Archive for the ‘France’ Category

TRESPASS by Rose Tremain

Rose Tremain is not only a prolific writer, but she is a great one. Each of her novels is different in theme, tenor, and topic. TRESPASS, her most recent book, is a dark, eerie and grim themed novel with a definite gothic undertone. Set in the southern part of France, in an area known as the Cevennes region, the land itself is portrayed as something feral and alive, so filled with lush growth, insects, snakes and sounds, that it has a life of its own.

October 18, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags:  Â· Posted in: Character Driven, France, Man Booker Nominee, Reading Guide, y Award Winning Author

THE WOMAN WITH THE BOUQUET by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

In this title short story, “The Woman with the Bouquet,” Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt blends his trademark elements of fairy tale romance, pathos, and fatedness. It radiates mystery and romanticism but also a ghostly bit of menace, and it cuts to a marrow of sorrow. It appeals to our curiosity about the “obsessing” people in this world who will not be moved from their own missions, and simultaneously it reminds us that time spent waiting for something is time not spent doing something else more “constructive.” Loyalty and love would seem to be the motivators of the woman, but perhaps she just is retiring from the world by standing there every day?

September 25, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , ,  Â· Posted in: France, Short Stories, Translated

A NOVEL BOOKSTORE by Laurence Cosse

A few months ago, someone told me he’d just finished one of the most amazing books he’d ever read. He was visibly shaken by the idea that he’d found the book by accident and could so easily have missed the book altogether. “What if I went through life without reading this novel,” he mused, and this was followed by another thought, “how many other novels as good as this am I missing?” From this point, the conversation moved on to the observation that readers are saturated by publicity for some books while others are quietly published and subsequently sink and disappear without a trace. This conversation came back to me when I read A NOVEL BOOKSTORE, a book written by Laurence CossĂ© and translated by Alison Anderson. On the surface level, this is a mystery, but on a meta-level, A Novel Bookstore is an indictment of the cannibalizing publishing industry, the mass marketing of “taste,” and a subtle examination of fascism. All this in just around 400 pages. A NOVEL BOOKSTORE plays out just like an excellent French film–great entertainment on a surface level, but yet some deep philosophical statements resonate in the background.

August 31, 2010 · Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: 2010 Favorites, France, Mystery/Suspense, Reading Guide, World Lit, y Award Winning Author

THE LAST ESTATE by Conor Bowman

This is a short but pungent tale about crime, betrayal, passion, love, and a scar–both real and psychic. How juicy is that? Especially when you blend in the CĂ´tes du RhĂ´ne-Villages wine made from the dark-skinned Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Cisault grapes. Throw in a pivotal love affair, a chateau, a virulent father, and an odious priest, and you have the crushing, pressing, and fermenting ingredients of a serious page-turner. The title refers to the legacy of the protagonist–the chateau, estate, and wine cellar he is set to inherit.

August 27, 2010 · Judi Clark · 3 Comments
Tags: , , , ,  Â· Posted in: France, Mystery/Suspense

03 by Jean-Christophe Valtat

Told through the voice of a high school narrator in the French town of Montperilleux, 03 captures the emotional rootlessness of the teen years brilliantly. The story revolves around the narrator’s interest in a fellow teenager, a girl who is mentally handicapped and who therefore travels to a special school on the outskirts of town. Even if the narrator is gifted and his mental faculties way ahead of the girl’s, he finds many similarities between himself and the girl. “I was like her, an overprotected schoolchild in a town where nothing at all could plausibly have distracted me from my records and books for any length of time,” he says.

July 14, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: ,  Â· Posted in: Coming-of-Age, France, World Lit

BRUNO, CHIEF OF POLICE by Martin Walker

A paean to the Dordogne, an exploration of fractious French history, and the debut of the most self-possessed, accomplished, even-tempered, life-savoring Holmesian character ever, Walker’s first Bruno novel proves once and for all that heavyweight journalists can write mystery novels.

April 30, 2010 · Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: , , ,  Â· Posted in: 2009 Favorites, France, Sleuths Series