... J'étais tentée, mais c'est impossible à faire si on ne veut pas perdre le fil :-D
J'ai trouvé le style rebutant. Je ne sais pas ce que ça donne en traduction, mais l'anglais est très daté et affecté : c'est du djeuns cool des années 60/70, avec ce que ça implique d'expressions passées de mode et de misogynie, misogynie que l'on retrouve d'ailleurs aussi dans le fond. Ca serait bien que les femmes ne soient pas caractérisées par la forme de leurs seins, la taille de leurs fesses et la présence ou l'absence d'un soutien-gorge !
Le thème de la porosité entre réalité et illusion m'intéresse, mais les 360 pages de monologue circulaire de toxico étaient un peu pénibles. Ca m'a rappelé ces soirées où la conversation est totalement monopolisée par quelqu'un qui a trop bu ou trop fumé :-D
Pour le positif, j'ai apprécié le jeu de chat et souris et d'effacement/imprégnation entre les différents (ou mêmes) personnages. Et le dénouementquand on se rend compte que tous les drogués sont soit policiers soit informateurs aurait un côté jubilatoire s'il ne rendait pas encore plus évident le fait que les personnages sont des marionnettes traitées sans aucun sens éthique .
Je me trouve du mérite à avoir terminé le livre sans le lire en diagonale... J'étais tentée, mais c'est impossible à faire si on ne veut pas perdre le fil :-D
J'ai trouvé le style rebutant. Je ne sais pas ce que ça donne en traduction, mais l'anglais est très daté et affecté : c'est du djeuns cool des années 60/70, avec ce que ça implique d'expressions passées de mode et de misogynie, misogynie que l'on retrouve d'ailleurs aussi dans le fond. Ca serait bien que les femmes ne soient pas caractérisées par la forme de leurs seins, la taille de leurs fesses et la présence ou l'absence d'un soutien-gorge !
Le thème de la porosité entre réalité et illusion m'intéresse, mais les 360 pages de monologue circulaire de toxico étaient un peu pénibles. Ca m'a rappelé ces soirées où la conversation est totalement monopolisée par quelqu'un qui a trop bu ou trop fumé :-D
Pour le positif, j'ai apprécié le jeu de chat et souris et d'effacement/imprégnation entre les différents (ou mêmes) personnages. Et le dénouement
260raton-liseur
>259 Dilara86: Oh... That's the first novel by Philip K; Dick that I read, and I was still a novice in SF at that time and liked it quite a bit. It felt so new and different from what I was usually reading.
But it's probably one of those novels you need to read at the right age, which is fairly younger than yours and mine...
But it's probably one of those novels you need to read at the right age, which is fairly younger than yours and mine...
261LolaWalser
I'm skipping the spoilers as I still haven't read that but yeah, sounds like PKD all right. The sexism is sometimes more, sometimes less. My introduction to him was the Valis trilogy (trying for touchstone: The Valis Trilogy) and that, especially the first book, has enough inventive mad stuff going on to keep one's attention riveted regardless of the prejudices of the times.
262Dilara86
>261 LolaWalser: The PKD fan in the group says the sexist language is not PKD's but the narrators'. It's a fair point, but also one I don't find entirely convincing.
263Dilara86
Les imparfaits (De onvolmaakten) by Ewoud Kieft, translated by Noëlle Michel
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Netherlands
Original language: Dutch
Translated into: French
Location: unspecified but unmistakeably Dutch and probably recognisable by people more familiar with the country than I am
First published in 2020 (Dutch original) and 2022 (French version)
French publisher’s description
A few lines from page 100
Ewoud Kieft is a historian who studies nazism and fascism, and this is his first novel.
I am torn about this book. I don’t think it’s fully successful as a work of fiction. The story is told through the main protagonist’s AI assistant’s accounts to a board of decision-makers. The AI’s point of view jumps from omniscient to partial for no reason, and references (tastes, fashion, music, etc.) keep going back to the nineties/early noughties, which is when the author was young. It feels clunky and unconvincing (as does the plot, to some extent), and I think it shows the author wasn’t fully immersed in his novel’s inner logic. Another thing clunky and unconvincing is the French text, and especially the dialogues that denote the translator’s lack of ear for orality.
I kept wondering what the point of this book was, and then, the last 70 pages or so happened, things started getting more meaty, ideas-wise, and I started enjoying it more. I still don’t see where the connection to La Bruyère touted in the publisher’s description comes from, but that’s by the by…
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Netherlands
Original language: Dutch
Translated into: French
Location: unspecified but unmistakeably Dutch and probably recognisable by people more familiar with the country than I am
First published in 2020 (Dutch original) and 2022 (French version)
French publisher’s description
2060. Gena, l’algorithme qui lui sert d’assistant personnel, nous raconte le destin de Cas, qui a grandi dans une société hygiéniste, oisive et contrôlée, et découvre les « Imparfaits », une caste de marginaux refusant cette évolution. Du regard de moraliste que porte parfois Gena sur l’humanité au tableau non manichéen qu'il brosse d’une société contrôlée mais débarrassée des idéologies du XXe siècle, Ewoud Kieft s’inscrit, pour son premier roman, dans un héritage littéraire qui va de La Bruyère à Orwell.
A few lines from page 100
“Ah, mon garçon, ne fais pas attention à moi !” Entre les touffes irrégulières de poils qui parsemaient son visage apparut soudain un sourire amical. “Je t’enquiquine. ” Le malaise de Cas face à la situation semblait l’attendrir. “Tu te tues au travail toute la journée et tu dois encore te farcir les fadaises d’un vieux schnock… Allons, va te divertir, maintenant que tu as le temps de regarder autour de toi. ”
Ewoud Kieft is a historian who studies nazism and fascism, and this is his first novel.
I am torn about this book. I don’t think it’s fully successful as a work of fiction. The story is told through the main protagonist’s AI assistant’s accounts to a board of decision-makers. The AI’s point of view jumps from omniscient to partial for no reason, and references (tastes, fashion, music, etc.) keep going back to the nineties/early noughties, which is when the author was young. It feels clunky and unconvincing (as does the plot, to some extent), and I think it shows the author wasn’t fully immersed in his novel’s inner logic. Another thing clunky and unconvincing is the French text, and especially the dialogues that denote the translator’s lack of ear for orality.
I kept wondering what the point of this book was, and then, the last 70 pages or so happened, things started getting more meaty, ideas-wise, and I started enjoying it more. I still don’t see where the connection to La Bruyère touted in the publisher’s description comes from, but that’s by the by…
264Dilara86
Les exportés by Sonia Devillers
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Romania (Bucarest), France (Paris)
First published in 2022
A few lines from page 100
For my book group again, I read Les exportés by Sonia Devillers, the France Inter radio journalist. This is her account of the story of her maternal grandparents, mother and aunt, upper-class Romanian atheist Jews. They lived the (seemingly) high life in interwar Bucarest, survived the pogroms during the war, and became ardent communists after, before falling from grace in the late fifties. Their right to leave Romania in the sixties was gained through bartering between the Romanian Agricultural and Home Affairs ministries, the Securitate, and Henry Jacober, a shady human smuggler / import/export agent / deal breaker / possibly spy. There were many people (Jews, ethnic Germans, etc.) looking to get out when their lives were made very difficult by the régime because they were suspected of being bad communists and Romanians. Jacober convinced the Romanian authorities to put a number of them - mostly Jews according to Devillers - on a list of people allowed out of the country in exchange for farming machinery, abattoir equipment, and livestock, and in particular, Danish Landrace pigs, exported illegally from Denmark. So, in short, Jews in exchange for prize pigs, and later, cold hard cash. How dehumanising is this? Jacober made money out of what became a business: He extorted payment, first from the Romanian Jews themselves or their family living in the West, then from Israel.
I was interested in the subject matter, but hated the way Devillers used narrative tools - the building up of tension and suspense, in particular - to tell us about what is supposed to be non-fiction. It felt disrespectful to me.
Writer’s gender: Female
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: French
Translated into: N/A
Location: Romania (Bucarest), France (Paris)
First published in 2022
A few lines from page 100
HENRY JACOBER AVAIT DONNÉ son prix : douze mille dollars américains. Aucune famille roumaine séquestrée entre quatre murs à Bucarest ne disposait de devises étrangères, et ne pouvait réunir une somme pareille. Harry songea au pays et à la famille qui l’avaient vu naître, à la kyrielle d’oncles et de tantes restés au Texas. Quant à la sœur de Harry, elle avait profité d’une furtive ouverture des frontières juste après la Seconde Guerre mondiale et avait filé au Canada. Un appel à l’aide fut donc lancé outre-Atlantique. Un comble ! Mon grand-père mesurait il l’intensité de la propagande antirouge que distillait, en pleine guerre froide, l’Amérique ? Avait il la moindre idée de la terreur qu’inspiraient les communistes à chaque citoyen américain et canadien ? Nous étions en 1961, au pic de l’obsession et du matraquage…
Le refus des Greenberg de Houston se fit sec et catégorique : Harry n’aurait pas un penny. À Montréal, pas mieux. La sœur de mon grand-père donna à la hauteur de ses menus moyens, mais sa belle-famille avait en horreur la carrière communiste de ce Harry. Ces gens étaient convaincus qu’il avait appelé sa fille aînée Lena en hommage à Lénine et que la cadette, Marina, aurait dû se prénommer Stalina ! Lénina et Stalina, l’anecdote nous faisait mourir de rire, ma sœur, ma cousine et moi. La réalité est moins drôle. « Il a voulu vivre chez les bolcheviques, qu’il y reste ! » s’écrièrent en cœur les Texans qui tournèrent le dos à leurs lointains cousins. Réaction viscérale d’Américains face à un ressortissant du bloc soviétique. Réaction, aussi, d’une famille face à un étranger qui ne portait même plus leur nom. « Deleanu ? Mais de qui nous parle-t on ? » Le prix à payer lorsqu’on emprunte son patronyme à la fiction.
Lucia ne doutait pas qu’elle récupérerait les fonds une fois la famille arrivée à Paris. Ce fut entendu : elle avancerait l’argent. Mes grands-parents la rembourseraient au fur et à mesure qu’ils retrouveraient du travail en France. Ainsi allait elle devenir l’usurière des Deleanu, ce qui la rendrait toujours plus intrusive et autoritaire. Ma mère et sa sœur garderaient un souvenir cuisant de son omniprésence dans leur adolescence.
For my book group again, I read Les exportés by Sonia Devillers, the France Inter radio journalist. This is her account of the story of her maternal grandparents, mother and aunt, upper-class Romanian atheist Jews. They lived the (seemingly) high life in interwar Bucarest, survived the pogroms during the war, and became ardent communists after, before falling from grace in the late fifties. Their right to leave Romania in the sixties was gained through bartering between the Romanian Agricultural and Home Affairs ministries, the Securitate, and Henry Jacober, a shady human smuggler / import/export agent / deal breaker / possibly spy. There were many people (Jews, ethnic Germans, etc.) looking to get out when their lives were made very difficult by the régime because they were suspected of being bad communists and Romanians. Jacober convinced the Romanian authorities to put a number of them - mostly Jews according to Devillers - on a list of people allowed out of the country in exchange for farming machinery, abattoir equipment, and livestock, and in particular, Danish Landrace pigs, exported illegally from Denmark. So, in short, Jews in exchange for prize pigs, and later, cold hard cash. How dehumanising is this? Jacober made money out of what became a business: He extorted payment, first from the Romanian Jews themselves or their family living in the West, then from Israel.
I was interested in the subject matter, but hated the way Devillers used narrative tools - the building up of tension and suspense, in particular - to tell us about what is supposed to be non-fiction. It felt disrespectful to me.
265Dilara86
Litsy Food and Lit
October was Haiti. I don't know whether people have Food and Lit fatigue, or whether they didn't find the last two countries inspiring, but only four of us posted pictures of our Haitian dishes, and I think there were only three Kenyan food pictures the month before that.
So, after Haitian chocolate, here's riz djon djon and Haitian-style squid (and non-Haitian red cabbage).
Haitian-style squid was just squid simmered in tout-trempé with onions and a bit of tomato in it. Simple (once you've made the tout-trempé of course) and tasty.
The recipe I used for riz djon djon is vegetarian/vegan - no salt pork in it! I didn't want to order djon djon mushrooms on the Internet or scour Caribbean shops for them and contribute to pricing Haitians out of a local, foraged food, so I used fresh horn of plenty mushrooms, since they're similar and in season in France right now. If anybody is interested, I'll write down the recipe. This was our Sunday lunch. Generally, I avoid serving rice on the day that my dad comes over for lunch so that there is at least one day in his week when he has a starchy food other than rice, for variety. Yesterday was an exception. Clearly, it looked appealing to him: he heaped it up on the plate, which typically he doesn't do when the food is unfamiliar :-D
October was Haiti. I don't know whether people have Food and Lit fatigue, or whether they didn't find the last two countries inspiring, but only four of us posted pictures of our Haitian dishes, and I think there were only three Kenyan food pictures the month before that.
So, after Haitian chocolate, here's riz djon djon and Haitian-style squid (and non-Haitian red cabbage).
Haitian-style squid was just squid simmered in tout-trempé with onions and a bit of tomato in it. Simple (once you've made the tout-trempé of course) and tasty.
The recipe I used for riz djon djon is vegetarian/vegan - no salt pork in it! I didn't want to order djon djon mushrooms on the Internet or scour Caribbean shops for them and contribute to pricing Haitians out of a local, foraged food, so I used fresh horn of plenty mushrooms, since they're similar and in season in France right now. If anybody is interested, I'll write down the recipe. This was our Sunday lunch. Generally, I avoid serving rice on the day that my dad comes over for lunch so that there is at least one day in his week when he has a starchy food other than rice, for variety. Yesterday was an exception. Clearly, it looked appealing to him: he heaped it up on the plate, which typically he doesn't do when the food is unfamiliar :-D
266Dilara86
Las papilhòtas : Les papillotes - Les grandes causes by Jacques Jasmin, introduced and translated into French by Thierry Quatre, original Occitan language adapted by Thierry Quatre and Pierre Darricau
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: Occitan, called Gascon by the author. The translator explains that Jasmin wrote in the Languedocien from Agen variant. He adapted this to the normalised Gascon variant, so as to make it easier to understand by a majority of today’s Occitan readers
Translated into: French
Location: N/A, South-Western France, Paris, etc.
This collection was published in 2015. It contains various works, starting with his first-published poem - Me cau morir (also called La fidelitat ageneso) - in 1822. The latest poem I can find in this collection dates from 1857
A few lines from page 100 – an excerpt from A mossur Silvan Dumon Deputat-ministre, a poem defending the Occitan language written after this politician wrote an article predicting the death of Occitan, which he argued was simply progress, and probably a good thing
In French
In Occitan
Last October, I spent a few days in Agen, a mid-size historic town in South-Western France famous for its prunes. It is also the hometown of Occitan poet Jacques Jasmin. He is all but forgotten now, but back in the 19th-century, he was a bit of a sensation! Charles Nodier discovered him allegedly when he heard a commotion outside his hotel in Agen, looked for the source of it, which was a hairdresser and his wife rowing, went into their salon to get a front seat to the “entertainment” (as you do!) struck a conversation with said hairdresser, and learnt he was also a poet who sung or declaimed his work in fairs for the local Occitan-speaking populace. And so, from a local oral poet who was loved all over the Occitan South-West for his poetry and his charity work, he became a successful published author with friends in Paris. The version of his papilhòtas I read has the modern normalised Occitan on the left page and a new French translation on the right; the original book had Jasmin’s Occitan on the left, and another French translation on the right. This is how he was read all over France – and apparently also Britain and the USA (Longfellow translated L'Abuglo de Castèl-Cuillè), which makes me happy – at the time. I wished regional languages were accepted as easily and seamlessly now as they were at the time!
I enjoyed both the poetry and the intellectual exercise of reading a text in a language I don’t know (Occitan) but which is close enough to languages I do know (French and Spanish).
And here’s a link to a Youtube video of Franz Lizst’s piece inspired by Françoneta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aNzrVSr03g
Jasmin’s monument in Agen
Jasmin’s hairdressing salon in Agen, now a sushi bar
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: France
Original language: Occitan, called Gascon by the author. The translator explains that Jasmin wrote in the Languedocien from Agen variant. He adapted this to the normalised Gascon variant, so as to make it easier to understand by a majority of today’s Occitan readers
Translated into: French
Location: N/A, South-Western France, Paris, etc.
This collection was published in 2015. It contains various works, starting with his first-published poem - Me cau morir (also called La fidelitat ageneso) - in 1822. The latest poem I can find in this collection dates from 1857
A few lines from page 100 – an excerpt from A mossur Silvan Dumon Deputat-ministre, a poem defending the Occitan language written after this politician wrote an article predicting the death of Occitan, which he argued was simply progress, and probably a good thing
In French
Prenez bien garde au moins, de lui causer plus de douleur
Otez-lui sa misère et laissez-lui sa langue !
Si vous la lui prenez, vous la tuez en la voulant guérir
Car nous aimons à changer même dans la tristesse
Que voulez-vous ! il me semble qu’en chantant,
Le fiel des chagrins ne soit pas si amer
Et qu’aurions-nous pour chanter ? La petite maîtresse,
La langue des messieurs ? Mais elle est trop précieuse !
In Occitan
Prenetz ben garda au mensh, de mei l’endolentir
Tiratz-li sa misèra e deishatz-li sa lenga !
Se li prenètz, la tuatz en volent la garir
Car aimam a cantar, quitament dens la tristessa
Que volètz ! Sembla qu’en cantant,
Lo fèu deus pensaments amareja pas tant.
E qu’aurem per cantar ? La pichona mestressa,
La lenga deus monsurs ? Mès a tròp de fadessa !
Last October, I spent a few days in Agen, a mid-size historic town in South-Western France famous for its prunes. It is also the hometown of Occitan poet Jacques Jasmin. He is all but forgotten now, but back in the 19th-century, he was a bit of a sensation! Charles Nodier discovered him allegedly when he heard a commotion outside his hotel in Agen, looked for the source of it, which was a hairdresser and his wife rowing, went into their salon to get a front seat to the “entertainment” (as you do!) struck a conversation with said hairdresser, and learnt he was also a poet who sung or declaimed his work in fairs for the local Occitan-speaking populace. And so, from a local oral poet who was loved all over the Occitan South-West for his poetry and his charity work, he became a successful published author with friends in Paris. The version of his papilhòtas I read has the modern normalised Occitan on the left page and a new French translation on the right; the original book had Jasmin’s Occitan on the left, and another French translation on the right. This is how he was read all over France – and apparently also Britain and the USA (Longfellow translated L'Abuglo de Castèl-Cuillè), which makes me happy – at the time. I wished regional languages were accepted as easily and seamlessly now as they were at the time!
I enjoyed both the poetry and the intellectual exercise of reading a text in a language I don’t know (Occitan) but which is close enough to languages I do know (French and Spanish).
And here’s a link to a Youtube video of Franz Lizst’s piece inspired by Françoneta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aNzrVSr03g
Jasmin’s monument in Agen
Jasmin’s hairdressing salon in Agen, now a sushi bar
267rocketjk
>266 Dilara86: That's all fascinating. Thanks. My wife and I spent a happy week driving through the originally Occitan-speaking region of France around 15 years ago. We also learned about the Cathars during that trip. A long time ago I read a biography of Frédéric Mistral that was quite good, or at least so I remember it now: Lion of Arles: A Portrait of Mistral and His Circle by Tudor Edwards.
268LolaWalser
>266 Dilara86:
Nodier was quite the literary discoverer. He also introduced the Eastern vampire lore to the West, from his time of librarianship in Ljubljana.
Problems with preserving regional languages are the same everywhere. In Dalmatia, islands no less than the mainland towns used to have dialects of their own, but nowadays those that are not extinct count their speakers in hundreds or dozens. The intrusion of the media was the major turning point.
At least people are interested in French and Occitan... (Ezra Pound created something like a craze for it and Provençal poetry at the turn of the century.)
Nodier was quite the literary discoverer. He also introduced the Eastern vampire lore to the West, from his time of librarianship in Ljubljana.
Problems with preserving regional languages are the same everywhere. In Dalmatia, islands no less than the mainland towns used to have dialects of their own, but nowadays those that are not extinct count their speakers in hundreds or dozens. The intrusion of the media was the major turning point.
At least people are interested in French and Occitan... (Ezra Pound created something like a craze for it and Provençal poetry at the turn of the century.)
269Dilara86
>267 rocketjk: I hope you also read some Frédéric Mistral :-)
(By the way, Mistral, who was younger than Jasmin and Provençal rather than Gascon, gave money towards the statue in the picture and read his Ode to Jasmin at the inauguration.)
>268 LolaWalser: I didn't know (or I had forgotten!) Nodier lived in Ljubljana and had written about vampires. Given the dates, I take it he was part of the Napoleonic empire's army of upper civil servants sent to take locals' jobs in newly-conquered territories. At least, he was qualified for the job!
He was most definitely a discoverer! I am reading Les pleurs by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, whose dedications and epigraphs sent me down several rabbit holes. All the artists I've been looking up so far have one thing in common - they were discovered and/or championed by Charles Nodier: Amable Tastu,Auguste Barbier, Pierre-Jean de Béranger, Clotilde de Surville (who's widely thought to be a hoax, but Nodier believed not and defended her), Pauline Duchambge...
Problems with preserving regional languages are the same everywhere. In Dalmatia, islands no less than the mainland towns used to have dialects of their own, but nowadays those that are not extinct count their speakers in hundreds or dozens. The intrusion of the media was the major turning point.
Is there some interest for those languages from majority-language speakers, at least from an ethnographic point of view, or are dialects just ignored and left to die slowly (or quickly)?
At least people are interested in French and Occitan... (Ezra Pound created something like a craze for it and Provençal poetry at the turn of the century.)
Yes, I am very aware that we rail against Anglo-American cultural hegemony, but we are luckier than most other people on the planet, and we did our fair share of wiping out other cultures...
(By the way, Mistral, who was younger than Jasmin and Provençal rather than Gascon, gave money towards the statue in the picture and read his Ode to Jasmin at the inauguration.)
>268 LolaWalser: I didn't know (or I had forgotten!) Nodier lived in Ljubljana and had written about vampires. Given the dates, I take it he was part of the Napoleonic empire's army of upper civil servants sent to take locals' jobs in newly-conquered territories. At least, he was qualified for the job!
He was most definitely a discoverer! I am reading Les pleurs by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, whose dedications and epigraphs sent me down several rabbit holes. All the artists I've been looking up so far have one thing in common - they were discovered and/or championed by Charles Nodier: Amable Tastu,Auguste Barbier, Pierre-Jean de Béranger, Clotilde de Surville (who's widely thought to be a hoax, but Nodier believed not and defended her), Pauline Duchambge...
Problems with preserving regional languages are the same everywhere. In Dalmatia, islands no less than the mainland towns used to have dialects of their own, but nowadays those that are not extinct count their speakers in hundreds or dozens. The intrusion of the media was the major turning point.
Is there some interest for those languages from majority-language speakers, at least from an ethnographic point of view, or are dialects just ignored and left to die slowly (or quickly)?
At least people are interested in French and Occitan... (Ezra Pound created something like a craze for it and Provençal poetry at the turn of the century.)
Yes, I am very aware that we rail against Anglo-American cultural hegemony, but we are luckier than most other people on the planet, and we did our fair share of wiping out other cultures...
270rocketjk
>269 Dilara86: "I hope you also read some Frédéric Mistral :-)"
Yes, as I remember it, the biography included quite a bit and I remember enjoying it very much.
Yes, as I remember it, the biography included quite a bit and I remember enjoying it very much.
271LolaWalser
>269 Dilara86:
Nodier is very worthy of interest (and I have particular sympathy for him as a fellow bibliomaniac -- I hope it won't be taken as banging my own drum if I link to one of the posts where I talked about him, I think you might be interested in those references: https://www.librarything.com/topic/112655#2687229 )
Speaking of Dalmatian dialects, it's all hopeless as not only are there huge differences between the North and South and constant right-wing political pressure to homogenize the language, the natives are leaving in droves--for the first time in our history there are more speakers of Croatian outside the mother country than in it. Just another blinding success of neoliberalism and "independence".
My mum worked on several projects collecting and publishing poetry and other material in various "bodulski" (islander) dialects, meeting those people etc. It's all rather heartbreaking, a few ancients but no young people. I mean, it's not just the language, it's a mark of entire lifestyles, traditions, memory troves disappearing.
I love French and don't begrudge it its spread. In the long run, as Keynes said, we're all dead -- which I think applies also to "everything" -- so best get used to the idea... :)
Nodier is very worthy of interest (and I have particular sympathy for him as a fellow bibliomaniac -- I hope it won't be taken as banging my own drum if I link to one of the posts where I talked about him, I think you might be interested in those references: https://www.librarything.com/topic/112655#2687229 )
Speaking of Dalmatian dialects, it's all hopeless as not only are there huge differences between the North and South and constant right-wing political pressure to homogenize the language, the natives are leaving in droves--for the first time in our history there are more speakers of Croatian outside the mother country than in it. Just another blinding success of neoliberalism and "independence".
My mum worked on several projects collecting and publishing poetry and other material in various "bodulski" (islander) dialects, meeting those people etc. It's all rather heartbreaking, a few ancients but no young people. I mean, it's not just the language, it's a mark of entire lifestyles, traditions, memory troves disappearing.
I love French and don't begrudge it its spread. In the long run, as Keynes said, we're all dead -- which I think applies also to "everything" -- so best get used to the idea... :)
272Dilara86
>271 LolaWalser: Thank you for the link: that was a very interesting post!
Sometimes, there's nothing you can do except record what you can before it disappears...
Sometimes, there's nothing you can do except record what you can before it disappears...
273Dilara86
Le Droit du sol: Journal d'un vertige by Étienne Davodeau (lu dans le cadre de mon cercle de lecture et crossposté sur Club Read et Lectures des francophones)
Auteur français écrivant en français
Œuvre lue en français
Œuvre située en France
Date de la première édition : 2021
Une double page presque au hasard
Étienne Davodeau relate sous forme de bande dessinée sa randonnée-périple entre Pech-Merle dans le Sud-Ouest dont il admire la grotte ornée préhistorique, et Bure dans la Meuse, site d’un projet d'enfouissement de déchets radioactifs, et donc d’une ZAD (zone à défendre – une zone sur laquelle des militant·e·s écologistes s’installent pour empêcher toute construction de se faire). Ce voyage est l’occasion de rencontres avec des inconnu·e·s, des ami·e·s, des militant·e·s et des scientifiques. Il part de son expérience personnelle (Pech-Merle, Bure et sa traversée de la France) pour nous parler de grands sujets : énergie atomique, notion de temps, place de l’humain sur la Terre et des gens sur les territoires…
Au moment du choix du livre, j’ai été séduite par son idée de départ mais je n’étais pas sûre que la réalisation me plaise. Finalement, ça a été le cas. J’ai aimé le trait du dessin noir et blanc (ce qui n’était pas donné d’avance : j’ai souvent du mal avec le dessin réaliste en BD). Le propos était présenté de manière engageante et l’alternance entre les passages « paysagers » et les passages véhiculant des idées était bien vue. Un tout petit bémol cependant : le côté « infodump » de certaines pages scientifiques.
Auteur français écrivant en français
Œuvre lue en français
Œuvre située en France
Date de la première édition : 2021
Une double page presque au hasard
Étienne Davodeau relate sous forme de bande dessinée sa randonnée-périple entre Pech-Merle dans le Sud-Ouest dont il admire la grotte ornée préhistorique, et Bure dans la Meuse, site d’un projet d'enfouissement de déchets radioactifs, et donc d’une ZAD (zone à défendre – une zone sur laquelle des militant·e·s écologistes s’installent pour empêcher toute construction de se faire). Ce voyage est l’occasion de rencontres avec des inconnu·e·s, des ami·e·s, des militant·e·s et des scientifiques. Il part de son expérience personnelle (Pech-Merle, Bure et sa traversée de la France) pour nous parler de grands sujets : énergie atomique, notion de temps, place de l’humain sur la Terre et des gens sur les territoires…
Au moment du choix du livre, j’ai été séduite par son idée de départ mais je n’étais pas sûre que la réalisation me plaise. Finalement, ça a été le cas. J’ai aimé le trait du dessin noir et blanc (ce qui n’était pas donné d’avance : j’ai souvent du mal avec le dessin réaliste en BD). Le propos était présenté de manière engageante et l’alternance entre les passages « paysagers » et les passages véhiculant des idées était bien vue. Un tout petit bémol cependant : le côté « infodump » de certaines pages scientifiques.
274Dilara86
I have a question for the learned people out there. Would you have recommendations for a novel written by a German author (from Germany, not Switzerland or Austria), preferably with a Christmas or winter theme, and for which a French translation exists?
275LolaWalser
First thing that comes to my mind is Hoffmann's Nussknacker und Mausekönig... but you shouldn't stop there as there must be a ton of stuff.
276thorold
>274 Dilara86: Hoffmann is the obvious thing. Adalbert Stifter’s Bergkristall is out, since he’s Austrian. There is Heinrich Böll’s Nicht nur zur Weihnachtszeit which has probably been translated, but that’s only a story, not a novel.
277Dilara86
Argh! This is just growing my wishlist! Of course I should read Hoffmann. And Bergkristall is already in my To-read list: I'm just waiting for the right opportunity.
Funnily enough, Heinrich Böll - and more specifically Rentrez chez vous Bogner ! (Und sagte kein einziges Wort / And Never Said a Word) - came up when I googled "Allemagne + Noël + littérature". The book's themes look short on seasonal cheer, so I think it's likely Google conflated "Nobel" and "Noël". But now, I really want to read some Böll...
I'll probably give up on a Christmas and/or winter theme, and just keep the German / Germany criteria, in which case Böll is in the running.
Now, here's a new question, prompted by Nicht nur zur Weihnachtszeit's subtitle "satiren": how much second degree is in Böll's work in general? I'm asking because it's looking like the German book I choose will also be my book club's December read, and I know from experience that irony, satire, and the use of subjective narrators are taken at face value by some people, and when the subject matter is serious, things get awkward, which I'd rather avoid. Looking at my local library catalogue, if we go for Böll, it'll have to be L'honneur perdu de Katharina Blum (The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum), as that's the one with several copies available in French.
Otherwise, something more contemporary, maybe by a female author?
Which made me think that there is a book I loved which would tick a number of boxes, and that's A Greater Music by Bae Suah. It's mostly set in Germany in the winter. It's got Snow! German music! Schubert! A lesbian relationship! Except the author is Korean and writes in Korean :-D And if I remember rightly, the narrator is unreliable...
Funnily enough, Heinrich Böll - and more specifically Rentrez chez vous Bogner ! (Und sagte kein einziges Wort / And Never Said a Word) - came up when I googled "Allemagne + Noël + littérature". The book's themes look short on seasonal cheer, so I think it's likely Google conflated "Nobel" and "Noël". But now, I really want to read some Böll...
I'll probably give up on a Christmas and/or winter theme, and just keep the German / Germany criteria, in which case Böll is in the running.
Now, here's a new question, prompted by Nicht nur zur Weihnachtszeit's subtitle "satiren": how much second degree is in Böll's work in general? I'm asking because it's looking like the German book I choose will also be my book club's December read, and I know from experience that irony, satire, and the use of subjective narrators are taken at face value by some people, and when the subject matter is serious, things get awkward, which I'd rather avoid. Looking at my local library catalogue, if we go for Böll, it'll have to be L'honneur perdu de Katharina Blum (The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum), as that's the one with several copies available in French.
Otherwise, something more contemporary, maybe by a female author?
Which made me think that there is a book I loved which would tick a number of boxes, and that's A Greater Music by Bae Suah. It's mostly set in Germany in the winter. It's got Snow! German music! Schubert! A lesbian relationship! Except the author is Korean and writes in Korean :-D And if I remember rightly, the narrator is unreliable...
278thorold
>277 Dilara86: It’s a long time since I read Katharina Blum. It was one of the books my mother had to teach quite regularly, so she was always rather disparaging about it. But there is the Schlöndorff film as an added attraction. Böll does go in for irony, unreliable narrators and all the rest of it, but I think KB is a fairly straightforward book. If you want funny Böll there’s always Irisches Tagebuch, but that doesn’t have anything German in it…
Modern female authors: most obvious is probably something by Juli Zeh or Jenny Erpenbeck. Difficult to go wrong there.
Modern female authors: most obvious is probably something by Juli Zeh or Jenny Erpenbeck. Difficult to go wrong there.
279Dilara86
>278 thorold: Thank you!
I've floated both Juli Zeh and Jenny Erpenbeck, as well as Saša Stanišić and Herta Müller (although all the novels in my library's catalogue seem to be set in Romania).
The other person in the conversation offered Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi, The Giraffe's Neck by Judith Schalansky - both of which I'd be OK with - Max et la grande illusion by Emanuel Bergmann, which doesn't appeal but you never know!, and The Taste of Apple Seeds by Katharina Hagena which I've already read and found annoying.
Katharina Blum might not be out of the running. We'll see what the others think.
I've floated both Juli Zeh and Jenny Erpenbeck, as well as Saša Stanišić and Herta Müller (although all the novels in my library's catalogue seem to be set in Romania).
The other person in the conversation offered Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi, The Giraffe's Neck by Judith Schalansky - both of which I'd be OK with - Max et la grande illusion by Emanuel Bergmann, which doesn't appeal but you never know!, and The Taste of Apple Seeds by Katharina Hagena which I've already read and found annoying.
Katharina Blum might not be out of the running. We'll see what the others think.
280Dilara86
Je suis communiste 1 de Park Kun-woong, sur la base de l’autobiographie de Hur Young-Chul, traduit par Françoise Nagel et Lim Yeong-Hee
(désolée pour la mauvaise qualité de l'image : j'ai l'impression qu'Amazon a décidé de limiter les résolutions de ses couvertures)
Auteur sud-coréen écrivant en coréen (j’ai d’abord pensé, à tort, qu’il s’agissait d’une autrice parce que le personnage recueillant le témoignage du personnage principal dans le livre est une femme)
Traduction du coréen vers le français
Lieu(x) : Corée de l’occupation japonaise à la partition et Japon pour la partie historique, Corée du sud pour le lieu de narration
Première publication de la version française en 2014 ; date de la publication coréenne originale inconnue
Une double page représentative
Entretien avec l’auteur : https://www.actuabd.com/Park-Kun-woong-Je-suis-Communiste
Ce pavé de 300 pages est la première partie de la biographie graphique à la première personne de Hur Young-Chul, un paysan et militant communiste coréen de la première heure. Ce militant n’est pas allé s’établir au Nord, car son but était de créer un paradis communiste au Sud, ou plus exactement, dans la totalité de la péninsule coréenne. Il a passé 35 ans derrière les barreaux en tant que prisonnier politique, le communisme étant une idéologie interdite dans le Sud. On oublie parfois que la Corée du Sud était une dictature jusque dans les années 80. Il nous raconte son enfance et sa jeunesse dans une Corée sous occupation japonaise, la seconde guerre mondiale, l’occupation soviétique et étatsunienne, et le début de la guerre de Corée. C’est fascinant et édifiant. Et comme le livre est sans aucun doute destiné aux Coréens et Coréennes, pas toujours facile à suivre pour qui n’est pas au point sur l’histoire et la politique du pays.
J’ai cru comprendre que le graphisme de ce manhua n’était pas au goût de toutes et tous. Personnellement, ça m’a plu. Il est entièrement en noir et blanc. On alterne entre les cases très crayonnées et réalistes réservées à l’époque actuelle, et les cases beaucoup plus graphiques, rappelant des gravures sur bois. Mais je ne peux pas m’empêcher de penser – et ça montre bien comment fonctionne mon cerveau – que le propos aurait été plus efficace, plus clair et plus complet sous la forme d’un texte classique émaillé de quelques illustrations.
(désolée pour la mauvaise qualité de l'image : j'ai l'impression qu'Amazon a décidé de limiter les résolutions de ses couvertures)Auteur sud-coréen écrivant en coréen (j’ai d’abord pensé, à tort, qu’il s’agissait d’une autrice parce que le personnage recueillant le témoignage du personnage principal dans le livre est une femme)
Traduction du coréen vers le français
Lieu(x) : Corée de l’occupation japonaise à la partition et Japon pour la partie historique, Corée du sud pour le lieu de narration
Première publication de la version française en 2014 ; date de la publication coréenne originale inconnue
Une double page représentative
Entretien avec l’auteur : https://www.actuabd.com/Park-Kun-woong-Je-suis-Communiste
Ce pavé de 300 pages est la première partie de la biographie graphique à la première personne de Hur Young-Chul, un paysan et militant communiste coréen de la première heure. Ce militant n’est pas allé s’établir au Nord, car son but était de créer un paradis communiste au Sud, ou plus exactement, dans la totalité de la péninsule coréenne. Il a passé 35 ans derrière les barreaux en tant que prisonnier politique, le communisme étant une idéologie interdite dans le Sud. On oublie parfois que la Corée du Sud était une dictature jusque dans les années 80. Il nous raconte son enfance et sa jeunesse dans une Corée sous occupation japonaise, la seconde guerre mondiale, l’occupation soviétique et étatsunienne, et le début de la guerre de Corée. C’est fascinant et édifiant. Et comme le livre est sans aucun doute destiné aux Coréens et Coréennes, pas toujours facile à suivre pour qui n’est pas au point sur l’histoire et la politique du pays.
J’ai cru comprendre que le graphisme de ce manhua n’était pas au goût de toutes et tous. Personnellement, ça m’a plu. Il est entièrement en noir et blanc. On alterne entre les cases très crayonnées et réalistes réservées à l’époque actuelle, et les cases beaucoup plus graphiques, rappelant des gravures sur bois. Mais je ne peux pas m’empêcher de penser – et ça montre bien comment fonctionne mon cerveau – que le propos aurait été plus efficace, plus clair et plus complet sous la forme d’un texte classique émaillé de quelques illustrations.
281labfs39
>280 Dilara86: Very interesting. I've read a little about the student-led protests and the government crackdowns of the 80s, but nothing from the perspective of a South Korean communist. How did you happen upon this?
282LolaWalser
>280 Dilara86:
I like the style too. Reminds me of the linocuts and woodcuts that were so popular with leftist artists in the 1920s and '30s.
Not available to borrow here, and I splurged already far beyond the plan... maybe I'll wait to see what you have to say about tome 2, assuming that happens.
I like the style too. Reminds me of the linocuts and woodcuts that were so popular with leftist artists in the 1920s and '30s.
Not available to borrow here, and I splurged already far beyond the plan... maybe I'll wait to see what you have to say about tome 2, assuming that happens.
283Dilara86
>282 LolaWalser: Tome 2 will happen - we were very much left hanging at the end of Tome 1 :-)
>281 labfs39: Raton-liseur posted a long, positive, review of Un Matin de ce printemps-là by the same author, but my library didn't have it, so I settled on Je suis communiste, which it did have, instead.
>281 labfs39: Raton-liseur posted a long, positive, review of Un Matin de ce printemps-là by the same author, but my library didn't have it, so I settled on Je suis communiste, which it did have, instead.
284raton-liseur
>283 Dilara86: Yes, Un Matin de ce printemps-là is one of my favorite graphic stories of the year (which is a great year in terms of reading graphic stories!). It is not adapted from a book, as Je suis communiste is, so it might be a different approach. I also felt it was sometimes difficult to get everything when you are not familiar with Korea's recent history (and I'm not familiar at all), but even if I sometimes struggled to understand, it was a great read, I learnt a lot and it was a moving story as well.
I am not sure his works have been translated into English, though.
I am not sure his works have been translated into English, though.
285Dilara86
November was a good month: I read one big book - The Hungry Tide, which I really liked - and lots of thin tomes (play, poetry collection, an unfinished novel, a couple of novellas and shorter novels) that were an easy, painless way to discover new authors. I also went down some of enjoyable rabbit holes.
I read more Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a female romantic poet who was well-known and respected when she was alive, but is nowadays mostly remembered for her classroom-friendly and family-oriented poems (with all the disparagement that entails, which by the way, isn't extended to Victor Hugo, who also wrote about his children and grandchildren and his joy at being a grandfather). That led me to Auguste Barbier, whose very political Iambes et poèmes are available online, as well as some Pierre-Jean de Béranger.
A talk I went to (very loosely) about exhaustion, as seen by Samuel Beckett and Gilles Deleuze led me to Quad et Trio du Fantôme, ... que nuages..., Nacht und Träume : suivi de L'épuisé par Gilles Deleuze, four short plays by Samuel Beckett followed by an essay by Deleuze about Beckett's writing. Élène Usdin was one of the guests. I had decided against getting her book, René·e aux bois dormants, as I feared it might be disrespectful towards Canadian First Nations people, but LolaWalser convinced me to give it a try.
Now for the German rabbit hole: Litsy Food and Lit does Germany in December. We're going to read L'ultime question (Dark Matter) by Juli Zeh at book group. Fearing it might not be fully satisfying, I also had a look for additional books at the central library, and found a couple of German romantic poetry selections: Élégie de Marienbad: et autres poèmes by Goethe and L'aède en exil by Friedrich Hölderlin - poets I last read when I was in my teens and twenties. They both contain just a handful of poems freely translated by modern French poets and they're a lot more engaging than the previous translations I read, although for all I know, they might make purists cry... While I was at the central library, I also looked on the German history shelf for something non world war II related, because it's a bit sad that that's where most people's mind go when they think of Germany. A title leaped at me: Automne allemand (German Autumn) by Stig Dagerman. I took it down and read the back cover. Of course, it's about the war - or more exactly, the first postwar years - but well, it looked interesting and I had it in my hands, and none of the two non-WWII titles on the shelves appealed, so there we are: I borrowed it!
I also ordered the Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke because it's a leitmotiv in The Hungry Tide and read my first Slovak author (to my knowledge) Uršuľa Kovalyk with L'Écuyère (The Equestrienne in English - the fact that the English title uses a French word different from the word used in the French title isn't lost on me).
I read more Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a female romantic poet who was well-known and respected when she was alive, but is nowadays mostly remembered for her classroom-friendly and family-oriented poems (with all the disparagement that entails, which by the way, isn't extended to Victor Hugo, who also wrote about his children and grandchildren and his joy at being a grandfather). That led me to Auguste Barbier, whose very political Iambes et poèmes are available online, as well as some Pierre-Jean de Béranger.
A talk I went to (very loosely) about exhaustion, as seen by Samuel Beckett and Gilles Deleuze led me to Quad et Trio du Fantôme, ... que nuages..., Nacht und Träume : suivi de L'épuisé par Gilles Deleuze, four short plays by Samuel Beckett followed by an essay by Deleuze about Beckett's writing. Élène Usdin was one of the guests. I had decided against getting her book, René·e aux bois dormants, as I feared it might be disrespectful towards Canadian First Nations people, but LolaWalser convinced me to give it a try.
Now for the German rabbit hole: Litsy Food and Lit does Germany in December. We're going to read L'ultime question (Dark Matter) by Juli Zeh at book group. Fearing it might not be fully satisfying, I also had a look for additional books at the central library, and found a couple of German romantic poetry selections: Élégie de Marienbad: et autres poèmes by Goethe and L'aède en exil by Friedrich Hölderlin - poets I last read when I was in my teens and twenties. They both contain just a handful of poems freely translated by modern French poets and they're a lot more engaging than the previous translations I read, although for all I know, they might make purists cry... While I was at the central library, I also looked on the German history shelf for something non world war II related, because it's a bit sad that that's where most people's mind go when they think of Germany. A title leaped at me: Automne allemand (German Autumn) by Stig Dagerman. I took it down and read the back cover. Of course, it's about the war - or more exactly, the first postwar years - but well, it looked interesting and I had it in my hands, and none of the two non-WWII titles on the shelves appealed, so there we are: I borrowed it!
I also ordered the Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke because it's a leitmotiv in The Hungry Tide and read my first Slovak author (to my knowledge) Uršuľa Kovalyk with L'Écuyère (The Equestrienne in English - the fact that the English title uses a French word different from the word used in the French title isn't lost on me).
286labfs39
>285 Dilara86: I'm glad you enjoyed The Hungry Tide. Great month of reading!
287MissBrangwen
>285 Dilara86: So far I have only read Corpus Delicti by Juli Zeh which I didn't really like, but I am looking forward to your thoughts on Schilf. (I'm using the German title because otherwise I can't get the touchstones right.)
288Dilara86
>286 labfs39: I picked up The Hungry Tide partly because of you :-)
>287 MissBrangwen: Same here: Corpus Delicti is the only Juli Zeh I've read, and I was underwhelmed, but thorold has impeccable taste so I really want to give her another try or two.
>287 MissBrangwen: Same here: Corpus Delicti is the only Juli Zeh I've read, and I was underwhelmed, but thorold has impeccable taste so I really want to give her another try or two.
289Dilara86
L’aède en exil by Friedrich Hölderlin, translated (“freely adapted”) by Michel Butor
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Germany (in what was then Wurtemberg)
Original language: German
Translated into: French
Location: N/A, Germany, Rome, mythological Greece, Tübingen, Bordeaux…
First published in 2000 (this collection/translation) – German original poems written between the end of the eighteenth century and the middle of the nineteenth
page 16 : A mi-vie
I would wager the translations deviate quite a bit from the German originals – they read very much like 20th-century poems, but they are both moving and very accessible. And a lot less staid than the previous translations of Hölderlin I read. I am going to look for more.
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Germany (in what was then Wurtemberg)
Original language: German
Translated into: French
Location: N/A, Germany, Rome, mythological Greece, Tübingen, Bordeaux…
First published in 2000 (this collection/translation) – German original poems written between the end of the eighteenth century and the middle of the nineteenth
page 16 : A mi-vie
Croulant de poires jaunes
et de roses sauvages
le pays du lac
vous fiers cygnes
saouls de baisers
plongez-vous le chef
dans la fraîcheur sainte
Hélas où cueillir
des fleurs en hiver
où trouver la terre
de soleil et d'ombres
restent les murs froids
et muets dans le vent
cliquent les girouettes
I would wager the translations deviate quite a bit from the German originals – they read very much like 20th-century poems, but they are both moving and very accessible. And a lot less staid than the previous translations of Hölderlin I read. I am going to look for more.
290Dilara86
Litsy Food and Lit : December - Germany
So, I have the huge Culinaria Germany, which should answer all my German cuisine needs. But it's in German and I don't speak German. Someone who will remain nameless found it at one of the huge biannual Emmaüs charity shop offloading events and insisted I take it because they would simply translate any recipe I'd want to try. That hasn't happened :-D I've turned all the pages : the photos are lovely and some of the text is guessable, but there are easier ways to find a useable recipe. I really really want to eat a Black Forest gâteau, so that's probably what I'm going to make, using my usual recipe rather than the one that takes up 1.5 pages in the Diätkiller section of the book. I could also go to lidl and get an armful of stuff from their Christmas selection...
Books
Élégie de Marienbad: et autres poèmes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
L’aède en exil by Friedrich Hölderlin
L'ultime question (Dark Matter) by Juli Zeh
The 12 countries selected for Litsy Food and Lit 2023 are just out. January is Uganda. This is going to take some research. I'll copy a few links here
https://theculturetrip.com/africa/uganda/articles/understanding-history-top-six-...
https://afrifoodnetwork.com/articles/ugandan-dishes-you-should-try/
So, I have the huge Culinaria Germany, which should answer all my German cuisine needs. But it's in German and I don't speak German. Someone who will remain nameless found it at one of the huge biannual Emmaüs charity shop offloading events and insisted I take it because they would simply translate any recipe I'd want to try. That hasn't happened :-D I've turned all the pages : the photos are lovely and some of the text is guessable, but there are easier ways to find a useable recipe. I really really want to eat a Black Forest gâteau, so that's probably what I'm going to make, using my usual recipe rather than the one that takes up 1.5 pages in the Diätkiller section of the book. I could also go to lidl and get an armful of stuff from their Christmas selection...
Books
Élégie de Marienbad: et autres poèmes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
L’aède en exil by Friedrich Hölderlin
L'ultime question (Dark Matter) by Juli Zeh
The 12 countries selected for Litsy Food and Lit 2023 are just out. January is Uganda. This is going to take some research. I'll copy a few links here
https://theculturetrip.com/africa/uganda/articles/understanding-history-top-six-...
https://afrifoodnetwork.com/articles/ugandan-dishes-you-should-try/
291LolaWalser
>285 Dilara86:
There's an anthology of French Romantic poetry I've been reading haphazardly for the past five years and Desbordes-Valmore made a distinct impression. She was new to me too.
Funny, I've had that same Dagerman on hold for over a year now (someone isn't returning their copy...) He was covering postwar Germany and I wondered if that contributed to his suicide. A few years before he had published an essay with the irresistible title of (in French edition) Notre besoin de consolation est impossible à rassasier.
There's an anthology of French Romantic poetry I've been reading haphazardly for the past five years and Desbordes-Valmore made a distinct impression. She was new to me too.
Funny, I've had that same Dagerman on hold for over a year now (someone isn't returning their copy...) He was covering postwar Germany and I wondered if that contributed to his suicide. A few years before he had published an essay with the irresistible title of (in French edition) Notre besoin de consolation est impossible à rassasier.
292Dilara86
December reads
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
That's xx% English and French
21st-century books:
20th-century books:
19th-century books:
18th-century books:
17th-century books:
16th-century books:
Medieval books:
Ancient books:
That's x% 21st- and 20th-century
-
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie - I know! I started it months ago, but I've finished it now at last:-)
-
Automne allemand by Stig Dagerman
-
René·e aux bois dormants by Élène Usdin
-
L'aède en exil by Friedrich Hölderlin
-
A Very German Christmas: The Greatest Austrian, Swiss and German Holiday Stories of All Time collected by New Vessel Press
-
Poèmes de la bombe atomique by Sankichi Tōge
-
L'Ultime question by Juli Zeh
-
Les Élégies de Duino - Les Sonnets à Orphée by Rainer Maria Rilke
-
Quand je serai grande, je changerai tout by Irmgard Keun
-
Trois Noëls en forêt by Jean-Loup Trassard
-
Juste la fin du monde by Jean-Luc Lagarce
-
Les filles n'ont pas de banane by Copi
-
Les délices du feu: l'homme, le chaud et le froid à l'époque moderne by Olivier Jandot
-
Le diable au corps by Raymond Radiguet
-
L'archipel du goulache : aventures culinaires dans le bloc de l'Est by Florian Pinel
- by
- by
Original languages of the books I've read this month:
- French: 7
- English: 1
- German: 5
- Swedish: 1
- Japanese: 1
That's xx% English and French
That's x% 21st- and 20th-century
- Number of female authors this month:
- Number of male authors this month:
- Mixed male/female collaborations this month:
294Dilara86
>293 ELiz_M: Thank you! It sounds really good AND it's available on scribd :-)
295Dilara86
Another question for LT's learned people.
I am reading A Very German Christmas: The Greatest Austrian, Swiss and German Holiday Stories of All Time, which contains the Christmas scene from Buddenbrooks. The following lines intrigued me:
I am picturing a rose-flavoured frangipane. Does that make sense? Does it have a name and is it traditional?
I am reading A Very German Christmas: The Greatest Austrian, Swiss and German Holiday Stories of All Time, which contains the Christmas scene from Buddenbrooks. The following lines intrigued me:
But no sooner had they finished than a large crystal bowl filled with a yellow, grainy puree was passed around: almond crème, a mixture of eggs, ground almonds, and rose water. It tasted quite wonderful, but one spoonful too much and you ended up with the most awful stomachache.
I am picturing a rose-flavoured frangipane. Does that make sense? Does it have a name and is it traditional?
296LolaWalser
It's marzipan*. Buddenbrooks' (and Mann's) Lübeck is famous for it, although, as far as I know, it's not originally from there (I want to say it's Arab or Asian--"oriental" dessert in any case).
*P.S. With a twist? On googling, nothing exactly matching the description comes up for me. The Person Below Me will be more learned on the subject... :)
*P.S. With a twist? On googling, nothing exactly matching the description comes up for me. The Person Below Me will be more learned on the subject... :)
297MissBrangwen
>296 LolaWalser: The Person Below Me will be more learned on the subject... :) Not really, but I want to add my thoughts nonetheless.
>295 Dilara86: I must admit that I have not read Buddenbrooks so far, but I was curious about this dish when I read your post because I have never heard about it. The marzipan connection came to my mind, too - I don't think that it is exactly marzipan, but something similar. Googling the dish, it seems like most recipes are published in connection to the novel, so it doesn't seem as if it is a dish still popular. My husband is from Lüneburg, not too far away from Lübeck, but he has never heard about this dish.
I am curious if anybody knows more about this.
>295 Dilara86: I must admit that I have not read Buddenbrooks so far, but I was curious about this dish when I read your post because I have never heard about it. The marzipan connection came to my mind, too - I don't think that it is exactly marzipan, but something similar. Googling the dish, it seems like most recipes are published in connection to the novel, so it doesn't seem as if it is a dish still popular. My husband is from Lüneburg, not too far away from Lübeck, but he has never heard about this dish.
I am curious if anybody knows more about this.
298Dilara86
>296 LolaWalser: >297 MissBrangwen: I've never been to Lübeck (although I'd like to: it looks very picturesque), but I've had Lübeck marzipan and it's lovely!
I hope someone has the key to this mystery. All I could find in French and English is a forum post mentioning that Weihnachten bei den Buddenbrooks - a book containing the famous Christmas chapter from Buddenbrooks along with recipes - is not available in French...
I hope someone has the key to this mystery. All I could find in French and English is a forum post mentioning that Weihnachten bei den Buddenbrooks - a book containing the famous Christmas chapter from Buddenbrooks along with recipes - is not available in French...
299LolaWalser
>297 MissBrangwen:, >298 Dilara86:
I'm too lazy to try to find the original, but I'm thinking either the translation added/took away something, or Mann wasn't entirely clear on what went into the dish. He says it's very sweet, but doesn't mention sugar, so by implication it must be the "almond crème" that's already very sweet--marzipan fits, and mixed with eggs and rosewater it could be creamier than paste. Then again, my grandma used to make marzipan WITH rosewater (apparently the oldest tradition). And the sentence could also read like the description of the "almond crème" except in that case, as I said, it's not clear where the sweetness is coming from.
Even more confusing, I found mentions of mixing marzipan plus orange juice and eggnog but without a specific name.
P.S.
lol... check out the hypnotic gif on top...
https://www.niederegger.de/marzipan/handwerkskunst/
Doesn't it look exactly like a "grainy yellow purée"? Take away the eggs and it could be freshly mixed marzipan he's talking about.
I'm too lazy to try to find the original, but I'm thinking either the translation added/took away something, or Mann wasn't entirely clear on what went into the dish. He says it's very sweet, but doesn't mention sugar, so by implication it must be the "almond crème" that's already very sweet--marzipan fits, and mixed with eggs and rosewater it could be creamier than paste. Then again, my grandma used to make marzipan WITH rosewater (apparently the oldest tradition). And the sentence could also read like the description of the "almond crème" except in that case, as I said, it's not clear where the sweetness is coming from.
Even more confusing, I found mentions of mixing marzipan plus orange juice and eggnog but without a specific name.
P.S.
lol... check out the hypnotic gif on top...
https://www.niederegger.de/marzipan/handwerkskunst/
Doesn't it look exactly like a "grainy yellow purée"? Take away the eggs and it could be freshly mixed marzipan he's talking about.
300Dilara86
And because I am imagining it from my (French) experience, I am seeing a "galette des rois" filling - so either a frangipane (a sort of thick custard made with butter, flour, ground almonds, milk, sugar, egg) or a galette hollandaise-type filling (butter, sugar, ground and crushed whole almonds, egg) which is grainy, but which I have never seen "naked", ie not baked in pastry.
The rosewater/almond combination appeals to me a lot. Whether I get a definite answer or not about this dish, I'll be making something with those two ingredients this month!
Even more confusing, I found mentions of mixing marzipan plus orange juice and eggnog but without a specific name.
That's... quite busy! All that's missing is a sprinkling of speculoos crumbs and an olive.
The rosewater/almond combination appeals to me a lot. Whether I get a definite answer or not about this dish, I'll be making something with those two ingredients this month!
Even more confusing, I found mentions of mixing marzipan plus orange juice and eggnog but without a specific name.
That's... quite busy! All that's missing is a sprinkling of speculoos crumbs and an olive.
301Dilara86
A Very German Christmas: The Greatest Austrian, Swiss and German Holiday Stories of All Time by Heinrich Heine, Rainer Maria Rilke, Hermann Hesse, Erich Kästner, Martin Suter, Thomas Mann, Arthur Schnitzler, Joseph Roth, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Brothers Grimm, Kurt Tucholsky, Ilse Frapan, Peter Stamm, Heinrich Böll, Helene Stökl, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Peter Rosegger, Wolfdietrich Schnurre
Writer’s gender: mostly male, with only 2 female authors
Writer’s nationality: Austria, Germany, Switzerland
Original language: German
Translated into: French
Location: Austria, Germany, Switzerland
First published in 2020, but contains works published in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries
A few lines from page 100 (On Christmas Eve by Helene Stökl)
This is what came up in scribd when I was searching for something German with a Christmas/winter theme. The bombastic title and the gaudy cover didn’t scream “quality writing”, but I thought the Nutcracker, which I wanted to read in a non-bowdlerised version, was bound to be in it, and if I found the other stories too schmaltzy, I could just skim them. As it happens, I didn’t skim anything and most stories were on the dark and/or ironic side. There were tales, short stories, a poem, extracts from a play and from novels, all written by “serious” authors in the public domain. I enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to reading other books in the same collection: A Very Italian Christmas, A Very Scandinavian Christmas, A Very Russian Christmas…
Writer’s gender: mostly male, with only 2 female authors
Writer’s nationality: Austria, Germany, Switzerland
Original language: German
Translated into: French
Location: Austria, Germany, Switzerland
First published in 2020, but contains works published in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries
A few lines from page 100 (On Christmas Eve by Helene Stökl)
She had accompanied him a few times on these trips, but to sit for hours, while he, absorbed in his work, had not even a look for her, that her restless nature could not endure. She remained at home; so the child went with him. Leading it carefully by the hand, or, in rough places, if the little legs were tired, carrying it in his arms, so he took it with him to the spot with which he was then occupied. Playing with stones and flowers, the child waited, patient and content, however long it might be until the father had again time to turn to it. They were too happy in these common excursions that it should not cause her anguish. “Leave the child here,” she said when he wished to take it with him the next time. “But why?” “You cannot take care of him while you paint. He might come to harm in the mountain.” “Nonsense!” he laughed happily. “He never stirs from my side.” “No matter, I do not wish it. The child remains here.” She saw his wondering look, and added bitterly, “It is my child as well as yours! Or do you wish to deprive me of the love of my child also?” He shrugged his shoulders, and turned aside, but after this he did not take the child with him. And then the end came! With what terrible vividness each detail of that awful day was impressed on her mind! It was a Sunday. She had dressed herself with un- usual care, in the uncertain hope that today he would stay with her. “I am going to church, will you not come with me?” she asked timidly. “Not today, I am going to finish a sketch of the Rothe Wand, and I must have the morning light on it.” She turned away, disappointed. “Shall you take the child with you?” he asked. “No, it stays at home with the maid.” “If you think the child is sufficiently well attended to under the care of a young thing, who is only a child herself,—” “Why not? She has nothing to do, and can pay proper attention to the child.” He made no further objections, and she went. The church was at the farther end of the village.
This is what came up in scribd when I was searching for something German with a Christmas/winter theme. The bombastic title and the gaudy cover didn’t scream “quality writing”, but I thought the Nutcracker, which I wanted to read in a non-bowdlerised version, was bound to be in it, and if I found the other stories too schmaltzy, I could just skim them. As it happens, I didn’t skim anything and most stories were on the dark and/or ironic side. There were tales, short stories, a poem, extracts from a play and from novels, all written by “serious” authors in the public domain. I enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to reading other books in the same collection: A Very Italian Christmas, A Very Scandinavian Christmas, A Very Russian Christmas…
302Dilara86
Poèmes de la bombe atomique by Tōge, Sankichi, translated by Ono Masatsugu and Claude Mouchard
It looks like the English translation is available online thanks to the University of Chicago.
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Japan
Original language: Japanese
Translated into: French
Location: Hiroshima
First published in 1951 (written between 1949 and 1951) – this French version published in 2008
A poem I chose because it was reasonably representative, not too graphic, but also hopeful – it’s inspired by the Stockholm appeal for nuclear disarmament in March 1950.
This is a poetry collection by Japanese poet and Hiroshima survivor Sankichi Tōge, illustrated with horrifying black-and-white photos, including of Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi’s Hiroshima panels, with an extensive and informative introduction by Claude Mouchard, who did a good job of contextualising the poems – and when the subject is as touchy, political and historical as this – it is needed.
I hadn’t heard of Sankichi before – the book caught my eye because it was face out in the poetry section of the central library. I hadn’t heard of the publisher – Editions Laurence Teper – either, but I’ll be looking out for other titles in their Collection Bruits du temps : Un lieu, l’Histoire, des poèmes. In fact, these last three nouns - “place”, “History”, “poems” - perfectly describe the reason why I brought Poèmes de la bombe atomique back with me.
The book was published in Japan in 1951, a year before the author’s death, following the easing of the censure imposed on artists during the American occupation. The one imposed on scientists – Japanese and American alike - and on the press took a bit longer (the Press Code was lifted in 1952). Many people found it easier to channel their emotions and thoughts about the catastrophe through writing and reading poetry, and there was a whole group of Atomic bomb poets.
Poetry in translation can be hit-and-miss, but this collection read perfectly. It’s easy to just think of the mushroom and forget how hellish, inhuman the bombing was, but those poems are very raw and graphic and really hammer it home.
It looks like the English translation is available online thanks to the University of Chicago.
Writer’s gender: Male
Writer’s nationality: Japan
Original language: Japanese
Translated into: French
Location: Hiroshima
First published in 1951 (written between 1949 and 1951) – this French version published in 2008
A poem I chose because it was reasonably representative, not too graphic, but also hopeful – it’s inspired by the Stockholm appeal for nuclear disarmament in March 1950.
Appel
Même aujourd’hui il n’est pas trop tard
il n’est pas trop tard pour rassembler ta véritable force
si depuis la blessure du cœur transpercé, ce jour-là, par
l’éclat qui brûla les rétines
tes larmes n’ont cessé de couler
si tu as au corps cette odeur de Hiroshima
qui aujourd’hui encore, de ces déchirures, fait
continûment couler des gouttes d’un pus sanglant à
maudire la guerre
pour toi qui as abandonné ta petite sœur alors qu’elle
se tordait et tendait les mains
d’au-dessous de la maison menacée par l’approche des
flammes
toit qui sans même couvrir tes parties intimes de bouts
de vêtements brûlés
laissant tomber devant ta poitrine tes rouges bras à vif
titubant de tes pieds nus pleins de feu
dans le désert des décombres qui reflétaient le soleil
es parti errer pour un voyage sans consolation
pour ce véritable toi
pour que tu lèves ton bras déformé
avec nombre d’autres bras semblables
pour que tu soutiennes un soleil maudit
une fois encore prêt à tomber
même aujourd’hui il n’est pas trop tard
pour qu’avec ton dos portant la marque de la mort tu
bouches
les glandes lacrymales de tous les tendres humains
qui se tiennent là simplement à haïr la guerre
et pour que ces mains timidement pendantes
par tes rouges paumes à vif
en viennent à se nouer
allons
même aujourd’hui il n’est pas trop tard
This is a poetry collection by Japanese poet and Hiroshima survivor Sankichi Tōge, illustrated with horrifying black-and-white photos, including of Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi’s Hiroshima panels, with an extensive and informative introduction by Claude Mouchard, who did a good job of contextualising the poems – and when the subject is as touchy, political and historical as this – it is needed.
I hadn’t heard of Sankichi before – the book caught my eye because it was face out in the poetry section of the central library. I hadn’t heard of the publisher – Editions Laurence Teper – either, but I’ll be looking out for other titles in their Collection Bruits du temps : Un lieu, l’Histoire, des poèmes. In fact, these last three nouns - “place”, “History”, “poems” - perfectly describe the reason why I brought Poèmes de la bombe atomique back with me.
The book was published in Japan in 1951, a year before the author’s death, following the easing of the censure imposed on artists during the American occupation. The one imposed on scientists – Japanese and American alike - and on the press took a bit longer (the Press Code was lifted in 1952). Many people found it easier to channel their emotions and thoughts about the catastrophe through writing and reading poetry, and there was a whole group of Atomic bomb poets.
Poetry in translation can be hit-and-miss, but this collection read perfectly. It’s easy to just think of the mushroom and forget how hellish, inhuman the bombing was, but those poems are very raw and graphic and really hammer it home.
303labfs39
>302 Dilara86: Interesting. I read a collection of short stories by various authors and edited by Kenzaburō Ōe earlier this year called The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic Aftermath. I had been unfamiliar with the American censorship about the atomic bomb and how long it lasted. I'm glad the authors and artists persisted in getting their voices heard when they could.
304Dilara86
>303 labfs39: Oh yes, that rings a bell, now that you mention it: I must have read your posts about it. As it happens, Kenzaburō Ōe is quoted several times in the introduction.
305Dilara86
Some of the books that stood out for me these last few weeks
Quand je serai grande, je changerai tout (Grown-ups Don't Understand (UK) or The Bad Example (US)) written in German by Irmgard Keun, whose life reads like a novel. This delightful, irreverent book is set in Germany, in part during the First World War. It's sometimes marketed towards children, no doubt because the main character is a girl in the Pipi Longstocking / Just William mould, but it really is very adult in its themes, and only grownups will get the political subtext and jokes. It is clearly anti-war and anti-antisemitism and was therefore banned by the nazis. I enjoyed it a lot: the narrator is the best naughty but unwittingly wise child ever. (Warning: There is the odd blink-and-you-miss it, slightly uncomfortable characterization of non-whites, but TBH it could have been so much worse given that it was written in the thirties.)
Les Élégies de Duino - Les Sonnets à Orphée written in German by Rainer Maria Rilke - The Duino Elegies are quoted throughout The Hungry Tide, and that spurred me into reading it. My version has the German on the left page, the French translation on the right. I feel the English translation quoted in The Hungry Tide was more moving and poetic than the one I read, which was subpar Paul Valéry. This was especially disappointing because I'd just finished
L'aède en exil, a selection of poems by Hölderlin, “freely adapted“ into French by Michel Butor. I wonder how much they deviate from the originals, but they were a joy to read.
And before that: Élégie de Marienbad: et autres poèmes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated by Jean Tardieu, also a pleasure to read, and much more accessible than the previous Goethes I'd read, which admittedly was when I was in high school and on a Romantic streak.
Quand je serai grande, je changerai tout (Grown-ups Don't Understand (UK) or The Bad Example (US)) written in German by Irmgard Keun, whose life reads like a novel. This delightful, irreverent book is set in Germany, in part during the First World War. It's sometimes marketed towards children, no doubt because the main character is a girl in the Pipi Longstocking / Just William mould, but it really is very adult in its themes, and only grownups will get the political subtext and jokes. It is clearly anti-war and anti-antisemitism and was therefore banned by the nazis. I enjoyed it a lot: the narrator is the best naughty but unwittingly wise child ever. (Warning: There is the odd blink-and-you-miss it, slightly uncomfortable characterization of non-whites, but TBH it could have been so much worse given that it was written in the thirties.)
Les Élégies de Duino - Les Sonnets à Orphée written in German by Rainer Maria Rilke - The Duino Elegies are quoted throughout The Hungry Tide, and that spurred me into reading it. My version has the German on the left page, the French translation on the right. I feel the English translation quoted in The Hungry Tide was more moving and poetic than the one I read, which was subpar Paul Valéry. This was especially disappointing because I'd just finished
L'aède en exil, a selection of poems by Hölderlin, “freely adapted“ into French by Michel Butor. I wonder how much they deviate from the originals, but they were a joy to read.
And before that: Élégie de Marienbad: et autres poèmes by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated by Jean Tardieu, also a pleasure to read, and much more accessible than the previous Goethes I'd read, which admittedly was when I was in high school and on a Romantic streak.
306arubabookwoman
>302 Dilara86: >303 labfs39: I too was unfamiliar with the censorship. A couple of years ago I read Fallout by lesley Blume (subtitle "The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World") about how John Hersey investigated and reported and published in the New Yorker magazine what ultimately became his book Hiroshima. In my review I noted, "...the U.S. government had basically managed to hide the magnitude of what the bomb had done, its deadly aftereffects in terms of radiation sickness, and, most importantly, the implications of potential nuclear warfare for humanity's future." One thing the government did in particular was to emphasize the property damage the bomb caused, and to ignore the massive human casualties.
307Dilara86
>306 arubabookwoman: I hadn't heard of John Hersey. It takes courage to sneak into an area that's cordoned-off by the army and full of radiation, and then write about it at a time when I imagine wartime limits on free speech hadn't been fully lifted.
308Dilara86
And as today is the Feast of Saint Trophimus of Arles, patron saint of communards (allegedly!) and communists (with a handful of salt :-D) and curer of gout, here's a Provençal song about the Marseille Commune and the way the Versaillais beheaded his statue with their cannons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2jBXuGhN7U
Lyrics in Provençal, translation and essay in Italian - no idea whether it's any good: https://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?lang=fr&id=57522
Lyrics in Provençal, essay in French: https://www.pointculture.be/magazine/articles/critique/la-commune-de-marseille-u...
Lyrics in Provençal, translation and essay in Italian - no idea whether it's any good: https://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?lang=fr&id=57522
Lyrics in Provençal, essay in French: https://www.pointculture.be/magazine/articles/critique/la-commune-de-marseille-u...
309labfs39
>306 arubabookwoman: Hersey's book made a huge impression on me when I first read it, in the 80s with Three Mile Island in the not so distant pass and revived nuclear war fears. I didn't know the backstory behind it though. I'll look for Fallout.
310LolaWalser
>308 Dilara86:
Fascinating, I hadn't heard about those other insurrections before! By the way, my French friends make fun of me for this, but I've had a weakness for Marseille since that was my return-to-Europe landing spot (from Alexandria, in 1982). Although I'm not sure this was feasible (how much of my memory was shaped by later experience), I recall stepping from the sea (a barque) directly into town centre. To me it seemed impossibly beautiful, awash in sunlight, with garlands and wreaths everywhere (probably laundry, said the cynics).
Fascinating, I hadn't heard about those other insurrections before! By the way, my French friends make fun of me for this, but I've had a weakness for Marseille since that was my return-to-Europe landing spot (from Alexandria, in 1982). Although I'm not sure this was feasible (how much of my memory was shaped by later experience), I recall stepping from the sea (a barque) directly into town centre. To me it seemed impossibly beautiful, awash in sunlight, with garlands and wreaths everywhere (probably laundry, said the cynics).
311Dilara86
Litsy Food and Lit in December: Germany
So, apart from the obvious sauerkraut, which I was going to make at some point in the winter, irrespective of themed cooking, I made a German-style goulash and tried my hand at spätzle. I could have bought dried Alsatian spaetzles, but that's no fun. Although in the end, making them by hand was not much fun either... I struggled a lot with the consistency - I had to add a lot more water than stated to get the dough to pass through the colander's holes. It was a lot of faff. The recipe seemed straightforward, but as is often the case, there's a knack to it and that's not explained in the recipe. Once they were eaten and my blood pressure receded, I looked up spätzle-making videos on YouTube, which I should have done before starting. It looks likes there are two main techniques: firm dough hand-cut on a cutting-board or soft dough passed through a colander or a special press. In hindsight, I used the colander method with a firm dough, which was never going to work. Now that I know this and have seen super-fast ninja grandmas making kilos of the stuff, I'm all psyched for a second try because they were delicious.
My main German book for this challenge and for my book club was Dark Matter by Juli Zeh and as some of the action is set in the Black Forest, making a Black Forest gâteau is a no-brainer. My plan is to have a real-life discussion about the book and serve the cake to the club members then, but that hasn't happened yet.
So, apart from the obvious sauerkraut, which I was going to make at some point in the winter, irrespective of themed cooking, I made a German-style goulash and tried my hand at spätzle. I could have bought dried Alsatian spaetzles, but that's no fun. Although in the end, making them by hand was not much fun either... I struggled a lot with the consistency - I had to add a lot more water than stated to get the dough to pass through the colander's holes. It was a lot of faff. The recipe seemed straightforward, but as is often the case, there's a knack to it and that's not explained in the recipe. Once they were eaten and my blood pressure receded, I looked up spätzle-making videos on YouTube, which I should have done before starting. It looks likes there are two main techniques: firm dough hand-cut on a cutting-board or soft dough passed through a colander or a special press. In hindsight, I used the colander method with a firm dough, which was never going to work. Now that I know this and have seen super-fast ninja grandmas making kilos of the stuff, I'm all psyched for a second try because they were delicious.
My main German book for this challenge and for my book club was Dark Matter by Juli Zeh and as some of the action is set in the Black Forest, making a Black Forest gâteau is a no-brainer. My plan is to have a real-life discussion about the book and serve the cake to the club members then, but that hasn't happened yet.
312Dilara86
>310 LolaWalser: my French friends make fun of me for this, but I've had a weakness for Marseille
I'm trying hard not to do the same. Marseille has a terrible reputation (dirty, dangerous, terrible traffic...) everywhere in France except Marseille, but I don't know whether it is founded or not, as I've never been: every attempt at visiting was scuppered by nay-sayers. The Vieux-Port certainly looks beautiful, if that's where you landed.
I'm trying hard not to do the same. Marseille has a terrible reputation (dirty, dangerous, terrible traffic...) everywhere in France except Marseille, but I don't know whether it is founded or not, as I've never been: every attempt at visiting was scuppered by nay-sayers. The Vieux-Port certainly looks beautiful, if that's where you landed.
313LolaWalser
>312 Dilara86:
Heh, you spoiled people... after years in Syria and Egypt, let's just say my standards of public dirt and dangerous traffic were somewhat different... Marseille didn't just appear clean, but freshly washed (maybe it had been raining?)--in any case, I still get dreams about that day!
>311 Dilara86:
Looks yummay, and your spaetzle look the article to a t, at least to my untrained eye.
Heh, you spoiled people... after years in Syria and Egypt, let's just say my standards of public dirt and dangerous traffic were somewhat different... Marseille didn't just appear clean, but freshly washed (maybe it had been raining?)--in any case, I still get dreams about that day!
>311 Dilara86:
Looks yummay, and your spaetzle look the article to a t, at least to my untrained eye.
314lisapeet
My son went through a phase of perfecting chicken paprikash with spaetzle in high school, to the point where I bought him a spaetzle maker—a contraption that makes it easier to extrude the batter, rather than having to deal with a colander and spoon singlehandedly. Just what every high school guy wants! But he liked it. I wonder if he still has it...
