The third novel featuring Gerald Samper, a snobbish writer living in Italy(mostly). While not as laugh out loud funny as Fernet Branca this is still very amusing in places and a great critique of the Princess Diana myth as only Samper could do it. 6/10
Sunday, October 12, 2008
La Bete Humaine
by Emile Zola
The seventeenth novel in the Rougon Macquart and one of the best. After the dream this is straight back in to the darker side of the human existence and a roller coaster murder yarn set on the railway line between Le Havre and Paris. It is Zola at his best painting wonderful descriptions of the landscape and a plot that runs along with the railway it depicts. 9/10
Monday, August 25, 2008
Have Mercy on Us All
by Fred Vargas
The second novel I have read by this author. It is published by Vintage in the UK and had some bad editing mistakes but apart from that annoyance was a good read. The main character is likeable and suitably flawed as a human being to make him attractive.
The premise behind the story requires some suspension of reality but is none the less absorbing for that. 7/10
The second novel I have read by this author. It is published by Vintage in the UK and had some bad editing mistakes but apart from that annoyance was a good read. The main character is likeable and suitably flawed as a human being to make him attractive.
The premise behind the story requires some suspension of reality but is none the less absorbing for that. 7/10
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Five Photos of my wife
by Agnes Desarthe
A gentle and at times amusing, at times sad tale of a man's search for a memory of his wife. I really enjoyed this book 9/10
A gentle and at times amusing, at times sad tale of a man's search for a memory of his wife. I really enjoyed this book 9/10
The Dream (Le Reve)
by Emile Zola
This was hard work and far from being the most enjoyable book I have read of Zola's.
The main character Angelique is the Rougon-Macquart connection. She was abandoned as a child and the story starts with her turning up in a church porch from where she is taken in by some church embroiderers. She is annoying and I couldn't wait for some Zolaesque tragedy to take her away. Sadly it did not.
I will need to read around this to try and redeem the book but it definitely his worst to date- in my humble opinion! 4/10
This was hard work and far from being the most enjoyable book I have read of Zola's.
The main character Angelique is the Rougon-Macquart connection. She was abandoned as a child and the story starts with her turning up in a church porch from where she is taken in by some church embroiderers. She is annoying and I couldn't wait for some Zolaesque tragedy to take her away. Sadly it did not.
I will need to read around this to try and redeem the book but it definitely his worst to date- in my humble opinion! 4/10
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
The Three Evangelists
by Fred Vargas
Very enjoyable crime thriller. An easy read and great to relax with. 8/10
Very enjoyable crime thriller. An easy read and great to relax with. 8/10
Testimony
by Nicolas Sarkozy
Fascinating stuff. The man intrigues me with his certainty about life and his beliefs. His piece on his wife and their eternal bond which has subsequently evaporated is illuminating. His utopian vision for France is straight from one of his beloved America's movies. Having said this I like this man and some of his open discussion of chaging France is refreshing.
Gets a bit bogged down in places but worth reading soon before it gets consigned to the political tract bin. 8/10
Fascinating stuff. The man intrigues me with his certainty about life and his beliefs. His piece on his wife and their eternal bond which has subsequently evaporated is illuminating. His utopian vision for France is straight from one of his beloved America's movies. Having said this I like this man and some of his open discussion of chaging France is refreshing.
Gets a bit bogged down in places but worth reading soon before it gets consigned to the political tract bin. 8/10
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Gathering
by Anne Enright
I had mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the writing very much and there were some extremely moving and disturbing passages as well as some darkly humorous ones. However, I felt the story line was a bit thin and the ending unsatisfactory. It was almost as though having revealed to the reader the central issue of the story the rest of the book lost its way. Would still recommend it though. 7/10
I had mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the writing very much and there were some extremely moving and disturbing passages as well as some darkly humorous ones. However, I felt the story line was a bit thin and the ending unsatisfactory. It was almost as though having revealed to the reader the central issue of the story the rest of the book lost its way. Would still recommend it though. 7/10
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Ninety three
by Victor Hugo
Set in 1793 this book was about the Vendean war at the time of the French revolution. The second half of the book was good and had some great insights into the terrors and hardships of civil war and also some detail on how enlightened some of the revolutionary thinking was. However the first half of the book was hard going and pretty dull. 4/10
Set in 1793 this book was about the Vendean war at the time of the French revolution. The second half of the book was good and had some great insights into the terrors and hardships of civil war and also some detail on how enlightened some of the revolutionary thinking was. However the first half of the book was hard going and pretty dull. 4/10
Monday, May 12, 2008
Dawn, Dusk or Night
by Yasmina Reza
Subtitled 'a year with Nicolas Sarkozy' this is a book of reflections and observations of the French president during the manic year leading up to his election in May 2007.
I found the style of this book difficult to get my head around and yet I could not put it down. It is mesmerising and offers this love him hate him view that resonates with my own reactions to Sarkozy. So many of the observations are fleeting glances when I would have liked to stay longer, but maybe this is the nature of the man where clearly what you see is only what he wants you to see. The book mercifully steers clear of any comment on his private life and gets an extra point from me for that alone. 9/10
Subtitled 'a year with Nicolas Sarkozy' this is a book of reflections and observations of the French president during the manic year leading up to his election in May 2007.
I found the style of this book difficult to get my head around and yet I could not put it down. It is mesmerising and offers this love him hate him view that resonates with my own reactions to Sarkozy. So many of the observations are fleeting glances when I would have liked to stay longer, but maybe this is the nature of the man where clearly what you see is only what he wants you to see. The book mercifully steers clear of any comment on his private life and gets an extra point from me for that alone. 9/10
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Rounding the Mark
by Andrea Camilleri
Another Inspector Montalbano crime mystery set in Sicily. This is very easy reading but great fun although easier than some to unravel fairly early on. 6/10
Another Inspector Montalbano crime mystery set in Sicily. This is very easy reading but great fun although easier than some to unravel fairly early on. 6/10
La Terre (The Earth)
by Emile Zola
The fifteenth novel in the Rougon Macquart series and I think one of the best.
It is shocking even today and exposes some of the more base and brutal sides of mankind, where Jean Macquart as a outsider throughout observes the futile battle of the peasants with the soil and themselves. Some of the scenes are brilliantly written such as when Lise is giving birth at the same time and i the same location as their household cow is giving birth to twin calves. There is even humour with Jesus Christ's(a character not a deity) farting exploits. Definitely a must read if you want to sample Zola. 9/10
The fifteenth novel in the Rougon Macquart series and I think one of the best.
It is shocking even today and exposes some of the more base and brutal sides of mankind, where Jean Macquart as a outsider throughout observes the futile battle of the peasants with the soil and themselves. Some of the scenes are brilliantly written such as when Lise is giving birth at the same time and i the same location as their household cow is giving birth to twin calves. There is even humour with Jesus Christ's(a character not a deity) farting exploits. Definitely a must read if you want to sample Zola. 9/10
Monday, March 31, 2008
Notes from Exile
by Emile Zola
This book is edited and translated by Dorothy Speirs
I guess this book is a little niche but I loved it. It is very short and contains notes that Zola made when forced into exile in England during the Dreyfuss affair.
What is more it includes photos taken during that time by Zola himself. Then there is even more with an introduction that gives us some background on the Vizetelly family who were responsible for some of the early Zola translations. For his pains one of them received a prison sentence for publishing porn. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. 10/10
This book is edited and translated by Dorothy Speirs
I guess this book is a little niche but I loved it. It is very short and contains notes that Zola made when forced into exile in England during the Dreyfuss affair.
What is more it includes photos taken during that time by Zola himself. Then there is even more with an introduction that gives us some background on the Vizetelly family who were responsible for some of the early Zola translations. For his pains one of them received a prison sentence for publishing porn. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. 10/10
Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Power of Flies
by Lydie Salvayre
Originally published in French these are the musings of a madman (or is he?) who has murdered someone and addresses himself to the judge, the warder and his psychiatrist. You do find out who he has murdered but not until the very end and there are several potential candidates along the way. We only ever hear the voice of the accused and as such he provokes our sympathy but it left me wanting to write somebody elses point of view. What did the judge think or his wife or his father. A good thought provoking book. 8/10
Originally published in French these are the musings of a madman (or is he?) who has murdered someone and addresses himself to the judge, the warder and his psychiatrist. You do find out who he has murdered but not until the very end and there are several potential candidates along the way. We only ever hear the voice of the accused and as such he provokes our sympathy but it left me wanting to write somebody elses point of view. What did the judge think or his wife or his father. A good thought provoking book. 8/10
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Courtesans
by Joanna Richardson
Brief biographies of a number of different courtesans from the French second empire days. It was fascinating reading and an insight to French society of that time. I found the style a nnoying at times and felt that the author was always trying to restrain from passing judgement on these women. 5/10
Brief biographies of a number of different courtesans from the French second empire days. It was fascinating reading and an insight to French society of that time. I found the style a nnoying at times and felt that the author was always trying to restrain from passing judgement on these women. 5/10
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Discovery of France
by Graham Robb
This is a fascinating book. It is full of interesting info on shepherds on stilts, people with deliberately contorted heads, hobbitt like folk etc. They all lived in a seemingly hidden France unrecognisable from our perceived view which I guess is typically the court of Versailles and bloody revolutions on the streets. I loved it even though he does bang on about map making and cyclists more than I cared for. 9/10
This is a fascinating book. It is full of interesting info on shepherds on stilts, people with deliberately contorted heads, hobbitt like folk etc. They all lived in a seemingly hidden France unrecognisable from our perceived view which I guess is typically the court of Versailles and bloody revolutions on the streets. I loved it even though he does bang on about map making and cyclists more than I cared for. 9/10
Thursday, January 31, 2008
The little girl and the cigarette
by Benoit Duteurtre
A short satire sending up some of the lunacy in our current society's thinking. As with all good satire it is just inches between reality and the absurd. Being French it ends with a suitably dark twist. Excellent 9/10
A short satire sending up some of the lunacy in our current society's thinking. As with all good satire it is just inches between reality and the absurd. Being French it ends with a suitably dark twist. Excellent 9/10
David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens
As ever with Dickens a great cast of wonderful characters from the glorious Betsy Trotwood to the outrageous Mr Micawber. The only parts I found tedious were the Dora passages. The rest is a great read with some very comic writing indeed. 9/10
As ever with Dickens a great cast of wonderful characters from the glorious Betsy Trotwood to the outrageous Mr Micawber. The only parts I found tedious were the Dora passages. The rest is a great read with some very comic writing indeed. 9/10
Monday, December 31, 2007
The Masterpiece
by Emile Zola
Fourteenth novel in the Rougon Macquart series. This novel more than any other of Zola's is based on real characters from his own circle of friends, including himself as the novelist Sandoz. There were parts of it I found really interesting and great writing such as the crowds at the exhibition and the struggles of trying to portray nature in painting. But other parts, such as Sandoz talking about writing a series of novels based around a family just seemed too anal. Still a great insight into the Paris art scene in mid nineteenth century Paris 7/10
www.emilezola.info
Fourteenth novel in the Rougon Macquart series. This novel more than any other of Zola's is based on real characters from his own circle of friends, including himself as the novelist Sandoz. There were parts of it I found really interesting and great writing such as the crowds at the exhibition and the struggles of trying to portray nature in painting. But other parts, such as Sandoz talking about writing a series of novels based around a family just seemed too anal. Still a great insight into the Paris art scene in mid nineteenth century Paris 7/10
www.emilezola.info
Thursday, December 27, 2007
The Uncommon Reader
by Alan Bennett
If you ever feel guilty curling up and reading a book this is the perfect book to assuage your guilt. Written with gentle humour this is a great book and it will only take you an afternoon in front of the fire to read. My only problem was it was not long enough! 9/10
If you ever feel guilty curling up and reading a book this is the perfect book to assuage your guilt. Written with gentle humour this is a great book and it will only take you an afternoon in front of the fire to read. My only problem was it was not long enough! 9/10
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